Good Leaders

Back for season eight with a simple belief: leadership is accessible to everyone, no title required. In this episode, Nandi shares the pillars we rely on to lead with kindness, clarity, and real cultural impact while still holding strong boundaries. 

• leadership as a mindset and way of being 
• listening to understand and de-escalating conflict 
• willingness to be wrong and staying curious 
• finding common ground by seeing yourself in others 
• holding boundaries without attacking people 
• practicing self-awareness through coaching, therapy, faith, friends, and mindfulness 
• mentoring people and placing aces in their places 
• respecting that you do not own your teammates 
• not taking ideas personally and welcoming collaboration 
• setting culture through what you model every day 
• leading authentically and communicating like a human 
• staying committed to learning and growth 

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Transcript

Welcome To Believe Like A Boss

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi friends, and welcome to Believe Like a Boss. I'm your host, Life Coach Nandi Camille. Join me as I teach you how to smash your bowls and expand the possibility of your life through mindset management, spiritual alignment, and authentic action. I'll teach you how to create what I like to call a life of thrive with ease and authenticity. It's time to play with what's possible. Are you ready? Let's go.

Listening That Lowers The Temperature

Empathy Without Being A Doormat

Self-Awareness Practices For Leaders

Mentorship And Aces In Their Places

Collaboration Culture And No Offense

Authentic Leadership And Keep Learning

Newsletter Coaching And Reviews

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of Believe Like a Boss. I am your host, Life Coach Nadi Camille. Welcome back, my friends. It's a little crazy that it's been 11 months. It is the longest break that I've ever taken from the podcast ever before. This is season eight. So in all seven previous seasons, I've only taken no more than I think three months in between podcast seasons. But there's been a lot that's been happening, my friends, a lot of transition on my end that I'll be sprinkling into the season, into future seasons and future episodes. But today, honestly, I just want to dive right back in. I have been in and out of leadership positions since I was in the fourth grade, most so in leadership positions since I was in the fourth grade. And so recently I've just gotten really excited about leadership and what makes good leaders, what makes strong leaders, what helps us to be better leaders in the spaces that we're in. The recent, most recent project that I just completed was a ground up build. I've now built three schools from scratch. This one more so was I was hands-on with the hiring part. And so it was 40 teachers that I just hired. And so I've done with that project, but I want to bring all of this experience I talked about or was thinking about rather when I was in the fourth grade. That was my very first, for me, leadership position. When I was thinking about, okay, when did I first get into leadership? I was like, dang, I think I was like in the fourth grade. And honestly, it could have been sooner. I was in my first pageant when I was five, and then I was in my first elected position when I was in the fourth grade. So let me back up. Who's a leader? Who am I talking to? I'm talking to everybody. I think everybody, no matter what position you're in, leader is a mindset. Leadership is it's a way of being. You don't have to be in a position where you have five employees underneath you, or you run a dance team, or you're the president of an organization, organization in order to be considered a leader. I truly think that leadership is a way of being, it's a mindset. Anybody in any position can be a leader, right? You could be a 12-year-old babysitter and you are in charge of those children. You could be a mother, you are a leader in your household, right? So I truly believe that everybody has access to being in a position of leadership, no matter, like I said, whether you are an employer or you have a title that gives you leadership over other people. Regardless, everybody can access a mindset and showing up as a leader. So I was recently thinking about what are the things that I think make a good leader. All this is completely for my brain. Some of these episodes I do completely for my brain. Some of these episodes are my brain in a mix of other people's brains, and I will always credit the coaches and the authors and the leaders and the thought leaders that I love to learn from. But for this episode, this is completely coming from my brain of all the years of experience that I've had being in leadership positions. Um, to this day, I will have ex-employees text me, hey, can you be a letter of reference? Hey, you're still the best boss I've ever had. I'm not exaggerating. That is one of the best compliments I've ever gotten is you are the best boss I've ever had. And I've gotten that compliment more than once. And it's something that I worked really hard at when I am in a position of leadership, which again is, I think all the time, but especially when we are in a position where we do have direct reports. At that point, my most recent project, I had 40 direct reports, right? And so being uh available for them was really important to me. But more so than being available, I wanted to be a good boss because I part of what got me into leadership, some more of this backstory, part of what got me into leadership was bad leadership. When I was in the fourth grade, that's not what got me into leadership. When I was in the fourth grade running for it was class counsel or like class representative was the first thing. And I ran against Gaylord, was the my opponent. Um, I don't remember his last name. I wish I could because I would track his butt down and be like, do you remember? But it was I beat Gaylord in the fourth grade and it was for class representative. And then after that, we moved to Japan and I ran for, I think it was secretary. And I sometimes I look back at the the little I was in the sixth grade when we moved to Japan and I ran for secretary. I didn't know anybody. I just moved there. We moved there that summer and I had met some people at summer camp because my mom threw my butt right into summer camp when we moved there. So when I started the school year, I knew a few people, but I didn't know that many people, but I just ran. I just ran for school secretary. And again, a girl that had lived there more longer than I had, I beat her out. And so this is not about how to beat out other people as a leader. I'm just speaking about clearly, I feel as though I've had some, there's some attributes that I've carried with me throughout my life that have allowed me to secure leadership positions, but not just secure those leadership positions while being in those leadership positions, being seen as a strong leader. Because then fast forward when I was in, I graduated in 2015 with my degree in education, and I'm a preschool teacher. And that was in my mind not a leadership position, right? I was like, I'm a little preschool teacher. I have to take care of these 24 students and ensure that they are learning their A, B, Cs, one, two, threes, learning social emotional skills, learning how to share, learning how to advocate for themselves without hurting other people, express their emotions without harming their friends, right? And also teaching parents how to parent. As a preschool teacher, you are also doing that. So I'm not thinking that I am in a position of leadership at this time. And I'm watching my director and the owner of this school and the way that they move. The director of the school really loved. She was very compassionate and kind, but it seemed as though she didn't have as much power. The owner of the school I saw as the leader. She was bossy, she was unkind, she made people feel not good about themselves. I watched it actively happen. It never happened with me, thankfully. I like to joke like she knew, she knew not to come for me. But also I showed up at the highest level. So there's no reason to, I didn't need any notes, right? Not to say it was perfect, but I was a really strong teacher. Anyway, the point of that story is I did not like the way that she made other people feel. And so that was a turning point for me in my career where I was like, you know what? Teachers work really, really hard and they don't get paid well for what they do. The least we can do is be kind to them. The least we can do is encourage them. The least we can do is help them enjoy their jobs more. We don't need to be diminishing, the leadership should not diminish a teacher's job, right? The children are already challenging them enough. The leadership should not challenge them more. So that was my whole thought process. And that's how I got into leadership in my career. From being a preschool teacher, I jumped right into being an assistant director. Then I was a director four times over, hence why now I've got into building schools. So there's a little bit of my backstory and why I think that leadership is so important and where my heart comes from. I saw a lot of poor leadership. I said, no, thank you. I want to be the opposite. I want to be the reason why somebody enjoys their job or realizes that this isn't my realm and goes and chooses something else. So let's talk about this. Let's dive in. What makes a good leader? What do I think makes a good leader? So, first and foremost, who is a leader? Everybody. Everybody's a leader. Everyone has the opportunity to be a leader. I don't care if you're a preschool teacher, you're a mother, you are a sanitation manager, you are a real estate agent, you have the opportunity to step into leadership regardless of what your titles are. This is what I think makes a good leader. Someone that listens and seeks to understand. Very basic, but needs to be said. Someone that listens and seeks to understand, right? Good leaders listen. They listen to hear what you have to say. Right. So let's put this in the context of let's say in your relationship, you're like, I'm not a leader. I'm like, yeah, but you can practice leadership skills in your relationship when you and your partner are not agreeing, listen, right? Because again, I'm talking to high achieving women, I'm talking to creative entrepreneurs. That's who this podcast is predominantly for. If you're here and you're not one of those, welcome. You're here, you're welcome to be here as well. But that's who this is predominantly for. And so I think about those women. And if you are working towards building a business, you are working towards building a team potentially one day. Practice it in your one-on-one relationship, whether it's a friendship or a romantic relationship. If you don't see eye to eye, because it will happen in your business, it will happen when you're running teams, that you will not see eye to eye with somebody, right? Practice listening to understand. Just practice listening to understand, not to rebut, not to have to say something back. It is a hard thing to do. At least it has been for me. Maybe some of y'all are better than I am, right? For me, that has been a hard thing to do over time is practicing, listening to understand. It's gotten easier over time. But when you feel very passionate about something, when you feel like you are right, I'm a Taurus, right? I am stubborn. We feel like we are right most of the time, if not all the time. So when I feel like I am right, it is very difficult for me to put my guard down and listen. Because if I think that I'm right, then why do I need to listen to you? Right. So that's something I had to practice. Is listening to understand means I'm not sitting here on my throne of correctness and rightness. I am willing to be wrong. So let that go hand in hand, right? A good leader listens, seeks for understanding, but with that is willing to be wrong. Willing to be incorrect, willing for there to be a different way to do things, right? Check in. Do you feel like you are a person that when you get into arguments, how do you show up? Do you rebut really quickly? Do you cut people off really quickly? In your brain right now, are you saying, well, it depends on the relationship. When I'm talking to my partner, I cut them off really quickly. But when I'm in a work setting, I'm slower to anger. Can you practice that slower to anger everywhere? Right. For me, a strong leader is going to practice that leadership skill, not because I'm just with this person and not with that person. I'm going to practice listening to understand no matter what room I'm in. That is just a skill that I have. Not that one that I turn on and off. That is just a skill that I have. That is what I found that good leaders, that is a skill that they have in life. They seek to understand. They seek to truly hear you and truly listen. You know the difference when somebody is listening to you, truly hearing you, even if what you're saying to them isn't necessarily what they want to hear. You know the difference between them listening to you and them appeasing you. Just kind of, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. But they're not really listening, right? And you know how that feels to be heard versus not being heard. When you're not being heard, what happens to you? You become more defensive, right? You want to up the ante even more. A good leader is helping to de-escalate. A good leader is not trying to escalate. A good leader knows that by de-escalating, that's where we have understanding. That's where we can problem solve. Because when you're escalating, you're going from your prefrontal cortex to the brainstem, where your fight, flight, freeze, and fun response are. You cannot, I mean, you're productive in a different way. Let me say that. I don't want to say you're not productive. You're productive for running away. You're productive for escaping. That's what you're productive for in your fight, flight, or freeze. But when you're having a conversation with somebody, you shouldn't need to fight or run away, right? It's a conversation. So we need to de-escalate so we can move into our prefrontal cortex where our creative thinking happens, where our problem solving happens. Listen for understanding. Now, I also see that a good leader sees themselves in their team, sees themselves and other people. And I think that this is really helpful for being a good listener, right? If you see yourself in the person across from you, you're less likely to attack them. So try to find common ground. Good leaders try to find that common ground. They see themselves in their team. Let's put this in the context of a mom, right? You're so cranky because your kid went through and destroyed the kitchen. You just cleaned it. It was so nice. And then they've destroyed it, right? A good leader sees themselves in their team. Now it doesn't mean that you get to excuse the behavior. It doesn't mean like, oh, it's okay. It's fine. Make a mess whenever you want to. That's not what we're saying. But can you see yourself in that child that just made the mess? You know what? If I was a four-year-old and there was a bag of flour to sit in there, I'd be curious too. And if I opened that bag of flour and I saw the magic that it created with all the dust, I might be rolling around and playing in it too. While it's not the right time and place, right? You can have a conversation with your child about that. Mommy, put that on the counter. And you know what? That's not where it belongs. But we both learned a lesson here. Let's clean it up together. Next time, please ask before you open this up, right? But notice that when we can pause and we can see ourselves in the person, when whether it's a mistake or whatever the altercation is, it helps us to humanize them. And it helps us to be less about like me versus them, or I'm better than you, or let me teach you a lesson, and then becomes about, oh, you made a mistake. And you know what? You're a human, and I'm a human too. How do we work through this together? Let's take this into the context of a work situation. Let's say you have a teammate where you've asked them for a specific deliverable and maybe it didn't get delivered on time. They missed their deadline. Well, part of us might be like, oh my gosh, I've already talked to them about this. They missed their deadline. Where can you see yourself in them? In what reality might you have missed a deadline? Again, this is not to give people the leeway to walk all over you to make you a doormat. Please don't hear me when hear me that way. The intention here is to soften, to never be on the attack, to never think of ourselves as better than other people, but that we are all human beings on the planet doing our best. Because when we approach people from that place, we can still be direct, we can still apply discipline, we can still have boundaries, but from a place of love instead of a place of attack. When I see myself in you, I can say, you know what? I yeah, if I had just gone through a breakup or if I had just lost a family member, if I had had a hard time weekends, I was going through something, I might have missed the deadline too. Does it make it okay? No, let's have a conversation about how we work together to communicate so that way when things are happening in your world, you can communicate with me and we can create a solution so that we don't miss the deadline, right? And some people, I will say I'll back up and some people be like, Nada, you're too nice, right? And if you are in a place of business where you need to be a little bit tighter, maybe you do have to let that person go because they missed the deadline. But you don't have to let them go from a place of attacking. You can let them go from a place of alignment. Hey, this just didn't work out because this is the deadline. This was my expectation. I get it. Life happens sometimes. This is no longer a good fit. But you're not coming at them from a place of attack, of like you shouldn't have met this deadline. That doesn't serve anybody. It doesn't serve the person you're attacking. It does not serve you. It's sending your blood pressure through the roof. You're not able to function at your highest level if you're yelling and screaming and getting all upset and all stressed out, right? So let's see ourselves in our teammates and approach them from that place. What goes hand in hand with that is good leaders practice self-awareness, right? Good leaders practice self-awareness. This looks like different things to different people. Some people practice self-awareness through going to see a therapist. Some people practice self-awareness by going to see a life coach, right? They're talking to their therapist, to their coach about their life and what they're going through and what they're experiencing. And their coach or the therapist is reflecting back to them. This is what I'm hearing, this is what I'm seeing. It might be that X, Y, and Z, right? So that's a way to get great self-awareness. It might be that they're reading personal development books. That's a great way to gain some self-awareness, reading those books. It might be that you have a really great group of friends that is very honest and direct with each other about what's going on and how you feel. And so you can never not be self-aware because the group of humans that you've put yourself in are always telling you about yourself with so much love, right? Good leaders, practice self-awareness. There's a variety of ways to practice self-awareness. Maybe it's through prayer or meditation, maybe it's through your faith. Your faith helps you to better see yourself, better see your shortcomings and support you in being your most abundant, expansive self, right? But through self-awareness first. It might be, I'm like trying to think of all the ways that I might practice self-awareness. So my list is going to be limited. Maybe there's different ways that you practice it. And hey, y'all, if you have other ways, you ever want to pitch something to me, send me an email. Hello at naundicamil.com. Be like, hey, this is how I practice self-awareness. What do you think about this? Talk about this on the podcast. Let me know. I'm like, how else? Going for a walk in nature. That's a really great way to practice self-awareness. I know that seems like more like woo-woo like looking out at nature, but that's a form of mindfulness, right? Being aware of my feet on the ground, being aware of the breath in my body, being aware of how I feel as I'm walking around in nature. Do I feel cold? Do I feel hot? Do I feel angry about the thing that happened to me 25 years ago? Am I feeling excited about the thing that's happening in a week? What are the thoughts and feelings that are arising as I'm just walking outside without headphones in, without any distractions, right? What's coming up for me? That's a way to practice self-awareness. But a leader on purpose wants to be aware of themselves, not in a way of like, where are my shortcomings? Where are my shortcomings? What do I need to fix? But in a way of like, where am I? What do I think about myself? How do I feel about myself? How do I feel about my life? How do I feel about the people in my life? How do I feel about the tasks in my life? How do I feel about the brightness of my life? Right. They are asking these questions and they are aware of how they're showing up in their world and how they're impacting other people. And they want to be aware of the impact that they have so that they can ensure that I'm being intentional about how I'm showing up. If I say that I'm a kind leader, right, I'm following up with my teammates and I'm making sure that that is translating, right? And if it's not, I'm adjusting, right? I'm self-aware as a leader. They're also secretly, not so secretly mentors. I think that good leaders are secretly and not so secretly mentors. So good leaders want to see you thrive. Good leaders are more than, I'm taking this in the like profession sense and a career sense, they're more than a boss, right? They're more than the person that makes sure you clock in or clock out or make sure that you hit these deadlines or make sure that you know how to use this system. They actually want to get to know you. And I'd say that's different for different bosses, different leaders, but they want to get to know you at what level, what depth? Again, that's different for different people, but they want to understand what makes you tick. For me, a good leader truly wants to understand what makes you tick, maybe not in life, but in this job at the very least. What do you really enjoy to do? I love the saying. I actually got it from my husband years ago. Ace is in their places. Anytime I'm in a leadership position where I have a team underneath me and I have to delegate different tasks for different people, aces in their places. And the what that means is that, like, whoever likes the graphic design, I'm gonna have them doing the graphic design type stuff. Whoever likes the people facing things, I'm gonna have them doing the people-facing things. And it's not that everybody always gets to do exactly what they want to do, but it is my goal as a leader to understand who they are, what they like to do, and then from that place support them in doing that, right? So if they love, like I said, graphic design, great, then I'm not gonna have them in the sales team. I'm not gonna have them focusing on sales if what they've told me is that they love color and being creative and they want to do the marketing part of our business, right? I'm not aces in their places, put them where they love to be. But part of that means you have to, as a leader, understand them, get to know them, have a conversation with them more than their interview, more than when you first brought them on, more than when you're just doing onboarding. What makes them come alive? What do they enjoy? And the disclaimer that I've said to all of my teammates is if you ever change your mind, if for any reason at any point during our journey together, you've decided this is no longer for you, you want to do something else with your life, please let me know. I want to support your journey. So this happened twice when I was I was building a summer school from scratch, and I was also at the same time running before and after school care, running sixth grade dance team, and I was the preschool director. I was wearing all these different hats. And so I'm hiring and I tell the teammates all that. Hey, like if at any point you don't want to do this, please let me know. I would rather know so I can hire and backfill your role rather than what happens in most places. People feel like they can't be honest about my heart is changed. I don't want to be a gardener anymore. I want to be a librarian, I don't want to be a math teacher anymore, I want to be a sales executive, right? You're our minds change, and that is part of the process. But for whatever reason, a lot of these leaders out here forget that and think that when I've hired you, I now own you. That is, in my opinion, poor leadership. You do not own anybody, ever at all. And the more you can respect that, the more respect you will get from your teammates. You don't own any of them at all, ever whatsoever. They're human beings, they're free to be. And so I tell them that. I had two uh teammates. One came to me, she became a chalk artist, and I even went to go and see her at the Denver like chalk festival. She did a beautiful work of art out there and chased your dreams in that direction. And then another one came to me and said that she was gonna chase her dreams as a singer songwriter, byproduct of me being your boss, also as a Certified life coaches, I'm really going to be like, so yes, I'm hiring you for this, but what are your real dreams? Because if this isn't it, I want you to pursue them, right? But as a good leader, you're also a mentor. You want to know who they are and you want to support them in doing what they do best. Because when you support people in doing what they do best, they have so much more fun, right? Imagine if you had a boss that, yes, they hired you for this role, but really truly wanted to get to know you and wanted to make sure that your role fit what you love to do at least, let's call it 75% of the time, right? And then 25% of your job is other things that maybe it's not as much fun, but like your boss really worked hard to get you 75% of the things that you do on your day-to-day basis, the work that you do is stuff that you really enjoy, right? How many more people would enjoy their jobs? How many more businesses would do so much better? Right? Okay, let's this is what I'm all about. I'm so excited about this work because I'm like, the more people, not just women, you know, this podcast is for women, but like the more people that are in alignment and that are aligned leaders, we have happier workers, we're creating better products, there's better commerce, like the world just feels better. So this is why we're doing this. Okay, so what else makes a good leader? They don't take things personally. Good leaders don't take things personally. Now, this is something that I have to work on. I think that I'm a good leader. I think that I'm a strong leader. I've worn many hats in leadership. I have no problem leading teams. I actually feel very good about my leadership style. This is an area of growth for me for sure. I think that good leaders don't think take things personally, but it's hard. That is a hard thing to do, to not take things personally, right? If somebody wants to move on or somebody has a new idea. Now, I don't take things personally if somebody wants to move on, as you've heard, right? If you want to go be a singer-songwriter, you want to go be a chalk artist, I'm in full support. Do whatever makes your heart so happy. I don't get offended there. Where I do get offended is where I will have like a really good idea. I'll think that I have a really good idea. And I'm so excited about this idea. I'm like, oh my gosh, you guys, this is the idea. This is the things. And when people aren't as excited about my idea as I am, then I want to take things personally. I want to get cranky, like, oh, I what? It was such a that's what my internal dialogue is. It's a bunch of huffing and puffing. And I have to breathe and be like, wait, wait, wait, what if they do have a good idea? What if they have something to add to this? What if, you know, I think what happens in my brain, and maybe this happens as yours, is it feels like I'm being told my idea is not good if somebody has a different idea. And that's not necessarily what's going on, right? Sometimes that's the case. Sometimes you present an idea and somebody else says, no, I don't like that. That's a bad idea. But most of the time, what I found is it's not that somebody's saying that your idea is bad, it's that, oh, I like that and let's add this. Or what if we did that, but we changed it in this way, right? Good leaders don't take things personally. They're open to collaboration, they're open to hearing other ideas because they know that they're not the only person with the brain in the room. I think that that's so important to say, especially as we grow in leadership positions, especially, especially if let's say you're a director, right? That's the position I was in. I was the director, I was a head of school, I had an assistant director, and then I had teammates underneath me. I was the head, I was the head honcho. Like what I said went, and that could have been the way that it went, but I knew from being in the shoes of the assistant director and being in the shoes of the teachers that if I was a tyrant, if I said no, it's my way or the highway because I have the good ideas and I've already been a preschool teacher and I've already been in your shoes and I've already worn these hats and I already know, sure, it might have been a good idea. But then again, how does that, what is the implication of that? How does that impact the culture? And I think that that's so important to think about. Good leaders think about their culture. That wasn't even a thing on my list, but we're adding it right now. Good leaders think about the impact of what they're doing. That is, they think about their culture, right? If you are a leader and you're stewarding over a community, your decisions impact the culture of your community. So if I am a person that it's no, it's my way or the highway and I have all the good ideas and I don't listen to anybody, what is the culture that I'm then creating? Right? What is the message that I'm then sending down the pipeline? Then I'm sending my way of the highway. What does that then imply? Again, we're talking culture for then the students. If I, as the leader, the director of a school, say, nope, this is how it goes my way or the highway, I'm then showing the teachers that they should probably be doing that in their room. Well, you know, you went to school, you got your degree in education, it's your way of the highway. If the children have ideas, uh-uh, it doesn't matter what their ideas are. Do you see how that trickles down? As a leader, you are setting the tone for the culture of your community. What is the culture that you wish to have? If you wish to have a collaborative community, you have to be collaborative. You are setting the tone. If you hope to have a kind community, you have to be kind. You are setting the tone, even when somebody's not being kind to you, right? What is the culture that you want to create? If you are the leader of a space, you are creating that culture with every decision that you make, every single decision that you make, you're being watched. When I was in college, I was a resident assistant, which I joke that nobody surprised. A resident assistant, I was an RA. Um, for those of you who don't know what an RA is, they are basically the moms and dads of the halls, but they're we're just children. So I was 18, 19, 20, 21 years old. I think I was 19, 20, 21 years old when I was an RA, meaning I was in the hallway, but I was a student along with the other students on the floor, but I was in charge of making sure they weren't drinking or smoking or doing crazy things, right? Honestly, I told them, I said, don't be dumb. That was my rule. I said, Don't be dumb. You know what my job is. And if I'm literally walking down this hall with a police officer, I have to knock on your door if I smell a certain thing, if I hear certain things. So please don't be dumb. I was, I tried to be really down to earth with them. But it was about the culture, right? I was always thinking about the culture. How what is the culture I want to have? What is the culture I want to live in? Do I want to live in a punitive space where I'm being told, don't do this and don't do that? No, I don't want to live like that. So I'm not going to treat them that way. Right. And in the same regard, when they got in trouble, they would apologize, which is the craziest thing to me. Like, whoever heard of that? Of a college student apologizing to their RA? I'm sorry, Nani. I'd be like, girl, I told you not to be dumb. I told you. So we set up a beautiful culture where there is an understanding. Anyway, I digress. Okay. So last things here for good leaders. Good leaders show up as an authentic example, right? They are who they are. I think that the best leaders, they're authentic people. They're not plasticky. They're not what I unfortunately used to call corporate robots. No offense to anybody that's in a corporate realm. I have nothing against corporations themselves. It's when we stop being ourselves that I have some thoughts, but we're not gonna go there. Uh but good leaders show up as an authentic example. Authentic example, right? So they are let's let's go to those words that we think of a leader. Leaders are confident, leaders are kind, leaders are efficient, leaders are direct, leaders know how to delegate. Great. But also leaders are down to earth. Good leaders, I've found. Right? They're both, they're honest and they're professional, right? They might be going through things in their personal life, they're not bringing all that baggage in. They might let you know, hey, I'm going through some stuff. This is gonna take a second. This is they're gonna communicate without over-communicating. And I know that when I say that, a lot of people are like, well, how do you do that? You have to figure that out for yourself. And the way you figure that out for yourself is by practicing. How do I want to show up as a leader that is honest and professional? How much of my personal life do I want to share? If any at all. You don't have to share your personal life to be down to earth. You could just be like, hey, I had a rough weekend, had a rough morning, this deadline is getting moved to this, or because of that, I'm gonna be a little bit shorter today. Or I've even said to my staff members, literally, hey, I'm having a day. If I seem a little bit off, if I seem a little bit snarky today, that is why. If at any point it becomes too much, you're allowed to say, hey, do you need a nap? You saying, hey, do you need a nap lets me know that I'm being a little bit too intense, right? I've verbatim said that to my teammates before, and different industries will be like, well, I can't say that in my industry. That's not the culture here. You're the leader. Create the culture you want to have. Create the culture you want to have. If you want to be in a place where you can be more honest about your personal life without like dropping your pants, right? We're gonna be professional still. Then create that. I truly told my teammates, if I'm being too much, you say, Hey, Nadi, do you need an app? And that will let me know real quick that I'm being too intense. For the record, nobody ever asked me if I needed an app, but I always gave them that. And the other one we used to joke about was like, you can ask me, Hey, do you need a Snickers? You know the Snickers commercial of like when people are cranky or upset. Like I said, yeah, if I'm being too much at any point, you say, Hey, do you need a Snickers? And again, that lets me know. It was like our code word, our code phrase to be like, hey, you're being too much. It was a way for me to, as a leader, be professional but still honest. I'm a human. I'm a human and I'm going to make mistakes. And I don't want to act like I'm perfect and you're not. So if I make a mistake, here's the code word for you to call me out. That's what worked for me in my leadership style. I always tell people when they are stepping into leadership, when they have teammates underneath them, you have to develop and discover your own leadership style for yourself. That's a whole different conversation, is leadership style. I'm just talking about the like the pillars of what I think is a good leader. Here's the last one. They're always looking to learn and grow. Good leaders are always looking to learn and grow. And I don't mean necessarily specifically in the realm of leadership, right? Yes, there are books on leadership. There are books on how to delegate, there are books on how to better communicate. I would say that good leaders do want to learn about these areas. But just in general, good leaders want to learn. Whether it's learning more about the industry that they're spearheading, learning more about self-awareness, learning more about climate change, good leaders just want to learn and are learning because the beautiful thing about life is that it's always adding up. I love that saying, it's always adding up. And so maybe you're a leader in the fashion space, but you're learning about ecotourism. You don't know how those two things are going to come together. Maybe you end up doing a beautiful fashion show that brings about more ecotourism for a specific country. Who knows? But I find that the best leaders are always learning, learning about something because it's all adding up, it's all coming together. And those people I find are the most interesting naturally, because they're always learning about things and they're excited about learning about things. And when you're naturally like creating more than you're, well, let me back up. I was gonna say when you're creating more than you're consuming, technically, when you're learning, you're consuming. But I say that with an asterisk because when we're learning, I think there's a difference between just straight consuming, right? That's like our reality, and I say that lovingly. That's our reality TV shows. That's like just the things, the stuff that we love. That's our Disney movies, right? That's that's us consuming to be entertained. I think is that's the difference, right? When we're learning, part of it might be entertainment, right? You're learning about ecotourism because it is entertaining to you, but you're also learning because it's gonna give you depth. It's gonna give you some more knowledge that you didn't have before. It's gonna give you something that you didn't have in your brain before. That's what I think the difference is. The strong leaders are consuming, are creating more than they're consuming, but part of that creation comes from learning, right? Part of being able to create new things comes from learning new things. So strong leaders, good leaders, love to learn. As always, my friends, take what sticks to you, leave the rest. This was a little bit longer than our usual episodes, but I got really excited because leadership, I think, is accessible for everyone. Leadership is so accessible, but I don't know that we're having enough conversations about it. If you have some really strong leadership books, leadership podcasts that you've been listening to, I would love to hear them. Direct me towards them. Again, the email is hello at naudicamille.com. Y'all, I am so excited to be back. We have a lot coming in season eight. If you want, come and join that the newsletter goes out every Monday. So you are on top of blog articles. I'm gonna bring the blog back. It's gonna be part personal blog, part mindfulness-based blog. So it's gonna be leadership, it's gonna be personal development, it's gonna be brand building, but it's also gonna be like what's going on in my life with my marriage, with my husband, with Colorado. Um, so a little bit of both. Um so I'm building out the blog and also just events, things that are going on. If you're in the different metro area, we do have some in-person events happening this month. And then I'm gonna throw up some virtual events as well. So just make sure you're on that email list. Go to naikamile.com. Go to the bottom. You can go to the contact page. That's how you join the email list, or just send me an email. Hello at najicamil.com. Let me know, hey, you want to join the list? Hey, you want to learn more? Hey, I'm ready to get coached. I'm ready for some one-on-one coaching because I want to become the next level leader that I know I can be. I'm ready to start my business. I'm tired of feeling stuck on my business. I'm tired of feeling stuck in my personal life, which is impacting my business. Whatever it is, that's what I do. Come and coach with me, naudicamille.com. All right, y'all. I'll see you next week. Hey, friend, if you like this podcast, I would love it if you give us a five star rating. Share it with your friends. If you're interested in one on one coaching, if this podcast resonates with you and you're ready for some one on one support, support for you and your journey, go ahead to nandicamille.com to learn more or head over to nandicamille.as.me to sign up for your free discovery call.