March 17, 2025 • 29 mins
In this episode of The Leadership Vision Podcast, we continue our conversation with executive coach and aviation leader Stephanie Chung about her book Ally Leadership: How to Lead People Who Are Not Like You. We explore:
- Why diversity goes beyond race and gender—it’s about experiences, thought processes, and communication styles.
- How privilege isn’t a bad thing—it’s a tool that can be used to create positive change.
- Why allyship requires action, not just intention, and how leaders can take meaningful steps to support inclusivity.
Stephanie shares powerful stories and actionable insights that will challenge and inspire leaders at every level.
Listen now and take action to become a more inclusive, effective leader.
Resources & Links:
- Stephanie Chung’s Website
- Ally Leadership: How to Lead People Who Are Not Like You
- The Leadership Vision Podcast
-
Read the full blog post here!
CONTACT US
- email: connect@leadershipvisionconsulting.com
- Leadership Vision Online
ABOUT
The Leadership Vision Podcast is a weekly show sharing our expertise in discovering, practicing, and implementing a Strengths-based approach to people, teams, and culture. Contact us to talk to us about helping your team understand the power of Strengths.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I want everyone, also from a leadership perspective,
to let's not dumb down the worddiverse, because so far the
narrative has very much made ita black, white, gay straight
male, female issue.
But when we talk aboutdiversity, diversity is
diversity of thought, diversityof communication skills and, yes
, it's age and race and genderand sexual orientation.
(00:22):
You know neurodiversity and allthat stuff, but everything is
about diversity literallyeverything.
And so if you want a team that'sgoing to win, you wouldn't have
a basketball team with justforwards right, you would never
win.
Right, you wouldn't have amilitary that only know how to
fly planes right, you've gotMarines, air Force, army, like.
You've got a lot of differentdiversity because you're going
(00:44):
to see things differently, sodon't get freaked out by the
word diversity.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Welcome back to the Leadership Vision Podcast.
I'm Nathan Friberg and today weare continuing our conversation
with Stephanie Chung, apowerhouse leader in the
aviation industry, an executivecoach, a sought after speaker on
leadership and diversity andthe author of the wonderful book
Ally Leadership how to LeadPeople who Are Not Like you.
In this book, stephanie sharesactionable strategies to help
(01:13):
leaders of all kinds bridgecultural, generational and
experiential gaps so that theycan lead more effectively in
today's complex workplace.
Now, if you haven't alreadylistened to part one, I highly
recommend that you go back andcheck it out.
There's a link in the shownotes for that, and in that
episode, stephanie shares herpowerful journey from growing up
(01:33):
in a military family andlearning how to adapt to new
environments all the time tobreaking barriers as a leader in
private aviation.
We talked about the experiencesthat shaped her leadership and
the lessons she learned alongthe way.
In the second conversation heretoday, we dig into the key ideas
from her book Ally Leadershipand explore some of Stephanie's
(01:54):
insights on leadership intoday's world.
We talk about what it trulymeans to be an ally in
leadership, the importance ofunderstanding privilege and why
diversity is an undeniablestrength in any organization.
Now, as you listen.
I want you to consider thesetwo things as you reflect on
your own leadership journey.
Number one how are you activelyusing your privilege, whatever
(02:17):
that might be, to lift others upand create opportunities?
And number two what actionsteps can you take to build a
more diverse, inclusive andhigh-performing team?
And this word diversity, weknow, is kind of a hot one right
now.
So please just give this alisten with an open mind and I
think that we might give you adifferent perspective, perhaps,
(02:37):
on what these words mean.
Stephanie brings so much wisdomand energy to this conversation
and we really think that you'regoing to walk away with some
practical insights that you canapply right away, so let's jump
in.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
And then the other part that I would say I learned
a lot about through the bookprocess was that the stories
that resonated with folks.
You know there's one story Iknow you guys have read the book
.
I won't give it to go a lot ofdetails, but there is a story
that I talked about that I hadan encounter with someone 30
years ago when and this personwas transgender and I didn't
(03:16):
know what the word meant whensomeone had asked me to have
lunch with this person.
So I didn't have a background,I didn't have an understanding,
didn't have anything, and Iwrite the story from the
perspective of me sitting acrossthe table in front of this
person.
And I'm writing it not justbecause of me and this person,
but also how the rest of therestaurant was responding to
(03:36):
this person.
So it's a really interestingstory and I didn't even realize
as I was writing it, becausethis happened 30 years ago, that
it was.
Even I had so many feelings inthat process and vulnerabilities
because, again, it wasn't likesomething I knew.
You know it was an area thatwas unfamiliar to me.
And here's what's reallyinteresting is everybody,
whether in marketplace orministry, that story really
(03:58):
resonates with people?
Because I think the way thatit's written, all of us can see
ourselves either as therestaurant waiter and waitress,
or the restaurant person havinga power lunch, or me, or the
person Like you can findyourself somewhere in there and
then you then have to confrontyourself with your own biases
and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
So Well and what I?
That story stood out to me toobecause what I thought was
interesting I think you had donea bunch of research or
something about like thepsychology and whatever, but
until you got there you're likeI didn't know what to expect.
And I think so often leaders dothat where they you know they
do research and kind of like howwe started this.
It's like we think we know whoyou are, but we really don't
(04:39):
until we talk to you.
And so I wonder if that's justsuch a big part of maybe the
problem today, as people just doa research, assume they know
what someone's differences areand then just apply that.
I don't know, Well meaningignorance towards whatever
they're trying to do.
Well meaning ignorance, wellmeaning ignorance.
And.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I love that, nate, and that's and that's the part
that can get people frustratedRight.
I love that, nate, and that'sthe part that can get people
frustrated right, because thebook Ally Leadership but Ally
stands for ask, listen, learn,you take action.
And so whenever I'm speaking inpublic this will always happen
Somewhere during the meet andgreets someone will come up to
me usually a man and say I lovethis.
I am such a ally for women.
(05:21):
I'm married to the same womanfor however long, and I've got
three girls.
I'm a girl.
Dad Like this is awesome.
I'm an ally, and what I alwayssay to people is that's
fantastic.
Thank you so much.
Tell me what you've done thisweek to show your allyship
Crickets right.
They're like looking at me, youknow staring at me.
(05:42):
They different life, they don'thave any receipts to back it up.
And so one of the things that Ihope people get out of the book
is that it's not enough for youto self-anoint yourself as an
ally.
You have to have receipts ofwhat actions you've actually
taken.
And if you've taken actions,then guess what?
You don't have to tell meyou're an ally.
I can see it for myself, right,because I've seen the action.
(06:04):
But we've really got to getaway from and this is really
important for leaders they haveto get away from just deciding
oh, I know a couple people orI've read a couple things or I
think I know this You've got toask, you've got to listen,
you've got to learn and then youhave to take action.
But it's not enough just to askand listen and learn if you
(06:25):
don't act right, and it'scertainly not enough to just
assume you know.
You really have to go intothese relationships, whether
it's intergenerationally,different gender, different race
, different religion, differentability, whatever right
Different is different.
You have to go into theseconversations with the attitude
of I don't know anything andthen I'm going to ask questions
(06:46):
and I'm going to listen, because, even if you, sometimes the
fear people have is I don't wantto ask anything that makes me
look stupid or I don't want tobe offensive, right?
So there's the flip side ofthat as well.
That's the conversation I hadwith this story we're all
talking about.
It's like I did all thisresearch so I don't look like an
idiot.
You know when it comes time tohave lunch with this person, but
the truth of the matter is thatpeople who are different this
(07:06):
is a head and heart issue.
We all know, especially ifyou're a person who comes from a
marginalized group.
We can sense people's heartreal quick, and so we know if
your heart is in the right place.
You may not have asked thequestion appropriately, or maybe
you know, but if your heart'sin the right place, we'd much
rather you talk to us than nottalk to us at all because you
have this fear of beingoffensive.
(07:28):
We can tell it's a heart issue,right, and so I would just
encourage all leaders you'regoing to leave people who aren't
like you it's okay, as long asyour heart's in the right place,
to actually ask a question.
One of the things I did at thatlunch is I said you know what,
and I would love to be able toask you questions.
First question is whatquestions are off limits?
Speaker 4 (07:48):
right, that's the first question.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And the second question is I know I'm going to
say something stupid oroffensive, and not because I'm
trying to, but because I'mtrying to learn and I don't know
and that then gave the personto give me grace and go.
Absolutely, let's have theconversation.
That's right, yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Well, Stephanie, what I appreciate about your stories
and your compelling narrativesand your lessons learned that
you share with all of us is itgives us space to think about
where this happens in our ownlife, and it makes me think of
early days at Leadership Vision.
And it makes me think of earlydays at Leadership Vision and I
(08:36):
was leading with another womanand this man came up to us and
said hey, can we fly the two ofyou out, but bring Nathan and
Brian with us and then invitethe men and then have the men
watch how Brian and Nathan treatus as absolute equals.
And he was stunned.
I mean, we never got theinvitation.
(08:57):
I was going to say I never didthat he wasn't ready for it, but
sometimes we put it on themarginalized group to teach us
about what we're supposed to do,instead of taking the risk to
say you know what are thequestions and how do I step into
this narrative that we canwrite together and that I can be
(09:21):
an ally.
So I just I'm thankful for, I'mthankful for the structure that
you're giving to us, to ourlisteners, and the inspiration
to think in some different ways.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
You're wrestling with a question.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Brian always has that look on his face when he's
really thinking it's his thought.
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I don't want to start , just start.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Ready, go?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
yeah, I'm almost afraid of his question, I know
well there are people that,whatever, it doesn't matter um
ignore what I'm looking like.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
okay, so here's where I'm at, stephanie, I, I cannot,
I cannot, unwilling, doesn'tmatter.
I'm wrestling with the, withmany concepts that we're talking
about right now.
I'm wrestling because whatyou're talking about and of
course you know this is a livedexperience that we go through on
(10:14):
the daily.
So we're either consulting orexecutive coaching people almost
every day and you're touchingon a lot of things in this
conversation that I ampersonally experiencing, as you
know hot buttons or tripwires,or just ultimate questions that
are happening within thiscurrent environment, larger
(10:34):
conversations that are happeningnationally, and then an
international kind of dialogueon.
You know, I must be heard andmy origin story must be told.
All that to say this I'mwrestling with the importance of
your idea of window versusmirror, because I know and I use
(10:55):
that word collectively, I knowthat that's an issue.
Second, because I'm nuancingsome assumptions of that.
The second thing that's reallyI'm wrestling with is privilege,
because I come from a point ofview and a lived experience of
(11:16):
and yet to just trust me, of mylived experience of.
I believe everyone has a levelof privilege and underprivilege,
one's overbaked, one's overamplified.
But how do we?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
discover what our unique privilege is and the dark
side of that.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
And then my other question is um, um, we, when we
do our work, just 10 seconds.
We talk about the intellectual,emotional, physical and
spiritual side of people,regardless of context.
And by spiritual we mean thathuman need, a human being's need
for a transcendent experienceto connect with something
greater than the current.
(11:57):
Whether it's emotional, social,political, I don't care what
all, but that transcendent givesyou a different perspective, a
different sense of meaning, aconnection to higher purpose,
and that type of conversation iscoming up a lot more than it
has in the past, especiallysince COVID.
Now that, all being said, I'mnot even sure where to go.
Like what?
(12:18):
The question?
Like what do you think,stephanie, is important from
your experience?
Should we talk, or can we talkabout the mirror and window?
Or is privilege something thatwe can amplify?
Or is this transcendent kind ofescape from reality to
(12:39):
reconnect to?
Why am I here?
Which kind of taps into yoursignificance?
And I know that some of themost fundamental psychological
needs of human beings aremeaning, belonging and
significance that I have apurpose here on earth.
I'm going to stop.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Yeah, where do you want?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
to go.
What are you hearing?
Speaker 3 (12:56):
What are you feeling In 15 minutes?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
let's solve it all solve it all yeah, exactly.
Well, if you, if you'd like,what I can do is try to hit each
one, that's true yeah and I'lljust kind of give so.
So first, when we talk in thebook about mirror versus window,
just to uh, you know, give thegive the audience an
understanding of where we'rereferring to, that it really is
(13:20):
about your bias at the end ofthe day, right.
And so the way that we thinkabout in-group and out-group, so
the brain is going toautomatically and you can talk
on this a lot more, brian, thanI but the brain is going to
actually, when looking atsomeone, let's just say from a
facial perspective just keep itsimple it's going to put people
either in an in-group you'relike me or an out-group really
(13:40):
not like me.
And so when we think about thatin the workplace, then,
depending on how you werebrought up, there's going to be
a lot of people that yourbrain's going to automatically
stick them in an out-groupbecause it's just not familiar
to you.
Now, it doesn't make you a badperson, and I think that's the
piece that I want leaders tohold on to.
It doesn't make you a badperson and I think that's the
(14:03):
piece that I want leaders tohold on to.
It doesn't make you a badperson because you have a bias.
Biases actually can servereally good things for us and
keep us safe in a lot ofdifferent ways.
And so if we can kind of startwith putting away the
sensitivity right of in-group,out-group or you know, does that
automatically make me a thisright?
So put that away.
And if you go into it because,again, I've always said this is
(14:25):
a head and heart issue so if yougo into it with a heart
perspective, which is okay, yes,I grew up a certain way and
therefore I may or may not havehad exposure to other folks, but
that doesn't make me a badperson and it doesn't mean that
I can't grow and develop.
And so our default system inour brain is going to just try
(14:48):
to protect, right.
And so what we have to do is torealize that I've got to put
people into, I've got tooverride that, and how I
override it is to make theunfamiliar familiar.
So, going back to allyleadership, ask, listen, learn
and take action that's theeasiest way to make the
unfamiliar familiar so that youcan start to increase your
(15:09):
in-group or make this more of awindow versus a little tiny
mirror.
So that's the first thing iswhat I would say in regards to
that particular subject say inregards to that particular
subject.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
That was great, by the way.
So good, so good.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
The simplicity by which you synthesize the data
and information and science ofthat.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, oh, I take that as a big compliment.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
It's huge, because breaking that stuff down, yeah,
all right.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Okay, thank you.
So now I'm going to hitprivilege Nathan okay, yes,
please.
Privilege is always aninteresting word to me, because
it's actually a positive word.
Right, privilege is a positiveword.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Not a dirty word.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, it's not a dirty word, and yet somehow,
with all the narrative that'sout there, we've made a really
positive word, a trigger wordfor many people.
And the minute people starthearing privilege, the
conversation starts to shut down.
And so I want to challengeeveryone to look at privilege a
different way.
Everybody has privilegeeverybody and there's different
(16:10):
types of privileges.
So in the book I talk aboutseveral different types of
privilege.
Unfortunately, in our world, atleast in our country, we've
kind of narrowed the wordprivilege down to, you know,
black, white haves and have notmen, women, like we've just made
it too simplistic.
But there's a lot of differentways that privilege shows up
when I, you know, in the book Italk about proximity privilege.
(16:32):
You know, listen, I come fromthe private jet industry.
I know a lot of the world'smovers and shakers, and so I had
a situation when my husband hada stroke and we had life and
death decisions to make.
Then I used my privilege, whichwas proximity privilege, to
actually override a healthcaresystem that was not working in
(16:52):
my favor.
So that's a way that you canuse privilege.
I guess I want leaders torealize that even you as a
leader just you being a leader,gives you more privilege than
probably the people that work onyour team.
The question isn't aboutwhether or not you have
privilege.
Let me be the first to break itto you.
You have privilege, okay.
The question is how do you usethat privilege for good?
(17:13):
That's the question, right, andthat's where I really want
leaders to spend more time totake the sensitivity down about
the word privilege and raise upyour sensitivity about how do I
use my privilege.
Maybe you have to figure outwhich one you have or which ones
you have, but how do you usethat for good so that you can be
a leader for all types ofpeople?
Because the goal of allyleadership is to ask, listen,
(17:36):
learn and then you take action,and your privilege is a way that
you can take action.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Right, oh geez, I could talk about that for
another 15 minutes.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
I love it.
Next podcast oh my.
God yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Now my last one need to connect with something
greater.
See, brian, I was taking notes,I was paying attention when you
were talking to me, all right,so one of the things that I
think about with the book is itreally is.
At the end of the day, I thinkleadership is a calling, and
either you know you are calledto do it or you're not.
It's not an easy thing, andit's certainly not for the faint
(18:09):
at heart, and so if, in fact,you believe that you're called
to be a leader, then for mepersonally, again, I'm a woman
of faith, and so I think thatone day I will be held
accountable and I will answer.
For how did I influence thosethat God's given me?
Right?
His most prized possession ishuman beings, and so he's
allowed me to have influenceover certain ones, whether they
(18:33):
worked on my team or I workedwith them at different
capacities, whatever, and Ithink I'm going to be held
accountable.
I'm going to stand there andtalk about did I help them or
did I hurt them?
That's how I see leadership.
So, with that in mind, we'reall you know, most of us are
looking for that bigger thing,right?
Because if you don't have it,then life gets a little boring
and mundane, but for me, I thinkmost leaders believe that they
(18:55):
are called for something greater, and it stretches them and it
challenges them, right, and allthis is a good thing.
And then, once we learn throughtrials and tribulations, right,
then we can go back and say,hey, here's what I learned, and
in hopes that this will help youto avoid some of the you know,
pit stops that I had to makeunnecessarily.
(19:15):
And so when I think ofleadership and you know I talk a
little bit about this in thebook I do believe that we're all
called, most of us aresearching for.
You know, I've got to be put onthis earth for something
greater than maybe what I'mdoing now.
And so what does that look like?
And whatever it looks like,it's going to involve people.
Like you will not do anythinggreat that doesn't involve
(19:36):
people, right, it's going toinvolve people.
So the question becomes anythinggreat that doesn't involve
people, right, it's going toinvolve people.
So the question becomes how doI maximize that impact or that
greatness?
And how I do it, I believe, isby first understanding that
everybody's different.
You could have your in-group,your out-group, your privilege,
your, you know all that stuff,it doesn't really matter.
You will be interacting withother people, and they're most
(19:57):
likely people who are not likeyou, and so use the book as a
tool to help you understand howto do it effectively, so that
you can actually, you know,fulfill the calling that you've
got on your life, that's how.
I see the purpose of the book.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Wow, well, thanks for hitting each of those three.
Nathan, what's your producer?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Well, yeah, so I want to be aware of time.
I'm wondering, stephan, justthank you so much for this whole
conversation.
You strike me as someone thatdoesn't like to sit around, that
likes to take action.
Each section of your book endswith key takeaways and then
gives people something to takeaction towards.
I don't even know if I'm goingto give you an impossible task
(20:42):
here, but in all that we'vetalked about in the last hour
and five minutes, what is maybeone or two, if one is too hard
one way that people can takeaction towards the big ideas in
your book?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yeah, thank you for the question.
I would just say that the veryfirst thing I would do is I
really want all leaders, butspecifically your listeners, to
give yourself some grace, right?
No one's looking for you to dothis with perfection.
We're all trying to figure itout, Every single one of us,
myself included.
But with that in mind, I don'twant people to overcomplicate
(21:13):
this either.
Little kids do it in school atfive years old.
Clearly, we can do this asadults, and so that's what I
really want.
Is that all of the things thatwe end up having to deprogram
ourselves with it's because it'slearned behavior over time.
And now for leaders, because ofthe time that we're in and the
(21:33):
calling that we have, we've gotto decompress all this stuff and
kind of get rid of the stinkingthinking.
So what I would say, Nathan andLinda and Brian, is a couple
easy things A don't overthink it.
B just know that you're goingto make some mistakes, and
that's okay, Unless you're somekind of brain surgeon, no one's
going to die in this process,Okay.
(21:54):
So if you make a mistake, learnfrom it, ask for forgiveness
and then move on right.
It does nobody any good for younot to at least try, OK, and so
(22:29):
have.
You know all of thoseneighborhoods have usually art
centers, and you know certainlyrestaurants and cultural centers
, and you know it's all therefor you if, in fact, you choose
to embrace it.
And so when you go and surroundyourself with people who are
not like you, you're going tofind that they're actually a lot
more like you than you everanticipated.
(22:51):
But you won't know that if youdon't step out first.
So feel the fear and do itanyway, because you're a leader,
this is easy for you.
I mean, you've got more scarystuff you got to deal with
throughout the day, right, andso leadership, you know you're
called for this and so Iwouldn't let this, the unknown,
freak you out, because every dayin leadership there's the
(23:13):
unknown.
The market somebody wants yourproduct, Nobody wants your
product.
The market change.
You know we've got globalsupply chain issues.
We've got a war that broke outsomewhere.
You, you're a leader, You'reequipped to handle all this
stuff.
Don't let this thing, the wholecultural fluency, scare the
bejesus out of you.
It's not that scary, but itwill require you to really take
(23:35):
that first step.
And if you take that first stepand acknowledge that you don't
know everything and that peopledon't need to work around.
How you see things, if you takethat first initial step, you're
going to be shocked how mucheasier everything else is.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I love that and you'll be more successful
because, the numbers are clear.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Teams simply produce and outproduce non-diverse ones.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
I love that.
I love that the action step ofdon't be afraid and just get out
and do something.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
And may I say one more thing, nathan, Please.
I think that would be importantand is.
I want everyone, also from aleadership perspective, to let's
not dumb down the word diverse,because so far the narrative
has very much made it a black,white, gay straight male, female
issue.
But when we talk aboutdiversity, diversity is
(24:25):
diversity of thought, diversityof communication skills and, yes
, it's age and race and genderand sexual orientation.
You know neurodiversity and allthat stuff, but everything is
about diversity literallyeverything.
And so if you want a team that'sgoing to win, you wouldn't hire
.
You wouldn't have a basketballteam with just forwards right,
you would never win, right, youwouldn't have a military that
(24:47):
only people only know how to flyplanes, right.
You've got Marines, air Force,army, like.
You've got a lot of differentdiversity because you're going
to see things differently.
So don't get freaked out by theword diversity.
Diversity comes in a lot ofdifferent shapes, forms and
fashions, and all we're sayingis that there is a diversity of
perspective and expectation andthought, and that's where you're
(25:08):
going to get your innovation.
That's where you're going toget your competitive edge.
That's where you're going toget your creativity, ideas.
That's where you're going to beable to go and open up new
markets.
There's a lot that goes into theword diversity.
Don't let it freak you out.
Don't believe the hype you'rehearing out there either.
Diversity is a beautiful thingand we're needing leaders to
embrace it and to really attackit head on and then stand on
(25:32):
purpose in regards to what youbelieve is going to be most
beneficial for your team, yourcompany, etc.
Don't believe the hype.
You're the leader, you're incommand here.
You got this.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
I love that.
I would drop my mic if itwasn't secured to the table here
and so expensive.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
And so expensive and so expensive yeah.
I know you guys got the coolmic.
I should have brought my coolmic out.
I was like he's an info.
Oh, that's okay.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
You don't need help sounding cool.
Thank you, we do.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Thank you so much.
I know you have to run.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
This was so fun.
Thank you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Stephanie I, I just want to thank you, for it's your
voice like, not the voice voice, it's the voice, and so in this
context, I would just label itas prophetic, perfect.
You know, the prophetic voicespeaks the truth as they have
experienced it within theircontext, in perfect tense, makes
(26:28):
it practical and applicable toa lot of people.
So I hear a voice that'sprophetic, perfect, a message
that's applicable to humanityand not just a subgroup of
humanity.
So speaking truth in aconfident way, like you do, I
value that big time.
But the fact that it'sapplicable across boundaries,
across cultures, acrossgenerations, that to me is five
(26:52):
stars.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
It's healing and reconciling.
It's healing and reconciling.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Well, it's going to be healing down the road.
It's divisive and catalytic atthe front end too, unless you
have a heart that's open and amind that's willing to hear it.
It's also an attention getter.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
That blesses me.
Thank you, so, so, very much.
You have no idea.
Thank you for saying that.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Wow, stephanie.
Thank you so much.
That brings us to the end ofthis powerful two part
conversation here with StephanieChung.
In this episode, we unpackedsome of the biggest ideas from
her book Ally Leadership how toLead People who Are Not Like you
.
We just explored the importanceof understanding privilege,
building diverse teams andtaking real action as an ally
and leadership.
(27:37):
Now, as you take these insightsback to your own leadership,
back to your own environment,back to your companies and
families and wherever it is thatyou're going today, here are
just two things that you candiscuss with those people.
So, number one, how are youusing your leadership influence,
whatever that looks like, toopen doors for others?
(27:58):
Consider where you haveprivilege whether it's
positional, relational,experiential, whatever it is and
how can you use that, or howcan you leverage that to support
those around you.
It's a great topic ofdiscussion.
Number two what small actioncan you take this week, or even
today, to foster a moreinclusive and engaged team?
Now, whether that's perhapsamplifying someone's voice in a
(28:21):
meeting or rethinking howdecisions are made, or maybe
even it's just asking deeperquestions, every step counts
towards creating a stronger,more inclusive workplace and, if
you'll remember, stephaniereminded us that great leaders.
They don't just talk aboutallyship, they live it through
action.
So what's one action you cantake today?
(28:42):
Thank you for joining us on theLeadership Vision Podcast, our
show helping you build positiveteam culture, and if this
conversation resonated with youin any way, we would appreciate
it if you could share it withsomeone who you think needs to
hear it or could benefit fromthis work of Stephanie's book or
any of the work that we do.
For more information about usat Leadership Vision, you can
(29:03):
visit us on the web atleadershipvisionconsultingcom,
or click the link in the shownotes.
Please sign up for our freeemail newsletter, subscribe to
the podcast wherever you getyour podcasts, join us on all
the socials, all of that stuff.
My name is Nathan Freeberg and,on behalf of our entire team,
thanks for listening.
I want everyone, also from a leadership perspective,
to let's not dumb down the worddiverse, because so far the
narrative has very much made ita black, white, gay straight
male, female issue.
But when we talk aboutdiversity, diversity is
diversity of thought, diversityof communication skills and, yes
, it's age and race and genderand sexual orientation.
(00:22):
You know neurodiversity and allthat stuff, but everything is
about diversity literallyeverything.
And so if you want a team that'sgoing to win, you wouldn't have
a basketball team with justforwards right, you would never
win.
Right, you wouldn't have amilitary that only know how to
fly planes right, you've gotMarines, air Force, army, like.
You've got a lot of differentdiversity because you're going
(00:44):
to see things differently, sodon't get freaked out by the
word diversity.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Welcome back to the Leadership Vision Podcast.
I'm Nathan Friberg and today weare continuing our conversation
with Stephanie Chung, apowerhouse leader in the
aviation industry, an executivecoach, a sought after speaker on
leadership and diversity andthe author of the wonderful book
Ally Leadership how to LeadPeople who Are Not Like you.
In this book, stephanie sharesactionable strategies to help
(01:13):
leaders of all kinds bridgecultural, generational and
experiential gaps so that theycan lead more effectively in
today's complex workplace.
Now, if you haven't alreadylistened to part one, I highly
recommend that you go back andcheck it out.
There's a link in the shownotes for that, and in that
episode, stephanie shares herpowerful journey from growing up
(01:33):
in a military family andlearning how to adapt to new
environments all the time tobreaking barriers as a leader in
private aviation.
We talked about the experiencesthat shaped her leadership and
the lessons she learned alongthe way.
In the second conversation heretoday, we dig into the key ideas
from her book Ally Leadershipand explore some of Stephanie's
(01:54):
insights on leadership intoday's world.
We talk about what it trulymeans to be an ally in
leadership, the importance ofunderstanding privilege and why
diversity is an undeniablestrength in any organization.
Now, as you listen.
I want you to consider thesetwo things as you reflect on
your own leadership journey.
Number one how are you activelyusing your privilege, whatever
(02:17):
that might be, to lift others upand create opportunities?
And number two what actionsteps can you take to build a
more diverse, inclusive andhigh-performing team?
And this word diversity, weknow, is kind of a hot one right
now.
So please just give this alisten with an open mind and I
think that we might give you adifferent perspective, perhaps,
(02:37):
on what these words mean.
Stephanie brings so much wisdomand energy to this conversation
and we really think that you'regoing to walk away with some
practical insights that you canapply right away, so let's jump
in.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
And then the other part that I would say I learned
a lot about through the bookprocess was that the stories
that resonated with folks.
You know there's one story Iknow you guys have read the book
.
I won't give it to go a lot ofdetails, but there is a story
that I talked about that I hadan encounter with someone 30
years ago when and this personwas transgender and I didn't
(03:16):
know what the word meant whensomeone had asked me to have
lunch with this person.
So I didn't have a background,I didn't have an understanding,
didn't have anything, and Iwrite the story from the
perspective of me sitting acrossthe table in front of this
person.
And I'm writing it not justbecause of me and this person,
but also how the rest of therestaurant was responding to
(03:36):
this person.
So it's a really interestingstory and I didn't even realize
as I was writing it, becausethis happened 30 years ago, that
it was.
Even I had so many feelings inthat process and vulnerabilities
because, again, it wasn't likesomething I knew.
You know it was an area thatwas unfamiliar to me.
And here's what's reallyinteresting is everybody,
whether in marketplace orministry, that story really
(03:58):
resonates with people?
Because I think the way thatit's written, all of us can see
ourselves either as therestaurant waiter and waitress,
or the restaurant person havinga power lunch, or me, or the
person Like you can findyourself somewhere in there and
then you then have to confrontyourself with your own biases
and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
So Well and what I?
That story stood out to me toobecause what I thought was
interesting I think you had donea bunch of research or
something about like thepsychology and whatever, but
until you got there you're likeI didn't know what to expect.
And I think so often leaders dothat where they you know they
do research and kind of like howwe started this.
It's like we think we know whoyou are, but we really don't
(04:39):
until we talk to you.
And so I wonder if that's justsuch a big part of maybe the
problem today, as people just doa research, assume they know
what someone's differences areand then just apply that.
I don't know, Well meaningignorance towards whatever
they're trying to do.
Well meaning ignorance, wellmeaning ignorance.
And.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I love that, nate, and that's and that's the part
that can get people frustratedRight.
I love that, nate, and that'sthe part that can get people
frustrated right, because thebook Ally Leadership but Ally
stands for ask, listen, learn,you take action.
And so whenever I'm speaking inpublic this will always happen
Somewhere during the meet andgreets someone will come up to
me usually a man and say I lovethis.
I am such a ally for women.
(05:21):
I'm married to the same womanfor however long, and I've got
three girls.
I'm a girl.
Dad Like this is awesome.
I'm an ally, and what I alwayssay to people is that's
fantastic.
Thank you so much.
Tell me what you've done thisweek to show your allyship
Crickets right.
They're like looking at me, youknow staring at me.
(05:42):
They different life, they don'thave any receipts to back it up.
And so one of the things that Ihope people get out of the book
is that it's not enough for youto self-anoint yourself as an
ally.
You have to have receipts ofwhat actions you've actually
taken.
And if you've taken actions,then guess what?
You don't have to tell meyou're an ally.
I can see it for myself, right,because I've seen the action.
(06:04):
But we've really got to getaway from and this is really
important for leaders they haveto get away from just deciding
oh, I know a couple people orI've read a couple things or I
think I know this You've got toask, you've got to listen,
you've got to learn and then youhave to take action.
But it's not enough just to askand listen and learn if you
(06:25):
don't act right, and it'scertainly not enough to just
assume you know.
You really have to go intothese relationships, whether
it's intergenerationally,different gender, different race
, different religion, differentability, whatever right
Different is different.
You have to go into theseconversations with the attitude
of I don't know anything andthen I'm going to ask questions
(06:46):
and I'm going to listen, because, even if you, sometimes the
fear people have is I don't wantto ask anything that makes me
look stupid or I don't want tobe offensive, right?
So there's the flip side ofthat as well.
That's the conversation I hadwith this story we're all
talking about.
It's like I did all thisresearch so I don't look like an
idiot.
You know when it comes time tohave lunch with this person, but
the truth of the matter is thatpeople who are different this
(07:06):
is a head and heart issue.
We all know, especially ifyou're a person who comes from a
marginalized group.
We can sense people's heartreal quick, and so we know if
your heart is in the right place.
You may not have asked thequestion appropriately, or maybe
you know, but if your heart'sin the right place, we'd much
rather you talk to us than nottalk to us at all because you
have this fear of beingoffensive.
(07:28):
We can tell it's a heart issue,right, and so I would just
encourage all leaders you'regoing to leave people who aren't
like you it's okay, as long asyour heart's in the right place,
to actually ask a question.
One of the things I did at thatlunch is I said you know what,
and I would love to be able toask you questions.
First question is whatquestions are off limits?
Speaker 4 (07:48):
right, that's the first question.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And the second question is I know I'm going to
say something stupid oroffensive, and not because I'm
trying to, but because I'mtrying to learn and I don't know
and that then gave the personto give me grace and go.
Absolutely, let's have theconversation.
That's right, yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Well, Stephanie, what I appreciate about your stories
and your compelling narrativesand your lessons learned that
you share with all of us is itgives us space to think about
where this happens in our ownlife, and it makes me think of
early days at Leadership Vision.
And it makes me think of earlydays at Leadership Vision and I
(08:36):
was leading with another womanand this man came up to us and
said hey, can we fly the two ofyou out, but bring Nathan and
Brian with us and then invitethe men and then have the men
watch how Brian and Nathan treatus as absolute equals.
And he was stunned.
I mean, we never got theinvitation.
(08:57):
I was going to say I never didthat he wasn't ready for it, but
sometimes we put it on themarginalized group to teach us
about what we're supposed to do,instead of taking the risk to
say you know what are thequestions and how do I step into
this narrative that we canwrite together and that I can be
(09:21):
an ally.
So I just I'm thankful for, I'mthankful for the structure that
you're giving to us, to ourlisteners, and the inspiration
to think in some different ways.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
You're wrestling with a question.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Brian always has that look on his face when he's
really thinking it's his thought.
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I don't want to start , just start.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Ready, go?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
yeah, I'm almost afraid of his question, I know
well there are people that,whatever, it doesn't matter um
ignore what I'm looking like.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
okay, so here's where I'm at, stephanie, I, I cannot,
I cannot, unwilling, doesn'tmatter.
I'm wrestling with the, withmany concepts that we're talking
about right now.
I'm wrestling because whatyou're talking about and of
course you know this is a livedexperience that we go through on
(10:14):
the daily.
So we're either consulting orexecutive coaching people almost
every day and you're touchingon a lot of things in this
conversation that I ampersonally experiencing, as you
know hot buttons or tripwires,or just ultimate questions that
are happening within thiscurrent environment, larger
(10:34):
conversations that are happeningnationally, and then an
international kind of dialogueon.
You know, I must be heard andmy origin story must be told.
All that to say this I'mwrestling with the importance of
your idea of window versusmirror, because I know and I use
(10:55):
that word collectively, I knowthat that's an issue.
Second, because I'm nuancingsome assumptions of that.
The second thing that's reallyI'm wrestling with is privilege,
because I come from a point ofview and a lived experience of
(11:16):
and yet to just trust me, of mylived experience of.
I believe everyone has a levelof privilege and underprivilege,
one's overbaked, one's overamplified.
But how do we?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
discover what our unique privilege is and the dark
side of that.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
And then my other question is um, um, we, when we
do our work, just 10 seconds.
We talk about the intellectual,emotional, physical and
spiritual side of people,regardless of context.
And by spiritual we mean thathuman need, a human being's need
for a transcendent experienceto connect with something
greater than the current.
(11:57):
Whether it's emotional, social,political, I don't care what
all, but that transcendent givesyou a different perspective, a
different sense of meaning, aconnection to higher purpose,
and that type of conversation iscoming up a lot more than it
has in the past, especiallysince COVID.
Now that, all being said, I'mnot even sure where to go.
Like what?
(12:18):
The question?
Like what do you think,stephanie, is important from
your experience?
Should we talk, or can we talkabout the mirror and window?
Or is privilege something thatwe can amplify?
Or is this transcendent kind ofescape from reality to
(12:39):
reconnect to?
Why am I here?
Which kind of taps into yoursignificance?
And I know that some of themost fundamental psychological
needs of human beings aremeaning, belonging and
significance that I have apurpose here on earth.
I'm going to stop.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Yeah, where do you want?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
to go.
What are you hearing?
Speaker 3 (12:56):
What are you feeling In 15 minutes?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
let's solve it all solve it all yeah, exactly.
Well, if you, if you'd like,what I can do is try to hit each
one, that's true yeah and I'lljust kind of give so.
So first, when we talk in thebook about mirror versus window,
just to uh, you know, give thegive the audience an
understanding of where we'rereferring to, that it really is
(13:20):
about your bias at the end ofthe day, right.
And so the way that we thinkabout in-group and out-group, so
the brain is going toautomatically and you can talk
on this a lot more, brian, thanI but the brain is going to
actually, when looking atsomeone, let's just say from a
facial perspective just keep itsimple it's going to put people
either in an in-group you'relike me or an out-group really
(13:40):
not like me.
And so when we think about thatin the workplace, then,
depending on how you werebrought up, there's going to be
a lot of people that yourbrain's going to automatically
stick them in an out-groupbecause it's just not familiar
to you.
Now, it doesn't make you a badperson, and I think that's the
piece that I want leaders tohold on to.
It doesn't make you a badperson and I think that's the
(14:03):
piece that I want leaders tohold on to.
It doesn't make you a badperson because you have a bias.
Biases actually can servereally good things for us and
keep us safe in a lot ofdifferent ways.
And so if we can kind of startwith putting away the
sensitivity right of in-group,out-group or you know, does that
automatically make me a thisright?
So put that away.
And if you go into it because,again, I've always said this is
(14:25):
a head and heart issue so if yougo into it with a heart
perspective, which is okay, yes,I grew up a certain way and
therefore I may or may not havehad exposure to other folks, but
that doesn't make me a badperson and it doesn't mean that
I can't grow and develop.
And so our default system inour brain is going to just try
(14:48):
to protect, right.
And so what we have to do is torealize that I've got to put
people into, I've got tooverride that, and how I
override it is to make theunfamiliar familiar.
So, going back to allyleadership, ask, listen, learn
and take action that's theeasiest way to make the
unfamiliar familiar so that youcan start to increase your
(15:09):
in-group or make this more of awindow versus a little tiny
mirror.
So that's the first thing iswhat I would say in regards to
that particular subject say inregards to that particular
subject.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
That was great, by the way.
So good, so good.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
The simplicity by which you synthesize the data
and information and science ofthat.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, oh, I take that as a big compliment.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
It's huge, because breaking that stuff down, yeah,
all right.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Okay, thank you.
So now I'm going to hitprivilege Nathan okay, yes,
please.
Privilege is always aninteresting word to me, because
it's actually a positive word.
Right, privilege is a positiveword.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Not a dirty word.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, it's not a dirty word, and yet somehow,
with all the narrative that'sout there, we've made a really
positive word, a trigger wordfor many people.
And the minute people starthearing privilege, the
conversation starts to shut down.
And so I want to challengeeveryone to look at privilege a
different way.
Everybody has privilegeeverybody and there's different
(16:10):
types of privileges.
So in the book I talk aboutseveral different types of
privilege.
Unfortunately, in our world, atleast in our country, we've
kind of narrowed the wordprivilege down to, you know,
black, white haves and have notmen, women, like we've just made
it too simplistic.
But there's a lot of differentways that privilege shows up
when I, you know, in the book Italk about proximity privilege.
(16:32):
You know, listen, I come fromthe private jet industry.
I know a lot of the world'smovers and shakers, and so I had
a situation when my husband hada stroke and we had life and
death decisions to make.
Then I used my privilege, whichwas proximity privilege, to
actually override a healthcaresystem that was not working in
(16:52):
my favor.
So that's a way that you canuse privilege.
I guess I want leaders torealize that even you as a
leader just you being a leader,gives you more privilege than
probably the people that work onyour team.
The question isn't aboutwhether or not you have
privilege.
Let me be the first to break itto you.
You have privilege, okay.
The question is how do you usethat privilege for good?
(17:13):
That's the question, right, andthat's where I really want
leaders to spend more time totake the sensitivity down about
the word privilege and raise upyour sensitivity about how do I
use my privilege.
Maybe you have to figure outwhich one you have or which ones
you have, but how do you usethat for good so that you can be
a leader for all types ofpeople?
Because the goal of allyleadership is to ask, listen,
(17:36):
learn and then you take action,and your privilege is a way that
you can take action.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Right, oh geez, I could talk about that for
another 15 minutes.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
I love it.
Next podcast oh my.
God yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Now my last one need to connect with something
greater.
See, brian, I was taking notes,I was paying attention when you
were talking to me, all right,so one of the things that I
think about with the book is itreally is.
At the end of the day, I thinkleadership is a calling, and
either you know you are calledto do it or you're not.
It's not an easy thing, andit's certainly not for the faint
(18:09):
at heart, and so if, in fact,you believe that you're called
to be a leader, then for mepersonally, again, I'm a woman
of faith, and so I think thatone day I will be held
accountable and I will answer.
For how did I influence thosethat God's given me?
Right?
His most prized possession ishuman beings, and so he's
allowed me to have influenceover certain ones, whether they
(18:33):
worked on my team or I workedwith them at different
capacities, whatever, and Ithink I'm going to be held
accountable.
I'm going to stand there andtalk about did I help them or
did I hurt them?
That's how I see leadership.
So, with that in mind, we'reall you know, most of us are
looking for that bigger thing,right?
Because if you don't have it,then life gets a little boring
and mundane, but for me, I thinkmost leaders believe that they
(18:55):
are called for something greater, and it stretches them and it
challenges them, right, and allthis is a good thing.
And then, once we learn throughtrials and tribulations, right,
then we can go back and say,hey, here's what I learned, and
in hopes that this will help youto avoid some of the you know,
pit stops that I had to makeunnecessarily.
(19:15):
And so when I think ofleadership and you know I talk a
little bit about this in thebook I do believe that we're all
called, most of us aresearching for.
You know, I've got to be put onthis earth for something
greater than maybe what I'mdoing now.
And so what does that look like?
And whatever it looks like,it's going to involve people.
Like you will not do anythinggreat that doesn't involve
(19:36):
people, right, it's going toinvolve people.
So the question becomes anythinggreat that doesn't involve
people, right, it's going toinvolve people.
So the question becomes how doI maximize that impact or that
greatness?
And how I do it, I believe, isby first understanding that
everybody's different.
You could have your in-group,your out-group, your privilege,
your, you know all that stuff,it doesn't really matter.
You will be interacting withother people, and they're most
(19:57):
likely people who are not likeyou, and so use the book as a
tool to help you understand howto do it effectively, so that
you can actually, you know,fulfill the calling that you've
got on your life, that's how.
I see the purpose of the book.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Wow, well, thanks for hitting each of those three.
Nathan, what's your producer?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Well, yeah, so I want to be aware of time.
I'm wondering, stephan, justthank you so much for this whole
conversation.
You strike me as someone thatdoesn't like to sit around, that
likes to take action.
Each section of your book endswith key takeaways and then
gives people something to takeaction towards.
I don't even know if I'm goingto give you an impossible task
(20:42):
here, but in all that we'vetalked about in the last hour
and five minutes, what is maybeone or two, if one is too hard
one way that people can takeaction towards the big ideas in
your book?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yeah, thank you for the question.
I would just say that the veryfirst thing I would do is I
really want all leaders, butspecifically your listeners, to
give yourself some grace, right?
No one's looking for you to dothis with perfection.
We're all trying to figure itout, Every single one of us,
myself included.
But with that in mind, I don'twant people to overcomplicate
(21:13):
this either.
Little kids do it in school atfive years old.
Clearly, we can do this asadults, and so that's what I
really want.
Is that all of the things thatwe end up having to deprogram
ourselves with it's because it'slearned behavior over time.
And now for leaders, because ofthe time that we're in and the
(21:33):
calling that we have, we've gotto decompress all this stuff and
kind of get rid of the stinkingthinking.
So what I would say, Nathan andLinda and Brian, is a couple
easy things A don't overthink it.
B just know that you're goingto make some mistakes, and
that's okay, Unless you're somekind of brain surgeon, no one's
going to die in this process,Okay.
(21:54):
So if you make a mistake, learnfrom it, ask for forgiveness
and then move on right.
It does nobody any good for younot to at least try, OK, and so
(22:29):
have.
You know all of thoseneighborhoods have usually art
centers, and you know certainlyrestaurants and cultural centers
, and you know it's all therefor you if, in fact, you choose
to embrace it.
And so when you go and surroundyourself with people who are
not like you, you're going tofind that they're actually a lot
more like you than you everanticipated.
(22:51):
But you won't know that if youdon't step out first.
So feel the fear and do itanyway, because you're a leader,
this is easy for you.
I mean, you've got more scarystuff you got to deal with
throughout the day, right, andso leadership, you know you're
called for this and so Iwouldn't let this, the unknown,
freak you out, because every dayin leadership there's the
(23:13):
unknown.
The market somebody wants yourproduct, Nobody wants your
product.
The market change.
You know we've got globalsupply chain issues.
We've got a war that broke outsomewhere.
You, you're a leader, You'reequipped to handle all this
stuff.
Don't let this thing, the wholecultural fluency, scare the
bejesus out of you.
It's not that scary, but itwill require you to really take
(23:35):
that first step.
And if you take that first stepand acknowledge that you don't
know everything and that peopledon't need to work around.
How you see things, if you takethat first initial step, you're
going to be shocked how mucheasier everything else is.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I love that and you'll be more successful
because, the numbers are clear.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Teams simply produce and outproduce non-diverse ones.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
I love that.
I love that the action step ofdon't be afraid and just get out
and do something.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
And may I say one more thing, nathan, Please.
I think that would be importantand is.
I want everyone, also from aleadership perspective, to let's
not dumb down the word diverse,because so far the narrative
has very much made it a black,white, gay straight male, female
issue.
But when we talk aboutdiversity, diversity is
(24:25):
diversity of thought, diversityof communication skills and, yes
, it's age and race and genderand sexual orientation.
You know neurodiversity and allthat stuff, but everything is
about diversity literallyeverything.
And so if you want a team that'sgoing to win, you wouldn't hire
.
You wouldn't have a basketballteam with just forwards right,
you would never win, right, youwouldn't have a military that
(24:47):
only people only know how to flyplanes, right.
You've got Marines, air Force,army, like.
You've got a lot of differentdiversity because you're going
to see things differently.
So don't get freaked out by theword diversity.
Diversity comes in a lot ofdifferent shapes, forms and
fashions, and all we're sayingis that there is a diversity of
perspective and expectation andthought, and that's where you're
(25:08):
going to get your innovation.
That's where you're going toget your competitive edge.
That's where you're going toget your creativity, ideas.
That's where you're going to beable to go and open up new
markets.
There's a lot that goes into theword diversity.
Don't let it freak you out.
Don't believe the hype you'rehearing out there either.
Diversity is a beautiful thingand we're needing leaders to
embrace it and to really attackit head on and then stand on
(25:32):
purpose in regards to what youbelieve is going to be most
beneficial for your team, yourcompany, etc.
Don't believe the hype.
You're the leader, you're incommand here.
You got this.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
I love that.
I would drop my mic if itwasn't secured to the table here
and so expensive.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
And so expensive and so expensive yeah.
I know you guys got the coolmic.
I should have brought my coolmic out.
I was like he's an info.
Oh, that's okay.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
You don't need help sounding cool.
Thank you, we do.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Thank you so much.
I know you have to run.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
This was so fun.
Thank you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Stephanie I, I just want to thank you, for it's your
voice like, not the voice voice, it's the voice, and so in this
context, I would just label itas prophetic, perfect.
You know, the prophetic voicespeaks the truth as they have
experienced it within theircontext, in perfect tense, makes
(26:28):
it practical and applicable toa lot of people.
So I hear a voice that'sprophetic, perfect, a message
that's applicable to humanityand not just a subgroup of
humanity.
So speaking truth in aconfident way, like you do, I
value that big time.
But the fact that it'sapplicable across boundaries,
across cultures, acrossgenerations, that to me is five
(26:52):
stars.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
It's healing and reconciling.
It's healing and reconciling.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Well, it's going to be healing down the road.
It's divisive and catalytic atthe front end too, unless you
have a heart that's open and amind that's willing to hear it.
It's also an attention getter.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
That blesses me.
Thank you, so, so, very much.
You have no idea.
Thank you for saying that.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Wow, stephanie.
Thank you so much.
That brings us to the end ofthis powerful two part
conversation here with StephanieChung.
In this episode, we unpackedsome of the biggest ideas from
her book Ally Leadership how toLead People who Are Not Like you
.
We just explored the importanceof understanding privilege,
building diverse teams andtaking real action as an ally
and leadership.
(27:37):
Now, as you take these insightsback to your own leadership,
back to your own environment,back to your companies and
families and wherever it is thatyou're going today, here are
just two things that you candiscuss with those people.
So, number one, how are youusing your leadership influence,
whatever that looks like, toopen doors for others?
(27:58):
Consider where you haveprivilege whether it's
positional, relational,experiential, whatever it is and
how can you use that, or howcan you leverage that to support
those around you.
It's a great topic ofdiscussion.
Number two what small actioncan you take this week, or even
today, to foster a moreinclusive and engaged team?
Now, whether that's perhapsamplifying someone's voice in a
(28:21):
meeting or rethinking howdecisions are made, or maybe
even it's just asking deeperquestions, every step counts
towards creating a stronger,more inclusive workplace and, if
you'll remember, stephaniereminded us that great leaders.
They don't just talk aboutallyship, they live it through
action.
So what's one action you cantake today?
(28:42):
Thank you for joining us on theLeadership Vision Podcast, our
show helping you build positiveteam culture, and if this
conversation resonated with youin any way, we would appreciate
it if you could share it withsomeone who you think needs to
hear it or could benefit fromthis work of Stephanie's book or
any of the work that we do.
For more information about usat Leadership Vision, you can
(29:03):
visit us on the web atleadershipvisionconsultingcom,
or click the link in the shownotes.
Please sign up for our freeemail newsletter, subscribe to
the podcast wherever you getyour podcasts, join us on all
the socials, all of that stuff.
My name is Nathan Freeberg and,on behalf of our entire team,
thanks for listening.
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