Thoughts from a servant leader.

I want to thank you for reading this week's article. If this is your first time, please subscribe so you don't miss out! Also, share this article with someone who would benefit from it. Knowledge is a powerful gift.

Thank you, Dustin Dale

I've been privileged to connect with many leaders through the power of LinkedIn, and one of those leaders happens to be Nicole B. We met through a social Saturday post and quickly learned that we both view being a people leader first as a great way to lead.

What is even better is that we don't agree on everything! However, we always have the best conversations and listen to seek understanding, and in the end, we are still great friends and share a laugh. I think she and I will never agree on which pizza is better... Sorry, Nicole. haha

Nicole shares her insight into the five leadership questions I like to ask other leaders in this week's reading. Enjoy!

1. Was leadership a natural fit for you, or did you feel it pushed you more out of your comfort zone?

Both. Leadership was a natural fit for me, and it constantly pushes me out of my comfort zone.

At home and at work, I had a natural ability to see situations and how to drive them towards the outcome I wanted. As a crew kid at McDonald’s, I knew that my General Manager wasn’t going to let me go home until the front counter area was stocked and cleaned. Around a half hour before my shift was over, I would make a deal with my coworkers. I would stay up front and take care of the guests if they would go get the stock. Then, I would sweep if they would mop. It was my way of avoiding the tasks I didn’t want to do, but it was also my earliest form of delegating and working together to achieve an outcome.

I was fortunate to have leaders around me who saw my natural leadership abilities and talked to me about potential for leadership roles and careers, as well as nurture my natural abilities.

Leadership at this level is very different. I can only inspire and influence our restaurant teams because I’m not in each restaurant all day, every day. Now, I lead by example which means always being guided by my values and ensuring that each interaction and in everything I do, I am demonstrating them.

It also means that I spend a lot of time reflecting on how to help the teams reach higher and dream bigger, when they’re caught in the routines of what they have to do every day. How do I help them connect the dots and see the bigger picture?

And that means that occasionally I must change my perspective to help them change theirs. And it can be tough to have your previous opinions brought back to you. But in leadership, as in life, we reserve the right to get smarter and improve. It requires a lot of humility and reflection.

If you’re not in that comfort zone regularly, you’re probably not evolving your leadership skills.

2. What TWO mistakes did you make as a young leader?

I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and it would take time to learn through experience. I thought that I knew everything, or I would figure it out. And while I did figure it out as I went, there was no way I could have achieved that level of proficiency without the experience. It takes a lot of time and exposure to different situations before you become comfortable with the ambiguous and unpredictable situations that you find yourself in while in leadership.

Looking back, I only listened to those that I thought knew what they were talking about. It took a long time before I realized that most people have something of value to say, even if it’s not about the high-level leadership that I wanted to learn about. A long-term GM once told me that if I would close my mouth and open my ears, I might learn something. She ran a small McDonald’s in a Walmart, and I had already been working in high volume restaurants. I didn’t think she had anything to teach me. I often look back at that experience and the time that I spent in a super low volume restaurant and remind myself that everyone has something of value to contribute and as leaders, we should listen.

3. What inspired you to evolve the landscape for female leadership? Do you have any thoughts on why male/female leadership is still an issue?

I never set out to evolve the landscape for female leadership.

I wanted to be the best leader I could be, regardless of being a female, and it wasn’t without challenges. Throughout my career, I’ve dealt with men who refuse to believe that I could be the decision maker, both while running my own restaurant and supporting our restaurants. One even went as far to ask to speak to one of my manager trainees, who was male, because he refused to believe that I was the General Manager. Later, a service provider would only speak to my male subordinate who would then repeat the question to me, and I would answer, and he would repeat answer back to the service provider. Regardless of my role, I’ve faced these situations and while they’re relatively rare, it always shocks me. Women should not have to deal with this.

It means a lot to me to have male colleagues and advocates who won’t tolerate that type of behavior. It’s a shame that they have to involve themselves, but necessary.

Female leadership is absolutely different than male leadership. Women are more likely to take things to heart and then become labeled “emotional”. I think as a woman, it’s important to take those moments to support the team member and ask what’s making them emotional and demonstrate empathy. As I always tell them, crying is okay as long as it’s not an attempt to avoid taking accountability.

Women are equally challenged with the responsibilities at home. I can’t count all the times when I saw a woman with leadership skills and potential who was not interested in leadership because they wouldn’t be able to keep up with their responsibilities at home. In my experience, I’ve found few men with the same concern, though times are changing. Of course, I fully support those who prioritize their responsibilities at home, but thought it was an interesting dichotomy.

I was fortunate in my early career to be surrounded by female leaders in the restaurant and above the restaurant. They were compassionate and talented leaders that went on to have successful careers. And now I am grateful to be surrounded by brilliant, hard-working, ambitious women around me who strive for more because they saw my achievements and that’s an honor. Society has come along way with women in the workplace, but there is more work to be done.

4. What excites you the most about being a leader?

I love to see my people succeed and achieve things that they didn’t think were possible. They say that you never know who you are inspiring and in leadership, there are so many people watching. While you’re plugging away at work and chasing goals outside of work, people are watching you. And most times, you don’t know they’re watching until the moment when they tell you that they pursued something because they saw you do it. Having the platform to inspire others just by living your life and chasing your goals is a huge responsibility and tremendous honor.

I returned to college in 2018 online to finish my degree and I plugged away at that for 4 years, full time, while running a large organization. I was focused on my own goal. But later, people around me told me that they had begun to attend college because they saw that I was doing it. And when I graduated, I received an incredible gift that several of my amazing female colleagues were going to pursue their education because they had been watching me. What an incredible honor to inspire someone change their lives, simply by chasing your dreams.

As I always tell them, I am way prouder of them than I could ever be of anything that I achieved and that’s a wonderful feeling.

5. Where do you see leadership going with A.I in the mix?

I’ve avoided entering the AI landscape. Partially because I’m always a late adapter to technology and partially because it terrifies me. I’ve seen people leveraging it in incredible ways but like any tool, it needs to be used with extreme caution and responsibility. While AI may provide a ton of insight and resources, there is nothing that can compare to the dynamics of human relationships. It simply cannot replicate the empathy and understanding that is required in leadership.

Experience is also important to have while engaging with AI – After years and years of leadership, we must sort through what we know works from experience and utilize parts of AI’s contributions. It’s critical to remember that so much of leadership and working with other human beings is simply being a human being that understands what it’s like to get to run late because you have car troubles, or having a sick child or pet, and the frustration and distraction that results from it.

The ability to be an impactful leader comes from simply living a human experience.

You can book Dustin Dale as your leadership/motivational speaker!

• To submit your event, please do so here: Dustin Dale Motivational Speaker; (dustin-dale.com)
• You can also work 1:1 with Dustin Dale through his executive leadership coaching program; please submit your information: Dustin Dale Motivational Speaker; (dustin-dale.com)

Make sure to check out Dustin Dale's books on leadership and mindset, which are available on Amazon.

Learn to Lead by Serving & Learn to Lead by Serving 2

To learn more about Dustin Dale; dustin-dale.com