Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone and
welcome to Diversify Her Podcast
.
I'm your host, raven Hayward,and today I'm honored to have Ms
Neville Poole.
This is a true testament to thepower of connections and of
networking.
In March of 2023, I had thepleasure of meeting her in
Atlanta, georgia, at theFortitude Collective Unbossed
but Bothered Conference andinstantly made a connection with
(00:21):
her.
Little did I know I would soonbecome really good friends with
her daughter, nia, who is on NCState's track and field team.
And now I'm hosting Ms Nevilleon my podcast today.
She is a true, authentic andcompassionate executive with
over two decades of experiencetransforming organizations
through innovative operatingmodels and leadership
(00:41):
development.
As CEO of Fluent, nevilleguides her leaders and team to
work together more effectively,bringing their best work to the
world.
With a proven track record atglobal powerhouses, including
IBM and Accenture, she haspartnered with Fortune 50, 100
executives across financialservices, retail, insurance,
(01:02):
logistics and hospitalitysectors to implement lasting
organizational change.
Her expertise in operatingmodel designs and leadership
coaching has made her asought-after advisor for
companies navigating complextransformations.
Beyond her professionalachievements, she treasures her
role as a wife of 22 years andmother to two daughters, one a
(01:23):
freshman collegiate athlete andthe other a soon-to-be
collegiate athlete in her senioryear of high school, bringing
the same authenticity andcompassion to her family life
that distinguishes herleadership approach.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
Ms Neville, how are you doing?
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Raven, I'm great.
It's so good to be here.
Thank you so much for invitingme.
I'm super excited.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Of course, I'm super
excited for today's episode as
well.
I'd love for you to just firststart off by telling us a little
bit more about your journey andwhat led you to where you are
today.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Okay, I would love to
, and first I'm super proud of
you.
I was so impressed when I metyou down in Atlanta, and then
the fact that you and Nia met isgreat, and now I'm here with
you, so I'm very proud of you.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Thank you Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
So I started my
career in banking.
I became a banking center kindof a consumer banker was what
they called it at the time,where you sit at the desk and
you open up accounts in mysenior year of college.
So I was at Tennessee StateUniversity in Nashville and I
just kind of I had a job at likethe limited my sophomore year,
(02:31):
but then I was like you knowwhat?
I want to do something else.
And so I was like I kind ofwant a real job, don't know why.
I think it was just kind of inmy DNA and so that's where I
started into banking.
And then from there I moved toCharlotte after graduation,
immediately stayed with NationsBank at the time, went through a
bunch of acquisitions with thebank and became Bank of America,
and so that banking kind offoundation was my forte into
(02:58):
serving people because right,when you're in banking, it's all
about I was in the bankingcenter, so it was all about
serving customers.
You're in banking, it's allabout I was in the banking
center, so it was all aboutserving customers.
And then from there I went into, decided that you know, I kind
of want to do somethingdifferent.
And there was a company thatwas very small at the time
LendingTree, lendingtreecom andI decided to take my banking
(03:20):
knowledge to IT, and so thebalance of IT and banking is how
, the kind of really how the howmy career started, um.
So at LendingTree I got theexperience of going through an
IPO.
The company went public.
It was the coolest experience Icould have asked for at 24
years old, 25 years old, um.
(03:42):
So it was super cool.
And then, as the yearsprogressed, I kept the balance
between banking and IT and thendecided to get married and still
at that time I had moved overback to Bank of America and I
was in strategy, which was veryinteresting because I didn't
have a strategy background.
My major was in marketing andeconomics, so strategy was new
(04:05):
to me.
But because of my experiencesin banking and IT, it was a good
fit.
And so once I kind of gotthrough that part of my career,
they did a.
The bank, as it does,frequently has a round of we're
going to downsize, right, and soI was a part of that and I got
impacted by that, and so that'swhen I decided to start having a
(04:28):
kid and after I had Nia, afterprobably six months, I knew I
needed to go back to work.
It was just me.
I have really great friendsthat are stay-at-home moms, but
it was just I needed to go backto work and so I decided to get
into consulting.
Because at that point it waslike, well, to go back to work.
And so I decided to get intoconsulting.
Because at that point it waslike, well, I like doing all
these different things, but Idon't want to be somewhere
(04:50):
forever.
You know, I kind of want to geta lot of different experiences.
So I started with a localconsulting firm here in
Charlotte called North Highland,and they had a local, regional
model, right, and so I would.
I didn't have to travel, sothat was the benefit of that,
and so started into consultingthat way.
And then I got introduced to anagile agility which turned my
(05:11):
entire world upside down from a,from a how you can deliver
software in a better way andthen from consulting I just
stayed the.
I stayed the course, and sofrom small consulting I moved to
a firm that was really aboutagile transformation, and so
they were my coaches when I wasconsulting in a very traditional
(05:34):
waterfall way at Lowe's, wherewe were doing kind of Lowe'scom
was reinventing itself, and sothe coaches were coaching us to
deliver this in a different way,called Agile, and so I got the
hang of it and I really enjoyedit and they were like you would
be a good consultant, agileconsultant.
I'm like, no, I just learned it.
You know, I don't know anythingabout it, but it felt very
(05:55):
natural for me in the way thatthey work, and so I said okay,
and then from there I went towork for that consulting firm,
which got acquired by anotherconsulting firm, which got
acquired by Accenture, and so Iwas at Accenture, became a
managing director.
I was there for six years.
I learned more in those sixyears that I probably learned in
(06:17):
my entire career.
It was life-changing for me atAccenture.
It was an amazing experience.
And then, after that six years,I knew I wanted to do something
else and I got approached byIBM and so I went to IBM to work
in strategy, enterprisestrategy.
It was a great experience, butit was something.
There was a and I'll talk aboutthis a little bit later but
(06:39):
there was a turning point for meat IBM where I knew that I love
consulting, but not at thatscale.
I wanted to do something alittle bit more, a little bit
more boutique-y, a little bitsmaller, and so some friends of
mine started a company calledInstitute Agility at the time
and asked me if I wanted to runthe company, and so I became the
(07:03):
CEO back in 2022.
Yeah, 2022.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
And here I am.
Wow.
So, with all of these differentexperiences that you've had and
I know that you've held highimpact roles in both tech and
consulting you mentioned thatkind of coming together and
bridging, which I think isbasically what that field is.
Now today, we see how AI isintegrated in almost every
single company, almost everysingle role.
(07:30):
So what has it been likenavigating leadership as a Black
woman in these spaces?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Well, it's
interesting because so, Raven,
if you don't know, I am a I'm avery optimistic person, so the
glass is always half full.
It's just how I choose toapproach my life.
And so, as I was going through,um financial services, I was it
was a lot more, um, black womenin financial services at the
(08:01):
time, Um, so it didn't feel, uh,there was a lot of women,
because in the banking centers,if you notice, if you go into
any banking center, which peoplereally don't go into banking
centers much anymore but there'susually female tellers, female
managers.
There's men too, but the femalecomponent was pretty
comfortable, right In financialservices.
(08:21):
Now the pivot into technologywas completely different,
because there were really not alot of women at all and then
there were definitely not asignificant amount of Black
(08:44):
women in technology, valuable inbringing a different
perspective to problem solving,and I just leaned into that.
So, as I started to progressthrough my career, it was less
and less women, less and lessBlack women.
But for me, it didn't reallyfeel.
(09:05):
I didn't feel bad about it.
It didn't feel lonely at allbecause I felt like I was on
mission to help these people,that I'm working with Black men,
white men, black men, whitewomen about the perspective that
I bring and how we need tobring more diverse perspectives
to the conversations, and so itwasn't really the navigating for
(09:28):
me wasn't at the forefront ofmy mind.
I was more consumed with almostproving myself I'm here, I'm
supposed to be here.
Yes, I had doubts in my mind, Ihad imposter syndrome, all of
the things, but I still feltlike I was supposed to be there
and I was there for a reason,and that's kind of how I just
(09:51):
kept my mind on track as itrelated to not seeing myself in
meetings and in different forumsas a Black woman.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I think that's a very
good perspective and I almost
feel that I'm sort of the same,especially being at Keenan
Flagler at UNC.
You know they definitely havegotten more diverse throughout
the years, but sometimes in myclasses I will take note that I
may be the only Black woman inthere, but it's not like I'm the
only person of color in there,like I'm the only woman in there
.
So I still don't feel alonenecessarily in those aspects.
(10:25):
But I want to yes, very goodespecially in today's world.
But I wanted to talk now moreabout mentorship and sponsorship
.
I know that their crucialcareer kind of advances,
advances and I want to know whohelped you open doors in your
(10:45):
career and as you excelled, andhow do you pay it forward today.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Okay, great question,
because there's a very
important role that mentors andsponsors play in your life and
as you develop your career.
So when I was at the bank, whenI was a senior in college and I
was working at Nations Bank, Ihad a mentor.
His name was Maxie Washington.
I'll never forget Maxie Blackman.
(11:11):
He would come downstairs I'm inthe banking center, that's in
the lobby and he just came overone day I was just like what are
you doing?
You look so young.
And I was like, well, and Itold him my story and from there
(11:32):
he just became a mentor, inthat he would help me, he would
take me to lunch and ask mequestions about how do I see
myself in the future.
So that was very important tome, especially in that phase of
my life.
I was a senior in college.
I wasn't sure exactly like if Iwas going to stay in Nashville
or move somewhere else, and hejust started to open my eyes.
(11:56):
So that was my mentor.
But when I got to Accenture well, I would say before Accenture
Solutions IQ, which was one ofthe firms that I was at when
that Accenture acquired the CEOhis name was John Rudd John.
To this day actually we weretexting yesterday.
He was a sponsor, a truesponsor.
He made sure that I had theopportunities that would afford
(12:22):
me to be seen and he could onlygive me those opportunities.
He was the CEO of the company.
He was about to sell hiscompany to Accenture.
He saw something in me that hebelieved I could, would grow and
I could become a seniorexecutive, because that's what I
wanted to be.
And so he, as a sponsor, john,made sure that I was in the
(12:46):
right seat, in the right seat.
Now I had to show up, right, Ihad to be Neville.
I had to demonstrate myknowledge base, demonstrate my
leadership stance.
So he was always come on,neville, I want you to go to
this meeting with me.
Come on, neville, I want youover here.
And when I was at Accenture, Iwas literally in meetings with
(13:06):
Julie Sweet the.
CEO, and it was.
She noticed me, we talked, shewas about to become my mentor.
He truly believed in me.
And one thing he said to methat I'll never forget.
He truly believed in me and onething he said to me that I'll
never forget he had promoted meto run the Agile Transformation
(13:28):
offering at Accenture inside oftechnology, which was our
business unit, and he said don'tlet anybody tell you otherwise,
but you deserve to be in thatseat because of what you do and
what you've done and who you are, and so that's a sponsor.
He opens up doors.
And so I think about it from myperspective of when I was at
(13:51):
IBM.
It was very important to me tomake sure I could kind of see
who did I believe could justneeded the space right.
They did good work, they provedthemselves.
How do I find those people?
And so that's one thing I'malways doing.
I'm always looking for someonethat is already demonstrating
that they have a desire, becauseyou can't give people the
desire to do something right.
(14:12):
They have to want to do it.
You can give them theopportunity and the venues and
the space to do that, but theygot to want it, you know.
And so there's a young man he is.
I met him through Nia in highschool last year and he is all
about business consulting.
That is what he wants to do,and Ikena is probably one of the
(14:34):
most driven young men I've evermet and he wanted to intern
with me last year and so freeinternship.
He's like I just want to learn,I don't want to get paid, I
just want to learn.
And he stayed with me for itwas about a week.
It was like a program that theydid at the school, and so now
he's at Michigan State and wetalk probably every couple of
months and he's coming home andhe gave me some feedback on some
(14:57):
of the videos I did on LinkedIn.
He's like I just wanted to giveyou some tips and I'm just like,
wow, so I feel a pull to him tohelp.
So he's going to come andintern with me this summer.
He wants to be there, he wantsto do it, and so I am a big
believer of investing myknowledge and my time with young
(15:22):
people that have a desire to dosomething different and to
change the world and to bedifferent and have excitement
about what they want to doversus and there's nothing wrong
with if this is I want to.
There's a trade that I want todo, but in business it's a
different mentality, right,because there's so broad.
And so when you find people,when I see people young people
(15:44):
like you, like Akena that arereally kind of creating the
spaces for themselves, I'm allin, like I will help you, I will
introduce you to everybody youneed to meet, and that's a
commitment that I have formyself, but that's how I pay it
forward.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
And I think that's so
amazing and it's such a
blessing too to be a youngperson entering in the field and
having those network and havingthose connections, because I
feel that a lot of the timeespecially just me being at
school and being surrounded bypeers who wanna do similar
things sometimes they feel thatthey're lacking that kind of
(16:21):
support or those connections andso then it's turning them into
oh, I have to go to thesenetworking events because I just
need one connection, Like Ijust need to do this, and they
almost are just so stressed andit's so high anxiety induced to
not know what you're doing forthe summer, to not have a person
that you feel like you can goto.
So it really is such a blessingand I'm so thankful that I met
(16:41):
you and it truly is just atestament of you are where
you're supposed to be.
Everything happens for a reason, because, truly, me going on
that trip with Alicia, it waslike a last minute decision.
She was like oh, I have anextra ticket, If you want to
come, you can come.
I called my parents.
I was like can I go?
Can I get a flight?
And in two days I was inAtlanta.
So just the fact that thingswere able to work that way.
(17:02):
It truly is a testament of God.
Really does everything for areason, and your plan and your
path is for you.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yes, ma'am.
So at the intersection now ofinnovation and inclusion and
just with what our society andwhat's happening to our world, I
want to know is there any?
Because you are optimistic, sois there anything that excites
you most about the future ofwork and where we're heading,
despite you know our currentpresidency?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Well, I will tell you
, I am super excited about the
future of work because I believewe finally got to a point where
with, I think, relationsrelationship is going to really
drive business going forward,because AI is giving us all the
knowledge we need.
(17:54):
It gives us everything data,every know.
I'm a big believer ofdata-driven decisions Every day.
Any data element you need youcan find right.
Any approach to a problem youcan pretty much find it if you
ask the right questions.
In whatever AI system youprefer, the biggest thing is
(18:16):
being able to take those answersand make it relational to a
particular area of a problemthat you're trying to solve.
So when you think aboutconsulting which is what I I
believe that, if I believe thatconsulting is like physicians, I
feel like we're like physicians.
(18:36):
So a friend of mine, she's adoctor, she's a liver doctor and
we're always talking aboutshe's like diagnosing.
I'm like what's your day?
Like I go in, I read my reports, I diagnose challenges, I
create a plan, I make sure theclient knows the plan and I
check in with them on the plan.
Consulting is similar butdifferent.
I'm diagnosing a problem and inthat diagnosis I'm building a
(18:59):
relationship with executives.
There are so many.
You got Accenture, you gotMcKinsey, you got Bush, you got
so many consulting firms outthere.
What sets me apart, and so Ibelieve that the future of work
is about relationships, becausea client of mine can go anywhere
and get the services that Ioffer them, especially now with
(19:19):
AI.
Right, I know people that theycan go on.
They'll just put a wholeproblem statement in AI and get
the answer back and just tweakit a little bit and give it to
the client.
Yeah, you could do that, butthe real value is in the
relationship.
So if you and I have arelationship, Raven, and you
need help, support, we build atrusting relationship.
You're going to come to mefirst, right, we're going to
have a dialogue around what youneed to do and then I can either
(19:42):
figure out if it's somethingthat I can help you with or help
you find the right partner forthat problem.
So I am excited about the futureof work because I believe that
relationship building,connection, is going to be how
we solve the world's toughestproblems, and we have technology
that can do whatever we tell itto do.
It can do things that we don'teven tell it to do.
(20:04):
It knows before we know, butwhat it can't do is build
relationships, trustingconnections that help us
co-create problems together.
So one of the things that I'mreally a big proponent of is
design thinking.
So design thinking in a way, itbrings thoughts together, it
brings people together, and thatconnection and that
(20:26):
relationship is what I believeis really going to transcend
this future of work that we'regoing through now.
Whether it's at the team level,whether it's at the executive
level, it doesn't matter.
If you can't work with peoplein teams, then I think you're
going to have a problem.
But if you can and youunderstand how the power of
diverse thought is going to getyou to a better outcome, then
(20:49):
that's what I get excited about.
And because relationships havealways been a real easy thing
for me, and so I've alwaysneeded to like use that as my
superpower in consulting.
And now I think that that'sjust now.
You there's no, you don'treally have a choice.
You can't go in somewhere beinga jerk and think you're gonna,
(21:14):
you're gonna win when you gotsomebody like me coming behind
you and I am I am all aboutbuilding a relationship with you
.
We don't have to be friends,but I need you to trust me.
I want you to trust me, andthat means a lot to me.
So that's that's what I getreally excited about as it
relates to the future of work.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, I know we talk
a lot about that in just my
classes.
You know your soft skillsversus your hard skills.
And this is our last week ofclass.
So actually yesterday, at theend of my lecture, my professor,
instead of reviewing coursecontent, he decided to give us,
you know, a life lesson andlecture and give us advice about
going into the future andeverything.
And he was like you know, ofcourse it was an operations
(21:48):
class.
So he was like you know, ofcourse you know everything that
I've taught you.
Yes, it'll be useful if you wantto go into operations and
operations affects everythingbut at the end of the day, you
know, it's important about beinga good person and having those
soft skills, because when you'rein interviews, they already
know your resume, they alreadyknow what skills you have, but
in the interview, they reallywant to get to know you and to
(22:09):
know how well you work with theteam and how you go about
solving different problems.
So you have to be a good teamplayer, very similar to what you
were saying about establishingthose relationships.
So I think that that'simportant and I like how, at
least in my classes, ourprofessors are really
highlighting that and makingsure that students know those
skills as we're entering theworkplace.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
I'm happy to hear
that because I mean I haven't
been in the classroom in a verylong time so I wasn't sure how
course curriculum kind ofaddresses some of those things.
But the three KDR that'ssomething that I live by.
Everything I do is KDR.
It's kind, it's direct and it'srespectful.
And so a lot of times the KDRfor me comes into play when I'm
(22:54):
giving feedback or you got to,when you're having interactions
with people.
You know, sometimes peoplethink that if you're not, you
got to be nice.
And it's not about being nice,it's about being kind, direct
and respectful.
And if you can check the box onthose three things and you
bring your knowledge to thetable, you're good.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Exactly so.
I know that you've been deeplyinvolved in communities like
women in tech and civicleadership, so how do you
balance purpose and profession,and why is that so important to
you?
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Well, I would say I
used to struggle with this
because I would always separatemy profession from my purpose,
my profession from my purpose,and I really want to.
You know, one of the thingsthat I was really toying around
with is figuring out what partof me is so what purpose do I
(23:52):
have that I can actually bringto my profession?
And I love people.
I want people to succeed and Ilove people.
I want people to succeed.
No-transcript, don't work hard.
And so I know that I have thisunbelievable drive in my soul,
(24:16):
in my spirit, to see people winand to see people be successful.
But also I love seeing peopleput in the hard work, and so I
knew that at one point I saidyou know what?
I'm going to open up a personaltraining studio because I want
to, for women, obese women,because I want to give them the
(24:37):
support that they need to winright, to have the tools that
they need in a very safe space.
And so I started thinking aboutthe things that I'm thinking,
the things that made that truefor me.
Well, it's psychological safety, it's support, it is
encouragement, and those thingsare my purpose.
That's how I show up every day,and so I use that in my career.
(24:59):
So when I'm consulting withexecutives, I'm thinking about
those things.
I need to give thempsychological safety.
I need to give them a placethat they can be open and free
to speak and trust and I canhelp them with some of their
challenges and help them win.
And so when you think about yourpurpose and your profession,
it's like the job is the job.
(25:20):
It's how do you bring over thethings that get you excited, the
things that you believe thatGod put inside of you, that you
don't know where it came from.
You just need to do it and youneed to have it.
How do you marry those twothings?
And for some people it's notnecessarily possible from a
professional standpoint, so theyfind other outlets to be able
(25:41):
to do that, whether it's.
You know, I used to be on theboard of direct, on the board of
the United Way.
I had a nonprofit for a littlewhile.
So you can always find ways tointersect your purpose and your
profession.
But I think it's reallyimportant that if you can think
about the things that give youthat kind of that excitement and
(26:03):
you morph those into what youdo every day and that makes work
not feel like work.
It feels like I love what I do.
I have the co-founder of mycompany.
She's retiring at the end ofthis week and she's like never,
when you're going to retire, I'mlike I have no idea, like I'm
not even thinking about that.
In fact, I just applied to dosome professor, to be an adjunct
(26:27):
professor at a local university, because I just love to give
this knowledge and thisexperience that God gave me.
It's not for me, I mean, it'sfor me in the moment, but it's
really for someone else, and soI just feel like those two
things, if you can identify whatthey are and weave them into
what you do, you will be able tohave a very long and happy
(26:50):
because happiness is a thinghappy career.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
I think that you're
basically my inspiration now.
Just hearing how excited andseeing how excited you're
getting, just talking about thework you do, that's truly a
blessing.
I know a lot of the times peoplethey do work because they just
need to be able to have themoney to live and, to you know,
(27:15):
do what they want to do.
But I think the fact that you'reable to find enjoyment in your
work and you are able to haveyour purpose is very important
and I know that at the biggerfirms I did some visits when I
studied abroad, some visits umwhen I studied abroad we went to
the netherlands and we were atdeloitte and they'll do
different sort of um, likeprojects that they'll work on
(27:36):
with certain companies becausethey're really big on
sustainability.
So that was the way that someof the employees said that they
were able to feel fulfill theirpurpose and their job like they
do their daily job, but thenthey also are able to do like
some pro bono work where theyare helping out this local
company with theirsustainability actions or
initiatives.
So I think even just ways thatcompanies are able to integrate
(28:00):
that now more, because they dounderstand that you know people
still want to feel like theyhave a purpose other than this
their day to day, nine to five,which is important.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
And I think it's why
it's important that when you,
when you do go, you know, decidewhere you want to, where you
want to spend your, your time,especially coming out of college
.
Many if you're, if you're goinginto consulting or any big
company at this point they'remost of them are being very, um,
transparent about their, theirvision and their mission and so
the mission of the company.
(28:29):
You want to identify with it.
You know, I mean, when youfirst get out of college you're
looking for a job.
So you're kind of not beinglike super picky you know you
shouldn't be, you want to getthe experience, but at some
point the identification of themission of the company.
Does that speak to me?
Does it speak to my core values?
Because I have a smallconsulting firm.
(28:50):
We're very big on our corevalues and our core values are
we talk about them from thepoint we interview a new person
to when we get a new client.
So our clients know our values.
So if you work with us, youknow what's important to us and
it kind of eliminates a lot ofthe, the asks that are not in
(29:11):
alignment, you know, with whatwe believe.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
So yeah, I agree,
which is very important.
I'm glad that you have theluxury and the ability to do
that with your company, becauseI know at least just consulting.
Whenever you hear someone saythat they're a consultant or
going to consulting, I feel likethey sometimes have just this
bad rep Just because of, like,how competitive everything is
and that's what I'll be doingthis summer with Visa in Atlanta
(29:37):
.
I'm on their consulting andanalytics team, which I'm really
excited about and becausethey're not known to be a
consulting company kind ofsimilar to what you were talking
about before, which is why,like you didn't necessarily,
like you did, enjoy IBM, but,like you know, you want it to do
like the smaller boutique kindof consulting.
I'm kind of glad because itseems like, at least from when I
was doing my interviews, that'skind of how Visa is, because
(29:58):
their program is still I believeit's no older than 10 years of
like the consulting branch.
So I'm really excited to seehow I enjoy that this summer.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Yes, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
So now that we're
coming to the end of my episode,
I have the signature questionthat I ask, which is what's one
piece of advice you would giveGen Z?
To go out and diversifythemselves.
Learn how to accept feedback,learn how to ask for feedback.
It is so important to yourdevelopment as a leader to
always be in a state of growthmindset, always look to
continuously improve, and theway you do that is by asking for
(30:44):
feedback and accepting feedback, especially the feedback that
you don't like.
Don't create an excuse for it.
Or well, this happened.
No, take the feedback, digest it, learn from it, determine what
of it you can create your ownimprovement backlog of things to
(31:05):
help you develop as a leader,because the more feedback you
can take, the more you're goingto develop yourself as a leader,
and that as a leader, becausethe more feedback you can take,
the more you're going to developyourself as a leader, and that,
as a developed leader, you canstand in the midst of
challenging times, greatopportunities.
(31:27):
You want to be resilient, right,and so getting feedback and
asking for feedback is a crucialleadership skill that a lot of
leaders do not leverage forthemselves, and it creates blind
spots for you where you thinkyou're doing this and people are
perceiving you as like, notsure that they realize that this
is what that feels like forother people.
(31:48):
So that is the biggest piece offeedback I could give Gen Z
anybody to be honest, andespecially young professionals,
because sometimes you want toprove yourself right and so
we're afraid to ask for feedbackbecause we think it's a sign of
I don't know what I'm doing.
(32:09):
If any person comes to me andasks me for feedback, I'm all
with them at that point, becausenow I know that you are
invested in your professionaldevelopment and you don't think
you know everything, because weall have blind spots, we all
have areas that we just do notsee about ourselves and that
will really help build you as astrong, impactful, influential,
(32:33):
diverse leader If you know howto do that and you start doing
that early.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
That's a really good
piece of advice.
Thank you so much and I'mdefinitely going to use that
with my internship this summer.
So thank you again so much forcoming on the podcast.
It was long overdue.
I'm so glad that we could getthe episode done.
Thank you everyone forlistening and tuning in to
Diversify Her.
I'll make sure that I have MsNeville's LinkedIn attached in
(33:00):
the bio below so you can connectwith her.
If you have any follow-upquestions or want to connect
with her, I'll be sure to haveher information.
Thank you all again so much forlistening and I'll catch you
next time on Diversify Her.