anticipated, but it was an enjoyable experience.
So my husband was telling me the drive before I hopped on here,
it's funny because he was like, Oh, you do this. Like it's, you know,
this is going to be fun for you. And I said, yeah, yes. And he goes, you know,
you stand up on stages and it's no big deal. I was like, wow,
that was a six month process to get there.
And it's not something that I just wake up and like, okay,
now I'm just going to go and deliver a message. But it was, it was fun.
It was a great experience. Definitely don't regret it. It was intense,
but it was fun.
It was intensely amazing, right? So Tedx, you know,
and you mentioned there's a big process that goes on behind the scenes that
people may not be aware of.
And then there's they provide you with a coach to help you get,
get on that stage and do well and know the dynamics. That's awesome. Uh,
and yes, it is very different being in these interviews too,
because in Tedx you get to see eyeballs,
you get to see reactions. Um, the interview helps with that process,
but if I'm doing like a point and shoot my computer at the end of the day,
I'm staring at this little, uh, like robot thing and trying to figure out,
all right,
how do I emotionally interact with an arbitrary object in my room?
You know, that's,
that's a very different game than being on stage at Tedx.
So where did you do your Tedx talk?
It was in Wisconsin. So actually very far from home.
I was living in Dallas at the time. And so I had to travel up there to Wisconsin
to do it, but it was, it was fun.
That's awesome. Okay.
And that's the pursuit of happiness in the workplace for those who are listening.
You can go check that out. And then below, you'll also see for that,
the happiness formula cheat sheet, um, is available and prepared for you.
So those are, those are a couple of resources. We'll take some extras. Why not?
Um, in addition to that, Sharisa, what,
what three resources do you recommend for entrepreneurs and visionaries out
there?
Oh, that's such a great question. I love that question.
Cause anytime I hear somebody else ask the question, I'm always taking notes.
Like what is it? And I am an avid learner. So anything I can get my hands on,
I'm always, you know, I always love to learn.
So I love that you asked me that question. And so I have a long list,
but in the interest of time and to keep it concise, um,
basically anything by Simon Sinek.
So when it comes to servant leadership and just putting people at the center,
off leadership in general,
I think Simon Sinek is by far one of my favorite thought leaders in that space.
Um, and then also, um,
the surrender experiment by Michael Singer is one of my favorite books.
It is incredible. Um,
and it talks so much about just trusting the process,
leaning in and taking those steps of faith, even when you don't know the,
the full picture and being able to just surrender and just, you know,
show up as the best version of yourself and take those risks that are often
needed in leadership, uh, without having to worry about, you know,
exactly how everything is going to play out.
So definitely the surrender experiment by Michael Singer,
anything pretty much by Simon Sinek. So he has a couple of really good books.
It is leaders eat last is one of them. Start with why is another big one.
So yeah, those are the ones I definitely recommend.
And then the third recommendation,
well actually this is just something that I personally use just because servant
leadership is so much based on like biblical principles, right? So for me,
it's the Bible. I lean very heavily into, okay,
what does God say about servant leadership and how do we model that in a way
that gives us that insight and wisdom? Because at the end of the day,
all of it comes from
you nailed it.
You might be the second person out of 200 to reference the good book.
Oh, wow. Yeah. Um, and it's a price. I have to be honest.
I have to be honest. That is, but that is by far my number one.
Let's just put it that way. I know I didn't say it in that order,
but by far my number one.
And you know, I think so many of us take that for granted, right?
It's we want to give new resources, right?
So we don't tend to say that how important two plus two is to us for our lives.
And then we forget though that other people maybe haven't considered reading it
before. Um, and are looking at it and same thing with something like Simon
Sinek start with why I mean that book's so, so good. I got it twice.
So, you know, these are, these are very important books.
And I'll double down with you on another one that, uh, this guy, um,
like the Bible, yes, 100%. Um, are there religious faith books, Book of Mormon?
The, I don't even know how to pronounce it, but I'm reading this one,
the Bhagavad Gita, um, you know,
I've always been fascinated with world religions and different perspectives
around the same truths and how people come to know and understand our greater
purpose in this life. So thank you. Thank you, Vink. Thank you.
Thank you for diving into that resource.
And I hope those who are listening in, um, realize that we make time for what we
want to make time for just like you made time for this podcast.
I highly recommend also checking out the good book that Sharissa mentioned.
So we'll be right back.
We're going to dive into supporting introverted servant leaders to create
happiness in the workplace and whether they are the founder or not,
you know, if you're building a team, you're going to have introverts on your team.
So how do you, how do you make space for them?
How do you create a culture and an environment where those people are
protected, where they're appreciated, where results are also cultivated?
Um, all of that will be valuable. And we'll also dive into Sharissa's vision.
So we'll see you guys on the other side.
All right. Welcome in to Vision Pros Live with Jackson Calame
I'm your show host.
We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs and guest leaders who are
building fantastic visions out there.
Hey, what's up everybody.
Welcome in to another episode of Vision Pros Live.
I'm your show host, Jackson Calame, founder and CEO of First Class Business.
And I am super stoked to have Sharissa Deppen on the show today of Leadership
Mastery Alliance. You can find that at leadershipmasteryalliance.com.
Now Sharissa is a CEO.
She's also a TEDx and award winning international keynote speaker.
She's in leadership and executive coach for corporate leaders, Forbes,
and the Huffington Post writer Forbes Coaches Council member, University of
South Florida advisory board member and professor at Southeastern University.
She has some depth.
Um, let me tell you, and a podcast in addition to all of that.
So, um, she sleeps somewhere in there.
I'm pretty certain.
Um, but that said, we're going to be taking advantage of all the time we can to
find out about her vision and her, uh, best leadership and worst leadership
experiences.
Before we do that though, I've got a few more resources for you.
So today you've been, you've been fed much in terms of value.
We're going to keep going.
Melissa Gray of the Law Spot.
Uh, she was also a guest on the show.
Somebody who I almost canceled her show because I'm not a big fan of lawyers to
be honest with you.
Um, that said, she has this message.
Law doesn't have to be complicated.
I found myself talking to a human being who happens to be a lawyer, somebody
who could relate to me, somebody who understood where my business needs are
and really where your business needs likely are too.
And she's bridging the gap between the legal zoom templates that are good and
helpful for starting to understand a foundation and that really awkward
relationship with a general counsel that you don't really get along with, but
you know, you need, um, I've, I've found her to be a breath of fresh air.
We're now strategic partners, um, as well as our ventures continue to grow and
thrive.
And then there's Andrew Sosin of recovery unplugged.
He is not a strategic partner.
He's not a client.
Um, he doesn't pay for this spot.
I think it's very important for everybody to know.
I put resources as sponsors that I really believe in.
I really want to help people with.
So recovery unplugged is actually an addiction recovery program, and all of us
are touched by addiction, whether it's ourselves or whether it's our family
members or friends.
We know somebody who is struggling to really feel like they belong.
I really liked the way that Andrew goes about his leadership.
He's been to Tony Robbins program 22 years in a row.
In addition to that, he has over 400 employees.
He talks very highly of his team, uh, his executive team members.
Several of them have overcome addictions and moved into a position where they
now are executives and have high functional families.
And if you knew their background stories, you might be surprised and shocked.
Um, they were able to pull that transition off.
Once again, that highlights to me the nature of the leader, as well as the
nature to create amazing products, services, solutions to help people
advance with COVID.
They had five physical locations.
I might have had four at the time that were shut down and they had to
figure out how to bring this asset online and do a virtual community.
That gets me excited because that's how we are going to go about helping
8 billion people in this world.
And, and so if you have a chance to use that and you need it, or you know
somebody who does, you don't know necessarily how to help them use their
24 seven hotline to get some advice.
It might change yours or their life.
Now, I also want to talk about the water project.
Here I am as a podcast, you're going a little bit chap and my water bottle
is kind of empty right now.
I have never been without though.
And so I refuse to forget about the needs of those who have greater needs
than myself.
I can go downstairs and get a new glass of water right now if I want to.
And there's millions of people who don't have access to that.
I love what the water project is up to, to see these kids and how much
gratitude they have for water, as well as these communities, to know that
the money that I put into these projects, I literally get to see the
outcome of what happens.
It's kind of like crowdfunding.
You invest in a specific community.
You get to see how many people you're helping and affecting.
You get to see what type of project they're building even.
And if you just contribute a little bit, you get to see the outcome.
I see these kids celebrating water like my kids, my kids celebrate
Christmas Day and that simultaneously breaks my heart, but also makes me
want to do more to help out.
So if you're in a financial position to help out with this, definitely
contribute to the water project.
If you're not in a financial position to help out, maybe just share this
with somebody that you think might be inspired by the activity itself.
In addition to that, if there is something near and dear to your heart,
a cause that you want to see us talk about and promote, then don't hesitate
to drop it in the comments because we can give abundantly when we are in
the position to do so.
I'd be happy to rock the mic about it if it's aligned with our values and
virtues and possibly even contribute to it myself.
So thank you for that.
Let's go serve and help the 8 billion people who need it.
Without further ado, Sharissa Deppin, welcome to Vision Pros Live.
Thank you so much for being here.
Thanks for having me, Jackson.
I appreciate it.
Absolutely.
So diving into our first question, what is the vision you have for those
that you serve?
Well, basically, if I could sum it up, and there's so much more to this,
so it's always a hard for me to answer the vision question because there's
so many different aspects of it.
But if I could summarize it, it would be to help as many introverted servant
leaders in the world thrive in their career, really enjoy their lives even
outside of work, and this means helping them have the impact and the
influence that they want to have while functioning in their zone of genius,
what I call their leadership zone of genius, as an introverted servant
leader, taking care of themselves in the process and being intentional on their
personal and professional goals and aspirations.
So that's really my vision and my hope for the work that I do.
Awesome. I love it.
So does the speed and articulation with which you speak with, is that a
reflection of just the inherent Jordan Peterson within you that can bring
amazing brilliance to the world super fast, or is there a combination of
that combined with an introvert?
Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
Yes, I consider myself for sure an introvert, and I go based on the
definition that introverts get their energy from being by themselves and all
of that.
So it doesn't mean that I don't love interacting with people.
This is one of my favorite things to do, just having conversations like this
with like-minded people, and honestly a lot of the passion and even sometimes
the speed at which I talk comes from that place of passion.
I just feel so aligned with the work that I do.
I'm so blessed to be able to do this and get the message out there to help as
many people as I possibly can, as many introverted servants.
I'm all for it.
I love it 100%.
I was delivering a training to a real estate team once, and this guy had the
audacity to step in and go, how much coffee did you drink this morning?
I was like, brother, I don't need coffee.
I just need an apple, and I'm good to go.
Let's hit it.
He was like, he wasn't expecting it, but I was like, if you want me to slow
down, I want you to listen faster.
Let's try to find a happy medium a little bit so we can speed up our
listening too.
I love it.
What's your vision for you?
For me personally, my goal is always to be able to use the gifts, the
talents, and the experiences that God has given me to serve my audience
wherever they might be, these introverted servant leaders, in the
best way possible.
Bring all that I can to the table to be able to help as many women
specifically, because my main, primarily who I serve is women in servant
leadership, although I do have male clients as well.
It's just to be able to use those gifts, talents, and experience to be
able to just have an impact and help them out as much as possible, both
through my own personal journey as well as through well over hundreds of
people at this point that I've coached over the last 10 years.
It's such a privilege and honor for me to be trusted as somebody's coach
and then to be able to take all of that experience and help even more
people is just a gift.
Absolutely.
What about personal experiences on your vision?
Not to derail or to dismiss the fact that you 100% are locked in with your
purpose, but are there any other aspects of life or dynamics you plan on
going from TEDx to launching a documentary on Netflix, Tony Robbins
style?
That's funny.
It's funny because my prayer is always that whatever message that I have or
whatever I have to give goes out into whatever platform it is, whatever way
it's meant to go out there.
I am open.
In fact, when I did the TED talk, never in a million years was it my
ambition or I didn't even have the TEDx talk on my vision board or anything
like that at all.
Never expected to do that, but I just felt drawn to it.
The more I thought about the message that I felt so passionately about how
I wanted to help people and what I was there to share, and I just basically
prayed.
I was like, okay, Lord, you put this on whatever stage, whatever platform,
however this is meant to go out, and it actually started by writing.
I started to write out that message on the pursuit of happiness, and then I
got this idea.
I got inspired to apply to TEDx, and that's where that happened.
When you talked about Netflix, I was like, oh, my goodness, who knows?
Who knows what God has in store?
But I'm open to however that plays out.
I love that.
I appreciate the fact that you started that topic too with my prayer is.
It shows just how dedicated you are to align your will with his and being
willing to receive advice that comes from that additional source.
We're going to shift gears completely though.
We're going to go into a dark subject.
What is the worst leadership experience that you've ever had?
Oh, yeah, this was a really tough one for me.
Way back when, when I was working in the corporate space, and I was
leadership in corporate, and I had a manager that I reported to, a leader
that I reported to, and she was notorious for just not treating people
with a lot of respect, being really short, and just people just didn't
like being around her in general.
And so I was in this position where I was like, okay, I report to her, so
obviously, you know, I want to do the best that I can to be a good employee
and a good leader of hers, not leader, but a team member of hers, but I
also need to work with my team and protect them from a lot of what they
were feeling, you know, feeling from her.
And so it kind of put me in this place of like, okay, what do I do here?
And so one of the things I lean into, which honestly did not come naturally
for me at the time, because I was, as an introverted server leader myself, I
care a lot about how people are treated.
So anytime somebody is not treated with what I consider respect, it gets me
riled up.
Like, I just, I don't like it.
And so I had to really take a step back and be intentional and pray through
that and go, okay, what is my role here?
What is it that I'm supposed to do?
And that actually led me into empathy for her.
Like, I started to, we actually had a business trip, and so I was working for
a UK company at the time.
And so I had a business trip with her, and truth be told, at the time when I
found out about this, I was like, I can't imagine being like sitting next to her
on a plane and then spending all this time with her.
I don't know how this is going to go.
But having said that, though, that was such a beautiful opportunity for me to
lean into empathy, because of course we had many hours outside of, you know,
working hours and things like that that we spent together as we traveled and
did our work.
And she opened up to me.
She shared about her story.
She shared about her background.
And so much started to make sense.
I was like, oh, my goodness, it makes sense now why she shows up in this way
and she feels like she has to be defensive and things like that.
Just based on little things that she shared about herself made me have so much
more empathy.
So literally when we got back, you know, we got back home, I got back into the
office, and every single day I would go in with the intention of how can I serve
her?
How can I be there for her, to support her, no matter what, no matter how your
reaction is?
And so that's kind of my, that's what I went in with.
And over time that relationship started to change, not only that, but even the
way she interacted with my team started to shift and change.
And so it was just like miraculous.
I don't know how any of that happened.
And I definitely don't take credit for it.
But that's another thing that I learned from that experience that I share with,
you know, with my audience that I talk about on the podcast is how powerful
empathy can be, how powerful it can be to take a step back to give the other
person the benefit of the doubt to lead with curiosity rather than assumptions
and interpretations and all of those things.
So that taught me a big lesson that now in hindsight, of course, I can be grateful
for, but in the moment it was really tough going to work because I used to
honestly just sit in my car.
I talk about this in a TED talk.
I used to sit in my car for almost an hour sometimes because I used to dread
going into the office.
I hated it that much.
But it all shifted when I started to learn more about how to have empathy in
these situations.
And yeah, that changed everything.
And so I'm just blessed now to be able to share that with other people and
hopefully help, you know, other people through those kinds of situations.
Not that I'm saying that you need to stay with, you know, stay in the
situation if you have a really toxic work environment, but it's just another
perspective to have that could really help in that moment.
Choices, right?
Freedom to be able to choose which direction we got is what we're empowered
with on that.
So one, I'm actually going to reflect credit back to you on that as the
facilitator.
You know, you said you not took credit for it and maybe not solo credit, but
you did have the opportunity to be the person who got to sit next to her on
that plane, right, and learn certain things about that reality.
You took certain actions that empowered your faith.
And, you know, that process reminds me of some of the best managers in the
world.
They're often overlooked by society, and that is parents, you know, especially
mothers.
I've heard many times that one of the best things you can do with a child
that you are struggling to relate to who doesn't want to listen.
Think of this child, by the way, like an employee, that employee who just
can't get through to them.
You know, you can't figure out how to talk to them.
The easiest thing to do is to fire them.
It's also one of the most costly things that you can do.
Mothers can't fire their children and don't want to.
So no matter how hard it is, they're going to try.
But a long car ride, right?
Picking an event to do somewhere where you have that time for them to open up
is one of the best ways to get somebody who's not on the same page with you to
open enough and talk enough about how to move that relationship forward.
So that's cool that you guys have that opportunity.
I've seen that work and help in many, many regards.
Let's move into the top end, the top echelon factors of leadership.
What is your best leader?
What's the best leadership experience you've ever had?
You're probably going to laugh because this is so simple, yet it made the
biggest impact as far as a leadership experience that I've had.
So I used to have a leader, a boss, many, many years ago, well over a decade now.
But we used to, we worked together in a team of him.
There were five of us who reported to him.
And it wasn't always easy.
Like, there were a lot of things that were very stressful in that environment
and things like that.
But the one thing that stood out to me about him is he really took the time to
get to know each of his team members, even on a personal level.
He knew what we liked.
He knew about our kids.
He knew what was going on with us and our family because he would always check in.
What did you guys do on the weekend?
How was this?
And if we shared something that was going on in our personal life, he would
remember and then follow up with us on it.
And that just meant so much to me.
And the one thing that I will never forget, and it sounds so silly, but this
one thing that he did for me, actually for my daughter, it wasn't even for me.
And at the time, I was a single mom.
And so I went into work one day and it was around Halloween.
And he just happened to ask me like in passing, oh, what are you guys doing for
Halloween?
And so I told him, you know, what our plans were.
And he's like, oh, what is your daughter's favorite candy?
And I told him, and of course, I'm not thinking anything of it.
And I just kind of let it go.
And a few days later, I have this huge bag of candy sitting at my desk.
I was like, oh, my goodness.
And I mean, this has been well over a decade now.
And that is the one story.
When you ask me what is my best leadership experience, that is the first thing
that came to mind.
It's those little things.
And that's one of the things that I love to share with other people, because
sometimes we have this grand idea of how we need to be perfect in all of these
areas as a leader, when really it's in the little tiny things, right?
It's remembering things about people and treating them as whole people rather
than segmenting out into like, oh, I have to lead them in this workspace.
But really thinking about how can I make a difference in their lives as, you
know, in their lives as whole humans rather than just employees?
And so little things make the biggest difference.
I'm going to give you another little.
I know you asked me for, I think it was three resources at the beginning, but
I'll add another one because I think this really helps to what I was just
saying.
And Gary Chapman, so many people know Gary Chapman from The Five Love
Languages.
And so he wrote the, what is it called, The Five Languages of Appreciation in
the Workplace.
So I highly recommend that book because it helps you like tune in with, like
everyone is different, right?
So some people like to receive appreciation verbally.
Some people provide in private versus in public.
So there's so many different elements to that.
But when you know your team and you know how they like to receive that
appreciation, it can make all the difference because something as small as
a bit of, you know, like a piece of candy or bag of candy on somebody's desk
can really just stay with them for the rest of their lives and inspire them.
And so actually funny, funny end to that story.
He was actually at my wedding two years ago.
I invited him to my wedding and he showed up in South Africa.
He flew all the way to South Africa to be at my wedding.
Whoa.
Yes.
That's awesome.
That's amazing.
Those are the kind of leaders that I will never forget.
He made such a big impression on me.
Yes.
Well, it's the dedication to the relationship, you know, beyond the means
to an end.
Right.
I absolutely love that.
Matt Lytle, I got to give big credit to him.
He worked as part of my team and he recently came to visit me from Canada.
He came to Texas and he went to San Antonio and him is is he invited me to go out to
the Riverwalk with them.
And I got there and Matt had cookies for me.
One about local cookies were like massive.
You remember that I like cookies.
Right.
It's two big old things.
These cookies.
And then he had a bag to a gift bag.
I'm like, what?
Like something else.
And I opened up and it's got a mug.
And on one side of it, it's got first class business.
And the other side, it's got vision.
You know, I'm like, just like how like the extreme nature of the thoughtfulness
will always be a brother to me.
I'll always be a mentor, even though he worked for me.
He has taught me so much about leadership.
It's yeah, it's awesome to have people like that in your life and who
intentionally it's not hard to do that.
You just have to care enough about the other person to think through what can
I do to be there for this person in a simple way.
So moving into the next question, this is, I would say, the hardest question
that we ask.
It should be, which is if this were the last chance you had to share, you
know, a lesson with visionaries and entrepreneurs, leaders, what powerful
lesson kind of visionaries learn from your experience?
I think I would go back, my first instinct is to go back to the book of
Simon Sennett, start with why, but really just the concept of that.
Really know your why.
Know the purpose behind what you're doing, why you have that position that
you have, why you're in that industry that you are, whatever the case may be.
But know your, like what is your, I guess another way to put that is your
intrinsic motivation, right?
What's going to keep you going and help you to serve and help you to have that
impact and influence that you want to have no matter what, no matter what the
circumstance, no matter how tough things get, really understand your why behind
why you do what you do.
Because with that, you're unstoppable.
Like once you can align with that and really get, not even, it's just a
clarity, right?
So get clarity on the direction that you need to go that aligns with that why,
you become absolutely unstoppable.
Because then at the other side of that, at the other side of fear is really you
fulfilling that purpose.
So I think clarity on your why and just having that reason.
And for me, I'll tell you about it just from my own experience.
And this goes back to the TED talk.
I was absolutely petrified to get on that stage, no matter how much, you know, I
did so much preparation leading up to that, but still like, you know, it's live.
You have one shot.
I'd be terrified.
I haven't done it.
I'm going to at some point, but I am, I'm terrified.
That's incredible.
I love it.
But yeah, so I was extremely nervous and extremely, you know, like just, I was
frozen, like honestly standing backstage.
It was funny because it was a guy standing at the door to the entrance of the
stage and probably on purpose because I don't know whether they thought somebody
was going to be a flight dress can just like run off the stage.
And he was standing, standing on at the door and I'm sitting there, absolutely
standing there frozen.
And I was about to go on next.
And he, I just remember he made eye contact with me.
We locked eyes and he goes that way.
That way.
Don't even.
And so as I was walking up on the stage, you know, I was praying about it, but
also I just kept focused on this message helps me to reach one person, one person,
you know, in this audience or later on or whatever it is, it's worth it.
I'm going to get over my fear and I'm going to stand up there.
I'm going to focus on the message.
I'm going to focus on doing the very best I can to add value and the rest is
going to be up to God.
So that's where that why came in for me.
My reasoning was if it can help just one person, I'm going to get up and I'm
going to fight no matter what.
I'm going to get over myself and my own fears and insecurities.
I'm going to go and do it.
And that's very much in line with even just the work that I do today, because
this is as an introvert, I'd be, you know, sitting here just typing up and
writing articles and doing those kinds of things.
I wouldn't necessarily.
This is not my first inclination to just go and speak out there, but it's my
passion that drives me.
It's my why that drives me.
And now I just love it.
I mean, the more I do this, the more I really enjoy it.
Thank you for asking.
That's a great question.
Absolutely.
And I love that you unapologetically talk about prayer as a part of the process
so much.
It is, you know, meditation.
There's nothing wrong with it.
You know, in fact, they're very similar superpowers.
And sometimes we get we get lost in the semantics.
We gravitate away from things that we don't like.
But at the end of the day, meditation, prayer, intentional thinking, pondering,
there's lots of ways it can be put.
But it's so clear that that's one of your superpowers for making sure that
you're ready to deliver those experiences at your best.
And you mentioned this idea of intrinsic motivation.
What does that what does that mean?
I know it means to begin with your why and to recognize your why.
But how do you define intrinsic motivation?
Oh, great. I love that you asked that.
So one way to think about it, I guess the simplest way I could describe it is if
you think about external motivation, that can be things like a promotion or a
raise or benefits or things like that, things that you're going to you know,
that you're going to receive for whatever the work that you know,
the work that you're doing with intrinsic motivation is more about your internal
drive. So it's that why, right?
It's your your passion. What is fueling that passion?
What is it that is internally motivating you to go out there and to do the work
that you're doing every single day?
So it's that internal motivation versus like external motivation of like things
that are and there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with external motivation.
But to me, that's that's one of the you know, the main differences between
intrinsic versus extrinsic.
And they both are adding horsepower, you know, to very much when you you
leverage both. There's an opportunity to appreciate both.
And and you just highlighted that for us.
So once again, I appreciate that.
All right. So supporting introverted servant leaders to create happiness in the
workplace. Let's dive into that.
We've got plenty of extra time to dive into it.
I don't want to ask you any leading questions because my leading questions come
from a position of not knowing your depth.
Considering your depth, what's the best question we can we can go towards
relating to help people unpack this as much as possible right now or as
profoundly as possible.
Introverted leaders creating happiness.
Why does it matter?
Who would be impacted by this?
I'm going to stop brainstorming for a second. Turn the mic over and just let you go.
And you can talk for however you want, however long you want.
OK, fantastic.
We'll stop at any point if you have any questions or if you want to steer the
conversation in a different direction.
But one of the things I actually want to go back to Jackson is you mentioned
this word a couple of times as you were speaking.
And I really just I love this word.
And you talked about intentionality.
And I think that also goes to kind of touching on some of the areas that you
just mentioned, because no matter what type of leader you are, it's so
important to be intentional about how you want to show up.
Be intentional about the person, the leader that you want to be.
And that's how with many of my clients.
That's usually the point that I start.
Like, who do you want to be as a leader?
Because they talk a lot about, you know, like professional branding and that
kind of stuff.
And it's like, OK, so who are you and who do you want to be as a leader?
And then we kind of work into, OK, so based on what you describe, even
thinking about leaders that you admire and things like that, based on what you
describe, where are you in that in that process?
Right. Where do you feel like you need a little bit extra help or support?
And where do you feel like you do this really well?
And then building in strengths to that and what I call your leadership zone of
genius.
So within like my coaching program, what I do is I walk my clients to what I
call your leadership zone of genius so they really can understand who they are,
how they were wired, like how God made them and created them to be and what are
their strengths and what are the things they're passionate about?
What are they interested about?
You know, what big challenges do they feel really strongly that they want to
contribute to and help to solve and different things like that?
There's a whole process behind that.
But that gets them really, really aligned, including their values.
What are the things that they really believe in and how do they make decisions
even from that place, from that place of being just completely who they are and
who are, you know, completely authentic, completely and integrity.
And once you're there, like once they understand who they are and how they're
wired, oh, my goodness, it's like light bulbs just start going up.
It's like, oh, that's why I do this in a certain way or that's why I tend to be
drawn to this certain group of people or this cause or things like that.
It just makes the picture so much clearer.
And then it also makes it clear as far as like, OK, now where do you go?
How do you take this and take this into the world as like your gifts to the
world and what you want to bring to your team, bring to the business, bring to
other people even outside of that and in your personal life.
So that's kind of the if I could describe that whole process of like supporting
and helping these introverted leaders really shine, it does start with that.
It starts with their why, their passion, how they're wired.
And then everything just comes from their right.
Their decisions, how they make decisions, how they interact with people from
that pace of just being so grounded in who they are and also who they want to
be as a leader.
I don't know that answers your question.
Oh, it does.
It's huge.
Now, those are I would say to say that it's probably more than 90 percent,
maybe more than 99 percent of people who need to slow down and who need the
space to be able to think through those dynamics.
You know, it's like values, everybody has values and it's like, oh, my, we have
a long way to go with you.
You know, like the person who doesn't even understand the value of having that
conversation.
It's like, whoa.
So that's there.
And you have those superpowers to do that.
I want to open the door for the one to 10 percent to go down that rabbit hole
even further.
So we know our why.
We know our value.
You know, we know the we know the values we want to build around.
We have our healthy boundaries in place and set up.
What what do we help?
How do we help those introverted leaders create happiness in the workplace?
That's a really great question.
They're ready.
They're ready to do it.
Yes.
In this case, I'm also speaking to extroverted leaders, both introverted and
extroverted, because if we're thinking about how do we help our introverts, it's
not just what one or the other is both.
Right.
We need to come together and really understand who our introverted leaders are,
how to identify them, how to meet them, where they are and how to give them
those opportunities to truly shine.
And a big part of that is just understanding introverts and how we function
and also how to and we don't ever want to put I want to caveat this by saying we
don't ever want to put anyone in the box either.
Right.
And kind of call them out and things like that.
We want to give them an opportunity to really describe to us what it is that they
need and how they see themselves, what works for them, what doesn't.
But I will say there's a couple of things that I've noticed when it comes to
introverts that really make a difference.
So typically, and again, I'm going to generalize here, so bear with me.
But typically speaking, introverts tend to like to plan and to think.
Right.
They like to really internally process whatever it is that's going on, whether
it's a decision that they need to make, whether it's a presentation that they're
going to do or whatever the case may be.
So they like to be prepared for that.
They like to have the input that they feel like they need in order to show up at
their best, be prepared and be able to answer questions or do whatever it is
that they're being called to do.
And so I would say for introverted and extroverted leaders, if you have
introverts in your team, just be very mindful of that so that when you invite
them to a meeting or when you're expecting something of them, you're very
clear on the expectation.
You're supporting them in the best way possible.
You're giving them what they need to be successful and you're giving them enough
time to be able to internally process whatever it is that they need to be able
to actually do the work to the standard that they believe they need in order to
move forward.
So that's the one thing.
So do you have any questions on that?
Because I could keep going.
I think the biggest question I have, you've nailed some aspects of self-identification
that are super helpful.
You haven't said anything that's not helpful.
I'm writing notes too, by the way.
So that makes it a little harder to keep up sometimes.
But the big thing I just circled and put a question mark next to right now was
kind of the happiness factor.
Right?
So how do you go about intentionally guiding them towards happiness?
And what do we want to go down the path of exploring why that's important?
You know, and who that's important to?
Or do we want to go towards the application of here's the steps to creating
happiness in the workplace?
Your call.
Yeah, I can totally touch on both.
So we'll start with the why because that's a little bit more straightforward.
So there's so many studies.
And we have so many benefits in this day and age because there's been so much
research done, right, as far as happiness in the workplace and how that impacts
not just how people feel, their well-being, their longevity, but also productivity.
Right?
There's a huge benefit to companies, to paying attention, to creating an
environment where people can thrive and they're really happy and they have what
they need and they feel supported.
They feel psychologically safe and all of those things to show up as, you know,
as themselves.
And so there's already a ton of research.
So I won't go into all of that, but there's a ton of research as far as why
that is helpful.
And if anyone wants to reach out to me and, you know, to learn more about that,
please feel free because I did a ton of research on this for the TED Talk as
well.
So let me know.
And but I will say just one thing.
Like we spend over 90,000 hours of our life at work.
Right?
So it obviously impacts how we feel.
So if we're in a situation where it's just kind of sucking the life out of us,
then we're probably, you know, we're probably not going to be that happy
because we're spending the majority of our time in an environment that might
not be right for us.
So I would definitely just suggest, you know, getting some help and support to
navigate that.
But outside of that, going back to like practical steps.
So what I would suggest when it comes to happiness in the workplace is having a
conversation with, you know, because introverts like that one-on-one
interaction as well.
They will typically open up a lot more when it comes to a one-on-one
interaction versus in a team setting unless you have created a really
psychologically safe team environment where they feel comfortable, you know,
to express themselves and to open up.
Or they've been working with the team maybe for a next in a period of time and
they have that comfortable to let you know what matters to them, right?
What's important to them.
Otherwise, I would suggest starting off in a one-on-one setting and asking some
really impactful questions.
So asking, you know, what motivates you?
Why do you show up at work every day?
You know, what is something that you really love about what you do versus
things that you don't?
What do we not offer right now, right, as a company, as a group?
What do we not offer that you think would really make you happy, that would
really make you feel fulfilled at your work?
So there's so many different ways, and I work with my clients a lot on this, to
help them to create that environment and atmosphere where people feel safe,
where they feel like they can thrive, where they feel really happy and
connected with not just their team members but with the work they're doing
and in terms of how they're being led.
The other thing I would suggest is there's so many different tools out there
that you can use to kind of tap into this and to ask them some really good
questions about what is it that drives them in their work and what could create
a really good workspace.
Another exercise that just comes to mind as well is in terms of the team
dynamic, it's so important for the team at that level to be aligned on their
values and what they stand for because that helps a lot with, you know, like
minimizing conflict and conflict resolution and all that because when the
team knows, okay, these are the things that we stand for, here's how we act out
what our values are and our vision is and all of that, it just makes it so much
they feel like they're on the same page, they feel like they're empowered to
work together as a cohesive team, but it also helps in the tough times, right,
when there's conflict, when there's struggles to say, okay, what are our
values, how do we act in line with that so that your introverts especially know
what to expect because they're the type of people that want to know what to
expect, right, they don't like to be blindsided, they don't like to be put on
the spot typically, again, I'm generalizing here, but generally speaking,
they like to have that north star, they like to know, okay, what are we moving
towards, what is this vision, what is the purpose and how does my work add value,
you know, how does what I do and that's for everyone, we all want our work to
matter, right, so finding ways that your work matters can really make a
difference and then just tapping into what would make a perfect work
environment for you, what would make a perfect team environment for you, what
would, you know, tell me about your favorite, you know, your favorite leader
that you've had in the past or your favorite leader that you've seen, you
know, in that capacity and so the questions like that can really help open
people up and help them to, and also to know, like, for them to know that their
leader cares enough to ask them these questions makes a big difference and
also going back to the book, right, so what are your, how do you like to be
appreciated, things like that, so, and it's an ongoing conversation, it's not a
one-off, but it's also observing, as a leader, you definitely have to be able to
observe and be intentional about how you engage with your team because they're
going to show you so much just how and how they interact versus they weren't.
So that was a lot.
That was a lot.
But it gave me plenty of things to work on in a great way.
I noticed, as you talked about that 90% of the time is spent at work, I was
realizing and thinking through, like, man, that makes it my responsibility as a
founder to make sure that we're paying attention to that environment, you know,
that we're making sure that the people who are here have the opportunity to
exercise that time in a way where they know they're appreciated, they know
that, you know, we want to know they're contributing and doing things that are
important, and as I mentioned, that appreciation factor of, like, okay, if
you're going to spend that much time of your life under my roof, then I should
probably take interest to figure out, and you nailed the questions, what
motivates you, what do you like doing, you know, what do we not offer and what
drives you in the work.
I'm like, okay, I can ask chat GPT as well for other examples of questions I
can ask to gauge happiness in the workplace.
There's so many tools at our disposal to take that application and then
implement it with the team, right, at an individual level as well as at a group
level to discuss it.
That can be dangerous in a toxic environment.
I'll leave that where it's at.
That's why it's so helpful to bring somebody like Sharissa in to make sure
that you're not trying to mediate a situation where you may have created a
hellhole of a work environment.
That takes some serious strategy to figure out how do we dig ourselves out
of that pit.
But as leaders, we can always be doing more.
In terms of the podcast, do you bring guests on your show or is it a solo
show?
I do.
The podcast just started, I think we're in episode 20, somewhere in there.
My goal was to go through the first 100 episodes.
It's a fairly new podcast.
I started this a few months ago.
My goal was to do solo episodes for the first 100 episodes and then introduce
guests.
I've already informally had guest interviews in the past that I'm going to
incorporate in.
What's the name?
It's the introverted servant leader.
We want to put that in the action steps as well, the show notes as well.
This has been fantastic.
The thing that both of us obviously recommend based on the resources we've
given, the theme that I've seen so many great leaders gravitate towards is
they don't gravitate towards the book or as much as they gravitate towards the
source of the book.
If I want to learn about being an effective executive, then talking to Peter
Drucker or somebody who works directly with him, talking to Simon Sinek and
going into his programs versus just the resource is really where the depth is.
We hope you have the opportunity, if you're listening and this resonated with
you, to reach out to Sharissa and find out what it's like to work with her,
what it's like to be part of leadership master reliance and what more can you
get out of it if you're in these situations where it makes sense to level
up the culture or escape a bad culture that you may or may not be at fault of
creating, then definitely reach out and we'll have those in the action notes.
We'll also have one more call to action on that page.
In the top right corner it says be our guest.
If you have a vision and you're a leader and you're trying to make a difference
in people's lives, then apply for the show.
Come in and get to know us.
Share what your vision is with us.
We'll be happy to put you on stage.
We want to help you get noticed out there for those who are looking for leaders
just like you as well.
Before we wrap up, Sharissa, is there any final thoughts that you'd like to share?
Well, first of all, I just wanted to say thank you so much for speaking about my
podcast and, yeah, if there's any, you know, anyone who's listening has any
questions, please reach out.
Even if I'm not, you know, if you're looking for a coach and I'm not the right
fit, I will absolutely point you in the right direction.
So anything I can do to help, I'm more than happy to do so.
And I'm also going to be recommending people to your podcast as well and your
community.
Jax, this has been an absolute pleasure.
And I just love the work that you're doing and your heart for what you do.
So thank you so much.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
And for those who are listening in, if you can like, subscribe, comment, send us
your questions, all of that really helps us produce results for those that we're
serving.
And we'd love to know how we can serve you better.
So we have a fantastic rest of your day and we'll see you on the next episode of
Vision Pros Live.
Bye bye.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move
forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision.