279. The Courage to Lead: Embracing Humility and Belonging in Leadership with Mick Spiers

The courage to say "I don't know" might be the most powerful leadership trait in today's rapidly changing world. Through reflections on conversations with five remarkable guests, this episode explores what authentic leadership truly means in 2023 and beyond.

Randy Lyman introduces us to the often-overlooked "third element" of success – the emotional and spiritual dimensions that complement our intellectual achievements. When leaders prioritize connection by asking "How are YOU going?" rather than just "How's the project going?", they create space for their teams to bring their whole selves to work. As Teddy Roosevelt wisely noted, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

From Doug Zarkin, we learn that your internal culture inevitably becomes your external brand. The consistency between stated values and lived behaviors builds the trust that fuels brand loyalty. Jonathan Stutz reveals how belonging doesn't happen by chance but through intentional leadership where psychological safety is protected. His message resonates universally – we've all felt excluded at some point, and it feels terrible. People deserve workplaces where they feel seen, heard, and valued.

Bill Zujewski offers crucial insights on leading through perpetual change, emphasizing that agility combines clarity, curiosity, and communication. His advice to normalize saying "I don't know yet, but let's figure it out together" transforms uncertainty from a weakness into a strength. Kelli Lester confronts the politicization of DEI, reframing inclusion not as a trend but as fundamental leadership responsibility.

Across all conversations, certain themes emerge clearly: we need a return to authenticity over performative leadership, a recommitment to inclusion because it's right (not because it's trendy), and the balance of moving quickly without leaving people behind. The African proverb reminds us: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." The world doesn't need more bosses – it needs more human leaders who create environments where everyone can contribute their best. What might change if you approached leadership with more curiosity, kindness,

Chapters

• 0:00 Leadership Through Humility
• 1:28 Learning from Randy Lyman
• 2:44 Doug Zarkin: Branding Inside Out
• 3:45 Jonathan Stutz on Creating Belonging
• 5:10 Bill Zajewski: Leading Through Change
• 6:55 Kelly Lester: Redefining DEI
• 8:48 Key Leadership Reflections & Questions

Transcript

Mick Spiers: 0:00

Foreign What if Leadership isn't about always having the answers, but having the courage to say, I don't know. What if the most powerful thing a leader can do is say, I Hey everyone, and welcome back to The Leadership Project. I'm your host, Mick Spiers, and today is a solo cast where we do reflect on what we've heard from our guests over the past month. There's going to be lessons in here about DEI, about humility and about your leadership. So let's dive in. We started off with Randy Lyman. Randy talked about success in a different made a mistake? What if the real reason your team isn't thriving way, beyond financials or accolades. He introduced us to what he calls the third element, the emotional and spiritual side of our human experience. His story is one many of us can relate to. On the surface, everything looks like success, but inside, something feels empty, that missing piece connection fulfillment, meaning, my key takeaways was that success without emotional alignment. Isn't success fulfillment comes when we integrate intellect and our emotion. So you can try this as a leader. Start your week with has nothing to do with capability and everything to do an emotional check in with yourself and your team. Prioritize connection. Ask not just how's the project going, but how are you going? We all know that we can do our very best work when we're emotionally connected to what we're doing. And in the famous words of Teddy Roosevelt, people don't care how much you know until you know how much you care. So show your team that you do care. Show them that you are emotionally connected to with whether they feel that they belong. Today's episode is going the work and check in with them and see what's working for them. Our next guest was Doug Zarken, and he spoke about branding from the inside out. Doug reminded us that your internal culture is your external brand. You can't fake alignment. If your people don't believe in the mission, your customers will feel it. So the key takeaways here is consistency builds trust, and trust builds brand loyalty. So what you need to try here is to close the gap between the company's stated values and the to be a solo cast. We're going to reflect on some of the most lived behaviors make branding a team conversation. Ask, what do we stand for around here? And remember, your brand is not what you say it is. It's what they say it is. It's what it's like to experience your company and to experience your team. The same is true for your own personal brand. What's it like to experience you as a leader? Do your behaviors match your stated values? Our next guest was Jonathan Stutz, and he spoke about the powerful insights from the past month of interviews, lessons path to belonging. Jonathan's message was clear, belonging doesn't happen by chance. It's created through intentional leadership, where psychological safety is nurtured and protect it. The key takeaway was that inclusion isn't about headlines, it's about daily habits. Belonging is built in micro moments. So try this as a leader. Invite every voice, especially the quiet ones, create rituals of recognition that reinforce belonging and build these as daily habits. from incredible guests like Randy Lyman, Doug Zarkin, Think about this. When you're on the way to work, don't take it by chance. Think about what can I do today to make people feel that they belong? And let's remember something universal. We've all experienced exclusion at some point in our lives, and it feels bloody awful. No one should feel that in the workplace. People spend up to 1/3 of their life at work. They Jonathan Stutz, Bill Zujewski and Kelli Lester. Each guest don't deserve to work in a workplace where they feel excluded. They all deserve to work in a place where they feel seen, heard and. Valued, and when people feel that they belong, when they feel purpose, when they feel valued, they will do their very best work. The next guest was Bill Zujewski, and he spoke about leading through change. And one thing that's certain right now is the world is changing faster than it ever has before. But the gave us something different, new ways of thinking, leading and scary thought is that it's moving slower than it ever will again. So Bill talked about how constant change is the new normal, and how leaders must evolve their toolkit to stay grounded while moving fast. The key takeaway is that agility isn't just speed, it's clarity, curiosity and communication. So try this as a leader, normalize. I don't know yet, but let's figure it out together as a saying that you use anchor every change in purpose, always ask, why are we doing this? What showing up. And today we're going to explore the key makes it important? What will this make possible? People will do almost anything if they understand the purpose of why they're doing it, the why. It could be a macro why of what is the purpose of this team, this organization, or a micro why? Why are we doing this task? What makes this task important? Or even the why behind a decision, they'll accept decisions that takeaways and how you can bring them to life in your own they don't necessarily like, as long as they understand the why and the rationale behind that decision. And here's something I truly believe, saying I don't know isn't a sign of a weak leader. It's the sign of a strong one. Saying I made a mistake, gives others permission to be honest too. And this humility builds trust. When we are open, transparent and vulnerable, it tells our team it's safe for them to be so as well. And finally, we had Kelli Lester, who helped us to leadership. We'll also zoom out and reflect on what we're seeing redefine DEI. Kelly gave us a timely and powerful reminder in some corners of the world, especially in US politics, DEI has been turned into a dirty word, but the real work of inclusion, it's never been more important. The key takeaway here is that DEI isn't a trend or a threat. It's a responsibility. It's leadership. So try this as a leader. Focus on inclusive behaviors, not just metrics. Recognize the power of in the world of leadership right now, the backlash against DEI, generational diversity, especially the voices of Gen Z. We're not here to fix people. We're here to fix the systems that hold people back. So here are some final reflections what leadership needs right now. Across all of these interviews, a few big themes emerge. We need a return to realness. Leaders are done performing. Put performative leadership aside. Vulnerability and honesty are being embraced, not hidden. Number two, dei is at a crossroads, while some the hunger for human, centered leadership and why humility politicize DEI, others are doubling down on inclusion, not because it's woke, but because it's right. Number three, agility and groundedness. We're being asked to move fast, but the best leaders are those who can do that without leaving their people behind. And that brings me to one of my favorite quotes, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together, which is a famous African proverb that sticks with might just be the superpower of the future. me every single day. So here are some closing questions for you, where in your leadership could you show a little more humility? Where in your organization might someone feel like they don't belong, and what are you going to do about it? And are you managing the work, or are you leading people? The definition of leadership is the ability to inspire people into meaningful action because they wanted to do it, not because they were told to do it. Because the world doesn't need more bosses. It needs more human leaders who are curious, kind and courageous enough to do the real work. It's your job to create the environment where people feel included, where they feel seen, where they feel heard, where they feel valued, where they have purpose, and to create the environment where they can do their very best work. So that's it for today. I'd like to remind you that we've started a new Q and A style show where we take your questions things that you've always wanted to know about leadership. You can send them through, either anonymously or with your name, and I'm going to be reading out your questions and sharing some guidance and tips with you and the rest of. The audience. If you've got a burning question, please do send it through. In the next episode, we're going to be joined by Gary Cohen, an executive coach and managing partner at CO two coaching and we're going to be discussing what it means to be a team coach, a strategic planner and to have an open relationship with your team. Thank you for listening to The Leadership Project, mickspiers.com a huge call out to Faris Sedek for his video editing of all of our video content and to all of the team at TLP. Joan Gozon, Gerald Calibo, and my amazing wife Sei Spiers, I could not do this show without you. Don't forget to subscribe to The Leadership Project YouTube channel, where we bring you interesting videos each and every week, and you can follow us on social, particularly on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Now, in the meantime, please do take care. Look out for each other and join us on this journey as we learn together and lead together.