Quick Lift: The Heartbeat of Leadership and Success

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Welcome to Loud and Lifted. I'm your host, Betsy

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Hamm. This quick lift comes from my conversation

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with leadership coach, podcast host, and author,

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Lindsay Doed. She's all about heart -centered

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leadership, prioritizing authenticity, integrity,

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and openness over power place. We talk about

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what she calls career security, not just job

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security, and creating cultures where leaders

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lift their people up instead of micromanaging

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them into burnout. Today, I'm giving you the

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highlights, real talk and action steps you can

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use right away to build your brand, expand your

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influence and lead with trust. Let's get into

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the key takeaways and action items. First up,

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build your career security, not job security.

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Your title or company are not your safety net.

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It's your skills and your reputation that are.

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We talked about during this episode, how back

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in the day and even during Lindsay's career,

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people spend 20, 30 plus years at the same company.

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And the reality is it just doesn't happen today

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like it used to back in the day. So you have

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to think about how you're building your skills

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and your reputation that that can perpetuate

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outside of your current company. I can certainly

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relate to this. And I talked about this during

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the episode. It felt like everything I did was

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attached to my past job at Duck. Now, of course,

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being the CEO and a male. dominated industry

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gave me the opportunity to get exposure and to

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build my brand. And I did realize at one point

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that I needed to focus on building my own personal

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brand that it wasn't just always about the donors

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per se. So no matter what level you're at or

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what company you're at, you have to think about

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how are you building your skills and reputation

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that if you end up by chance to be at the same

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company for 20 years. Amazing and awesome, but

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you're probably still going to want future and

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further opportunities. But what if you do look

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for a future opportunity somewhere else? You

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have to have that reputation and those skills

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that are what you're known for. So the action

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item here is ask yourself, what are you known

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for? And then work on amplifying that. The biggest

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way to do this, of course, is from a LinkedIn

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perspective. Nearly every profession is on LinkedIn.

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So think about how you're putting out content,

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when you're putting out content, and how you're

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maybe casually or passively promoting yourself

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too, not just the company that you work for.

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because build your brand before you need it.

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Takeaway number two, exposure is everything.

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It's not enough to impress your boss. Seek conversations

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outside your reporting chain. Exposure builds

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perspective, mentors, and opportunities. Now,

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we couldn't have timed Lindsay's episode to be

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any better than being right after Linda's episode.

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If you have not listened to Linda Strange's episode,

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you need to. It's all about pie, your performance,

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image, and exposure. And Lindsay reinforced that,

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again, with that building your career. not your

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job security, and then the exposure piece. She

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talked about asking for meetings or calls with

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people who are outside your reporting structure.

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And I understand that this isn't necessarily

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accepted at every company or in different cultures

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of companies, but it's worth an ask. Ask if you

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can meet with somebody outside of your current

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reporting structure, whether it's somebody at

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a higher level or maybe it's someone in a different

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department, but get that exposure to people outside

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of your current department. And again, this is

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twofold, right? Maybe you get to learn about

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a department that you have potential interest

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in the future. It gives you that opportunity

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to build exposure and talk about what you've

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been working on. And it just gives you that opportunity

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to shine. So your action item here is book one

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coffee chat this week can be virtual. It can

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be in person, which is even better, but do it

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with somebody outside your team who inspires

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you, learn how they lead and let them learn who

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you are. And if this isn't something that's really

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embraced within your company, then seek somebody

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outside your company. Again, we've said it before,

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but LinkedIn is a great place to make those connections.

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And if it's just setting up a 15, 20 minute virtual

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coffee chat, you're still going to make some

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new introductions, meet some a menu, learn about

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what they do and let them learn about what you

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do. Next, trust is your currency as a leader.

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Micromanaging kills growth. Great leaders inspire,

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protect and give people the space to shine. That's

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so important. I'm going to say it again, but

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great leaders inspire, protect and give people

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the space to shine. That's such a great line

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and I have some friends in my life who deal with

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some micromanaging right now and listening to

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their stories, it gives me... major anxiety.

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Luckily, I never had a boss who was that severe

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of a micromanager. But if you are an employee

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who is being micromanaged by your boss, you really

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need to take a step back and maybe have that

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conversation and figure out how you can build

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that trust. Because the reality is it comes down

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to trust. So if you are the manager and you have

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people on your team, you need to take a step

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back and realize, have you been building trust

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with your team members? If you're micromanaging,

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you are not. You're not building trust with them.

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They do not trust you. You do not trust them.

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It's a horrible relationship. And while you may

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feel like you're in control of what's happening,

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you're actually killing productivity and you're

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killing their desire to want to do better and

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to be productive because you're basically telling

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them that you don't think they're good at their

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job. encourage you if you are a manager to take

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a step back and really evaluate this. This is

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a really good action item here is if you're a

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manager, ask your team one simple question. How

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can I be the best leader for you? Which is great

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to ask, but then listen and act on it. And you

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know, Lindsey talked about having employees or

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team members reporting to you is sort of like

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the parents mindset, right? And if you have kids,

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you know that you have to treat each one of your

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children differently. How you motivate them,

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how you discipline them, how you support them.

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Of course, it's just human nature. Everyone's

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different. And that same exact mindset has to

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be used at work. You cannot treat all of your

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team members the same. So take a step back, ask

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the hard question, make sure you get a real answer.

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And if you don't, it's because you don't have

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trust amongst your team. And then move forward.

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The last takeaway, power skills over soft skills.

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Communication, delegation, empathy, recognition.

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These aren't soft skills. Lindsay says they're

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so important. They're power skills and they're

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what make leaders magnetic. During our conversation,

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Lindsay and I talked a lot about, of course,

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delegation and that obviously ties into the trust

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that you have as a leader or a manager with your

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team and making sure you're delegating appropriately

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and giving someone that opportunity to shine.

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That's your job is to help them to succeed. The

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other thing that we talked a lot about is recognition.

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and I love to talk about recognition. I think

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it's so important. Lindsay gave the example of

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a vice president who had a sales team and she

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would leave little post -it notes when she heard

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that they had a really great call, just saying,

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hey, great job, awesome, congrats for closing

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the deal, whatever it was. But it was just a

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little post -it note. And when the leader of

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the department started doing that, that was great.

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That really set the precedence and created this

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culture of positivity. And other team members

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started doing it too. They started leaving it

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for each other. And I think that's the biggest.

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thing when it comes to recognition. You know,

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the formal recognition programs that a lot of

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big corporate organizations have. That's great.

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That's awesome. We need that. But it's really

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those little moments where you get to recognize

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somebody and maybe it's a text or an email, a

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duck. We used to have a shout out board where

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I'd recognize anybody for doing something really

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awesome. Maybe it was big or small, but it was

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our opportunity to share. I made that person

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feel really good and it helped for other team

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members to know just what was going on. Who doesn't

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love to read good news. So this doesn't have

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to be something that only managers or leaders

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do. This is something, no matter what level you're

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in, how can you recognize your peers from a better

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standpoint? It just builds a positive culture.

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And when you have that positive culture, that

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helps to continue to perpetuate the optimistic

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positive work. And it makes people excited. It

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makes people want to do better. And you're going

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to grow from a productivity standpoint. Action

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item, celebrate someone on your team today. Send

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the text, write the note, acknowledge the win.

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Small celebrations create big culture shifts.

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And side note, a handwritten note is amazing.

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So if somebody does something really awesome,

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send them a handwritten note. When's the last

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time you got one? Lindsay reminds us leadership

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isn't about holding power. It's about giving

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it away. Build your brand, grow your network,

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trust your people and lead with power skills

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that actually matter. If this episode resonated

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with you, please share it with a friend and follow

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along on Instagram for more leadership advice.

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And if you haven't listened to my full episode

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with Lindsay, go check it out now. It's a master

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class in leadership done right. Until next time,

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stay loud, stay lifted, and lead with heart.