To date, I have done over 250 podcasts. My guests and I have talked about everything from trends in marketing to team culture to new business strategies to building a brand to driving sales. On some episodes, we have even talked about being a parent (one of my favorite subjects!). As varied as my guests and the topics we talk about are, there is one theme in particular that shows up in just about every episode: leadership.
At Avocet, we are focused on what is called, “generous leadership.”
What is Generous Leadership?
To be a generous leader – no matter the business or the size of your team – means to:
- Give abundantly of yourself so that your team can succeed
- Start and end from a place of empathy
- Have the courage to look beyond yourself in order to lift up others
- Have a goal of making better people, not better workers
Something I truly believe – and this is something I learned working along side my father who started Avocet more than 30 years ago – is that true and effective leaders are not motivated by power or status or recognition. They are, instead, passionate about empowering others. Every leadership decision they make must pass a higher standard, one not based on monetary gain or notoriety, but one grounded on altruism and service to others.
As the leader of our agency, of course, I am laser-focused on the strategies we create and deploy for our clients. Every plan and every tactic we put in place is geared very specifically to each client’s individual goals. We outline KPIs and we prove ROI every day. But, my equally as important job is to lead my team. I can confidently say that I have one of the best teams in the business. And, while as a collective group they are amazing, it is also my job to empower each team member individually, to help each one find their strengths, guide each one to greater heights, and to be there for them in the way…or ways…that best serve THEM as PEOPLE.
As one of my friends – and a recent guest on Integrate & Ignite – Tricia Halsey once said, “thinking about leadership is a vastly different thing than doing leadership.” Tricia is the co-founder and executive director of The Big Idea Project, a company in Denver that is “solving the leadership crisis” in our nation by “raising up a generation of generous leaders who are unafraid to creatively solve challenging social problems.”
My interview with her, which you can listen to here (LINK), is great! And, I also offer up to you a few other I&I guests that are inspirational leaders in their own right and that have a lot of amazing insights into what it takes to be a truly successful and impactful leader.
- EPISODE 247: Rob Shallenberger, CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, gives The 12 Principles of Highly Effective Leaders.
- EPISODE 246: Turnaround specialist Rick Miller discusses his book, Be Chief: It’s a Choice, Not a Title, and outlines how leaders at all levels can achieve their true potential.
- EPISODE 232: “Leadership Energy Guru” and founder of The Leadership Energy Model, Cheryl Leitschuh talks about her CALM model of success.
