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hi
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I love these kind of events and that the
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edge of my seat listening to the
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inspiring stories that people have but
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do you wonder sometimes how can you be
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an inspirational leader
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I've actually been wondering about it
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for years and in the last couple of
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years I've done some work on really
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trying to dig into what are some of the
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simple things that would make a big
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difference and I want to share with you
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some of the things I've learned years
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ago I got a really big clue that maybe
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my leadership wasn't as inspirational as
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it could be and that came from a guy
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that worked with me a really sweet guy
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named Wayne and he gave me a great big
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fridge magnet and what that said was
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around here there's three ways of doing
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things the right way the wrong way and
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Leslie away the first two are
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unimportant my staff loved it and I
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thought it was great we left it on the
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fridge but sometimes when I was opening
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the door and I'd look at it I think
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really really that's how I lead I don't
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think so confirmation came in the form
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of another gift and that was a magnet
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that said I'm not bossy I just have
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better ideas I still have that one too
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and that explained to me why boss is all
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been seen as a four-letter word because
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it is about my ideas that was harder
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because really if it wasn't about my
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ideas then whose ideas was it about a
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lot of the movies a lot of the ideas
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about leadership are always this hero
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right the big person one with all the
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ideas and the big story and the one yes
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I'm going to follow but really if you
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have to live with that it's more like a
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moth to a flame and what happens with
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flames is people get burned and I know
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I've been burned by leaders like that
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and I think I've probably burned out
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some people who got too close when I was
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in the
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I'm the one with the idea faith so it's
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not the most powerful way to lead and
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actually the simple flip on transforming
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leadership that I've come up with
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working with a lot of entrepreneurs is
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that I'm not leading you I'm leading me
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so I've been an entrepreneur for as long
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as I can remember and before that I was
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the girl in your class you know the one
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miss know-it-all right
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the one that when the teacher asks the
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question up goes the hand I know I know
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right we all love her don't we hmm maybe
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not well you do get a lot of rewards in
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school for having the answers and when
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you're a young entrepreneur and you're
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starting your first company people want
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that or that's what I thought they want
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people with answers they want the person
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who says I can do it but actually it
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wears thin and it's not something that
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you can build a sustainable company on
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because people are waiting for you to be
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wrong and they kind of delight secretly
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delight when you get tripped up right
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you guys do that sometimes too yeah yeah
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and it has the shadow side of it's all
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about me so years ago when I was taking
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one of our company's public and we're in
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the middle of the process of doing that
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so there was a lot of change and growing
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and things going on at the company I
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also married a wonderful man and got
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pregnant and so I was growing this
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wonderful little girl at the same time
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now I had it no problem because I would
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just bring her to the office I mean how
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hard can not be how hard is it to look
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after a baby really I mean they just
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kind of lie on the floor and eat and
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sleep easy I learned a lot bringing my
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little Natalie to the office because my
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staff were fantastic I actually couldn't
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do it all anymore and they were great
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they were amazing they were such great
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moms for her
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and I also did it to Kasana to and
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brought her to the office it was great
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everyone loved it but what I learned was
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that if I could have my most precious
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thing in the world my daughter and I
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could trust my staff with that why
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wasn't i trusting them with projects and
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with our customers and what their ideas
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duh
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so actually bringing a baby to the
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office didn't make me less productive it
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made me way more effective because I got
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out of people's way and I realized that
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to go from an entrepreneur to a leader
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was about going from I can do it through
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we can do it and to where it's really
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important you can do it it's yours I'm
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here to support you to do the right
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things so if I'm not gonna do if I'm
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gonna lead what does that look like if
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I'm not the one who's doing things for
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you which often is really just you need
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to do it my way how am I going to get
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trust and respect so I'm going to get
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trust and respect not by doing but by
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being being respectful that's how I earn
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respect being trustworthy and trusting
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that's how people will trust me simon
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Sinek has got a great TED talk and he's
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written some wonderful books and he
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talks all about the power of Y and the
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more I've been leading the more I
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realize this actually is the job of the
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leader we hold the Y so whether you're
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on a rowing team or on a social project
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or running a company or wherever you're
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in a group the leader holds the Y the
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leader brings the group together to
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figure out where are we and where do we
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want to go everybody else owns the how
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so if you're going to
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line up and we're going to be a team I
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as leader hold how or sorry why you hold
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how I don't get in your way and I have
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to make that agreement with you I am NOT
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going to tell you what to do if we're
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going to figure this out together
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it's because I get my ego out of the way
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and I really do work for the team not
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asking the team to work for me it's a
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huge flip so if I'm leading myself then
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I can invite others to follow and so
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here's what leading myself sounds like
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in my head but as a leader often I would
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think things like why didn't you tell me
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that last week ever thought that really
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what I need to be thinking is how can I
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build a trusting place where we share
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with each other that's what I can do and
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then if I'm walking by someone's desk
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and I hear them on the phone and I'm
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like oh tell me that's not talking to a
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customer that I don't wait for them to
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get off the phone and say hey can that's
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not how we talk to customers this is how
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we talk to customers which is again how
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I would do it what I need to do is think
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how can we build a culture of customer
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service so each of you deals with
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customers the way that you would best in
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a customer service way that's what I can
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do and if I'm thinking why won't people
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do what they say you ever had that in a
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group project yeah where you're feeling
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like I thought we were all doing this
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what's going on is you've somehow told
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people what to do and they're not doing
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that but if we all set our own
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accountabilities if we make our own
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commitments everybody will do what they
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say they're going to do that's how I
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invite others I've been part of an
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organization that's around the globe and
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there's actually some people here at the
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school who I know through that and it's
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called EEO or the entrepreneurs
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organization and what that is is
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10,000 entrepreneurs around the world
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it's like a peer support network trying
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to figure out how to be better leaders
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so we get together in Calgary there's
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150 and I'm in a small little forum
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group of nine and we share stories with
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each other of what's going on in our
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world because how else can we figure out
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how to be better leaders and when I
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think about all the stories that I've
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told over the years and all the stories
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I've heard really yeah
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there's big random events that happen
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there's bad people in the world there's
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stuff that happens but really my stories
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I'm the one that controls those the
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thing that I can change is what I see
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what I pay attention to how I think
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about it how I feel about it
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that's what I can affect so a couple of
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years ago when I was quite involved in
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designing some stuff for a Oh for these
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little forum groups where we get
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together and talk the global leaders
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said hey you know what we need to do we
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need to define and measure
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entrepreneurial leadership and yep there
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went that hand again thank God there was
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a lot of other people who stuck their
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hands up too so we had a lot of fun
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together we drew pictures we talked to
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people we read things there is so much
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in the world about leadership I mean
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just google it it's huge but we tried to
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figure out what was real for us and when
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we got it down to a pretty simple model
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we took it on the road and we went all
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over the world talking to entrepreneurs
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we went to Kuala Lumpur we went to Bali
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Hongkong Athens London Saskatoon
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Washington DC I'm sure I'd hear the same
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thing if I talk to entrepreneurs right
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here in Duncan this is what's human this
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is that journey of hero to human so what
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we discovered and what was shared is
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that we can think of leadership as being
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a whole circle and half of it is the
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stuff that you can see it's that outer
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stuff and there's a lot of information
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you'll learn about it in school
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you'll learn about it in debate lots of
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people will have the 12 steps to be a
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better entrepreneur or a better leader
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but what's really important it was goes
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on in your head that inner journey what
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are you thinking what are you feeling
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how are you going to get better at that
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the only way that I've found is to have
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conversations with people I can trust
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and that's how that works for me the
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other way to look at it is that
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leadership also involves the two sides
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of our brain the intellectual side so
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the part that makes plans and thinks
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about things and gets things done and is
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very logical right this is how
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economists think we are in the world
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right rational man and the emotional
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side this is who really shows up at your
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company everyday people so managing your
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emotions and understanding it and then
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being able to connect with and
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understand other people's so that's a
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lovely theory and from that we get this
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model so in the center is who we are as
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a leader and then around it are the four
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quadrants so let me share a story with
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you a couple of years ago a company that
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I care a lot about passionate about it I
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discovered through a phone call that
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there was a really big financial problem
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like off the cliff financial problem so
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guess where I went first feel right
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angry upset disappointed freaked out all
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those things very real not that useful
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but I recognized that what was going on
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deep breaths gets more information move
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over to think consciously do that so
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paying attention when are you feeling
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and when are you thinking and you can
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consciously change from one to the other
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and when I'm thinking about it now I
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need more information I'm going to
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engage with people and when I'm engaging
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having conversations how do I get the
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information I need the thinking and
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feeling and that's when we could move to
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exit
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you can't just filled a plan right away
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when something's going wrong there's a
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whole process that's involved specific
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things I've learned about leadership
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leadership is not I decide everything I
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used to really think it was and it was a
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baby or two babies who taught me that
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actually the fewer decisions that I make
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the better leader I am it's not about
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that
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when I'm having conversations with
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people I've got two choices
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all of us have two choices we can listen
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or we can talk and often entrepreneurs
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member the one with the answers as soon
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as you start to tell me about something
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I know the answer
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no I need to listen because I don't
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actually know the answer this is through
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your eyes this is what you're seeing
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it's really important and so to be a
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really good leader is about asking
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really good questions so whether you're
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leading a team or a company or a project
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group it's about having conversations
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listening asking questions not talking
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not being the one with the answer
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another huge thing with leadership is
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knowing when to stand tall and when to
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step back and get out of the way and
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it's kind of the opposite of what you
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see with some leaders I need to stand
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tall as a leader when things aren't
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going well when there's been a
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misunderstanding when the stock price is
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sliding when things aren't good that's
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when I need to stand up and be
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responsible as the leader I need to
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support my team by standing in front but
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when things are going really well when
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the project's great when the customer is
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delighted that's when I step out of the
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way and sit down and let the people who
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did it really stand up and take the
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glory and be leaders so leading myself
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and inviting others
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to follow leading myself means being
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kind to myself telling myself good
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stories holding myself accountable being
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trusting being trustworthy that's what
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all of us can do we can all choose to do
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that and if you think about the
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opportunities to lead that you have next
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time there's one where your brain is
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going whoo I think I could do that think
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about what the Y would be for you to
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lead that because if you share your
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dream if you share your Y of how you
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could lead that I guarantee you people
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will be delighted to follow so I shared
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a couple of postcard magnets that I got
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that were quite sarcastic and I wanted
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to end up by saying I am actually
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getting nicer gifts now friend of mine
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Rob Simon sent me this the other day and
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this I think really speaks to that power
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of feel so if each of us can place our
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hands over our heart that what you feel
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that's your heart beating it's always
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happening but now you're aware of it and
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with that is your purpose if you lead
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from that purpose people will always
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follow thank you
