Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where
we explore the journeys that lead to success.
I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five
Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you
insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders
and experts who will share not just their expertise,
but the milestone moments that have reshaped
their journeys and led to significant achievements.
So if you're looking for motivation, you're in
the right place. Subscribe now and discover the
milestones that mark the path to success. Welcome
to another episode of Milestone Moments in Business
and Leadership. I'm your host, Sheila Slick,
and today... My special guest is Cynthia Rodriguez.
Cynthia has spent over 18 years leading teams,
strengthening culture and managing organizational
growth. As head of school at a Montessori program
in Miami Beach, she oversees strategy, operations
and staff development with a focus on building
strong, resilient teams. Her background in life
coaching. emotional intelligence, and human resource
development shapes her people -centered approach.
She's passionate about helping adults navigate
change, reduce burnout, and lead with clarity
and purpose. Welcome to the show, Cynthia. Thank
you, Sheila. I'm really excited to be here and
ready to dig into this conversation. I am too.
I absolutely love the work that you're doing
between organizational leadership personal leadership,
I actually have a little diagram in front of
me today so that we can perhaps start by talking
about all of the different leadership styles
and then perhaps discuss which one best fits
you. So the first one says autocratic, and this
is somebody who leads when they're driving results
through clarity, authority, and precision. And
they normally use this type of leadership style
when they act fast or they lead under pressure
and they need more control. Number two would
be a visionary leadership style. Someone that
paints a bold picture of the future and inspires
pursuit. And they normally use this kind of leadership
when you're trying to introduce innovation or
when you're trying to lead people beyond their
limits. Then we have the democratic leadership
style that unites people through inclusion and
shared decisions. And when someone leads in this
way, they're building trust, openness, and a
shared purpose. Now, that's a bit different than
servant leadership, which leads with empathy
and puts other first. And that's great when you're
building loyalty, compassion, and deep connection
with others. We also have delegative. Delegative
empowers skilled people with trust and autonomy.
And it's used when you want to lead capable people
and you believe in freedom. So I guess that one
gives them the most control. The sixth type of
leadership is coaching. When you guide others
with feedback, with support, with care. And that's
used when you want to grow others or mentor teams
and unlock their potential. We also have a laissez
-faire style leadership, which encourages freedom,
creativity, and exploration. We have a charismatic
type of leadership when you inspire others and
you inspire them to take action through energy,
confidence, passion. And it's best used when
you motivate others and you lead through emotion.
And the last is transformational, which combines
vision and empathy to drive progress. And it's
best used when you're guiding change and you
elevate people through purpose. So what do you
think of this diagram and the different leadership
styles and which one best resonates with you?
To be a good leader, you know, you need a little
bit of each of the nine that you mentioned. OK,
I'm more of a leader that leads through empathy
and care. You know, I like to lift up my team.
I like to give them buy -in, you know, so what
they're working for is going to help them progress
and be the best they can be, you know, but I
also like to give that freedom, that creativity,
but not everybody puts. that freedom and creativity
forward. They kind of hold on to that. And that's
where I kind of feel that with guidance and feedback
and mentorship, they could actually express themselves
better. So I would say I have a little bit of
everything. I like to build trust with my teams.
I like to have them. use their creativity and
problem solving I even do that with students
you know you have to teach a student to problem
solve and be the best version of themselves in
order for them to succeed can't just always be
handed to them so I try to do the same with my
staff when I'm leading them so honestly a little
bit of everything kind of falls into that Now,
you told me a beautiful story of how your father
lived. He was an entrepreneur for many, many,
many years and very well -respected in the community.
Tell the audience a little bit about how he lived.
So my father was the type of leader that treated
the CEO of a company the same as he would treat
his janitors in his own company. You know, very
charismatic. not with authority and not as a
friend either, but more like lifting spirits,
you know, and that's how I grew up watching him
interact with different people. You know, when
my dad started his business, he started. cleaning
floors, like I had told you before, in a huge
print shop. And he worked his way up. He got
to meet the CEO. And the CEO kind of took him
under his wing and mentored him. So that is the
way he leads. And that's the way he led his company.
And so many people knew him. You know, he could
travel anywhere. He had accounts all over South
America, Central America, Puerto Rico, and the
Dominican Republic. And just... meeting with
these country officials that knew him, it was
just spectacular to see. And that's what I learned.
He taught me how to be the type of leader that
I didn't have to be so authoritative. I could
be myself. I could be empathetic. I could be,
you know, the type of leader that mentored people
and coached people to raise them up in order
for them to be successful as he did. And I think
I absolutely love that story because I think
that when organizations... You know, they start
to delegate and you have all these, you know,
hierarchies and these titles and these positions.
We often put importance or priority based on
the higher positions. And I'm a firm believer
that the feedback should start from that first
line. That's the most important because they're
the ones facing, you know, the client or the
suppliers firsthand. And they probably have more
insights. people perhaps may overlook or may
not ask. And so I absolutely loved your story
because, you know, it doesn't matter where you're
at or what your title or position is. When you're
an inclusive, a great leader, you can do a lot
more than help that organization. You can lift,
inspire, and have a case as wonderful as the
one that you just shared. Exactly. You're passionate
about helping others navigate change. What are
some of the challenges, whether they're executives
or adults? You know, when you're navigating change,
change is difficult for anybody because we are
creatures of habit. And sometimes people see
change as a negative, you know, when actually
change could be a positive. One example, let
me just use education and technology. You know,
technology is forever changing and education
is constantly trying to catch up to technology.
And if education does not move forward with tech,
then it's going to fall behind and be outdated.
So that is one thing that we're navigating in
schools right now. You know, we're navigating
how educators, education, schools are... Hatching
off with technology. You know, technology is
scary, especially for the older generation educators.
You know, you have older teachers that are not
computer savvy, that are not tech savvy. They
don't know how to use technology to their advantage.
To where you have the new teachers that are coming
in full of technology, full of, you know, new
ideas. And they are the ones moving forward.
Now, the challenge we're facing is that. Teachers
don't want to teach. Schools are having a hard
time finding staff, finding teachers, because
some schools are stuck, you know, not wanting
to move forward. I think that's one of the biggest
challenges we're facing now with change. It's
inevitable. I sometimes describe it. I'm scared
of AI too, yet I was able to use my imagination
and build a tool I couldn't imagine having built
10 years ago. It took just a change in mindset
to be able to feel comfortable and step out of
that comfort zone because it can be extremely
overwhelming. And I keep interviewing a lot of
experts that just keep saying, take that one
small step toward that change. Go beyond the
prompt. So what is one piece of advice you can
leave in someone listening, tuning in today,
whether or not they're a teacher, they could
be a parent or an executive or even an entrepreneur,
prevent burnout? Well, to prevent the burnout,
mindfulness, breathing techniques, kind of go
into your core and see how you were talking about
time management. You know, you have to be able
to set aside family time, which is super important.
And a job should not take over your family. And
that, you know, is the key. And when I talk to
my teachers, you know, we do yoga here. They
have a room where they can go and decompress.
You know, sometimes you just want to go outside
and scream. As a parent, and it's not only teachers,
as a parent, sometimes you get that frustration.
They have to be able to disconnect. There's a
room here, you know, that we built for them in
school that helps them use coping mechanisms,
breathing, stretching, meditation, stress relievers,
tea. You know, they have to be able to use time
management throughout their day. And that helps
them with, you know, keeping a subtle mind and
helping them be really involved in the classroom.
I absolutely love that space while you were talking.
It was creating awareness that I have it today,
this morning. Yeah. Even taking the time to just
breathe, take those five minutes to relax and
let the thoughts out of my head. We need to start
every morning with stretching and breathing.
That's so important. There's something we can
do together. Yes. Anyone listening that thinks
that could be a good idea, right? The five minute
check -in. Yes, definitely. Something like that.
Just a five minute where we walk through and
make sure that we do that either together or
at your own pace. Just five minutes makes a huge
difference. Five minutes sounds like a tiny amount
of time, but in reality, five minutes is... I
think, sufficient to be able to... A reset. There
you go. That's a reset. The five -minute daily
reset. We're going to start that. You're going
to be my coach. As an entrepreneur, I need that
accountability and that companionship reset every
morning. Or it could be mid -morning as well.
Yeah. We'll have to talk after the episode, but
I'm liking the idea a lot. Yes. That would be
the key takeaway today. So I'm going to let you
repeat what you think we should all do today.
That five minute reset. Definitely. Deep breathing,
stretching, a nice meditation. And it just really
takes five minutes. If you incorporate those
five minutes every day, you could really reset
and come back relaxed, stronger, and ready to
tackle your day or the rest of your day or your
morning, however you see it. All of those changes,
it can help you navigate those changes, get a
clearer mind after the reset. Yes, definitely.
So before we wrap up, do you remember like watching
Grease? It's a movie that was, yeah. I love Grease.
I think all Gen X loves Grease. I think I watched
it many times. But in schools, they normally
either have a little room or a little microphone,
kind of like this podcast setup where the principal
says the morning announcement. Announcement,
yeah. That's what the five -minute reset's going
to be. We're going to see at what time the principal
wants to schedule us every day. Perfect. The
announcement will be the daily reset. Bring it
on. I love it. Well, thank you so much, Cynthia,
for joining me today. Thank you. I had a great
time. And thank you all for tuning in to another
episode of Milestone Moments in Business and
Leadership. Until your next reset.