Four years ago when I left my role as COO I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go back to leadership consulting and coaching. Leading through an acquisition required oodles of energy. I was on the path to burnout. I wasn’t sure I had the energy to talk about a meaty topic like leadership. What’s more, I was tired of the way we talk about leadership — as a monolith. I don’t believe there’s one way to be a leader. We often treat it as one-size-fits all. This influences who we see as leaders and who gets to be one. I find this troubling. It creates false negatives (people who would be incredible leaders but are overlooked) and false positives (people who look right but don’t have the skills). There’s also impact on companies as it’s well known that diverse teams perform better than those that are homogeneous.
Was I ready to put in the energy it would take to dispel these myths?
After months of introspection I decided to go back into the field with one caveat — I wasn’t going to talk about it in the same old way. I wanted to share what it’s really like to lead rather than talk about it philosophically. In particular, I wanted to focus on the messy parts: emotions, navigating humans, traversing the org, leading through transition and the like. I wanted to talk about how we make decisions amid uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity. I wanted to know how other leaders handled difficult situations. I wanted to show the diversity of amazing leaders I see and work with every day.
I started coaching senior leaders. I worked with hundreds in workshops and leadership team offsites. I wrote about the messy bits of leadership, shared leader’s stories and gave talks on the difficult of making the leap into the role. The work was deeply fulfilling but something was missing. I wanted to share leader’s stories more directly to spread what they’ve learned, hoping others would feel less lonely.
This was the spirit in which I started my leader interview series in January 2022. My goal was simple — share the real stories of people finding their way through the complexity of leadership. I decided to focus on a specific change they faced or a challenge they overcame. I sought out untold stories and people we hear from less. I spent the last year interviewing leaders on everything from leading with a chronic illness to being an under-represented voice in the c-suite to getting acquired and being a CEO for the first time. Their stories gave me joy and brought tears to my eyes. Their wisdom inspired me. I relished each message I received about the impact the series was having. I made no money from it and yet, it became my most important project.
To get started quickly, I published written transcripts of these conversations on my substack. The plan was always to turn it into a podcast. Life intervened. My business soared. I traveled all over to give workshops to senior leaders and facilitate leadership team offsites. I gave keynotes in person and virtually. I coached leaders through organizational transitions and hard decisions. Then my mom got sick, my parent’s situation changed and it was time to move them out of their gorgeous lake house to an apartment.
I still dreamed of turning it into a podcast, one day. I just didn't have the time or the production skills to create it. I didn’t even have a name for it. I simply called the series Leader Conversations. Eventually, I found a podcast production company who became an important partner in bringing these stories to audio life. We’ve been working on it for several months to find a name, produce episodes and get it distributed.
Last week I saw the podcast — Leaders Unscripted on Spotify for the first time. I couldn't believe that was my face staring back at me. Soon, it would be populated with episodes of the leader’s stories I interviewed.
A dream come true.
I’m thrilled to announce that Leaders Unscripted will be live tomorrow!
The podcast is an intimate way to hear these stories, in the leader’s own voice. In each episode you’ll hear from senior leaders who’ve been through the trenches, and come out the other side stronger with truly unique, insightful perspectives.
The first three episodes include:
The Power of the Vulnerable CEO with Founder, Humankind Business Leaders and Former CEO of Sticker Giant, Beth Smith
The Life of a First-Time Exec at an Early Stage Start-Up with Range’s VP of Engineering Jean Hsu
Transforming a 300 year old Institution in Four Weeks with the Parliamentary Digital Service, Former Director of Software Engineering, Matt Stutely
To join me on this journey, follow the Leaders Unscripted podcast on your favorite platform.
Listen on Spotify: http://bit.ly/40AtZ4G
Listen on Apple: http://bit.ly/3m1cdsu
Listen on Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3ZDrBJ9
Listen on Amazon Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3Kbw6Fe
New episodes will drop every week. I’ll still be sharing written versions of interviews here, just in a condensed format. I’ve been in the studio recording a bunch so you’ll read new stories here on substack soon.
This has been one of my most cherished projects. Thank you to every leader who trusted me with their story and to everyone who does in the future.
Thank you to all of you for reading their stories this past year. Your support and enthusiasm encouraged me to continue the series and bring the podcast to life.
If this piece resonated with you, please let me know and give the heart button below a tap.