Eva Huston on Bringing Your Whole Self to Work

In episode #108 of the Love in Action Podcast, I had the privilege of speaking with Eva Huston, Chief Strategy Officer at?Duck Creek Technologies .

While I've featured more notorious guests, best-sellers, and business luminaries, Huston is the type of guest that doesn't come around very often: She is a powerhouse executive who shows no fanfare or "gravitas" we come to expect to see in the C-Suite. With Huston, what you see is what you get -- a down-to-earth leader who elevates herself and others by honoring the humanity of each person.

Huston was a breath of fresh air and she leaves us with practical leadership wisdom and insights. I hope you'll take a listen.

7 Key Learning Points From?This Episode :

• “I think that whenever you can bring your whole self [to work] … you’re just going to be better. Regardless of your background, everybody has something special to bring to the table,” Eva comments.
• I ask Eva to share lessons she learned moving up the ranks as a woman in a male-dominated industry. “You’ll hear that a theme in my career is that I would create a role that didn’t exist… It’s finding new ways to bring value to a company,” she replies. “I tried to look for creative ways to approach things and some ways that might be more traditionally female.”
• Leading with love starts by seeing and honoring the people on your team, Eva says. You would think that you would automatically do that while spending time with them, but it’s common to be around someone for a long time and still not truly see or honor them.

• Practical love starts when you look at who your team is, what motivates them, and what lies in their hearts. By doing that, you validate them as people.
• “As you go up the leadership ranks, I think that you have to find ways to show your strengths that are more indirect so people feel like they have that freedom to grow and flourish,” Eva shares.
• I ask Eva what leadership trait is the hardest to internalize and carry out. “Patience,” she responds. “It’s hard for leaders because a person who views themselves as a leader wants to run forward and go fast and get things done. You almost have to counterbalance that with that patience and say like ‘Who’s on my team? What do they have to bring?,’ and ‘Let’s not start running at a target before we know what we’ve got here.’”
• It’s hard to be soft, Eva claims, which is why soft skills are so hard to grasp. “That’s just something that we as leaders have to realize: that being soft, being human, and being down to earth and approachable is what’s going to make our businesses perform the best.”

Listen now:?Apple Podcasts ?|?Spotify ?|?Google Podcast ?|?Download

________________

About the Show

The Love in Action Podcast inspires leaders to reimagine the conditions necessary for creating human-centered and humane workplaces to help human beings flourish. Episodes are published every Thursday and can be heard on your favorite podcast platform. If you like what you hear, be sure to leave us a review!

Recent Episodes:

• Hubert Joly , former chairman and CEO of Best Buy, author of?The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism
• Pamela Fuller , thought leader on Inclusion & Bias at FranklinCovey and co-author of?The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias.
• Houston Kraft , CEO and co-founder of CharacterStrong and author of Deep Kindness: A Revolutionary Guide for the Way We Think, Talk, and Act in Kindness

________________

About Marcel Schwantes

Marcel Schwantes ?is a global leadership expert, speaker, executive coach, author, podcast host, and syndicated columnist. He develops emerging leaders through his signature virtual course, "From Boss to Leader ." His work has been featured in Inc., Business Insider, Fast Company, The New York Daily News, CNBC, Forbes, and others. He speaks to audiences about the human side of work, and how cultures of care, connection, and belonging outperform the competition.