July 15, 2024 • 23 mins
Comments, questions? Let's connect!
Is authenticity the key to unlocking your full potential at work? Join us as we explore the transformative power of being true to yourself in both personal fulfillment and leadership. We'll share eye-opening insights from the Be Yourself at Work global survey, revealing that only 24% of people truly know themselves and a mere 16% feel they can bring their real selves to work. Through a reflective moment on a draining train ride home, we'll contrast the soul-crushing monotony of a disengaged workplace with the vibrant energy of a team that embraces authenticity. Discover how workplace culture directly impacts individual well-being and global potential, and learn why creating environments where people can be their true selves is not just a luxury but a necessity.
Ready to navigate the complexities of a VUCA world with Magnetic Authenticity? We'll dive into the challenges of traditional leadership systems and why they often fail, backed by the startling statistic that 70% of change initiatives don't succeed. Hear about the alarming rates of stress and burnout among leaders and the importance of self-awareness and genuine connection in building trust and credibility. Through personal anecdotes and research, we’ll guide you on a journey to discover your authentic leadership potential, identify your strengths and shadow strengths, and inspire others from any position—not just by title. Tune in to learn 3 ways to unlock your Magnetic Authenticity to drive meaningful connections and positive change in your professional and personal life.
References
Empowering Authenticity at Work: Key stats | #BeYourSelfAtWork. (n.d.). https://www.beyourselfatwork.com/byaw-stats-facts
Nohria, N. (2015, July 13). Cracking the code of change. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2000/05/cracking-the-code-of-change#:~:text=The%20brutal%20fact%20is%20that,an%20alphabet%20soup%20of%20initiatives.
Sutton, A. (2020). Living the good life: A meta-analysis of authenticity, well-being and engagement. Personality and Individual Differences, 153, 109645. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109645
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jolynne Rydz (00:00):
Only 24% of people know who they truly are and 16%
of people feel they can bringtheir real self to work.
This was a statistic that Istumbled upon, done by the Be
Yourself at Work global survey.
I found this fascinatingbecause you think it would be
(00:20):
simple right, just be yourself.
But it's not.
Have a think.
Do you know who you are?
Can you answer off the top ofyour head what your strengths
are, what your values are, whatyou stand for in this world,
what's your purpose and how doyou make your biggest impact?
For a lot of us, we don't knowthis, and it's a journey to get
(00:42):
there.
I'd love for you to reflect ona time where you've met someone
where you just are drawn to them.
You just want to be in theirpresence and do whatever it is
they're doing, because you wantto be a part of it.
They know what their strengthsare.
They are so present in thecause, they know the purpose and
(01:05):
they know how to engage otherson the journey, and to me,
that's an incredibly powerfulsuperpower in leadership and
beyond.
In today's episode, I want totalk about magnetic authenticity
and why that just could be yoursuperpower.
About 20 years ago, I rememberwalking onto a packed suburban
(01:28):
train on my way home from work.
I was in uncomfortablehigh-heeled shoes in a suit when
my usual get up at home istracksuit pants and something
comfortable and I was lookingaround at everyone on the train
and there was just thissoul-sucking draining energy.
(01:50):
People were exhausted, peoplewere zoned out, no one talked to
each other and I just felt thiswas so demoralizing To me.
It was really clear from a lotof people not everyone, but a
lot of people sitting in thatcarriage that they were stuck in
jobs on their way home, justlike me, from a job that they
didn't feel was meaningful,where they couldn't use all of
(02:12):
their talents, and to me that'sa global waste of human
potential.
It's not just an individualissue If you multiply that by
all the people commuting home ona train, just going oh I'm glad
that day's done and doing whatthey can because they need to,
and everyone needs a job to dowhat they need to do as a family
(02:35):
or for their own personal lives.
But is that really it?
And I think part of the problemis that when you go to work,
often in a lot of workplaces,you do need to maybe put on a
uniform, or you put on a suit oryou leave your emotions at the
door because you're not allowedto cry at work.
You've got to be professional.
(02:55):
Maybe you can't be overlypersonable, maybe you've got to
take certain jewelry off.
Maybe it's not okay for you tobe out in that environment.
There's all sorts of masks thatwe sometimes need to put on when
we enter a workplace, and I'dlove for you to reflect on which
(03:16):
environment would you rather bein.
I remember one organization,the organization I was actually
coming home from on this traintrip.
That the organization I wasactually coming home from on
this train trip, was one whereI'd get into work and at the
time there were layoffs going onconstantly and you would walk
in there and people would justnot talk to each other.
They would just sit at theirdesk, do their job, get up and
(03:38):
go have a coffee or get lunch,come back, sit down again, keep
typing away at their desks.
Now, would you prefer that, orwould you prefer to be in this
environment where your teamcomes in?
They're high-fiving each other,they're talking about how
amazing things were for them onthe weekend and, you know, in a
team meeting, they're laughinguncontrollably about something
(04:03):
that's happened and then gettingstraight back into what they
need to do, energized and lovingbeing there and being around
people.
I think that's incrediblypowerful and also incredibly
underrated, and from my past,I've spent the last decade
working in differentenvironments and organizations,
(04:24):
looking at corporate culture,looking at how we develop our
leaders, how we developindividuals, and I'm seeing you
know the statistics are alsoshowing that engagement's
dropping across the globe andpeople are feeling like there's
a lack of meaning sometimes intheir work, and when I talk to
people, so often I come acrosspeople telling me horrific
(04:48):
stories about how they'retreated at work and how that
makes them feel, and then theimpact that has when they take
that home.
These toxic environments aremore common than they should be,
and we're also.
The issue, I think, is we'reworking in this VUCA environment
, so if you're not familiar withthe term, vuca, it stands for
(05:08):
volatile, uncertain, complex andambiguous, and it's increasing.
What this means is that some ofthe ways that our systems as
organisations have been set up,some of the ways that we've been
trained to work and rewardedfor in the workplace, are not
(05:30):
working anymore in thisenvironment, and it's why
there's this crazy statistic.
I'm going to pull a statisticoff the top of my head, which I
know I shouldn't, so take thiswith a grain of salt and go
research it.
But the statistic is somethinglike 75% of change programs fail
.
Hi everyone, it's future Jolenehere.
(05:51):
I didn't want to just make up astatistic, so I'm editing it
right now.
I've looked it up and I waspretty close.
It's actually 70% of changeinitiatives fail, and that was
reported by the Harvard BusinessReview.
So let's dive back into theepisode.
So an organization introduces achange they work so hard at it,
(06:13):
so much effort goes into it,and people revert back to the
way they were operating before,or they revert back to the
system they were using before,or they make all these
workarounds to try and get backto their comfort zone of what
they were doing before.
And I truly believe that thereis so much in this space to
explore, because we need to,because things are changing so
(06:37):
rapidly.
There's a, you know, increasein AI and what that means for
the way that we work.
There's so many things that wedon't know of right now.
What could happen and what I'malso seeing at the moment is
people's well-being and stress,this overwhelm and burnout, and
you've got to do more and moreand more and you hit this goal
and then the next one comesalong and people are stressed
(06:58):
and getting burnt out.
And recently actually, I was inan organization and doing a talk
at a leadership summit and Idid a little survey check.
There was about 130 leadersthat came through and 58% of
them felt they were rushing andmultitasking within the past
week.
49% of them always felt busyand 38% of them felt they had to
(07:25):
be perfect.
And this is just oneorganization, but I do believe
that that's not something uniqueto that organization.
I'd love for you to reflect andgo.
Have I ever experienced any ofthose things myself?
And so when there's environmentsand there's also leadership and
systems that might feel likeout of our control, what can we
(07:48):
control?
The one thing we can control inall of this is us.
One thing we can control in allof this is us, and what I found
is that magnetic authenticityis like a superpower that is
untapped in so many people.
It's like we've forgotten howto be ourselves because there's
so much societal conditioning,both in the workplace but beyond
(08:11):
that.
When we grow up as kids, we'retaught to behave a certain way.
An example of this is.
I have a couple of kids and whenthey start crying, I noticed
that some people areuncomfortable with that and they
might go and give this person achocolate to help them stop
crying.
And I'm not saying that's goodor bad, but what I'm saying is
(08:32):
it sends a message that, oh,it's not okay to cry.
And then we carry this messagethrough as we grow up and as we
enter the workforce.
Maybe you people I've actuallyseen people and I've done this
myself I've gone into thebathroom to have a cry.
Now there's environments thatI've been in a workplace where
that is totally acceptable andokay and embraced, in a
(08:54):
workplace where that is totallyacceptable and okay and embraced
and there's environments wherethey're like, no, you need to
cry alone and we don't want todeal with that here.
And the impact of those twodifferent environments is so
vast because in one environment,you can't be yourself and it's
not okay, and in the other one,you can and you're embraced and
you're supported, and the energyin that is incredible, not just
(09:17):
for the individual, but for theteam around them and then the
broader organization.
So what's some of the evidencearound this?
So Anna Sutton from theUniversity of Waikato did a
meta-analysis in 2020 and whatthey found was that there's a
relationship a positiverelationship, between
authenticity and wellbeing andengagement.
(09:39):
And that's just one study.
There's a lot of other studiesthat are increasingly showing
that when we can be authentic,when we can be vulnerable, when
we can be courageous and when wecan be ourselves, it has a
ripple effect on the peoplearound us and our impacts.
Robert Anderson and WilliamAdams have written a book called
(09:59):
Mastering Leadership, andthey've actually created this
incredible tool that helpsleaders to understand themselves
, and one of the things thatthey write about is that
authentic leaders create trustand credibility, and trust and
credibility is so important inleadership because it allows
people to open up, it allowspeople to lean in, it allows
(10:21):
people to step into discomfort,especially when there's a change
going on.
You want people to have a senseof trust that they're going to
be okay, and when you can dothat, leading that team becomes
effortless because they're therewith you.
A big part of all of this ishaving self-awareness.
(10:41):
Recently, I was doing a projectwith an organization really
leaning into and exploring asection of their employee
experience, and I'd worked withthis organization in the past
employee experience, and I'dworked with this organisation in
the past, and what you need toknow is that in the past, I felt
that I needed to be reallyprofessional and stick to the
facts, stick to the rules,follow the process, follow the
(11:04):
norms, follow the templates ofhow things were done.
And I was about to give apresentation to the senior
executive team and I thoughtwe'd done so much work to really
hear what employees wereexperiencing and I wanted to do
that justice, and I didn't thinka couple of graphs on a
(11:24):
PowerPoint was really going toget people to understand and
feel what it was like from theemployee's perspective.
So I decided to do something alittle bit different.
I decided to be all me.
Now what you need to know alsois, as a hobby, I love making
videos that make my friendslaugh laugh till they cry and
(11:47):
feel amazingly honored becauseI've put this creative effort
into making a video for them.
It's something I'm incrediblypassionate about.
So I thought I could bring thetwo together.
So what I created was thisinstead of this boring
PowerPoint presentation withstats and graphs and a couple of
words, I basically reenactedthe process of the employee
(12:11):
experience using real emotions,using the real words people said
, the real events that happenedand even did a video at the end
to show what happened in acertain part of that employee
experience, and the result wasincredible.
People were engaged, they wereleaning in and we got approval
(12:36):
for the thing that we wanted todo.
And, having worked with thisorganization before, I know an
approval at that level cansometimes take multiple meetings
and multiple reports andattempts and things to get it
through.
So to get it through on thisfirst go was absolutely
incredible and so confirmingabout when you step into your
magnetic authenticity, thatpeople lean in and people want
(12:59):
to hear what you have to say andpeople want to come along on
the journey with you.
So how do you tap into yourmagnetic authenticity?
Well, I'm glad you asked,because that's the whole premise
of this whole podcast, becauseit's not something that you can
just switch on and it's notsomething that is one
dimensional.
It's so multifaceted andthere's so much to explore here
(13:24):
and some of it's going to bemaybe confronting.
Some of it's going to be fun.
Some of it's going to be basedon research and it's going to be
all sorts of stuff in herebased on research and it's going
to be all sorts of stuff inhere, but my real hope is that
this podcast helps you to stepinto your own magnetic
authenticity, to really discoverwhat your strengths are, what
(13:46):
lights you up?
And that's really the first stepis do you actually know who you
are, how you operate?
How do you show up when you areunder stress?
How do other people perceiveyou?
So what are your strengths?
What are your shadow strengths?
That are actually strengths,but if you overuse them, they
can actually have a detrimentaleffect to yourself and to those
(14:08):
around you.
One example is perfectionism.
I call myself a recoveringperfectionist, so what that
means is I'm very aware that Ihave this tendency to want to do
things perfectly and, yes,sometimes it can make me strive
to do things to a higher quality, but other times, when I'm too
fixated on trying to getsomething perfect, it means it
(14:30):
takes me too long to getsomething done.
So do you know what theseshadow strengths are for you?
What's the impact of that?
Because everyone has an impact,but we want to know whether
it's a positive, a negative orsomewhere in between.
Do you know what lights you up?
I remember when I was a financeanalyst in a previous role life.
(14:52):
I just remember the feeling ofthat job and it did not light me
up.
One of my tasks was to edit anumber on a PowerPoint report
that said how many people we'dgotten rid of that month and it
was just, for me, souldestroying.
I didn't find any meaning to it.
(15:13):
It was just these people hadbeen depersonalized and they
were just now numbers in thistiny box on the top right-hand
corner of this PowerPoint slidein this big pack.
And if I compare that to myexperience when I'm coaching
someone one-on-one or when I'mfacilitating a development
program, and I know people wantto be there and they're ready to
(15:35):
change and they want to digdeep and do the work and they
want to step outside of theircomfort zone but want a safe
place to do that and asupportive place to do that.
When I see people do that andsee the results they get, it is
so spine-tinglingly amazing.
Is that even a word?
It is so incredible.
I literally, when I hang up onthe end of a coaching call, it
(15:59):
is like I've popped a pill.
I have so much adrenaline in mybody.
I'm excited, I'm happy.
It's like I've taken a coffeeor a V or something.
It is so amazing.
Yeah, taking a coffee or a V orsomething.
It is so amazing and so I know.
For me that's something thatlights me up, but it's also my
strength.
So knowing that is so powerfulbecause when you can do more of
(16:20):
that, you have more energy, butyou also have more impact and
you can have more meaning inlife and what you're doing,
knowing that what you're doingis having a positive impact on
someone else.
The second way that you can tapinto your magnetic let's try
that again the second way youcan tap into your magnetic
authenticity is to lead fromanywhere, and what I mean by
(16:43):
this is that you don't need atitle.
So I have been talking aboutleadership a lot, but to me, my
definition of a leader issomeone who's willing and wants
to inspire people around them totake action for the good of
themselves and the people aroundthem.
So that could be a parent intheir family, it could be a
(17:04):
sports coach on the field, itcould be a health practitioner
or a teacher.
It could be someone in a formalsupervisory or leadership role.
If you are stepping in thereand wanting to make a difference
and you're wanting to do thatwith people around you, then I
consider you a leader.
So welcome.
So I'll give you an example ofthis For a friend, very close
(17:25):
friend, of mine I won't say whobecause I'll keep it anonymous
for them, but for their 21st Iwanted to create.
This is when the video thingstarted.
Right, I wanted to create avideo.
This is back in the VHS days.
So I just want to say I wasediting videos by playing,
hooking up two video recorderstogether and hitting pause and
play and record.
So this is pretty funny.
(17:49):
But so I wanted to create thisvideo for them that had all
these happy birthday messagesand part of it was a parody of a
song, a very well-known partysong, and it required this
person's best friends gettingdressed up as cheerleaders and
doing this whole routine.
(18:10):
Now, two of the people that Iasked to be in this video are so
not into this.
They would, you know, you wouldnever see them get dressed up
in a dress and you would neversee them dance around,
especially to choreography.
They would be the people thatyou know hang on the back of the
wall and prefer to just watchwhen they're at a party, right?
(18:32):
So to get them involved in thisproject, I feel was an act of
leadership, because they got inthere.
They did it, and they did itincredibly well and it was so
funny and hilarious because theywere just willing to give it a
go.
So that, to me, is leadership.
You might disagree and go.
What is she talking about?
But to me, if you can getsomeone to do something that
(18:56):
benefits someone else and themas well, I'm hoping it gave them
some more confidence to justlet go and have fun and not
worry what people think.
It's an incredible, incrediblefeeling when you could do that.
Now the third thing that you canstart to do to tap into your
magnetic authenticity is to havethe courage to be you.
(19:16):
It does take courage Because Ido believe that somewhere deep
down we do know who we are, butit's often buried under layers
of conditioning, of limitingbeliefs, of other people's
expectations on who we are andwho we should be, and it takes
(19:37):
courage to reveal that sometimes, and sometimes it takes work to
even identify what that is andknow that.
And I think it's probably avery long journey for a lot of
people and some people never getthere, and that's okay.
But if it's something you wantto explore, let's explore this
together.
I remember one time it wasprobably about six years ago now
(19:58):
, I was presenting again atanother workshop and the speaker
before me got up and thisperson was so confident you
would never expect them to saywhat they just said, but they
got up and they started theirpresentation with.
This makes me incrediblynervous.
I don't like public speaking.
And then they went on to dotheir presentation and then the
(20:21):
next person got up to speak andthey said, oh, I really don't
like public speaking either.
And the weirdest thing happenedis there were five speakers
that day and every single one,myself included, got up and said
oh, I really this makes menervous.
And for every single personthat did that, you never would
have known.
So what that did is it createdthis environment where, oh, it
(20:44):
was okay to be nervous aboutthis, it was okay to not be this
polished, perfect speaker, itwas okay to share that with
everyone.
And what that encouraged thenwas other people to volunteer to
step in and speak next timewhen they might've hung back
because you had to look like youknew what you were doing.
(21:06):
So it's incredibly powerful totap into the courage to be you
and I don't again.
This is not a light switchmoment that just flicks on and
that happens.
It's a practice and a journey,so I trust that somewhere in all
of that there was some gold,and I'd love to know what that
gold is.
Feel free to leave a comment ora review wherever you're
(21:29):
listening, because I'd love forthis to be a two-way
conversation.
Otherwise, it's just me talkinginto this microphone on my own
and I don't know where it'sgoing, so I would love to hear
from you.
You can also connect with me onLinkedIn under Jolynne Rydz, so
J-O-L-Y-N-N-E-R-Y-D-Z, and I'dlove to hear your feedback or
(21:52):
comments there.
Send me a DM.
It would be amazing to connect.
So for now, remember you wereborn for a reason and it's time
to thrive.
I'll see you in the nextepisode.
Only 24% of people know who they truly are and 16%
of people feel they can bringtheir real self to work.
This was a statistic that Istumbled upon, done by the Be
Yourself at Work global survey.
I found this fascinatingbecause you think it would be
(00:20):
simple right, just be yourself.
But it's not.
Have a think.
Do you know who you are?
Can you answer off the top ofyour head what your strengths
are, what your values are, whatyou stand for in this world,
what's your purpose and how doyou make your biggest impact?
For a lot of us, we don't knowthis, and it's a journey to get
(00:42):
there.
I'd love for you to reflect ona time where you've met someone
where you just are drawn to them.
You just want to be in theirpresence and do whatever it is
they're doing, because you wantto be a part of it.
They know what their strengthsare.
They are so present in thecause, they know the purpose and
(01:05):
they know how to engage otherson the journey, and to me,
that's an incredibly powerfulsuperpower in leadership and
beyond.
In today's episode, I want totalk about magnetic authenticity
and why that just could be yoursuperpower.
About 20 years ago, I rememberwalking onto a packed suburban
(01:28):
train on my way home from work.
I was in uncomfortablehigh-heeled shoes in a suit when
my usual get up at home istracksuit pants and something
comfortable and I was lookingaround at everyone on the train
and there was just thissoul-sucking draining energy.
(01:50):
People were exhausted, peoplewere zoned out, no one talked to
each other and I just felt thiswas so demoralizing To me.
It was really clear from a lotof people not everyone, but a
lot of people sitting in thatcarriage that they were stuck in
jobs on their way home, justlike me, from a job that they
didn't feel was meaningful,where they couldn't use all of
(02:12):
their talents, and to me that'sa global waste of human
potential.
It's not just an individualissue If you multiply that by
all the people commuting home ona train, just going oh I'm glad
that day's done and doing whatthey can because they need to,
and everyone needs a job to dowhat they need to do as a family
(02:35):
or for their own personal lives.
But is that really it?
And I think part of the problemis that when you go to work,
often in a lot of workplaces,you do need to maybe put on a
uniform, or you put on a suit oryou leave your emotions at the
door because you're not allowedto cry at work.
You've got to be professional.
(02:55):
Maybe you can't be overlypersonable, maybe you've got to
take certain jewelry off.
Maybe it's not okay for you tobe out in that environment.
There's all sorts of masks thatwe sometimes need to put on when
we enter a workplace, and I'dlove for you to reflect on which
(03:16):
environment would you rather bein.
I remember one organization,the organization I was actually
coming home from on this traintrip.
That the organization I wasactually coming home from on
this train trip, was one whereI'd get into work and at the
time there were layoffs going onconstantly and you would walk
in there and people would justnot talk to each other.
They would just sit at theirdesk, do their job, get up and
(03:38):
go have a coffee or get lunch,come back, sit down again, keep
typing away at their desks.
Now, would you prefer that, orwould you prefer to be in this
environment where your teamcomes in?
They're high-fiving each other,they're talking about how
amazing things were for them onthe weekend and, you know, in a
team meeting, they're laughinguncontrollably about something
(04:03):
that's happened and then gettingstraight back into what they
need to do, energized and lovingbeing there and being around
people.
I think that's incrediblypowerful and also incredibly
underrated, and from my past,I've spent the last decade
working in differentenvironments and organizations,
(04:24):
looking at corporate culture,looking at how we develop our
leaders, how we developindividuals, and I'm seeing you
know the statistics are alsoshowing that engagement's
dropping across the globe andpeople are feeling like there's
a lack of meaning sometimes intheir work, and when I talk to
people, so often I come acrosspeople telling me horrific
(04:48):
stories about how they'retreated at work and how that
makes them feel, and then theimpact that has when they take
that home.
These toxic environments aremore common than they should be,
and we're also.
The issue, I think, is we'reworking in this VUCA environment
, so if you're not familiar withthe term, vuca, it stands for
(05:08):
volatile, uncertain, complex andambiguous, and it's increasing.
What this means is that some ofthe ways that our systems as
organisations have been set up,some of the ways that we've been
trained to work and rewardedfor in the workplace, are not
(05:30):
working anymore in thisenvironment, and it's why
there's this crazy statistic.
I'm going to pull a statisticoff the top of my head, which I
know I shouldn't, so take thiswith a grain of salt and go
research it.
But the statistic is somethinglike 75% of change programs fail
.
Hi everyone, it's future Jolenehere.
(05:51):
I didn't want to just make up astatistic, so I'm editing it
right now.
I've looked it up and I waspretty close.
It's actually 70% of changeinitiatives fail, and that was
reported by the Harvard BusinessReview.
So let's dive back into theepisode.
So an organization introduces achange they work so hard at it,
(06:13):
so much effort goes into it,and people revert back to the
way they were operating before,or they revert back to the
system they were using before,or they make all these
workarounds to try and get backto their comfort zone of what
they were doing before.
And I truly believe that thereis so much in this space to
explore, because we need to,because things are changing so
(06:37):
rapidly.
There's a, you know, increasein AI and what that means for
the way that we work.
There's so many things that wedon't know of right now.
What could happen and what I'malso seeing at the moment is
people's well-being and stress,this overwhelm and burnout, and
you've got to do more and moreand more and you hit this goal
and then the next one comesalong and people are stressed
(06:58):
and getting burnt out.
And recently actually, I was inan organization and doing a talk
at a leadership summit and Idid a little survey check.
There was about 130 leadersthat came through and 58% of
them felt they were rushing andmultitasking within the past
week.
49% of them always felt busyand 38% of them felt they had to
(07:25):
be perfect.
And this is just oneorganization, but I do believe
that that's not something uniqueto that organization.
I'd love for you to reflect andgo.
Have I ever experienced any ofthose things myself?
And so when there's environmentsand there's also leadership and
systems that might feel likeout of our control, what can we
(07:48):
control?
The one thing we can control inall of this is us.
One thing we can control in allof this is us, and what I found
is that magnetic authenticityis like a superpower that is
untapped in so many people.
It's like we've forgotten howto be ourselves because there's
so much societal conditioning,both in the workplace but beyond
(08:11):
that.
When we grow up as kids, we'retaught to behave a certain way.
An example of this is.
I have a couple of kids and whenthey start crying, I noticed
that some people areuncomfortable with that and they
might go and give this person achocolate to help them stop
crying.
And I'm not saying that's goodor bad, but what I'm saying is
(08:32):
it sends a message that, oh,it's not okay to cry.
And then we carry this messagethrough as we grow up and as we
enter the workforce.
Maybe you people I've actuallyseen people and I've done this
myself I've gone into thebathroom to have a cry.
Now there's environments thatI've been in a workplace where
that is totally acceptable andokay and embraced, in a
(08:54):
workplace where that is totallyacceptable and okay and embraced
and there's environments wherethey're like, no, you need to
cry alone and we don't want todeal with that here.
And the impact of those twodifferent environments is so
vast because in one environment,you can't be yourself and it's
not okay, and in the other one,you can and you're embraced and
you're supported, and the energyin that is incredible, not just
(09:17):
for the individual, but for theteam around them and then the
broader organization.
So what's some of the evidencearound this?
So Anna Sutton from theUniversity of Waikato did a
meta-analysis in 2020 and whatthey found was that there's a
relationship a positiverelationship, between
authenticity and wellbeing andengagement.
(09:39):
And that's just one study.
There's a lot of other studiesthat are increasingly showing
that when we can be authentic,when we can be vulnerable, when
we can be courageous and when wecan be ourselves, it has a
ripple effect on the peoplearound us and our impacts.
Robert Anderson and WilliamAdams have written a book called
(09:59):
Mastering Leadership, andthey've actually created this
incredible tool that helpsleaders to understand themselves
, and one of the things thatthey write about is that
authentic leaders create trustand credibility, and trust and
credibility is so important inleadership because it allows
people to open up, it allowspeople to lean in, it allows
(10:21):
people to step into discomfort,especially when there's a change
going on.
You want people to have a senseof trust that they're going to
be okay, and when you can dothat, leading that team becomes
effortless because they're therewith you.
A big part of all of this ishaving self-awareness.
(10:41):
Recently, I was doing a projectwith an organization really
leaning into and exploring asection of their employee
experience, and I'd worked withthis organization in the past
employee experience, and I'dworked with this organisation in
the past, and what you need toknow is that in the past, I felt
that I needed to be reallyprofessional and stick to the
facts, stick to the rules,follow the process, follow the
(11:04):
norms, follow the templates ofhow things were done.
And I was about to give apresentation to the senior
executive team and I thoughtwe'd done so much work to really
hear what employees wereexperiencing and I wanted to do
that justice, and I didn't thinka couple of graphs on a
(11:24):
PowerPoint was really going toget people to understand and
feel what it was like from theemployee's perspective.
So I decided to do something alittle bit different.
I decided to be all me.
Now what you need to know alsois, as a hobby, I love making
videos that make my friendslaugh laugh till they cry and
(11:47):
feel amazingly honored becauseI've put this creative effort
into making a video for them.
It's something I'm incrediblypassionate about.
So I thought I could bring thetwo together.
So what I created was thisinstead of this boring
PowerPoint presentation withstats and graphs and a couple of
words, I basically reenactedthe process of the employee
(12:11):
experience using real emotions,using the real words people said
, the real events that happenedand even did a video at the end
to show what happened in acertain part of that employee
experience, and the result wasincredible.
People were engaged, they wereleaning in and we got approval
(12:36):
for the thing that we wanted todo.
And, having worked with thisorganization before, I know an
approval at that level cansometimes take multiple meetings
and multiple reports andattempts and things to get it
through.
So to get it through on thisfirst go was absolutely
incredible and so confirmingabout when you step into your
magnetic authenticity, thatpeople lean in and people want
(12:59):
to hear what you have to say andpeople want to come along on
the journey with you.
So how do you tap into yourmagnetic authenticity?
Well, I'm glad you asked,because that's the whole premise
of this whole podcast, becauseit's not something that you can
just switch on and it's notsomething that is one
dimensional.
It's so multifaceted andthere's so much to explore here
(13:24):
and some of it's going to bemaybe confronting.
Some of it's going to be fun.
Some of it's going to be basedon research and it's going to be
all sorts of stuff in herebased on research and it's going
to be all sorts of stuff inhere, but my real hope is that
this podcast helps you to stepinto your own magnetic
authenticity, to really discoverwhat your strengths are, what
(13:46):
lights you up?
And that's really the first stepis do you actually know who you
are, how you operate?
How do you show up when you areunder stress?
How do other people perceiveyou?
So what are your strengths?
What are your shadow strengths?
That are actually strengths,but if you overuse them, they
can actually have a detrimentaleffect to yourself and to those
(14:08):
around you.
One example is perfectionism.
I call myself a recoveringperfectionist, so what that
means is I'm very aware that Ihave this tendency to want to do
things perfectly and, yes,sometimes it can make me strive
to do things to a higher quality, but other times, when I'm too
fixated on trying to getsomething perfect, it means it
(14:30):
takes me too long to getsomething done.
So do you know what theseshadow strengths are for you?
What's the impact of that?
Because everyone has an impact,but we want to know whether
it's a positive, a negative orsomewhere in between.
Do you know what lights you up?
I remember when I was a financeanalyst in a previous role life.
(14:52):
I just remember the feeling ofthat job and it did not light me
up.
One of my tasks was to edit anumber on a PowerPoint report
that said how many people we'dgotten rid of that month and it
was just, for me, souldestroying.
I didn't find any meaning to it.
(15:13):
It was just these people hadbeen depersonalized and they
were just now numbers in thistiny box on the top right-hand
corner of this PowerPoint slidein this big pack.
And if I compare that to myexperience when I'm coaching
someone one-on-one or when I'mfacilitating a development
program, and I know people wantto be there and they're ready to
(15:35):
change and they want to digdeep and do the work and they
want to step outside of theircomfort zone but want a safe
place to do that and asupportive place to do that.
When I see people do that andsee the results they get, it is
so spine-tinglingly amazing.
Is that even a word?
It is so incredible.
I literally, when I hang up onthe end of a coaching call, it
(15:59):
is like I've popped a pill.
I have so much adrenaline in mybody.
I'm excited, I'm happy.
It's like I've taken a coffeeor a V or something.
It is so amazing.
Yeah, taking a coffee or a V orsomething.
It is so amazing and so I know.
For me that's something thatlights me up, but it's also my
strength.
So knowing that is so powerfulbecause when you can do more of
(16:20):
that, you have more energy, butyou also have more impact and
you can have more meaning inlife and what you're doing,
knowing that what you're doingis having a positive impact on
someone else.
The second way that you can tapinto your magnetic let's try
that again the second way youcan tap into your magnetic
authenticity is to lead fromanywhere, and what I mean by
(16:43):
this is that you don't need atitle.
So I have been talking aboutleadership a lot, but to me, my
definition of a leader issomeone who's willing and wants
to inspire people around them totake action for the good of
themselves and the people aroundthem.
So that could be a parent intheir family, it could be a
(17:04):
sports coach on the field, itcould be a health practitioner
or a teacher.
It could be someone in a formalsupervisory or leadership role.
If you are stepping in thereand wanting to make a difference
and you're wanting to do thatwith people around you, then I
consider you a leader.
So welcome.
So I'll give you an example ofthis For a friend, very close
(17:25):
friend, of mine I won't say whobecause I'll keep it anonymous
for them, but for their 21st Iwanted to create.
This is when the video thingstarted.
Right, I wanted to create avideo.
This is back in the VHS days.
So I just want to say I wasediting videos by playing,
hooking up two video recorderstogether and hitting pause and
play and record.
So this is pretty funny.
(17:49):
But so I wanted to create thisvideo for them that had all
these happy birthday messagesand part of it was a parody of a
song, a very well-known partysong, and it required this
person's best friends gettingdressed up as cheerleaders and
doing this whole routine.
(18:10):
Now, two of the people that Iasked to be in this video are so
not into this.
They would, you know, you wouldnever see them get dressed up
in a dress and you would neversee them dance around,
especially to choreography.
They would be the people thatyou know hang on the back of the
wall and prefer to just watchwhen they're at a party, right?
(18:32):
So to get them involved in thisproject, I feel was an act of
leadership, because they got inthere.
They did it, and they did itincredibly well and it was so
funny and hilarious because theywere just willing to give it a
go.
So that, to me, is leadership.
You might disagree and go.
What is she talking about?
But to me, if you can getsomeone to do something that
(18:56):
benefits someone else and themas well, I'm hoping it gave them
some more confidence to justlet go and have fun and not
worry what people think.
It's an incredible, incrediblefeeling when you could do that.
Now the third thing that you canstart to do to tap into your
magnetic authenticity is to havethe courage to be you.
(19:16):
It does take courage Because Ido believe that somewhere deep
down we do know who we are, butit's often buried under layers
of conditioning, of limitingbeliefs, of other people's
expectations on who we are andwho we should be, and it takes
(19:37):
courage to reveal that sometimes, and sometimes it takes work to
even identify what that is andknow that.
And I think it's probably avery long journey for a lot of
people and some people never getthere, and that's okay.
But if it's something you wantto explore, let's explore this
together.
I remember one time it wasprobably about six years ago now
(19:58):
, I was presenting again atanother workshop and the speaker
before me got up and thisperson was so confident you
would never expect them to saywhat they just said, but they
got up and they started theirpresentation with.
This makes me incrediblynervous.
I don't like public speaking.
And then they went on to dotheir presentation and then the
(20:21):
next person got up to speak andthey said, oh, I really don't
like public speaking either.
And the weirdest thing happenedis there were five speakers
that day and every single one,myself included, got up and said
oh, I really this makes menervous.
And for every single personthat did that, you never would
have known.
So what that did is it createdthis environment where, oh, it
(20:44):
was okay to be nervous aboutthis, it was okay to not be this
polished, perfect speaker, itwas okay to share that with
everyone.
And what that encouraged thenwas other people to volunteer to
step in and speak next timewhen they might've hung back
because you had to look like youknew what you were doing.
(21:06):
So it's incredibly powerful totap into the courage to be you
and I don't again.
This is not a light switchmoment that just flicks on and
that happens.
It's a practice and a journey,so I trust that somewhere in all
of that there was some gold,and I'd love to know what that
gold is.
Feel free to leave a comment ora review wherever you're
(21:29):
listening, because I'd love forthis to be a two-way
conversation.
Otherwise, it's just me talkinginto this microphone on my own
and I don't know where it'sgoing, so I would love to hear
from you.
You can also connect with me onLinkedIn under Jolynne Rydz, so
J-O-L-Y-N-N-E-R-Y-D-Z, and I'dlove to hear your feedback or
(21:52):
comments there.
Send me a DM.
It would be amazing to connect.
So for now, remember you wereborn for a reason and it's time
to thrive.
I'll see you in the nextepisode.
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