May 9, 2025 • 57 mins
In this bold and unfiltered panel, four trailblazing leaders come together to explore what it truly means to “ruffle feathers” with purpose. This conversation dives deep into the kind of leadership that disrupts outdated norms, challenges systems from within, and dares to advocate for meaningful change—especially when it's uncomfortable.
Join Sarena Diamond, Royston Telford, Coach TJ Cunningham, and Amanda Price as they share raw insights from the front lines of organizational strategy, youth development, veteran entrepreneurship, and political advocacy. Each panelist brings a powerful story of when they chose courage over silence and purpose over popularity.
Hosted by Melissa Franklin, Founder of Structure Innovations, this episode sheds light on what it takes to lead when your voice shakes, to advocate when the room isn’t ready, and to build systems that serve people—not egos.
Whether you're a business leader, educator, community organizer, or simply tired of the status quo—this episode will leave you inspired to lead louder, bolder, and with impact.
💥 Key Themes:
- Disruptive leadership with integrity
- Navigating pushback and resistance
- Building systems that work for people
- Leading from experience, not just titles
🎧 Listen in and find the courage to lead your own revolution—one feather at a time.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Structuring Chaotic Minds, the
podcast where we turn the chaosof everyday challenges into
structured success.
I'm your host, melissa.
In each episode, we'll exploreinnovative strategies, real-life
stories and actionable insightsto help you navigate the
complexities of leadership,business and personal growth.
Whether you're an entrepreneur,a leader or someone striving
(00:21):
for personal development, thispodcast will give you the tools
to create clarity in the chaos.
Let's dive in.
Good evening everyone, andwelcome to tonight's Balance
Growth Leadership Series.
I'm Melissa Franklin and I'mhonored to guide tonight's
discussion.
Tonight's discussion isactually topic on ruffling
(00:42):
feathers.
We want to innovate change andnot just stir pot In a world
where disruption can sometimesfeel like confusion with
leadership.
We want to dig deep into whatit really means to innovate and
make sure that you can makemeaningful, lasting change.
Tonight is about boldleadership, purposeful
disruption and building systemsthat were actually serving the
(01:03):
people they were meant for.
We'll hear from real-worldstrategies, stories and
reflections from our panelists,and you guys will be able to
have the chances to reflectthrough live polls.
We ask you, if you're joining asan audience, to please leave
your screen off so that way wecan highlight the panelists and
their discussion through tonight.
But you are welcome to actuallyguide through and participate
(01:24):
through the actual chat if youhave any questions.
So let's get started.
Let's go ahead and meet ourpanelists.
I will introduce each onebriefly and then we'll share a
little bit about theirleadership journey, why Ruffling
Feathers has been a part oftheir mission and basically
their passion for leadership.
So we're going to go ahead andstart off with Serena Diamond.
If you guys have joined us lastmonth, she was with us last
(01:46):
month and we had to welcome herback for today's discussion.
She definitely knows how toinnovate change and be able to
do that.
That is her life background nowand as a profession.
Serena, welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Thank you so much for having me back, Melissa.
I do appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You want to tell us a little bit about your
background For sure.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So I am a recovering corporate transformation expert
after 30 plus years.
That started with Accenture andincluded some time at
Pepsi-Cola and then a bit oftime at Hyperion and Melon
Investor Services, as well as atcom.
But really then the second halfof my career was all at IBM
building transformationalprocesses, adopting new ways of
working and really creating alot of innovation in that
(02:32):
organization.
And then the last three years Ihave been out on my own really
having a fabulous time helpingclients do just exactly that
create opportunities to innovateand change.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Be like you when I grow up, like literally, I want
to support you as good as that.
Thank you so much for joining us.
I am super excited to have you.
Our most popular guest forpodcasting is back Royston
Telford.
It looks like we're having someconnectivity issues on the
audio.
I'm going to skip over TJ Coach.
(03:06):
Tj Cunningham, I do see you inthe audience, Not sure if you
can come off mute and introduceyourself.
He is a youth development coachand a nonprofit leader here in
San Antonio.
He's also a founder of anonprofit called Taking Care of
Home.
If you could introduce yourself, TJ.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Sorry, I'm having more than technical difficulties
over here.
We were having practice and Ihad to run out of practice to
get on my Zoom call.
Can everybody hear me, okay.
Yes, sir, okay, can you see me?
Yes, sir, okay, cool, all right, I am Coach TJ Cunningham.
I'm the founder of Taking Careof Home, which is a nonprofit
(03:44):
for homeless women and children.
We do a lot for the community.
We do food drives.
We sometimes do placement foranyone that's needing another an
alternative place to emergencyhousing, I guess is what we'll
call it.
We've done clothing drives.
We've done just a lot ofdifferent stuff.
Whatever we can help thecommunity.
(04:05):
My latest greatest adventure iscreating a sports academy for
kids to make sure that they'reout of the streets.
We don't have any communitycenters on the Converse side, on
the Northeast side districtleaders to make sure the kids
(04:27):
have alternatives to, you know,just crime and just getting into
different area phases of stuffthat they shouldn't be getting
into.
We started off with just afifth grade group.
Now we're third through seniorsand we have four sports that
kids have an alternative to jumpinto.
We do track have an alternativeto jump into.
We do track, cornhole,basketball and taekwondo
(04:48):
currently, and it is keeping mevery, very, very busy.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So sorry for being late, but I tried to get as fast
as I could.
We appreciate you.
I was going to say and that'samongst the few of the things
he's currently doing.
We have to put it out there weat Structure Innovations are
completely grateful to him, aswell as his organization.
They have not only been anamazing champion for women and
children here in San Antonio,but they've also been a huge
help to our family.
So huge gratitude goes out toCoach TJ and if you guys are
(05:19):
interested in hearing more aboutthat, please reach out to us.
We will be more than happy toconnect you.
We also have Amanda Price.
She is a field organizer and apolitical advocate here in San
Antonio.
She is a champion for civicengagement and community
empowerment.
She is also constantly outthere and making sure that
everyone is getting theinformation that they need and
(05:40):
getting ready for their vote.
So she's probably not going tobe able to come off camera
because I know she's out thereright now, but I know she's able
to share off of audio.
Amanda, can you introduceyourself for us?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Yes, my name is Amanda Price and I am a precinct
chair for the Bexar CountyDemocratic Party and currently a
field organizer on two of thedistrict races and one of the
mayor races in this election.
I don't know what else you wantme to say.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
No, that is perfect.
She's a community advocate andshe's very humble, but her voice
is heard here in San Antonioand I think it's important to
have her here.
I'm excited and I think,bryston did we fix it on Looking
like a no Try, turning off yourcamera and then just doing the
audio and seeing what we getfrom that.
Bryston, if that works and ifnot, you can also call in.
(06:32):
Okay, no worries, bryston, Iwill go ahead and introduce you.
So Bryston Telford he's been on.
He is probably our most popularindividual that we've had on
our podcast called StructuringChaotic Minds.
He is an immigrant.
He is also a US Army healthliaison, so he's there in
healthcare.
He is a veteran entrepreneurnow and he is all about building
(06:55):
community.
He is giving back and trying tobring trade for our young
kiddos that are here in SanAntonio, and he does lots of
different partnerships as wellas a lot of woodwork through his
business, where he has our TVcustoms.
So I'm gonna see if he's ableto tune in or not.
We're gonna go ahead and getstarted with the panels and we
(07:16):
sent a separate one.
If you can't come on camera,guys, it's perfectly fine.
Remember, this does getconverted to a podcast, though,
and again for our guests thatare coming in a little bit late,
thank you so much for joiningus today.
We ask that you just pleasekeep your camera and audio up,
so that way we can highlightthis panelist and you will have
the opportunity to engage viachat.
If you guys have any questions,please ask them in the chat.
(07:38):
All righty guys.
So what does it mean toinnovate change instead of just
stirring pot, so I like to sayagitating things, but, being
honest, what does it really looklike in your work, though?
How do you stay focused oncreating real outcomes and not
just making people mad?
I'm going to pitch that over toour panelist.
(07:59):
Whoever wants to go first,nobody be scared.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'll jump in.
I wasn't sure if others werethere.
You know, I thought a lot aboutthis because stirring the pot
has such a negative connotationfor so many people in such a big
thing.
So I was really trying to thinkabout this thoughtfully and I I
think that for lots of people,stirring the pot really tends to
(08:26):
be focused around urgency,right, that it's something
that's the shiny penny peoplewill talk about, or the shiny
new toy, or the shiny innovation, or it's something that, if the
competitors are doing it, I'vegot to do it right now.
And so one of the things thatwhen I oftentimes work with
clients what to really focus on?
(08:47):
How do you innovate change andwe're almost always focusing on
how is it that you aretransforming the way people work
, what it is, what tools they'reusing, what processes they're
following, what ways they'recollaborating things that are
all about creating momentum andcreating lasting value.
And I think too often,especially now at the rate and
(09:11):
pace of changing the world, it'seasy to think of change as a
stir of the pot, something thatis the newest innovation.
I won't say AI, but it'sinteresting.
I've had so many clientrequests ask me how do I
incorporate AI into the workthat I'm doing and how do I keep
(09:34):
it from being the shiny new toythat we're all chasing?
And if you continue to look atthe way change is in a continuum
(09:55):
in your organization and howyou are building on momentum
that already existed, you'revery focused on the value, that
you're focused on improving theway people work, the technology
that they use to support thatwork and the processes that they
follow.
You'll be more about creatingmomentum and truly innovating
change rather than simplyreacting.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Thank you, anybody else.
What does change look like foryou all?
For you all, because I lovethat and I love the concept of
basically it shouldn't be anegative connotation to get
people to start with that senseof urgency.
I feel like some people arescared of change and that really
deters people from this type ofpeace.
(10:37):
What about our other panelists?
What do you all think?
Speaker 6 (10:42):
So I'll.
Can you guys hear me?
Okay, so change, so I'll.
Can you guys hear me?
Okay, so change.
And well, my apologies, I hadsome issues earlier, but voice
and tell for an active dutymilitary, medical field,
educational field as well in themilitary.
And what I can say as it relatesto change, dependent on the
(11:04):
different level that you're at,you're going to experience the
difference of buy-in from theindividuals at those different
levels, depending on what it isto achieve.
And my example it's basicallylower level, lower enlisted,
military.
When it comes to change more so, the supervisory role is the
(11:28):
one that drives the train.
Anyone below there, it's justthat you really don't have a
say-so at that point.
For lower enlisted, you justhave to do what you're told and
as you get higher in rank, inresponsibility echelons, what
happens?
Now you have a voice, but thehigher you go and it's in
(11:50):
everything else, there's morepolitics and bureaucracy.
So you have to delicatelynavigate around that process and
it's good to have thetechnological aspects of it, but
one of the biggest hurdles,regardless of sector, regardless
of whatever it is, it's theindividual's mindset and how
(12:12):
they look at the team.
Do they look at the team asindividuals, as persons as human
beings, to build a teamtogether, or are they just
looking for worker bees to getstuff done?
That's what I would say is oneof the biggest difference when
it comes to innovation andbuilding teams.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Love that.
Thank you, tj Amanda, do youguys want to piggyback off of
that?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I agree with everything that's been said so
far.
With some of the stuff we dealwith comes to change.
It just seems like a lot ofpeople are reluctant to change.
But we have a better way ofgetting people to adapt to
change if a lot of people thinkit's their idea for the change
(13:01):
or they came up with thesolutions to the problems, and
so basically, you just want toget as many people involved as
possible, get them to see thevision and have them on board to
create the vision, because aslong as they think they're the
ones initiating the change andit's for the better, then
(13:22):
they'll be more susceptible forthe growth and the change that's
to come.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I love that.
I feel like one of the biggestthings that was pushed on that
is just making sure that peoplefeel like they took a part of it
, like their own sort ofownership not necessarily
tricking them into feeling goodwith their idea, but really
letting them be a part of thatprocess, even if it means you've
facilitated their decision in acertain manner.
But yes, Bryston, you look likeyou wanted to say something.
Speaker 6 (13:54):
Oh no, I was just listening.
Everything, everything you guyssaid is correct.
It's and I'm like that was juststated that buy-in that's the
biggest thing.
Did I actually influence?
Did I play a part ininfluencing it?
Because if that, if you don'tget that feeling as a component
to the entire wheel, what'sgoing to happen?
(14:15):
Those individuals are going toshut down.
Yes, they're.
They can have good ideas whatyou're going to find happening
with that shutdown if they don'tfeel that they they supported
this change or supportedwhatever it is you're going to
find happening with thatshutdown if they don't feel that
they supported this change orsupported.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
whatever it is, you're going to lose them
Absolutely.
Amanda, did you want toemphasize anything?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
I can just speak from my like, from the lens of
politics.
The lens of politics.
I think we're really pushingnow for citizen engagement, for
things like participatorybudgeting at a local level and
like deliberate governing, wherecitizens are involved in
policymaking and decisions onhow to spend money that's
(14:57):
allocated to the differentdistricts.
And I think that voter apathyis really showing up right now
with our low voter turnout.
I think that voter apathy isreally showing up right now with
our low voter turnout.
I think that people just don'tthink that they get to
participate the way that theyshould, and that's where I think
the push needs to go, inpolitics at least.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Alyssa, do you want to go to our poll question?
And now we give the audience achance to engage in this and
here's our question.
I'm sorry when have you seendisruption lead to real change
and when has it fallen flat?
I'm going to go ahead and startsharing that with you guys now
you guys can engage with it.
A would be it led to lastingpositive change.
(15:40):
B it led to chaos, but no realimprovements.
Positive change.
B it led to chaos, but no realimprovements.
C it sparked awareness, but noaction.
D it depended entirely onleadership.
Or E I haven't seen realdisruption firsthand.
Pretty popular on it kind ofdepends on leadership.
Your thoughts on that, anybody?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
before we move on to the next piece from our
panelists, it doesn't surpriseme, I would say that number one
in the experiences that I haveis that it is almost exclusively
based on how the leadershipapproaches, how the leadership
(16:25):
communicates, how the leadershipenables the changed behaviors
that are expected, and thencertainly, how they work on
modeling and then sustainingthose changes.
So it can be the definingfactor.
It also is the single mostconsistent point of failure that
(16:47):
I've seen across the board.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I love that, alyssa.
Take us to our next slide then,because that's going to come up
to the whole disrupting systemswith a purpose.
So let's dive a little bitdeeper.
How do we challenge thesebroken systems?
Because people feel this wayfor a reason, but we also want
to make sure that we don'tcreate chaos or start burning
yourself out or even your teamsout.
(17:09):
So, thinking about that, I'mgoing to pitch that question
over to our panelists.
How do you challenge thosebroken systems?
Speaker 6 (17:26):
I can take a stab at that, challenging broken systems
.
One of the norms or one of thecatalysts that I would say has
that continuum of broken systems.
It's the term.
We've always done it this way,or people say we've all been
accustomed to working this way,without reinventing the wheel,
looking at the entire system andseeing areas that you know need
(17:49):
to be worked on.
And what was said before aboutleadership leadership, that is
very significant when it comesto everything.
Everything because, dependenton your leadership style, you
will have people eithersupporting you just because you
(18:10):
have that authority, or you'regoing to have individuals
supporting you because they feel, again, they feel like they
have that buy-in, because thatleader actually cares for that
individual.
So, when it comes to thosebroken systems, it's not just
rehashing the entire system butlooking at it and see what
(18:32):
critical areas need improvement,and then what are the plans for
improvement.
And you go through the entireteam and get their feedback on
what they think, their candidfeedback, what they think as it
relates to what they haveobserved, how they think that
aspect affects them and everyoneelse.
And then what do they think canmake that process better?
(18:57):
And you do that with everyechelon instead of only doing it
with the higher echelon andleaving the lower ones out,
because that way you fostercamaraderie and morale and
everyone again feels like theyhave that buy-in perspective you
can enforce.
Or I would say you, you willget more out of your
(19:20):
subordinates, out of your team.
I don't like to use that word.
You know subordinates andhigher echelon, lower echelon,
that kind of stuff.
Everyone's a member of the team.
We just have differentresponsibilities.
If we look at everyone as ahuman being, an individual, it
works out a little bit betterlove that.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Any of you guys want to piggyback off of that tj is
like I'm ready.
No, I, I agree, I, I agree.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I just got a lot of thoughts running through my head
from experiences that I have,things that I've been in through
, and it's kind of just crashingat this point.
I am a ruffle, the featherstype person for sure.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
Now that too, unless somebody else wants to share.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Well, you can emphasize off of that, we can do
another approach.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
So ruffling the feathers.
I am for that as well, and Iwould say the last two years or
so I was that person Because Igot into an environment and
everyone was just doing stuffbecause they were accustomed to
doing it this way.
They were comfortable withdoing it this way.
But one thing about themilitary it has all the black
(20:38):
and white and everything.
Everything is there and if youpay attention to what it's
saying and you minus emotionsand I feel this way and
personalizations, it would work.
I say that to say you sometimeshave to take a stand.
I am not an individual.
(20:59):
I go against the grain.
I don't mind losing my job,losing my rank, if I know, at
the end of the day, what I'mdoing is right.
And some individuals just liketo be politically correct for
lack of better words, or theydon't have the cojones to say,
hey, you know that's wrong, thatwe shouldn't do that.
We're going to have theseproblems.
(21:20):
You know, foresight, nobodywants to stand up to their boss
and you know, look like theblack sheep.
I got no problem with that.
I'll stand up and tell you allday, at the end of the day, like
it's your risk to take as the,the leader or the commander or
whatever, and then if thingsdon't work out the way that you
(21:43):
wanted it to and we have torevert to what anyone else was
saying, my smile is gonna sayeverything, but I'm not gonna
sit there and you're just gonnado whatever you want to do
because you have that rank, youhave that authority.
I see things changing inanother direction now with the
(22:03):
upcoming generation and thenpowers that be politically.
That's a whole different arenaif, if you don't stick to the
script, or you don't beresponsible and I don't say
stick to the script in terms ofjust going with the flow by
doing what's right, byrepresenting individuals, being
(22:25):
that voice for people that arebeing quenched by leadership or
by authority.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Anybody want to piggyback off of by doing what's
right and what that means toyou if you were in the panelists
.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
So it's interesting because I was going to talk a
little bit about what Roystonwas talking about, only in that
I would be the opposite instylistically, in that I don't
necessarily believe that theoutcomes that you're looking for
(23:07):
are achieved by rufflingfeathers.
Now, that's not to say goingwith status quo, because the
last one, those two words, don'tgo together in any sentence
that I've ever spoken out loud.
But the concept of rufflingfeathers, if you actually think
about what a bird is doing, ismaking themselves look bigger,
(23:28):
reacting to stimulus, butnothing happens.
There isn't something thathappens other than let me be
bigger and bolder, and maybe youwill then be intimidated and
back down.
And one of the things that I'veseen you guys make I have
(23:50):
reached the point in my careerand in my life's journey that
we've had an enormous amount ofthe world that's about ruffling
their own feathers so that theylook bolder and bigger and more
bully-ish towards each other inleadership, in environments
inside and outside of leadership, and it hasn't worked inside
(24:14):
and outside of leadership and ithasn't worked Like at some
point, if you have a brain thatyou're engaged in, you're not
reacting from an emotional pointor from a reactive point, you
can actually say we need to trysomething different.
Ruffling feathers doesn'tactually create action.
(24:34):
It doesn't create lastingchange.
It doesn't rarely does it evereven spur change.
What it does is it allows youto emit your emotions and then
maybe you have to save facelater.
Maybe you get.
You know, some of yourconstituents looking at you with
that I told you so smile thatthey won't say it because
(24:57):
they're too intimidated perhaps,but they know that what you
were doing wasn't going to leadthe outcomes.
So I am not a big fan of eitherthe term or the practice,
because I you know what we justlearned that it doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I love that and that's that's kind of the whole
point.
I love how TJ also pointed outthat he is all about actually
doing that and he actuallydoesn't realize that's how he
gets people to listen, is notdoing that.
I've noticed it in his coachingwhat he does with kids and what
he does with children and hedoes exactly what you're saying,
serena.
He brings a calmer setting.
You're not wrong.
(25:36):
That's the whole concept.
How do you light that fire?
How do you make them ruffletheir feathers Like to actually
have a response, not ruffle yourown feathers to say I'm going
to die in the room?
How do you light that fireinside them and not just talk
about, just smack TJ?
Speaker 3 (25:55):
That's what I was going to say.
It really depends on whosefeathers are being ruffled.
You know the example she gavewas more ruffling your own
feathers, but you should alreadyknow what kind of feathers you
have.
It's about ruffling thefeathers of someone else that
think they're bigger, badder,stronger or intimidating.
(26:15):
It's their feathers that youhave to ruffle to get them to
create the change or dosomething, even if it's to be
bigger than they are or beuncomfortable.
But I guess it would just comedown to the definition of
ruffling feathers, and there'sprobably multiple.
But at the end of the day, ifsomeone's uncomfortable about
(26:37):
change, there's going to beruffled feathers.
That's the only way you'regoing to create the change,
because change is not common.
People don't want to change.
People want to be stuck in thesystem that they're in because
that's where they're comfortableat.
And in order to get people tochange, you have to make them
uncomfortable for some way formor fashion.
And it's not necessarily anegative uncomfortable, because
(27:00):
making the system better, bigger, bolder, it's still change.
But you have to make them seethe vision to be able to do that
.
So that is a.
That's a ruffle of feathers,also to me.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Got to move on to the next piece, so I got to let the
full question, so I'm going topush out the next question.
Guys, thinking about this,alyssa, you want to pull it up
for full question number two,and then this question is going
to come to the audience.
Where do you feel most stuckwhen trying to create change?
Because you've heard everythingthat the panelists are saying.
Sometimes it's outdatedleadership mindsets, sometimes
(27:38):
it's organizational policybarriers, sometimes it's lack of
community or team buy-in,personal burnout or frustration,
unclear purpose and vision.
Sometimes that frustrationreally is there.
If you frustrate those peopleand you ruffle their feathers
too much, then they might not bereceptive to that change.
They might feel guarded, and Ithink that's the whole point of
this discussion.
(27:59):
Yes, you can light fire inpeople, but was it effective and
how do we keep it effective?
For time's sake, I'm going togo ahead and share what we have
so far, and it seems to beoutdated leadership mindset.
All right, so then let's talkabout the power of
purpose-driven innovation,especially if we're talking
(28:21):
about outdated.
How do we make sure that we caninnovate values and service and
still make sure that peoplefeel like short-term, long-term,
that they're invested in it?
All those discussions thatwe've been talking about.
How do we actually make thatfeasible for our people so they
feel safe, so they feel likethey are a part of the team.
They are a part of thediscussion?
(28:41):
I'm going to try to push it toAmanda first, only because we
haven't heard from her.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
I don't know that.
I don't know.
I don't see any kind of changeshappening until until we find a
way to mobilize people to votethe morons that are already in
power out of power, and I reallydon't see that happening
without specific campaignfinance reforms.
Um like publicly fundedelections trans.
(29:15):
Like lobbyists stop being inspecial interest groups not
involved in buying politicians,politicians not invested in only
doing policy based on who theirlobbyists are.
I don't really know how we getthere, but I don't really think
that we can go any furtherwithout finding a way to get
(29:35):
there.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah, anybody else want to piggyback off of that,
maybe in your area or evenfurther in what she's saying.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
From a political standpoint.
I think she's right that thelobbyists, the people that have
a lot of personal gain.
I think that's very important.
It's not one of those squeakywheel gets grease.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
It has a lot to do with financial and money A lot
of it centered around not thepurpose of the change, but the
(30:20):
purpose of the organization,that you are focused on, the why
.
Why do we exist?
What is it that we are here toserve, whether it be human
beings, larger, small groupingsof those, and I think that
that's really where I see thework that I do with 99.9% of my
(30:40):
clients.
It almost always has to restartbecause I never get called in
at the beginning.
I always get called in afterthings have gone poorly.
And resetting the why.
Coming back to the purpose,what was the rationale for this
at the beginning?
Speaker 6 (31:00):
was one of those really important steps for
innovation to be successful thatwhy I think it's also important
to for the individuals there,in whatever organization, right
(31:21):
as you refocus, refresh on thatpurpose, also show them, try to
paint that picture again, thatvision right, and then their
purpose where do they fit in andhow do they benefit in that
organization?
Just letting them know, hey, atthe end of the day, you know,
(31:49):
depending on where it's at Ican't speak so much for politics
, that's a whole different beast, but when it comes to those
organizations, it's just lettingindividuals know where they fit
into this whole grand scheme ofeverything and they actually
have buy-in, they actually havesome ownership of it.
So, not only rehashing theorganizational's purpose, but
also your purpose and whatyou're benefiting from, the
(32:11):
overall grand scheme of things.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
And so we can move to the next piece for the panel or
for the audience then, becausethen it's going to lead to
everybody asking does yourcurrent role actually allow you
guys to lead with purpose?
So is that a yes, absolutely, Ifeel aligned and empowered.
B would be sometimes it dependson the situation.
C would be no, I feel reallyrestricted and off mission.
(32:37):
Or D, I'm not sure and I'mstill figuring it out.
Guys, as we're looking at this,it seems to be people are saying
mainly, sometimes it depends onthe situation, and then a few
people are saying yes,absolutely, and we did have one
end up saying no, I feelrestricted, and nobody else
(32:58):
seems to feel like they're justfiguring out.
So that's a good thing.
I'm going to the next piece ofthis.
So then let's talk aboutleading through that discomfort
For me nine times out of ten.
What I notice with a lot ofleaders, it's a lot to implement
something brand new andsomething different and then
include everybody else whodoesn't understand the budget
(33:21):
and who doesn't understand thebig scale of the organization
and all the other pieces, andnot feel like you have to go
train the whole team to get itdone.
So that tends to get avoidedand looking at that piece, often
that'll make the team feel likethey were unheard because not
every single person was includedin that discussion and feelings
get hurt and everything elsehappens and then we hit the
(33:41):
turmoil.
So how did you guys leadthrough discomfort, criticism or
anything pushback whenever youtried to make change in your
organizations?
I'm going to kick it to thepanelists.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
It's interesting, Melissa, as you were just sort
of describing the steps.
What kept coming back to me wasa lack of trust, Because the
kinds of pushback, the kinds ofdiscomfort, the kinds of
criticism as far as the examplesthat you gave were in those
(34:17):
times where, whether they beyour peers, your constituents or
your stakeholders, if theydon't trust you, then when it
comes to implementing any change, there is such an easy road to
take around criticism, aroundany kind of discomfort.
(34:37):
So, in order for leaders totruly be able to have, I
wouldn't say clear sailing, butclearer sailing, to create
innovation and create a path forthat, it really does come down
to, you know, having a corevalue, internal core value
(35:00):
around building trust, such thatwhen you have a difficult
decision to make, when there isa change ahead of you, when
there is something that you needto communicate but you can't
communicate all of it, you can'tburden your entire organization
with every financial detailthat is behind the reasons.
(35:21):
It's truly important to makesure that, as a leader, you are
showing up in a trust buildingcapacity in everything that
you're doing.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
I'm going to piggyback off of that one.
I'm going to piggyback off ofthat one.
I think the first one theynoticed when it came down to and
it needed to implementsomething new or something
different on the campus was theparents did they trust me or did
they not?
And did the teachers trust itor did it not?
But what I noticed is when Ihad full trust and clarity and
already built that relationship,they didn't even ask why there
(35:57):
definitely was no, why it wasalready like, honestly, she
doesn't make us do more than weneed to.
So if we're doing this, thenthere's a reason for it and that
was great.
Because that trust made thingsmove faster, you're not wrong,
like it really does move thosethings along, and I think some
leaders sometimes think that'sjust so much stuff.
But it's like you kind of gotto earn your stripes too.
(36:18):
You got to build that trust,whatever is necessary for that
team to build that relationshipand that transparency over time
and have that trust with you.
You kind of got to put in thetime and effort and phases and
steps, whatever's necessary tomake sure that you have that
full support, because if not,how do you expand and how do you
go further with that.
See Royston like shaking hishead and I'm not sure what he's
(36:41):
thinking.
Speaker 6 (36:43):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Trust is big.
I got to trust as a centerpieceof everything.
Trust, empowering both seniorand juniors as well, empowering
everyone that has a piece to doin it.
Once you take that away, Iwould say that would deteriorate
(37:03):
the entire team, because youcan shut down somebody that
wants to try, but they'reprobably an introvert and it
took a lot for them to finallybuild up to get to that point.
But everybody looks at them aslike, yeah, you know, they don't
know what they do a lot or theythink too much or they
(37:24):
overthink or whatever.
So trust, I would say trust iskey, empowering.
And then, thirdly, cultures,culture differences.
You know that plays asignificant key in how a lot of
individuals look atorganizational structures based
on what environment they grew upin.
What were those values thatthey grew up in, what were those
(37:48):
cultures that they grew up in?
Because we know from differentbackgrounds, different religions
.
They trust is different fromdifferent religions.
So that plays a significantrole too.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
I love that you point that out, because I feel like I
don't really think about thecultural thing until I'm
thinking about a global scaleand then all of a sudden I'm
very conscientious of how I'mtrying to disseminate a message.
But I do see that in cultural,with students, and different
pieces too in education.
So you're not wrong, you haveto be.
(38:21):
I kind of want to piggyback towhat Serena was saying earlier,
and the message that I washearing was if the nervous
system is overstimulated andfeeling like, oh my God, it's
going to shut down and it's notgoing to hear anything you say.
So she's not saying youshouldn't say there's an issue
and bring it up.
She's really saying the measurethat you go about it.
How do you want to be effectiveand make sure that people
(38:42):
actually heard what you saidinstead of tuned everything out?
And that's really what I thinkwe miss as leaders sometimes.
But we're going to go to ourlast panelist question or, I'm
sorry, poll question for theaudience so that way we can
shift over to their openquestions, because they have had
a few and I'm looking at this.
(39:03):
So what's your biggestchallenge for the audience in
leading uncomfortableconversations?
Is it staying calm and grounded, getting others to listen,
managing emotional reactions,whether it's yours or theirs,
others to listen, managingemotional reactions whether it's
yours or theirs, gaining buy-inor commitment to change or
possibly choosing the rightbattles to actually fight for
yourself.
This one's pretty split thistime.
(39:29):
What are we thinking aboutthose results as we start
picking that to the endingdiscussions for the panelists?
Speaker 2 (39:44):
it looks well.
A and c to me were both focusedon emotions, right, so it kind
of looks like those are split, asplit of the same thing.
It was funny because I alsothought b and d was this was
right, listening, getting buy-in.
(40:06):
It doesn't surprise me thatemotions because there's so much
emotion in the world thateveryone is dealing with that
any kind of an uncomfortableconversation, anticipating it,
(40:27):
anticipating emotional reactionand that brings up the elevation
across the board.
People, people's communicationskills have continued to decline
just when they needed to be thebest they've ever been no, I
agree with that.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
I think I kind of named it when it was more about
the feelings and the emotionsand most of the time we're so
tuned in to making decisionsbased on just the emotions.
It's really not effective andthat's when we really got to
listen and make that peace.
But I think people feel liketheir leaders ran everything
(41:01):
because there was such highemotions because of the lack of
communication that they feltunheard and something else
trickled and it's a rippleeffect from everything that
we've been talking about todaybecause of that one piece in
those emotions and someone justcouldn't say, hey, you hurt my
feelings.
Can you repeat that?
Because I didn't appreciatethat and unfortunately that's
(41:22):
kind of where we're at now inthis generation.
But you're not wrong, we movefurther.
So much more panelists oraudience.
Do y'all have any questions forour panelists?
I know, ms Tina, you wereraising your hand earlier.
Do you have any specificquestions for our panelists now?
Speaker 8 (41:37):
Apologies.
There was more comments on thecommentary, but not a question.
But Alyssa, she clarified itfor me, so I'm now in the
receiving the input mode.
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Perfect, perfect.
Does anybody else want topiggyback off of what they saw
in the poll results or anyquestions?
So if we don't have anyquestions, then audience.
I'm just going to ask you allinstead to share with us in the
chat or feel free to come offmute if you really would like to
(42:12):
.
What was your biggest takeawayfrom today and where do you feel
called to?
Ruffle feathers?
Make an impact, but notnecessarily look like you're
just puffing up your feathers.
Speaker 5 (42:27):
I would say what I would take away from tonight is
that I'm usually like, afraid toruffle feathers because, like,
I worry, I worry about othersfeelings, you know, and so,
basically, what I would takeaway from tonight is just, you
know, just to have more, morecourage, like, more, more
(42:48):
courage, and, like you know, andwhat I do, such as, like you
know, I'll give an example Iremember one time we was in the
car and I had called my businesslittle, and you had, and you
had said, don't call yourbusiness little, you don't know
what it's capable of.
Yet I was like, and I was like,so like I keep reminding myself
of that and everything as well,even when I'm in the midst of
(43:09):
contracts, and everything aswell, you know, having the
courage to be like, hey, you'regonna pay me up front, you know
that is not something that evenadults have the courage to do
yet, so it makes you feel better.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Trust me.
Every adult has questioned am I, are my services really worth
it?
Can I really charge that youare not alone, nazir.
Speaker 6 (43:31):
You're going to get there.
You're going to start smilingwhen you feel brave enough to be
like hey, no, you can gosomewhere else.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
So Nazir is our newest intern, royston.
He will be covering videographyphotography and our editing.
He is also certified incybersecurity, so we're super
excited to introduce him.
Speaker 6 (43:50):
Awesome Multifaceted I know I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Tina, you have a question love.
Speaker 8 (43:56):
So a comment In my arena, with my job, my
occupation, working with thefederal government, I'm never in
a space where communicationshould be mute because in the
leadership role, every leaderhave something to offer right In
the charter school role, thechildren you know their needs
(44:17):
are always evolving, so thereshould never be a space where
that communication is notflowing.
Of course there was always be atopic of the mission.
You know what is the mission orwhat are the goals and we go
from there.
But I encourage all of mycolleagues that I work with or
(44:38):
if I'm in a space where I'mvolunteering, your voice is
important, your input isimportant, your work is
important.
So that is how you grow.
You know that's how you reachother key stakeholders.
So you know that commentary,that communication is important.
You know they try to mute myvoice.
(45:10):
No, no, I live in a world wheremy voice is powerful and it's
necessary and I make surewhomever I'm working with knows
that.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
I was going to say it won't, let me unmute.
I was trying to say great job,tina.
I love it.
Let's show Hi love Come offmute.
Speaker 7 (45:26):
Hi.
Yes, I want to know if you guyscould speak a little bit more
about when you're in certainspaces and you are trying to
facilitate change or bring upissues that need to be addressed
, that are serious and kind ofnavigating when it's worth the
fight and when it's not.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
My favorite book that I would recommend would be
Crucial Conversations, and thenthe follow-up would be Crucial
Confrontations, because itliterally explains.
If you should ever even get tothat step I'm gonna.
I see Serena like dying insideto say that.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
You know you picked the wrong.
I think we said the even beforewe got started.
This is my lifeblood.
So every one of theseconversations it's like I will
tell you and maybe it just itcomes with tenure I wouldn't say
age, but maybe it's just tenure, especially when the
conversation is going to be, oryou anticipate it to be,
(46:29):
difficult, caustic, what haveyou?
I often challenge any level ofhuman being, any adult human
being, not a kid, to start withcuriosity, not a kid to start
(46:53):
with curiosity.
If you can think about whatquestions would I ask?
Not accusations, notchallenging to prove your point,
but being truly, truly curiousabout the motivation of someone
else, about the rationale behindthe decision, in a way that
helps you to get better.
And I know it's way back, youguys may not.
(47:16):
You probably were in gradeschool when the whole thing
about seek to understand beforeRight, you're all like in Right
and I remember that, having areally critical because I, like
many high achieving people, Icame out of college and went off
to Accenture and discoveredthat's where all of the high
(47:38):
achieving people went and all ofa sudden I had the starts of
imposter syndrome which I hadnever had in my life, of
imposter syndrome, which I hadnever had in my life and for a
lot of reasons, unrelated mostlyjust because of my family of
origin, allowing me to not seethat I wasn't.
You know that there might havebeen a reason, but I will tell
(48:05):
you that the curiosity,understanding, the unique
perspectives.
I have met more people that Ihave sort of a fan effect over,
and then I meet them and theytell me something that is so
common with my own experience.
I'm like, wow, you put yourpants on one leg at a time too,
and it really does help.
So I think one of the things Icoach a lot of people is oh, I
(48:26):
wonder what's behind that.
Like, I ask that of everything,I wonder what's behind that?
It allows you to come at itfrom a place where there isn't
conflict and there's not emotion, right?
Both of those questions thatwere emotion.
I used to say people would askme all the time how can you be
so passionate about your workand have so little emotion?
(48:50):
Because it really isn't aboutthat, it's about being curious.
Speaker 1 (48:56):
I want to piggyback off of that, because I think
you're right 100%.
But I noticed I did it bestwhen I was working with kids,
and my kids will say this too.
I don't give adults as muchleniency as I do children.
But children, I don't care howmany times they screw up, I
don't care how many times theygot it wrong.
I was like they're stilllearning.
I'm not going to get mad overspilt milk, but if I already
(49:17):
taught those systems andprocedures, it does affect me.
And then it's emotional and Ihave to check myself and be like
well, let's be real.
Why am I losing my my ish, ifI'm the one leading the
classroom?
Did I really set theexpectations?
Did I really do all that?
Now let me ask myself ah crap,probably didn't.
All right, guys, let's, let'stry again tomorrow, like it was
(49:38):
really.
Uh, have to step back, reflectand be real with myself.
If there's a break, if it's me,if it's the kids, why?
So that curiosity is kind ofnecessary and I've carried that
over to coaching.
I think you're right like spoton what you're saying.
Sorry, and it makes it thatmuch more powerful and kind of,
how TJ said, making it liketheir idea.
(49:58):
No, I mean, most people alreadyknow what they have to do.
The best coaches will pull themout of you with questions and
Bryston hates me when I say thatbecause I I'm like I'll give
you the solutions.
I give you the questions.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Well, one of the things, Melissa I probably say
this to a leader a day If youthink for a second that people
in the world today are notdistracted by all the things
going on in the world aroundbehind their little keyboard,
check yourself and so, while itand to your point, did you teach
the thing to the adults thatyou meant and did you?
(50:34):
Were you clearing your learningobjectives?
Were you clearing your delivery?
And does that mean they were ina place that they could hear
you?
And in some cases it's 100%about the distractions that are
going on in their world or inour bigger world.
And I say it literally everyday to leaders.
(50:55):
I say I wonder what's going onfor the person that is not
living up to the expectationsyou had, not delivering against
your expectations, not meetingthe objectives or the deadlines
or the agreements, missing thatcommitment, right?
I love when someone says Idon't understand what's wrong
with her.
She always she makes acommitment and she always
(51:17):
delivers on it.
I don't know.
I think we're going to have toput her on the PIP list or or
the, and I say wait like unwindthat a minute.
What's going on?
That's different and if it's,if in fact you can be looking at
that and if, if the people cometo trust you, that that's
you're on their side, it's awhole different experience for
(51:39):
everyone.
But everyone is is dealing withsomething going on and in
distraction love that hyperfocus, and-focus and
hyper-vigilance.
Speaker 1 (51:49):
Nizer, you had a question Liv.
Speaker 5 (51:52):
Wrong button, sorry.
So I was going to ask.
So, like, when it, when itcomes to, like you know, ruffle
and feather, how did you getused to doing that?
Where did you like come into apoint of your career of like,
okay, like now it was like youknow the time, you know, I had
to, like you know, at the time,you know, I had to, like, you
know, spread my wings, and it'slike that.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
I appreciate that you point that out.
Trust me, I like to be likedand I don't go into rooms trying
to piss people off.
That is not the intention.
That just tends to be what Inaturally do, and I'm not even
aware of it.
So I had to start stepping backand realizing I have a
reputation of being an honestagitator.
I have a reputation of rufflingfeathers.
(52:31):
I have a reputation of ignitingfires.
What does that mean?
Does that mean that I hadmalicious intentions or does
that mean that I sparkedsomething?
How do we do that?
And then, when I sparkedsomething, what did I have to do
to make sure that I could drivethat change and make people
feel that I support them?
And, as Bryson would say, Ilook at them as a person.
And, as Serena would say, notlike basically throw off their
(52:55):
entire nervous system.
Like TJ would end up sayinglike, still say what I got to
say.
And Amanda's definitely goingto say like, admit it, tell them
what you're like, what you'redoing, be transparent.
None of it was intentional.
The point is, sometimes, whenwe try to push and innovate for
change, we naturally rufflefeathers because people get a
little bit scared about change.
(53:15):
And this whole topic is to sayit's not bad to innovate, change
or ignite something inside ofpeople, but how do we make sure
it's effective and we don't justburn people out and constantly
focus on the noise?
Speaker 6 (53:31):
I wanted to add a little to what Serena said
earlier too, when it comes tothat curiosity, because, like I
said, my last two years I workedin an environment where the
whole mission was different andthat curiosity aspect that makes
a big difference.
That curiosity aspect cancreate that trust that you're
(53:52):
looking for, right, because shesaid, you know, hey, this person
always meets this deadline,they always do this, they always
do that.
What distractions is thatperson having in their personal
life that's affecting theirprofessional life?
Right?
And if you as a leader,whatever, if you as a person see
(54:16):
that in someone and take thetime to find out what's the root
cause, that curiosity can leadto a lot of team building.
Now, it can also lead todestruction, because if you're
curious and you're just doingthat because and you're not
listening attentively and you'rejust listening to respond,
you're going to lose that personagain.
(54:36):
So that curiosity is going tohelp.
Root cause of what's what'sactually happening.
Speaker 1 (54:46):
Any of our other panelists want to piggyback off
of that before we wrap it up,because I love that.
Speaker 3 (54:52):
I will say to all the young leaders out there to
inspire change is to inspirehope, and one of the ways to go
about looking at it as a leadera leader, an effective leader
(55:12):
anyway must have followers.
You can't look behind you,nobody's there.
So when you ignite change, whenyou ignite hope, when you
ignite something different,you're doing it on behalf of
something, either yourself or amultitude of coworkers, friends,
anything and that was gives youthe passion and the drive to
(55:37):
move forward, knowing thatsomeone's going to benefit from
the change, and the more themerrier.
So it's good to know yoursurroundings, know the people
that you represent, know thepeople that you're advocating
for, because when you'remarching for somebody else, it's
a different march than beingselfish.
Speaker 1 (56:00):
You guys just have so many amazing mic drop moments
today.
All right, put this guy on at-shirt, gotta get his coat on a
t-shirt.
Some bumper stickers coming offof this and such guys.
Well, thank you all so much aswe wrap up everything.
Really, this is supposed to beabout innovation.
It isn't just being loud.
It's about being clear,courageous and committed to real
(56:22):
change, and not just innovatingthese things because you want
to be seen.
These systems that we have tochallenge today are supposed to
shape tomorrow's future.
So, those of you that are here,you were here because you've
either been impacting otherpeople in change or you're so
invested in people's future.
So a huge thank you to ourpanelists and to all of you for
(56:43):
bringing your leadership andyour voice to this space tonight
.
I thank you so much.
Don't forget to check out ourwebsite for
structureinnovationscom for moreleadership resources, and we
will see you guys next month oncollaborative leadership.
Until next time, stay structuredand smiling and have a powerful
night.
Keep building change where itmatters.
(57:04):
Thank you for tuning in toStructuring Chaotic Minds.
If today's episode resonatedwith you, don't forget to
subscribe, share and leave areview.
Remember the key to success isnot avoiding chaos, but learning
how to structure it.
Stay inspired, keep growing andjoin me next time as we
continue to transform challengesinto opportunities.
(57:25):
Until then, take care and keepstructuring your chaotic mind.
Welcome to Structuring Chaotic Minds, the
podcast where we turn the chaosof everyday challenges into
structured success.
I'm your host, melissa.
In each episode, we'll exploreinnovative strategies, real-life
stories and actionable insightsto help you navigate the
complexities of leadership,business and personal growth.
Whether you're an entrepreneur,a leader or someone striving
(00:21):
for personal development, thispodcast will give you the tools
to create clarity in the chaos.
Let's dive in.
Good evening everyone, andwelcome to tonight's Balance
Growth Leadership Series.
I'm Melissa Franklin and I'mhonored to guide tonight's
discussion.
Tonight's discussion isactually topic on ruffling
(00:42):
feathers.
We want to innovate change andnot just stir pot In a world
where disruption can sometimesfeel like confusion with
leadership.
We want to dig deep into whatit really means to innovate and
make sure that you can makemeaningful, lasting change.
Tonight is about boldleadership, purposeful
disruption and building systemsthat were actually serving the
(01:03):
people they were meant for.
We'll hear from real-worldstrategies, stories and
reflections from our panelists,and you guys will be able to
have the chances to reflectthrough live polls.
We ask you, if you're joining asan audience, to please leave
your screen off so that way wecan highlight the panelists and
their discussion through tonight.
But you are welcome to actuallyguide through and participate
(01:24):
through the actual chat if youhave any questions.
So let's get started.
Let's go ahead and meet ourpanelists.
I will introduce each onebriefly and then we'll share a
little bit about theirleadership journey, why Ruffling
Feathers has been a part oftheir mission and basically
their passion for leadership.
So we're going to go ahead andstart off with Serena Diamond.
If you guys have joined us lastmonth, she was with us last
(01:46):
month and we had to welcome herback for today's discussion.
She definitely knows how toinnovate change and be able to
do that.
That is her life background nowand as a profession.
Serena, welcome.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Thank you so much for having me back, Melissa.
I do appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You want to tell us a little bit about your
background For sure.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So I am a recovering corporate transformation expert
after 30 plus years.
That started with Accenture andincluded some time at
Pepsi-Cola and then a bit oftime at Hyperion and Melon
Investor Services, as well as atcom.
But really then the second halfof my career was all at IBM
building transformationalprocesses, adopting new ways of
working and really creating alot of innovation in that
(02:32):
organization.
And then the last three years Ihave been out on my own really
having a fabulous time helpingclients do just exactly that
create opportunities to innovateand change.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Be like you when I grow up, like literally, I want
to support you as good as that.
Thank you so much for joining us.
I am super excited to have you.
Our most popular guest forpodcasting is back Royston
Telford.
It looks like we're having someconnectivity issues on the
audio.
I'm going to skip over TJ Coach.
(03:06):
Tj Cunningham, I do see you inthe audience, Not sure if you
can come off mute and introduceyourself.
He is a youth development coachand a nonprofit leader here in
San Antonio.
He's also a founder of anonprofit called Taking Care of
Home.
If you could introduce yourself, TJ.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Sorry, I'm having more than technical difficulties
over here.
We were having practice and Ihad to run out of practice to
get on my Zoom call.
Can everybody hear me, okay.
Yes, sir, okay, can you see me?
Yes, sir, okay, cool, all right, I am Coach TJ Cunningham.
I'm the founder of Taking Careof Home, which is a nonprofit
(03:44):
for homeless women and children.
We do a lot for the community.
We do food drives.
We sometimes do placement foranyone that's needing another an
alternative place to emergencyhousing, I guess is what we'll
call it.
We've done clothing drives.
We've done just a lot ofdifferent stuff.
Whatever we can help thecommunity.
(04:05):
My latest greatest adventure iscreating a sports academy for
kids to make sure that they'reout of the streets.
We don't have any communitycenters on the Converse side, on
the Northeast side districtleaders to make sure the kids
(04:27):
have alternatives to, you know,just crime and just getting into
different area phases of stuffthat they shouldn't be getting
into.
We started off with just afifth grade group.
Now we're third through seniorsand we have four sports that
kids have an alternative to jumpinto.
We do track have an alternativeto jump into.
We do track, cornhole,basketball and taekwondo
(04:48):
currently, and it is keeping mevery, very, very busy.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So sorry for being late, but I tried to get as fast
as I could.
We appreciate you.
I was going to say and that'samongst the few of the things
he's currently doing.
We have to put it out there weat Structure Innovations are
completely grateful to him, aswell as his organization.
They have not only been anamazing champion for women and
children here in San Antonio,but they've also been a huge
help to our family.
So huge gratitude goes out toCoach TJ and if you guys are
(05:19):
interested in hearing more aboutthat, please reach out to us.
We will be more than happy toconnect you.
We also have Amanda Price.
She is a field organizer and apolitical advocate here in San
Antonio.
She is a champion for civicengagement and community
empowerment.
She is also constantly outthere and making sure that
everyone is getting theinformation that they need and
(05:40):
getting ready for their vote.
So she's probably not going tobe able to come off camera
because I know she's out thereright now, but I know she's able
to share off of audio.
Amanda, can you introduceyourself for us?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Yes, my name is Amanda Price and I am a precinct
chair for the Bexar CountyDemocratic Party and currently a
field organizer on two of thedistrict races and one of the
mayor races in this election.
I don't know what else you wantme to say.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
No, that is perfect.
She's a community advocate andshe's very humble, but her voice
is heard here in San Antonioand I think it's important to
have her here.
I'm excited and I think,bryston did we fix it on Looking
like a no Try, turning off yourcamera and then just doing the
audio and seeing what we getfrom that.
Bryston, if that works and ifnot, you can also call in.
(06:32):
Okay, no worries, bryston, Iwill go ahead and introduce you.
So Bryston Telford he's been on.
He is probably our most popularindividual that we've had on
our podcast called StructuringChaotic Minds.
He is an immigrant.
He is also a US Army healthliaison, so he's there in
healthcare.
He is a veteran entrepreneurnow and he is all about building
(06:55):
community.
He is giving back and trying tobring trade for our young
kiddos that are here in SanAntonio, and he does lots of
different partnerships as wellas a lot of woodwork through his
business, where he has our TVcustoms.
So I'm gonna see if he's ableto tune in or not.
We're gonna go ahead and getstarted with the panels and we
(07:16):
sent a separate one.
If you can't come on camera,guys, it's perfectly fine.
Remember, this does getconverted to a podcast, though,
and again for our guests thatare coming in a little bit late,
thank you so much for joiningus today.
We ask that you just pleasekeep your camera and audio up,
so that way we can highlightthis panelist and you will have
the opportunity to engage viachat.
If you guys have any questions,please ask them in the chat.
(07:38):
All righty guys.
So what does it mean toinnovate change instead of just
stirring pot, so I like to sayagitating things, but, being
honest, what does it really looklike in your work, though?
How do you stay focused oncreating real outcomes and not
just making people mad?
I'm going to pitch that over toour panelist.
(07:59):
Whoever wants to go first,nobody be scared.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'll jump in.
I wasn't sure if others werethere.
You know, I thought a lot aboutthis because stirring the pot
has such a negative connotationfor so many people in such a big
thing.
So I was really trying to thinkabout this thoughtfully and I I
think that for lots of people,stirring the pot really tends to
(08:26):
be focused around urgency,right, that it's something
that's the shiny penny peoplewill talk about, or the shiny
new toy, or the shiny innovation, or it's something that, if the
competitors are doing it, I'vegot to do it right now.
And so one of the things thatwhen I oftentimes work with
clients what to really focus on?
(08:47):
How do you innovate change andwe're almost always focusing on
how is it that you aretransforming the way people work
, what it is, what tools they'reusing, what processes they're
following, what ways they'recollaborating things that are
all about creating momentum andcreating lasting value.
And I think too often,especially now at the rate and
(09:11):
pace of changing the world, it'seasy to think of change as a
stir of the pot, something thatis the newest innovation.
I won't say AI, but it'sinteresting.
I've had so many clientrequests ask me how do I
incorporate AI into the workthat I'm doing and how do I keep
(09:34):
it from being the shiny new toythat we're all chasing?
And if you continue to look atthe way change is in a continuum
(09:55):
in your organization and howyou are building on momentum
that already existed, you'revery focused on the value, that
you're focused on improving theway people work, the technology
that they use to support thatwork and the processes that they
follow.
You'll be more about creatingmomentum and truly innovating
change rather than simplyreacting.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Thank you, anybody else.
What does change look like foryou all?
For you all, because I lovethat and I love the concept of
basically it shouldn't be anegative connotation to get
people to start with that senseof urgency.
I feel like some people arescared of change and that really
deters people from this type ofpeace.
(10:37):
What about our other panelists?
What do you all think?
Speaker 6 (10:42):
So I'll.
Can you guys hear me?
Okay, so change, so I'll.
Can you guys hear me?
Okay, so change.
And well, my apologies, I hadsome issues earlier, but voice
and tell for an active dutymilitary, medical field,
educational field as well in themilitary.
And what I can say as it relatesto change, dependent on the
(11:04):
different level that you're at,you're going to experience the
difference of buy-in from theindividuals at those different
levels, depending on what it isto achieve.
And my example it's basicallylower level, lower enlisted,
military.
When it comes to change more so, the supervisory role is the
(11:28):
one that drives the train.
Anyone below there, it's justthat you really don't have a
say-so at that point.
For lower enlisted, you justhave to do what you're told and
as you get higher in rank, inresponsibility echelons, what
happens?
Now you have a voice, but thehigher you go and it's in
(11:50):
everything else, there's morepolitics and bureaucracy.
So you have to delicatelynavigate around that process and
it's good to have thetechnological aspects of it, but
one of the biggest hurdles,regardless of sector, regardless
of whatever it is, it's theindividual's mindset and how
(12:12):
they look at the team.
Do they look at the team asindividuals, as persons as human
beings, to build a teamtogether, or are they just
looking for worker bees to getstuff done?
That's what I would say is oneof the biggest difference when
it comes to innovation andbuilding teams.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Love that.
Thank you, tj Amanda, do youguys want to piggyback off of
that?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I agree with everything that's been said so
far.
With some of the stuff we dealwith comes to change.
It just seems like a lot ofpeople are reluctant to change.
But we have a better way ofgetting people to adapt to
change if a lot of people thinkit's their idea for the change
(13:01):
or they came up with thesolutions to the problems, and
so basically, you just want toget as many people involved as
possible, get them to see thevision and have them on board to
create the vision, because aslong as they think they're the
ones initiating the change andit's for the better, then
(13:22):
they'll be more susceptible forthe growth and the change that's
to come.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I love that.
I feel like one of the biggestthings that was pushed on that
is just making sure that peoplefeel like they took a part of it
, like their own sort ofownership not necessarily
tricking them into feeling goodwith their idea, but really
letting them be a part of thatprocess, even if it means you've
facilitated their decision in acertain manner.
But yes, Bryston, you look likeyou wanted to say something.
Speaker 6 (13:54):
Oh no, I was just listening.
Everything, everything you guyssaid is correct.
It's and I'm like that was juststated that buy-in that's the
biggest thing.
Did I actually influence?
Did I play a part ininfluencing it?
Because if that, if you don'tget that feeling as a component
to the entire wheel, what'sgoing to happen?
(14:15):
Those individuals are going toshut down.
Yes, they're.
They can have good ideas whatyou're going to find happening
with that shutdown if they don'tfeel that they they supported
this change or supportedwhatever it is you're going to
find happening with thatshutdown if they don't feel that
they supported this change orsupported.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
whatever it is, you're going to lose them
Absolutely.
Amanda, did you want toemphasize anything?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
I can just speak from my like, from the lens of
politics.
The lens of politics.
I think we're really pushingnow for citizen engagement, for
things like participatorybudgeting at a local level and
like deliberate governing, wherecitizens are involved in
policymaking and decisions onhow to spend money that's
(14:57):
allocated to the differentdistricts.
And I think that voter apathyis really showing up right now
with our low voter turnout.
I think that voter apathy isreally showing up right now with
our low voter turnout.
I think that people just don'tthink that they get to
participate the way that theyshould, and that's where I think
the push needs to go, inpolitics at least.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Alyssa, do you want to go to our poll question?
And now we give the audience achance to engage in this and
here's our question.
I'm sorry when have you seendisruption lead to real change
and when has it fallen flat?
I'm going to go ahead and startsharing that with you guys now
you guys can engage with it.
A would be it led to lastingpositive change.
(15:40):
B it led to chaos, but no realimprovements.
Positive change.
B it led to chaos, but no realimprovements.
C it sparked awareness, but noaction.
D it depended entirely onleadership.
Or E I haven't seen realdisruption firsthand.
Pretty popular on it kind ofdepends on leadership.
Your thoughts on that, anybody?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
before we move on to the next piece from our
panelists, it doesn't surpriseme, I would say that number one
in the experiences that I haveis that it is almost exclusively
based on how the leadershipapproaches, how the leadership
(16:25):
communicates, how the leadershipenables the changed behaviors
that are expected, and thencertainly, how they work on
modeling and then sustainingthose changes.
So it can be the definingfactor.
It also is the single mostconsistent point of failure that
(16:47):
I've seen across the board.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I love that, alyssa.
Take us to our next slide then,because that's going to come up
to the whole disrupting systemswith a purpose.
So let's dive a little bitdeeper.
How do we challenge thesebroken systems?
Because people feel this wayfor a reason, but we also want
to make sure that we don'tcreate chaos or start burning
yourself out or even your teamsout.
(17:09):
So, thinking about that, I'mgoing to pitch that question
over to our panelists.
How do you challenge thosebroken systems?
Speaker 6 (17:26):
I can take a stab at that, challenging broken systems
.
One of the norms or one of thecatalysts that I would say has
that continuum of broken systems.
It's the term.
We've always done it this way,or people say we've all been
accustomed to working this way,without reinventing the wheel,
looking at the entire system andseeing areas that you know need
(17:49):
to be worked on.
And what was said before aboutleadership leadership, that is
very significant when it comesto everything.
Everything because, dependenton your leadership style, you
will have people eithersupporting you just because you
(18:10):
have that authority, or you'regoing to have individuals
supporting you because they feel, again, they feel like they
have that buy-in, because thatleader actually cares for that
individual.
So, when it comes to thosebroken systems, it's not just
rehashing the entire system butlooking at it and see what
(18:32):
critical areas need improvement,and then what are the plans for
improvement.
And you go through the entireteam and get their feedback on
what they think, their candidfeedback, what they think as it
relates to what they haveobserved, how they think that
aspect affects them and everyoneelse.
And then what do they think canmake that process better?
(18:57):
And you do that with everyechelon instead of only doing it
with the higher echelon andleaving the lower ones out,
because that way you fostercamaraderie and morale and
everyone again feels like theyhave that buy-in perspective you
can enforce.
Or I would say you, you willget more out of your
(19:20):
subordinates, out of your team.
I don't like to use that word.
You know subordinates andhigher echelon, lower echelon,
that kind of stuff.
Everyone's a member of the team.
We just have differentresponsibilities.
If we look at everyone as ahuman being, an individual, it
works out a little bit betterlove that.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Any of you guys want to piggyback off of that tj is
like I'm ready.
No, I, I agree, I, I agree.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I just got a lot of thoughts running through my head
from experiences that I have,things that I've been in through
, and it's kind of just crashingat this point.
I am a ruffle, the featherstype person for sure.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
Now that too, unless somebody else wants to share.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Well, you can emphasize off of that, we can do
another approach.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
So ruffling the feathers.
I am for that as well, and Iwould say the last two years or
so I was that person Because Igot into an environment and
everyone was just doing stuffbecause they were accustomed to
doing it this way.
They were comfortable withdoing it this way.
But one thing about themilitary it has all the black
(20:38):
and white and everything.
Everything is there and if youpay attention to what it's
saying and you minus emotionsand I feel this way and
personalizations, it would work.
I say that to say you sometimeshave to take a stand.
I am not an individual.
(20:59):
I go against the grain.
I don't mind losing my job,losing my rank, if I know, at
the end of the day, what I'mdoing is right.
And some individuals just liketo be politically correct for
lack of better words, or theydon't have the cojones to say,
hey, you know that's wrong, thatwe shouldn't do that.
We're going to have theseproblems.
(21:20):
You know, foresight, nobodywants to stand up to their boss
and you know, look like theblack sheep.
I got no problem with that.
I'll stand up and tell you allday, at the end of the day, like
it's your risk to take as the,the leader or the commander or
whatever, and then if thingsdon't work out the way that you
(21:43):
wanted it to and we have torevert to what anyone else was
saying, my smile is gonna sayeverything, but I'm not gonna
sit there and you're just gonnado whatever you want to do
because you have that rank, youhave that authority.
I see things changing inanother direction now with the
(22:03):
upcoming generation and thenpowers that be politically.
That's a whole different arenaif, if you don't stick to the
script, or you don't beresponsible and I don't say
stick to the script in terms ofjust going with the flow by
doing what's right, byrepresenting individuals, being
(22:25):
that voice for people that arebeing quenched by leadership or
by authority.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Anybody want to piggyback off of by doing what's
right and what that means toyou if you were in the panelists
.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
So it's interesting because I was going to talk a
little bit about what Roystonwas talking about, only in that
I would be the opposite instylistically, in that I don't
necessarily believe that theoutcomes that you're looking for
(23:07):
are achieved by rufflingfeathers.
Now, that's not to say goingwith status quo, because the
last one, those two words, don'tgo together in any sentence
that I've ever spoken out loud.
But the concept of rufflingfeathers, if you actually think
about what a bird is doing, ismaking themselves look bigger,
(23:28):
reacting to stimulus, butnothing happens.
There isn't something thathappens other than let me be
bigger and bolder, and maybe youwill then be intimidated and
back down.
And one of the things that I'veseen you guys make I have
(23:50):
reached the point in my careerand in my life's journey that
we've had an enormous amount ofthe world that's about ruffling
their own feathers so that theylook bolder and bigger and more
bully-ish towards each other inleadership, in environments
inside and outside of leadership, and it hasn't worked inside
(24:14):
and outside of leadership and ithasn't worked Like at some
point, if you have a brain thatyou're engaged in, you're not
reacting from an emotional pointor from a reactive point, you
can actually say we need to trysomething different.
Ruffling feathers doesn'tactually create action.
(24:34):
It doesn't create lastingchange.
It doesn't rarely does it evereven spur change.
What it does is it allows youto emit your emotions and then
maybe you have to save facelater.
Maybe you get.
You know, some of yourconstituents looking at you with
that I told you so smile thatthey won't say it because
(24:57):
they're too intimidated perhaps,but they know that what you
were doing wasn't going to leadthe outcomes.
So I am not a big fan of eitherthe term or the practice,
because I you know what we justlearned that it doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
I love that and that's that's kind of the whole
point.
I love how TJ also pointed outthat he is all about actually
doing that and he actuallydoesn't realize that's how he
gets people to listen, is notdoing that.
I've noticed it in his coachingwhat he does with kids and what
he does with children and hedoes exactly what you're saying,
serena.
He brings a calmer setting.
You're not wrong.
(25:36):
That's the whole concept.
How do you light that fire?
How do you make them ruffletheir feathers Like to actually
have a response, not ruffle yourown feathers to say I'm going
to die in the room?
How do you light that fireinside them and not just talk
about, just smack TJ?
Speaker 3 (25:55):
That's what I was going to say.
It really depends on whosefeathers are being ruffled.
You know the example she gavewas more ruffling your own
feathers, but you should alreadyknow what kind of feathers you
have.
It's about ruffling thefeathers of someone else that
think they're bigger, badder,stronger or intimidating.
(26:15):
It's their feathers that youhave to ruffle to get them to
create the change or dosomething, even if it's to be
bigger than they are or beuncomfortable.
But I guess it would just comedown to the definition of
ruffling feathers, and there'sprobably multiple.
But at the end of the day, ifsomeone's uncomfortable about
(26:37):
change, there's going to beruffled feathers.
That's the only way you'regoing to create the change,
because change is not common.
People don't want to change.
People want to be stuck in thesystem that they're in because
that's where they're comfortableat.
And in order to get people tochange, you have to make them
uncomfortable for some way formor fashion.
And it's not necessarily anegative uncomfortable, because
(27:00):
making the system better, bigger, bolder, it's still change.
But you have to make them seethe vision to be able to do that
.
So that is a.
That's a ruffle of feathers,also to me.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Got to move on to the next piece, so I got to let the
full question, so I'm going topush out the next question.
Guys, thinking about this,alyssa, you want to pull it up
for full question number two,and then this question is going
to come to the audience.
Where do you feel most stuckwhen trying to create change?
Because you've heard everythingthat the panelists are saying.
Sometimes it's outdatedleadership mindsets, sometimes
(27:38):
it's organizational policybarriers, sometimes it's lack of
community or team buy-in,personal burnout or frustration,
unclear purpose and vision.
Sometimes that frustrationreally is there.
If you frustrate those peopleand you ruffle their feathers
too much, then they might not bereceptive to that change.
They might feel guarded, and Ithink that's the whole point of
this discussion.
(27:59):
Yes, you can light fire inpeople, but was it effective and
how do we keep it effective?
For time's sake, I'm going togo ahead and share what we have
so far, and it seems to beoutdated leadership mindset.
All right, so then let's talkabout the power of
purpose-driven innovation,especially if we're talking
(28:21):
about outdated.
How do we make sure that we caninnovate values and service and
still make sure that peoplefeel like short-term, long-term,
that they're invested in it?
All those discussions thatwe've been talking about.
How do we actually make thatfeasible for our people so they
feel safe, so they feel likethey are a part of the team.
They are a part of thediscussion?
(28:41):
I'm going to try to push it toAmanda first, only because we
haven't heard from her.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
I don't know that.
I don't know.
I don't see any kind of changeshappening until until we find a
way to mobilize people to votethe morons that are already in
power out of power, and I reallydon't see that happening
without specific campaignfinance reforms.
Um like publicly fundedelections trans.
(29:15):
Like lobbyists stop being inspecial interest groups not
involved in buying politicians,politicians not invested in only
doing policy based on who theirlobbyists are.
I don't really know how we getthere, but I don't really think
that we can go any furtherwithout finding a way to get
(29:35):
there.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah, anybody else want to piggyback off of that,
maybe in your area or evenfurther in what she's saying.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
From a political standpoint.
I think she's right that thelobbyists, the people that have
a lot of personal gain.
I think that's very important.
It's not one of those squeakywheel gets grease.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
It has a lot to do with financial and money A lot
of it centered around not thepurpose of the change, but the
(30:20):
purpose of the organization,that you are focused on, the why
.
Why do we exist?
What is it that we are here toserve, whether it be human
beings, larger, small groupingsof those, and I think that
that's really where I see thework that I do with 99.9% of my
(30:40):
clients.
It almost always has to restartbecause I never get called in
at the beginning.
I always get called in afterthings have gone poorly.
And resetting the why.
Coming back to the purpose,what was the rationale for this
at the beginning?
Speaker 6 (31:00):
was one of those really important steps for
innovation to be successful thatwhy I think it's also important
to for the individuals there,in whatever organization, right
(31:21):
as you refocus, refresh on thatpurpose, also show them, try to
paint that picture again, thatvision right, and then their
purpose where do they fit in andhow do they benefit in that
organization?
Just letting them know, hey, atthe end of the day, you know,
(31:49):
depending on where it's at Ican't speak so much for politics
, that's a whole different beast, but when it comes to those
organizations, it's just lettingindividuals know where they fit
into this whole grand scheme ofeverything and they actually
have buy-in, they actually havesome ownership of it.
So, not only rehashing theorganizational's purpose, but
also your purpose and whatyou're benefiting from, the
(32:11):
overall grand scheme of things.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
And so we can move to the next piece for the panel or
for the audience then, becausethen it's going to lead to
everybody asking does yourcurrent role actually allow you
guys to lead with purpose?
So is that a yes, absolutely, Ifeel aligned and empowered.
B would be sometimes it dependson the situation.
C would be no, I feel reallyrestricted and off mission.
(32:37):
Or D, I'm not sure and I'mstill figuring it out.
Guys, as we're looking at this,it seems to be people are saying
mainly, sometimes it depends onthe situation, and then a few
people are saying yes,absolutely, and we did have one
end up saying no, I feelrestricted, and nobody else
(32:58):
seems to feel like they're justfiguring out.
So that's a good thing.
I'm going to the next piece ofthis.
So then let's talk aboutleading through that discomfort
For me nine times out of ten.
What I notice with a lot ofleaders, it's a lot to implement
something brand new andsomething different and then
include everybody else whodoesn't understand the budget
(33:21):
and who doesn't understand thebig scale of the organization
and all the other pieces, andnot feel like you have to go
train the whole team to get itdone.
So that tends to get avoidedand looking at that piece, often
that'll make the team feel likethey were unheard because not
every single person was includedin that discussion and feelings
get hurt and everything elsehappens and then we hit the
(33:41):
turmoil.
So how did you guys leadthrough discomfort, criticism or
anything pushback whenever youtried to make change in your
organizations?
I'm going to kick it to thepanelists.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
It's interesting, Melissa, as you were just sort
of describing the steps.
What kept coming back to me wasa lack of trust, Because the
kinds of pushback, the kinds ofdiscomfort, the kinds of
criticism as far as the examplesthat you gave were in those
(34:17):
times where, whether they beyour peers, your constituents or
your stakeholders, if theydon't trust you, then when it
comes to implementing any change, there is such an easy road to
take around criticism, aroundany kind of discomfort.
(34:37):
So, in order for leaders totruly be able to have, I
wouldn't say clear sailing, butclearer sailing, to create
innovation and create a path forthat, it really does come down
to, you know, having a corevalue, internal core value
(35:00):
around building trust, such thatwhen you have a difficult
decision to make, when there isa change ahead of you, when
there is something that you needto communicate but you can't
communicate all of it, you can'tburden your entire organization
with every financial detailthat is behind the reasons.
(35:21):
It's truly important to makesure that, as a leader, you are
showing up in a trust buildingcapacity in everything that
you're doing.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
I'm going to piggyback off of that one.
I'm going to piggyback off ofthat one.
I think the first one theynoticed when it came down to and
it needed to implementsomething new or something
different on the campus was theparents did they trust me or did
they not?
And did the teachers trust itor did it not?
But what I noticed is when Ihad full trust and clarity and
already built that relationship,they didn't even ask why there
(35:57):
definitely was no, why it wasalready like, honestly, she
doesn't make us do more than weneed to.
So if we're doing this, thenthere's a reason for it and that
was great.
Because that trust made thingsmove faster, you're not wrong,
like it really does move thosethings along, and I think some
leaders sometimes think that'sjust so much stuff.
But it's like you kind of gotto earn your stripes too.
(36:18):
You got to build that trust,whatever is necessary for that
team to build that relationshipand that transparency over time
and have that trust with you.
You kind of got to put in thetime and effort and phases and
steps, whatever's necessary tomake sure that you have that
full support, because if not,how do you expand and how do you
go further with that.
See Royston like shaking hishead and I'm not sure what he's
(36:41):
thinking.
Speaker 6 (36:43):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Trust is big.
I got to trust as a centerpieceof everything.
Trust, empowering both seniorand juniors as well, empowering
everyone that has a piece to doin it.
Once you take that away, Iwould say that would deteriorate
(37:03):
the entire team, because youcan shut down somebody that
wants to try, but they'reprobably an introvert and it
took a lot for them to finallybuild up to get to that point.
But everybody looks at them aslike, yeah, you know, they don't
know what they do a lot or theythink too much or they
(37:24):
overthink or whatever.
So trust, I would say trust iskey, empowering.
And then, thirdly, cultures,culture differences.
You know that plays asignificant key in how a lot of
individuals look atorganizational structures based
on what environment they grew upin.
What were those values thatthey grew up in, what were those
(37:48):
cultures that they grew up in?
Because we know from differentbackgrounds, different religions
.
They trust is different fromdifferent religions.
So that plays a significantrole too.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
I love that you point that out, because I feel like I
don't really think about thecultural thing until I'm
thinking about a global scaleand then all of a sudden I'm
very conscientious of how I'mtrying to disseminate a message.
But I do see that in cultural,with students, and different
pieces too in education.
So you're not wrong, you haveto be.
(38:21):
I kind of want to piggyback towhat Serena was saying earlier,
and the message that I washearing was if the nervous
system is overstimulated andfeeling like, oh my God, it's
going to shut down and it's notgoing to hear anything you say.
So she's not saying youshouldn't say there's an issue
and bring it up.
She's really saying the measurethat you go about it.
How do you want to be effectiveand make sure that people
(38:42):
actually heard what you saidinstead of tuned everything out?
And that's really what I thinkwe miss as leaders sometimes.
But we're going to go to ourlast panelist question or, I'm
sorry, poll question for theaudience so that way we can
shift over to their openquestions, because they have had
a few and I'm looking at this.
(39:03):
So what's your biggestchallenge for the audience in
leading uncomfortableconversations?
Is it staying calm and grounded, getting others to listen,
managing emotional reactions,whether it's yours or theirs,
others to listen, managingemotional reactions whether it's
yours or theirs, gaining buy-inor commitment to change or
possibly choosing the rightbattles to actually fight for
yourself.
This one's pretty split thistime.
(39:29):
What are we thinking aboutthose results as we start
picking that to the endingdiscussions for the panelists?
Speaker 2 (39:44):
it looks well.
A and c to me were both focusedon emotions, right, so it kind
of looks like those are split, asplit of the same thing.
It was funny because I alsothought b and d was this was
right, listening, getting buy-in.
(40:06):
It doesn't surprise me thatemotions because there's so much
emotion in the world thateveryone is dealing with that
any kind of an uncomfortableconversation, anticipating it,
(40:27):
anticipating emotional reactionand that brings up the elevation
across the board.
People, people's communicationskills have continued to decline
just when they needed to be thebest they've ever been no, I
agree with that.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
I think I kind of named it when it was more about
the feelings and the emotionsand most of the time we're so
tuned in to making decisionsbased on just the emotions.
It's really not effective andthat's when we really got to
listen and make that peace.
But I think people feel liketheir leaders ran everything
(41:01):
because there was such highemotions because of the lack of
communication that they feltunheard and something else
trickled and it's a rippleeffect from everything that
we've been talking about todaybecause of that one piece in
those emotions and someone justcouldn't say, hey, you hurt my
feelings.
Can you repeat that?
Because I didn't appreciatethat and unfortunately that's
(41:22):
kind of where we're at now inthis generation.
But you're not wrong, we movefurther.
So much more panelists oraudience.
Do y'all have any questions forour panelists?
I know, ms Tina, you wereraising your hand earlier.
Do you have any specificquestions for our panelists now?
Speaker 8 (41:37):
Apologies.
There was more comments on thecommentary, but not a question.
But Alyssa, she clarified itfor me, so I'm now in the
receiving the input mode.
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Perfect, perfect.
Does anybody else want topiggyback off of what they saw
in the poll results or anyquestions?
So if we don't have anyquestions, then audience.
I'm just going to ask you allinstead to share with us in the
chat or feel free to come offmute if you really would like to
(42:12):
.
What was your biggest takeawayfrom today and where do you feel
called to?
Ruffle feathers?
Make an impact, but notnecessarily look like you're
just puffing up your feathers.
Speaker 5 (42:27):
I would say what I would take away from tonight is
that I'm usually like, afraid toruffle feathers because, like,
I worry, I worry about othersfeelings, you know, and so,
basically, what I would takeaway from tonight is just, you
know, just to have more, morecourage, like, more, more
(42:48):
courage, and, like you know, andwhat I do, such as, like you
know, I'll give an example Iremember one time we was in the
car and I had called my businesslittle, and you had, and you
had said, don't call yourbusiness little, you don't know
what it's capable of.
Yet I was like, and I was like,so like I keep reminding myself
of that and everything as well,even when I'm in the midst of
(43:09):
contracts, and everything aswell, you know, having the
courage to be like, hey, you'regonna pay me up front, you know
that is not something that evenadults have the courage to do
yet, so it makes you feel better.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Trust me.
Every adult has questioned am I, are my services really worth
it?
Can I really charge that youare not alone, nazir.
Speaker 6 (43:31):
You're going to get there.
You're going to start smilingwhen you feel brave enough to be
like hey, no, you can gosomewhere else.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
So Nazir is our newest intern, royston.
He will be covering videographyphotography and our editing.
He is also certified incybersecurity, so we're super
excited to introduce him.
Speaker 6 (43:50):
Awesome Multifaceted I know I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Tina, you have a question love.
Speaker 8 (43:56):
So a comment In my arena, with my job, my
occupation, working with thefederal government, I'm never in
a space where communicationshould be mute because in the
leadership role, every leaderhave something to offer right In
the charter school role, thechildren you know their needs
(44:17):
are always evolving, so thereshould never be a space where
that communication is notflowing.
Of course there was always be atopic of the mission.
You know what is the mission orwhat are the goals and we go
from there.
But I encourage all of mycolleagues that I work with or
(44:38):
if I'm in a space where I'mvolunteering, your voice is
important, your input isimportant, your work is
important.
So that is how you grow.
You know that's how you reachother key stakeholders.
So you know that commentary,that communication is important.
You know they try to mute myvoice.
(45:10):
No, no, I live in a world wheremy voice is powerful and it's
necessary and I make surewhomever I'm working with knows
that.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
I was going to say it won't, let me unmute.
I was trying to say great job,tina.
I love it.
Let's show Hi love Come offmute.
Speaker 7 (45:26):
Hi.
Yes, I want to know if you guyscould speak a little bit more
about when you're in certainspaces and you are trying to
facilitate change or bring upissues that need to be addressed
, that are serious and kind ofnavigating when it's worth the
fight and when it's not.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
My favorite book that I would recommend would be
Crucial Conversations, and thenthe follow-up would be Crucial
Confrontations, because itliterally explains.
If you should ever even get tothat step I'm gonna.
I see Serena like dying insideto say that.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
You know you picked the wrong.
I think we said the even beforewe got started.
This is my lifeblood.
So every one of theseconversations it's like I will
tell you and maybe it just itcomes with tenure I wouldn't say
age, but maybe it's just tenure, especially when the
conversation is going to be, oryou anticipate it to be,
(46:29):
difficult, caustic, what haveyou?
I often challenge any level ofhuman being, any adult human
being, not a kid, to start withcuriosity, not a kid to start
(46:53):
with curiosity.
If you can think about whatquestions would I ask?
Not accusations, notchallenging to prove your point,
but being truly, truly curiousabout the motivation of someone
else, about the rationale behindthe decision, in a way that
helps you to get better.
And I know it's way back, youguys may not.
(47:16):
You probably were in gradeschool when the whole thing
about seek to understand beforeRight, you're all like in Right
and I remember that, having areally critical because I, like
many high achieving people, Icame out of college and went off
to Accenture and discoveredthat's where all of the high
(47:38):
achieving people went and all ofa sudden I had the starts of
imposter syndrome which I hadnever had in my life, of
imposter syndrome, which I hadnever had in my life and for a
lot of reasons, unrelated mostlyjust because of my family of
origin, allowing me to not seethat I wasn't.
You know that there might havebeen a reason, but I will tell
(48:05):
you that the curiosity,understanding, the unique
perspectives.
I have met more people that Ihave sort of a fan effect over,
and then I meet them and theytell me something that is so
common with my own experience.
I'm like, wow, you put yourpants on one leg at a time too,
and it really does help.
So I think one of the things Icoach a lot of people is oh, I
(48:26):
wonder what's behind that.
Like, I ask that of everything,I wonder what's behind that?
It allows you to come at itfrom a place where there isn't
conflict and there's not emotion, right?
Both of those questions thatwere emotion.
I used to say people would askme all the time how can you be
so passionate about your workand have so little emotion?
(48:50):
Because it really isn't aboutthat, it's about being curious.
Speaker 1 (48:56):
I want to piggyback off of that, because I think
you're right 100%.
But I noticed I did it bestwhen I was working with kids,
and my kids will say this too.
I don't give adults as muchleniency as I do children.
But children, I don't care howmany times they screw up, I
don't care how many times theygot it wrong.
I was like they're stilllearning.
I'm not going to get mad overspilt milk, but if I already
(49:17):
taught those systems andprocedures, it does affect me.
And then it's emotional and Ihave to check myself and be like
well, let's be real.
Why am I losing my my ish, ifI'm the one leading the
classroom?
Did I really set theexpectations?
Did I really do all that?
Now let me ask myself ah crap,probably didn't.
All right, guys, let's, let'stry again tomorrow, like it was
(49:38):
really.
Uh, have to step back, reflectand be real with myself.
If there's a break, if it's me,if it's the kids, why?
So that curiosity is kind ofnecessary and I've carried that
over to coaching.
I think you're right like spoton what you're saying.
Sorry, and it makes it thatmuch more powerful and kind of,
how TJ said, making it liketheir idea.
(49:58):
No, I mean, most people alreadyknow what they have to do.
The best coaches will pull themout of you with questions and
Bryston hates me when I say thatbecause I I'm like I'll give
you the solutions.
I give you the questions.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Well, one of the things, Melissa I probably say
this to a leader a day If youthink for a second that people
in the world today are notdistracted by all the things
going on in the world aroundbehind their little keyboard,
check yourself and so, while itand to your point, did you teach
the thing to the adults thatyou meant and did you?
(50:34):
Were you clearing your learningobjectives?
Were you clearing your delivery?
And does that mean they were ina place that they could hear
you?
And in some cases it's 100%about the distractions that are
going on in their world or inour bigger world.
And I say it literally everyday to leaders.
(50:55):
I say I wonder what's going onfor the person that is not
living up to the expectationsyou had, not delivering against
your expectations, not meetingthe objectives or the deadlines
or the agreements, missing thatcommitment, right?
I love when someone says Idon't understand what's wrong
with her.
She always she makes acommitment and she always
(51:17):
delivers on it.
I don't know.
I think we're going to have toput her on the PIP list or or
the, and I say wait like unwindthat a minute.
What's going on?
That's different and if it's,if in fact you can be looking at
that and if, if the people cometo trust you, that that's
you're on their side, it's awhole different experience for
(51:39):
everyone.
But everyone is is dealing withsomething going on and in
distraction love that hyperfocus, and-focus and
hyper-vigilance.
Speaker 1 (51:49):
Nizer, you had a question Liv.
Speaker 5 (51:52):
Wrong button, sorry.
So I was going to ask.
So, like, when it, when itcomes to, like you know, ruffle
and feather, how did you getused to doing that?
Where did you like come into apoint of your career of like,
okay, like now it was like youknow the time, you know, I had
to, like you know, at the time,you know, I had to, like, you
know, spread my wings, and it'slike that.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
I appreciate that you point that out.
Trust me, I like to be likedand I don't go into rooms trying
to piss people off.
That is not the intention.
That just tends to be what Inaturally do, and I'm not even
aware of it.
So I had to start stepping backand realizing I have a
reputation of being an honestagitator.
I have a reputation of rufflingfeathers.
(52:31):
I have a reputation of ignitingfires.
What does that mean?
Does that mean that I hadmalicious intentions or does
that mean that I sparkedsomething?
How do we do that?
And then, when I sparkedsomething, what did I have to do
to make sure that I could drivethat change and make people
feel that I support them?
And, as Bryson would say, Ilook at them as a person.
And, as Serena would say, notlike basically throw off their
(52:55):
entire nervous system.
Like TJ would end up sayinglike, still say what I got to
say.
And Amanda's definitely goingto say like, admit it, tell them
what you're like, what you'redoing, be transparent.
None of it was intentional.
The point is, sometimes, whenwe try to push and innovate for
change, we naturally rufflefeathers because people get a
little bit scared about change.
(53:15):
And this whole topic is to sayit's not bad to innovate, change
or ignite something inside ofpeople, but how do we make sure
it's effective and we don't justburn people out and constantly
focus on the noise?
Speaker 6 (53:31):
I wanted to add a little to what Serena said
earlier too, when it comes tothat curiosity, because, like I
said, my last two years I workedin an environment where the
whole mission was different andthat curiosity aspect that makes
a big difference.
That curiosity aspect cancreate that trust that you're
(53:52):
looking for, right, because shesaid, you know, hey, this person
always meets this deadline,they always do this, they always
do that.
What distractions is thatperson having in their personal
life that's affecting theirprofessional life?
Right?
And if you as a leader,whatever, if you as a person see
(54:16):
that in someone and take thetime to find out what's the root
cause, that curiosity can leadto a lot of team building.
Now, it can also lead todestruction, because if you're
curious and you're just doingthat because and you're not
listening attentively and you'rejust listening to respond,
you're going to lose that personagain.
(54:36):
So that curiosity is going tohelp.
Root cause of what's what'sactually happening.
Speaker 1 (54:46):
Any of our other panelists want to piggyback off
of that before we wrap it up,because I love that.
Speaker 3 (54:52):
I will say to all the young leaders out there to
inspire change is to inspirehope, and one of the ways to go
about looking at it as a leadera leader, an effective leader
(55:12):
anyway must have followers.
You can't look behind you,nobody's there.
So when you ignite change, whenyou ignite hope, when you
ignite something different,you're doing it on behalf of
something, either yourself or amultitude of coworkers, friends,
anything and that was gives youthe passion and the drive to
(55:37):
move forward, knowing thatsomeone's going to benefit from
the change, and the more themerrier.
So it's good to know yoursurroundings, know the people
that you represent, know thepeople that you're advocating
for, because when you'remarching for somebody else, it's
a different march than beingselfish.
Speaker 1 (56:00):
You guys just have so many amazing mic drop moments
today.
All right, put this guy on at-shirt, gotta get his coat on a
t-shirt.
Some bumper stickers coming offof this and such guys.
Well, thank you all so much aswe wrap up everything.
Really, this is supposed to beabout innovation.
It isn't just being loud.
It's about being clear,courageous and committed to real
(56:22):
change, and not just innovatingthese things because you want
to be seen.
These systems that we have tochallenge today are supposed to
shape tomorrow's future.
So, those of you that are here,you were here because you've
either been impacting otherpeople in change or you're so
invested in people's future.
So a huge thank you to ourpanelists and to all of you for
(56:43):
bringing your leadership andyour voice to this space tonight
.
I thank you so much.
Don't forget to check out ourwebsite for
structureinnovationscom for moreleadership resources, and we
will see you guys next month oncollaborative leadership.
Until next time, stay structuredand smiling and have a powerful
night.
Keep building change where itmatters.
(57:04):
Thank you for tuning in toStructuring Chaotic Minds.
If today's episode resonatedwith you, don't forget to
subscribe, share and leave areview.
Remember the key to success isnot avoiding chaos, but learning
how to structure it.
Stay inspired, keep growing andjoin me next time as we
continue to transform challengesinto opportunities.
(57:25):
Until then, take care and keepstructuring your chaotic mind.
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