Quick Take | Tips to Help Executives and Leaders Grow
Crisis Hacks from Firefighters, Farmers, and Fashion Icons
Feb 15, 2024Episode 51
Susie Tomenchok and James Capps
Ever wondered how a firefighter, a farmer, and a fashion icon could radically change the way you lead? Get ready to revolutionize your management style as we break down how adopting the varied approaches of these unexpected mentors can empower and motivate your team. Unpacking the shift from an old-school boss to a modern coach, we dissect the outdated use of tension and emotional outbursts in today's leadership, offering you a fresh playbook for executive success.
Join us for a revealing conversation, where we not only challenge the status quo but also provide actionable strategies to help you foster agency within your team. By exploring the day-to-day resilience of our unique role models, you'll discover innovative methods to navigate the complexities of executive leadership, especially when control seems like a distant dream. Don't miss this opportunity to gain the confidence and creativity needed to lead with poise—transforming management tension into a thriving, positive work environment.
In this episode, we discuss the following: 1. Different leadership styles and strategies to tackle challenges effectively. 2. Analogies to illustrate various leadership behaviors and attitudes. 3. Importance of flexibility and adaptability in leadership.
This episode is sponsored by LucidPoint Are you struggling to take your IT organization to the next level? We help our customers do so with confidence. Turn your vision into reality, call LucidPoint today! https://www.lucidpoint.io/
Ever wondered how a firefighter, a farmer, and a fashion icon could radically change the way you lead? Get ready to revolutionize your management style as we break down how adopting the varied approaches of these unexpected mentors can empower and motivate your team. Unpacking the shift from an old-school boss to a modern coach, we dissect the outdated use of tension and emotional outbursts in today's leadership, offering you a fresh playbook for executive success.
Join us for a revealing conversation, where we not only challenge the status quo but also provide actionable strategies to help you foster agency within your team. By exploring the day-to-day resilience of our unique role models, you'll discover innovative methods to navigate the complexities of executive leadership, especially when control seems like a distant dream. Don't miss this opportunity to gain the confidence and creativity needed to lead with poise—transforming management tension into a thriving, positive work environment.
In this episode, we discuss the following: 1. Different leadership styles and strategies to tackle challenges effectively. 2. Analogies to illustrate various leadership behaviors and attitudes. 3. Importance of flexibility and adaptability in leadership.
This episode is sponsored by LucidPoint Are you struggling to take your IT organization to the next level? We help our customers do so with confidence. Turn your vision into reality, call LucidPoint today! https://www.lucidpoint.io/
Welcome to the Quick Take podcast, the show where you get targeted advice and coaching for executives by executives. I'm Suzy Tominczuk.
Speaker 2:
And I'm James Capps. Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to address the complex topic of issues that are challenging executives like you today.
Speaker 1:
Hey, it's Quick Take. I'm Suzy. I'm here with my co-host, James. How are you, James?
Speaker 2:
I'm fantastic about yourself, Suzy.
Speaker 1:
I'm really good. I'm really good, I have a busy week and I thought we would talk about one of my clients that I'm working with. It's really interesting, the boss. It's a technology company and there's a lot of priorities in the business and there's a lot of people that push the priorities down depending on what part of the business they're in. So this organization doesn't have a lot of control over those priorities, and so the reaction that the management has is to get really tense and use emotion, sometimes anger and frustration, to kind of motivate.
Speaker 2:
It sounds.
Speaker 1:
It's kind of hard to think that this is 2024, but that's kind of what's happening is, we don't have control, so we better just do what we're supposed to do and do the best we can do to get it done.
Speaker 2:
Right, right. Yeah, that's super interesting. I mean, how do you go about? You know, I think about the situations and I'm like how do you go about getting that leader to think of things differently? I mean, what are some of the strategies that you've used?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, really talking about the research around the shift that has happened from old school boss to moving to coach, and how recognition and motivation really come from being able to give people agency to move forward on their own. And so it's a hard shift to make sometimes, because sometimes it is easier just to command and control.
Speaker 2:
Oh, of course.
Speaker 1:
And move from that.
Speaker 2:
You know, sometimes I like to you know, depending on your audience, this particular leader I use. I'd like to use analogies or examples of you know what would this person do? How would you look at it from this point of view? Because sometimes it's difficult to access. You know, understand the researcher or have good role models, and so I like to look at maybe you know three types of role models, perhaps that that that person may may understand better than a white paper, especially when you're working with different types of organizations. You know every technology organization has a different type of ecosystem and people that it attracts, and you know technology is eating everything, so you have technology across the entire spectrum of companies, and so sometimes I like to sit down and go. Let me give you three types of people, three types of leaders that deal with challenges, and let's think about how they do it, and maybe that's maybe something we could talk about today, or like three, you know three people that deal with challenges and ways that they tackle them.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I like that. I like that. I think the key is to get that person to shift out of their, their current situation and be able to have some distance, which is a challenge to do, but I think that's a great way of looking at it, because then they'll problem solve with that persona in mind.
Speaker 2:
Right, right. And so the three I always like to use and I know they're weird, because, but they're all they're, they're intentionally different. You know, I like to think of a firefighter, a farmer and a fashion icon, so I'm big on alliteration. So there's, there's big three F's right there. But those three types of leaders I think can can show ways that that that others challenge a deal of challenges and maybe help other leaders think about what they could be doing differently.
Speaker 1:
That's super interesting. So you would kind of go through the day in the life of one of those three.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so let's just jump right in. So like an example would be you know I always start with a farmer. You know when a farmer deals with challenges, you know I always say, like a farmer would just roll up his sleeves and get it done Right. And you know there's lots of examples of that. You know I was coaching with a CEO of a company who is facing a product recall and what she did is she actually went out and visited all the communities that were affected by this, this recall, and by community I meant that I mean the pockets of the of her, of the country that were buying her product, so she could understand who was being impacted by this recall and that that rolling up her sleeves, getting involved, you know, changed the attitude of the recall.
Speaker 2:
You know, I think you've also seen, you know, yvonne Chardard, the Patagonia founder. You know they had some same problems and he went out there and got his or her arms, you know, sleeves rolled up and really got involved in some of the loyalty issues they had. And I think when you get involved and you, as a leader, get in the trenches with the challenged problems, I think you're a lot better off. So, yeah, first thing, I always like to talk to people is what would a farmer do? A farmer would just roll up his sleeves and get involved.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I like that analogy because it really helps you visualize that you need to stop thinking about it from your perspective and how can you kind of get in with your other person, like get in the field.
Speaker 2:
Right, yeah, literally and figuratively right, because I think it means so much when you are involved at the levels that are much more impactful, and sometimes, as a leader, it's just really great to get you know, get your hands dirty.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and I also like that too, because it shifts your thinking so that we always see things from our perspective. But if you can also, when you're making that shift, really see it from a different alignment, that can be really helpful to understand what they're going through.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think it goes all the way and just goes to building rapport etc.
Speaker 1:
What's the second F?
Speaker 2:
Second one is a fireman, and I think one of the things that we need to think about a lot is how we respond under stress, and I think the fireman is somebody that we consistently see under a ridiculous amount of stress and situations that are extremely fluid. I mean, I can't imagine running into a burning house but remaining calm.
Speaker 2:
Yeah is, I think, the key takeaway from from the fireman, where you've got to look at the challenges that that are in front of you, but knowing that you know that that you've got to remain calm and be a role model for your team. I've talked to a handful of executives CTOs in particular who have had massive technology outages Servers are down, you know, google Cloud has gone down, etc. And remaining calm in those situations helps people realize that they have a role to play here, you know, helps you delegate tasks more effectively, it helps you communicate more calmly and, ultimately, I think the employees and the customer see the behavior and understand that you've got things under control.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I think that the key there is the calm, because you don't want to take on the emotion. I have a friend who's a fire chief and he said that you have to, almost while you're driving, just suspend reality because you don't know what you're going to. Come to a scene of a car where you know there was a crash and he said often it's very hard to see some of those things, but he doesn't deal with that until they're driving away. In the moment he asked to figure out how can I help?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and you know I've had outages on my companies and and the more frankly the crazy conversations are after everything is all said and done and you're sitting around the bar going, oh my God, that was insane, how did we even survive that? And then as a leader, you can kind of let your hair down and but during the, in the moment, you're right, you've got to kind of suspend that, that that anxiety, and put it aside and you're going to find yourself in a better place if you do.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2:
I can see the two make a lot of sense, but I can't wait for the third one, because I'm not sure you know, when I think of fashion, I think of the crazy way things change and the the ever fluid insanity of fashion, and and so when I think of how challenging it must be to think this is popular today and this is popular tomorrow, that you have to be able to be responsive.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and you have to be agile and you have to be willing to deviate from your original plan, and so I think of there. You know there are many industries and many roles, but, as somebody who is looking at fashion and trying to drive the way that that those particular things are looked at, you have to be able to adapt and adjust, and so you know whether it's a, you know, launching viral campaigns, looking at PR situations, you have to be able to pivot, and so, like a fashion icon, I think it's key that you are flexible and willing to adjust.
Speaker 1:
I, it's a good one. Now I get it. And I also think that sometimes the fashion, the trend, you may need to wear it and it may not be your favorite, most comfortable or your style that you love, but you have to be able to move into it and kind of play the part, if you will.
Speaker 2:
Exactly right. Great, great way to pull that in, and I think that the goal is you know, sometimes you have to make decisions you don't like, sometimes the answer isn't the best one, sometimes you don't have all the information as a leader, and so you have to do the best you can, and so that kind of flexibility is really what I'm trying to highlight with that role, because you can't always know everything, and sometimes you just have to go with what you got.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I love this because, as you're going into it, if people could visualize which am I going to be.
Speaker 2:
Right right.
Speaker 1:
The farmer, the firefighter or the fashion. So tell us Fashion icon. Right, yeah, let's wrap that up.
Speaker 2:
So look, what I'm really trying to say here is that sometimes, as leaders or as coaches, we have to speak to leaders so they understand ways that they can behave differently, and sometimes talking about the research or particular examples just don't resonate, and so I like to use different types of personas to help get the story across, and so I like to talk about a farmer who likes to get his hands dirty. I like to talk about a fireman who has to remain calm in the moments of diversity, and I like to talk about a fashion icon who has to be agile and change to the way things happen in real time.
Speaker 1:
Love it, love it. It's such a good one, boy. You're being very creative, james, very, very well done.
Speaker 2:
Hey, Susie, I've been wondering if you could replace me with a fictional character as your co-host. Who would you pick?
Speaker 1:
You know, who first came to mind Was Regis Fulken. Like, gladly Like gladly. I did say fictional.
Speaker 2:
You know, I mean you know I'm not going to think of names.
Speaker 1:
Oh, I actually think I can think of his name I don't think I can say it right Jason Statecus, from yeah, jason Sudakis. Sudak, sudak. I see, I can't even say it. Thank you so.
Speaker 2:
I'm gonna save you the word fictional was was key to my I thought him the character that he plays, ted. Lasso.
Speaker 1:
If I would have thought that the name of the show was actually the show.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so it would have been the better answer. So you're saying that Ted Lasso would be your fictional character? Co-host of choice.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for bringing it all the way to.
Speaker 2:
My job is to rain you in.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of quick take, where we talk about the questions that are on the mind of executives everywhere. Connect with us and share what's on your mind.
Speaker 2:
You can find us on LinkedIn, youtube or whatever nerdy place on the internet. You find your podcasts. Our links to the show are in the show notes.