Topic of the Week: How to lead by being relatable...

?? "COFFEE AND CULTURE" VIDEO OF THE WEEK

It's easy to get stuck in our echo chambers, hearing what we want to hear, but not taking into account the wider pool of knowledge and experience on our teams to solve important problems.

But you can challenge the status quo and unlock more innovation by learning one simple trick in this video...

?? PERSONAL STORY OF VULNERABILITY: "Leadership through relatability..."

Can I be honest and admit something difficult for me to say out loud?

For years I believed the wrong thing...

I thought people wanted to be inspired by a leader who was "above them", someone who "had it figured out", someone who could just tell them what to do in order to be successful.

I wanted to position myself as the expert.

I wanted to be viewed as the source of knowledge and strategic insight.

But then I realized that people don't want to follow someone who is floating above them, untouchable, polished, and un-relatable.

People are begging to be understood. People are begging to not be alone in their fears or struggles. People are begging for someone to just "get them" and meet them where they're at.

Jarrett Walters, President and CEO of Hawaiian Building Maintenance, shared a story with me during a podcast we recorded almost 2 years ago. It has stuck with me since...

When he came back to Hawaii to join his family business after attending Princeton, he realized that the blue collar maintenance teams his family employed would not easily relate with him. They had lived very different lives to that point. He could be viewed as the "kid of the owner", the "Ivy League college grad" who wouldn't really understand their world. If Jarrett couldn't overcome those preconceptions, they could stand in the way of him being able to effectively lead.

Thus, Jarrett chose to humanize himself, meeting the teams at their level and creating a commonality that could bond them together. In short, he found a way to "lead through relatability."

Jarrett started playing basketball with staff every week, an activity where titles and roles didn't matter anymore. Basketball put everyone at the same level; it was just a bunch of guys gathering to play sports together. He was able to shed the stigma and preconceptions that would stand in the way of him being successful in the family business and paved the path to being able to one day take over as the current President and CEO of the whole company.

By becoming relatable you can unlock the trust of your team.

Choose to become relatable this week.

Be like Jarrett, and meet your team where they're at, and then use your perspective and experience to elevate them to new places they don't yet believe to be possible.

?? PERSONAL GROWTH CHALLENGE: Assume the best in others.

Choose to assume the best vs. the worst in others.

It's easy to assume the worst when others fail us or hurt us. And to be sure, sometimes people truly do set out to hurt our feelings, or fail to meet expectations.

However, I suggest that we all choose to believe the best in others first, before jumping to conclusions.

Choose to believe that their intentions were good.

Choose to believe that their character is commendable.

Choose to believe there must be a misunderstanding that led them to frustrating you.

Everyone around you is currently going through (or about to go through) something difficult or painful, and it impacts the way they carry themselves and work on a daily level.

If we assume that we don't know what's truly going on, if we draw near to others in their failures or when they wound us, we will find untold opportunities to give grace, show love, and build a relationship vs. tear it down in frustration.

That careless text, that misplaced frustration, that short response, that forgetfulness...it all stems from somewhere...and it's probably starts somewhere deeper than your personal relationship with that person.

Assume the best vs. the worst. You and I fail all the time and we'd certainly want that. Let's give that to others!

?? Hey, I'm Joel. I'd love to get to know you.

?? I'm obsessed with changing the world by loving people at work.

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