Mastering Leadership with Dr. Carol Parker Walsh on Becoming an Effective Leader

In part two with Dr. Carol, we discuss the common misconceptions around leadership roles, especially for women of color, and the importance of transitioning from a doer to a visionary. Dr. Carol shares actionable insights on rebranding yourself within an organization, the necessity of self-awareness, and the crucial soft skills needed in today's workplace. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is amazing media production. Welcome to the Switch Privoit
Quip podcast, where we get real and dig deep into
the stories of our peers to find out their strategies,
their solutions, and insights you need to help inform your
career transition decisions. I'm your host, Ayanna Angel, and I

(00:24):
started this podcast just after quitting a career in sports
entertainment PR to become an author. I've had multiple career lives,
from designing jewelry worn by Beyonce to show running and
producing award winning podcasts. But my hope is for this
podcast to help you ask yourself the hard questions, for

(00:47):
you to become more self aware, and for you to
ultimately break through whatever is holding you back from taking
a chance on you and the life you truly desire.
And we are back with Doctor Carol Parker Walsh. If

(01:09):
you missed part one our first episode with Doctor Carrol,
go back and listen to it. This time this episode,
we're gonna be getting into leadership. Ooh, this is a
juicy topic for me because I feel like we don't
talk about it enough. Especially as people ascend into leadership,
maybe they're not always equipped with all the tools.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
That they need.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
So. Doctor Carol Parker Walsh is a three time Amazon
best selling author, a keynote speaker, award winning coach, a consultant,
and she's just all around amazing. If you want her
full resume, you'll go back and listen to the very
first episode because I'm not going to rent it all down.
We are just going to get into the goods.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
So let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
I'm curious to know, in your years of experience, what
is one common misconcent that you come across with the
idea of leadership.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
So I do a lot of executive coaching with women
who are stepping into leadership or in leadership roles that
may be struggling, particularly and let me just say women
of color, and there's a lot of backstory behind this.
One of the misconceptions is the idea that I have
to work super hard, get super credentialed in order to

(02:27):
step into a leadership role. And the reason they think
that is because there's this idea that women and women
of color have that we have to prove our worth
and value, and so we work overly hard, we overcommit,
we overwork in order to show that we are able
to step into a leadership role, and then when we

(02:47):
get into the leadership role, we continue to overwork and
do too much. But being a leader, you're not a
doer anymore. You're not a worker be in leadership. In leadership,
you're the visionary, you're the inspiration. You're the ones who
are setting the pace and setting the tone. So the
type of work that you're doing is very different. It's

(03:08):
very global, it's bigger, it's broader, and so one of
the misconceptions that people have often is that they have
to continue to do the hands on work that they
did that maybe got them to the leadership role, but
they don't know how to let it go, and so
what happens They micromanage, they have an authoritarian style. They're
in everybody's work because they don't build trust, and they

(03:30):
don't inspire people to be able to do their best
work because they're so worried about the bottom line and
make sure things are going through, and so it makes
them sometimes a very ineffective leader. And then when they
get stuck at a level like maybe say director, and
they can't promote up to VP or beyond, they're wondering why.

(03:50):
And that's why is because the people above don't see
them as a visionary someone who's setting the pace and
the tone because they're so focused with want to get
it done. We got to get it done. I want
to make sure I look good again because of just
the historical legacy of gender bias and gender and racial
inequality and this idea that we have to overdo in

(04:13):
order to be valued and accepted much because we don't
see it in ourselves. And so we have to see
that value in ourselves and understand the transitional places from
being an employee stepping into leadership at even a higher
level of leadership.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Everything you're saying makes absolute sense. It also makes me think,
once senior leadership doesn't see that in you, to go
from that director to that VP level or what have you,
is there a way to reverse that or are you
better off jumping ship and going to another company, Because

(04:51):
I think that's something that happens to people when they
get stuck. They may like everything about the company, but
once they realize that they're is a certain storyline that's
already mapped into people's heads about them, it may be
difficult for them to make a change. Is it necessary
for them to make a change to a new company,

(05:11):
or can they rework people's image of them.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
It really depends. I'll say yes, and I've seen it happen,
And part of it is how you rebrand the narrative
and the story in your organization, right, And it takes
a little bit of work on your part to really
start shifting the narrative about how people see you to
who it is that you actually are. But it does
take work and time. But it also depends if you're

(05:35):
in an organization where they're open to the transformation. Right.
If you can have sponsors, mentorship people on your side
or in your corner who are like, oh, thank god,
you're finally getting it. Now, we can open the doors
for you, then absolutely that's a possibility. But in some organizations,
if the diet has been cast and they just no

(05:56):
matter what you do, they're not seeing you in any
other way. Again, in leverage your location, right, do what
you can while you're there, start painting the picture, stepping
into who it is that you really need to be,
and then get ready to leave and go somewhere else.
Start taking on opportunities and stepping up in a way
that you would in the new organization so you have
something to bring to that next organization that you would

(06:19):
otherwise not have to bring. But it really is all
about branding and the narrative. So if you decide that
you can step into this higher level of being a visionary,
what you don't want to do is wait on them
to constantly tell you here's what you need to do,
or you constantly checking in asking am I doing it?
Because that's just reinforcing the fact that you don't get it.

(06:40):
So what you have to do to take the narrative
is to go to your leadership and say, listen, I've
noticed a few deficiencies or a few things that I'm
lacking that I feel is necessary for me to step
into the new role. Here are the action steps I've
taken to be able to rectify the situation so that
I can be positioned for what's next. Can you partner
with me as I do this work so I could

(07:02):
be able to transition into something next. Do you see
that possibility and availability for me to be able to
do that? If you start taking control and ownership of
that process and you inform them as opposed to waiting
on them, you can shift the opinion about you. If
you start showing up differently right, starting with your manager,
who will then be the voice for you in other

(07:24):
parts of the organization. So the possibility is there, but
you have to take ownership of it, and you can't
be in the passenger side. You have to be in
the driver's side of that. If you want to make
that happen.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
You are going to be preaching to some people.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
That's leadership and that's what they're looking for. And so
if you can't set the vision and tone for your
own direction in your career, how could you possibly set
vision and tone to lead a team, to lead an initiative,
or to lead in the organization. So if you are
waiting for them to tell you, that's a tailtale. Some

(08:01):
when they're telling you to do something and you're starting
to feel like, well, I don't know they should tell me,
that is telling them you have no idea what it
means to set vision, to set goals, and to lead
an initiative if you can't even do it for yourself, Okay, hold.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Type for me for just one minute. Okay, maybe two,
but I promise we will be right back after we
hear from our sponsors. We are in a society where
everyone feels like they have to be the big cheese.
They have to be the boss. They have to have

(08:35):
some authority in the situations that they're in. They have
to grow to a place of authority. And if they don't,
what are they doing? So I want to know from
your opinion, is everyone cut out to be a leader?
And yes, while people can be groomed to be leaders,
does that mean you'll be a good leader though? Do
some people just have the natural it factor for leadership?

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, that's a great question. Again. You know people may
not like my response, but listen, if you can't see
the value and power in what you have to offer
in whatever role you have, then you're going to struggle
with being a leader. So let me explain that if
you're looking for the title to somehow or other make

(09:20):
you a leader or show that you're a leader, that's
not what makes you a leader. Stepping into the VP
role or having the title doesn't do anything. It's just
a title. So you have to learn how to do
that within yourself. Can everybody be a leader if you
do that work, if you understand what it means, If
you can lead in your own role, if you can

(09:41):
lead on a project, if you can lead on an initiative.
You can absolutely step into leadership. But if you are
not stepping up, even in your own role, you're not
going to be successful as a leader. You're not going
to shine as a leader. Even if they give you
the title and give you the pay, you're not going
to be successful. Now. I do think people can learn

(10:02):
to be a leader, but I don't think everybody wants
to be. And I think that's the question you really
want to ask yourself if I want to be a leader?
Do I want to lead an initiative? Do I want
to lead a team? Do I want to lead a
small group? You know, what type of leader do you
want to be? And do you really want to be
in that role? Understanding what it really is about. It's

(10:23):
not about bossing people around. It's not about telling people
what to do. Leaders should be the greatest inspiration and
inspirer of the entire organization. Their role is should be
the win beneath the people underneath them's wing. And so
if your goal is to be the big cheese and
the big hauncho and to tell everybody what to do,
you don't even understand leadership, and so will you be effective?

(10:46):
Absolutely not if that's your definition of what it means
to be a leader.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
How do we approach leadership effectively in the times that
we're living in now.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
The pandemic has advanced us into ways of being and
operating that we never thought we would be in before
and right now. In fact, it's interesting the Mackenzie Report
for Women in the Workplace talked about the challenge of
leaders not being well equipped to handle the issues that
they're being faced with right now in the workplace, such

(11:17):
as emotional health, well being, hybrid workplaces, psychological safety in
the workplace, advancing DEI efforts, and belonging in ways that
they never thought of before. Retooling and reskilling people not
based on just the task they're able to perform, but
whether they have emotional intelligence, whether they have empathy, whether

(11:40):
they have trust, do they have deeper self awareness. Most
of the reports that I've seen, and I'd love to
keep track of what's happening in the future work as
part of my role. But when they're talking about the
future skills that are needed, a lot of them are
about self efficacy, self awareness, the ability to be able
to be empathetic to people, to have your own self vision.

(12:02):
It's incredible that soft skills that most people thought were
just kind of you know, like a side of fries
to your meal, if you will, are now the main course.
Because we lost this connectivity over the time of the pandemic.
That being able to connect and have empathy and understand
what's happening with your fellow coworker or your team that

(12:25):
you're managing has risen to the top of your ability
to be effective as a leader, your ability to connect
globally because during the pandemic, being online, everybody was connected
to everyone, So how can you relate and have conversations
across the board, across gender, raice, culture, ethnicity, age, all

(12:46):
of those things. So the call for the day for
the future is really how can we equip managers with
those type of skill sets to be able to answer
those type of issues and address those issues and questions
that we have now in the workplace. So that's what
we're looking at in the future is that how are
you reskilling to really up level your innerpersonal skills, your

(13:07):
communicative skills, your ability to connect, relate, and to be
empathetic to support the people that you're working with to
help them succeed and be successful as well as yourself.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Now, didn't I tell you, Doctor Carol was the truth.
I hope you got your whole, entire leadership life everything
you needed to get you going in the right direction
to be the best leader that you can be. That
wraps up another episode of the Switch pervot or Quick podcast.
Thank you so much for joining me this week. I
hope you have an amazing rest of your day, rest

(13:42):
of your week, and if you enjoyed this episode, be
sure to share with a friend or your social community.
We love when you share. And until next time, be well,
be good, take care,