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00:08 Hi, I am Denise Simpson, a master life and leadership coach who helps women step into their authentic and feminine power so they can lead like visionaries, influence with grace, and create a legacy of contribution and service. You'll hear about real leadership clients with real problems navigating their success in life, business and career. If you're ready to become a masterful leader, then this podcast was made for you. So let's get started.00:46 Hey, welcome back leader. Happy to serve you. Today we are going to now talk about the science of leadership. Last week, episode 1 39, we talked about the art of your leadership, the art, meaning bringing your whole self to the organization. The idea here is to feel safe, to feel confident, to be able to bring your values into the context of the workplace, to bring your convictions and your belief systems into your leadership practice. It was an important episode for so many of you. Angela, who's over on LinkedIn, sent me a dmm. Hello Angela, I know you're listening today. She said, it is much easier to lead as myself than it is to lead as somebody else. And that was exactly the insight I wanted for all of us to receive from that episode is that it's hard to mimic, it's hard to pretend, it's hard to mirror or project somebody else's beliefs and convictions in the workplace.01:56 Listen, it's normal. It is something that our brains are designed to do. We are at the unconscious level of our minds most of the day. And so when we pick up behaviors and belief systems and things that don't serve us, because we have learned this from other supervisors, from other leaders in our past, even at our present circumstances, we take on these behaviors at the unconscious level of our mind. So of course we're going to demonstrate this unconsciously onto our employees. So that episode was so important for us to start consciously paying attention to what we are creating in the workplace. How are we impacting or not impacting our employees? Because we're showing up as somebody else. How is it that this is affecting our influence among our teams and and in our departments? So episode 1 39 is where you wanna go to next. As soon as we're done with this episode.03:03 So now we turn to the science part. It's like two sides of the same coin. You've got the art part and you have the science part. So today I wanna talk about how science can help you effectively lead because your art is what you use to then demonstrate leadership. We use your art to then apply the science into your leadership practice. So we have to have these two sides of the coin fully developed. So let's talk about science. You know, most people who come to me are coming to me because they wanna be effective leaders or they wanna be better leaders. I know that's something that I had longed for when I was up and coming in academics. I really wanted to learn from some great leaders in my institution. But unfortunately there weren't many. See, the culture of higher education is this consensus driven culture.04:03 So it's rare that it's top down management, like in most institutions, right? There's hierarchy. There is hierarchy in academics. However, it is shared governance. So it didn't matter what the president had to say, it had to be a consensus. And when you know about consensus driven culture , then you know that there is lots of bias among the human brains making the decisions for the entire institution . So I really found it difficult. I couldn't just go as a leader and make a decision. It had to be consensus among my VP or my dean or my provost before anything could be implemented. And it was so frustrating for me, but I as a leader wanted to to be more, to do more and to be better. My students deserved it, so did my employees, but my hands were tied. And so I sought mentors. I sought people that looked like me, which was very rare, looked for people who sounded like me, who perhaps maybe were in the same culture as me.05:14 And it was very challenging to find that level of, of support that I needed as a director. And so what I did was I searched outside of the institution. I searched for programs, I searched for other ways of learning about leadership and I couldn't find someone to support me. And I couldn't find the resources that really fit what I wanted to learn about leadership. So what did I go do? I went and got a PhD in it. I just wasn't satisfied with what I found out there. It was something I was longing to do. It was something that I decided to do. And I don't recommend that for everybody. It's unnecessary to do that at this. There's so many amazing resources out there, especially for women leaders, especially for women of color leaders who are wanting to enter the pipeline of leadership. There are so much out there today than when I first started my PhD program and which is why , the institute was also developed for selfish reasons to support you on your path because you're not gonna find anything like what we provide in the institute out there.06:25 And I guarantee you that my friend. So why this is important to understand is that you are searching for deeper answers. You have challenges, you have problems. You want solutions and you want them quickly. And with science, along with your art, you're able to find solutions faster. That's what the science helps us do. It helps us be more effective in our leadership practice. So if you wanna be a better leader, then pay close attention to how science can help you lead effectively. Something I want for you to keep in mind is that you are a dynamic forever evolving leader. So you're not static. So your leadership should not be static. And science helps us evolve and innovate in our discipline. As a researcher, I'm always looking for ways to apply science. I'm always looking for ways to better somebody's life with science so that she can innovate her leadership practice so that she can better her life so that she can transform on her journey of leadership.07:40 Science allows us to do that and we get to do that together, not only here on this podcast because what I wanna do is provide you as much information as possible on the latest, greatest theory that you can apply immediately in real life, in real time. Because I want for you to stay innovative. And what's great about what we just went through as a community, as a collective, not only nationally but internationally, is that the pain and the contrast that came from the pandemic has squeezed out innovative ways to lead our workforce. Our workforce is asking for more, no better said, they are demanding more of our leaders. They are demanding more from our institutions. Employees want to feel good about where they work. They want to actually love where they work. They want to align their values with the values of an organization that stands for something.08:46 You know, it's, it's people over profit. And employees are saying, no more. I am a person. I am not just an asset that you see on a financial spreadsheet. I am someone that is giving you my brain, my energy, my heart, my soul. I spend so much time with you. I deserve more. Our workforce is asking for more. And if you've been in, in leadership for a hot minute and you know that there are trends, you know that as generations change and as external factors impact how we view the world, how we raise our families, how we, our values are impacted, we show up in the organization differently and we get to see trends happening. And you as a leader may have identified some of those trends. And we are in the midst of one very important pattern. We are shifting the winds. Our employees are putting us on the line.09:46 They want more for themselves and their families because they've given so much to the organization. And so you dear leader, you have to continue to evolve and to change and to use science to innovate your leadership practice. It's what we get to do as leaders. We get to take all this great information, we put it into our workplace, into our workforce, and in real life we get to see how it's truly impacting our employees. Because you are now on the line, you're on the hook. We all are as leaders and it's important that we use science to help us be better leaders. And we get to do that together here on this podcast. Another thing I want for you to keep in mind is that, you know, science helps us solve problems. We take the science, we use the research, I love all the evidence, empirical research that's out there.10:41 There's so much that I get to use also as a researcher. Something that I individually uniquely create for my own clients. That there's some great empirical research out there on amazing theories. Theories like emotional intelligence, you've heard of that, I'm sure. How about transformational leadership? That's a big one out there. So these are theories that have been commercialized and we get to hear about them because they're now, uh, you know, they've got a big body of evidence that shows that they are impactful and that they are helping leaders contribute to the bottom line and impact their employees. And so it's important that we use what's out there now, but we also stay innovative. And, and, and we also get to use new creative frameworks and curriculum that can help you in real life, in real time. And so what the science helps you do personally as a leader in your organization is it helps you solve these problems.11:42 Now remember, you were hired to solve for problems and create results. And science allows you to do that. So let's say you take the emotional intelligence theory and there's lots of constructs within that theory and we get to distill it down together and then you get to go and apply it in real life. And then you get to come back and say, uh, okay, this worked or this didn't work. Or maybe I experiment here, maybe I changed that. And so what you get to do is you get to take those theories and you get to put 'em into practice. 'cause I like to say, what's the point of a good theory if you cannot put it into practice? It's something I tell my clients. I say, I tell them I am a pragmatic philosopher. Love the philosophy of leadership. However, I am in the business of helping you solve for problems and create results.12:34 You see, I'm a leader just like you doing the same work in my research company and as I'm serving organizations and my clients. And so we get to use the science so that we can be more effective, we can be better leaders in our organizations. So science teaches us how to solve problems better and faster. Here's another way science can help you lead effectively. Science teaches us to think critically and analytically. This is certainly a skill that you can build, right? This isn't something that's natural to a lot of us because we have been told how to think, especially if you've been through the American school system, K through 12th grade. There is a blueprint, there are standardized tests. There are measurements. Here's the curriculum, study it perfect it and if you don't pass it, you will flunk. And so we are trained to think in a certain way.13:32 We're not trained to look outside the box, we're not trained to color outside of the lines. We're not critical thinkers. We take everything at face value. We, we say yes, great. It's almost as if our brains have become atrophied, right? Like if a muscle hasn't been used, it it deteriorates. And that's exactly what happens to our critical thinking part of our brain. And especially because we are unconscious most of the day. Yes, we are 95% of our day, we are operating at the unconscious level of our mind. So we're not using the prefrontal cortex to critically think ahead. Instead of being proactive leaders, we're reactive leaders. So we're not using this great skill that all fantastic, impactful, influential leaders use. It's this muscle or a skill critically thinking. And what that looks like is asking yourself some questions, right? If somebody tells you this is a great theory, how about we put this into practice?14:36 And by the way, you use them every day in your organization. Those VPs, those in the C-suite, are using theory every single day. And so you can start learning that no matter where you are on your leadership journey. You can ask yourself simple questions like how will we benefit if we implement these strategies? Or what are the consequences if this doesn't work, right? These are simple questions that you can start asking yourself and it's just looking holistically at the impact of incorporating or implementing a specific strategy or science . So you start asking yourself these questions and you start building that skill. One decision at a time, one solution at a time. And so that's important to understand that science helps us do that. So we take that work and then we go and apply it. And then we can also go, well what did you know company A, B and C over here do with this particular theory?15:33 I mean, I always use emotional intelligence as an example 'cause it's such a commercialized one, right? So if a technology company used the emotional intelligence theory, but the medical company over here used it too, but they had comp two completely different results, well wonder why could it have been the industry? Could it have been the leaders? Could it have been the top down versus the flat hierarchy? What was the difference there? So you start thinking critically and you start analyzing information differently. That's what science helps us do. Okay, dear leader, let me present to you the final and probably the most important way that science can help you lead effectively. We can use science to help us create an engaged and committed workforce. Listen, there's so many of our employees that have quiet quit on us. Quiet. Quitting is a thing. We want to do everything we can to reinforce them, to influence them, to inspire them, to continue to work for us, for the institution, for the organization.16:40 We want to create a very strong bond with our employees. And I know some of you are probably rolling your eyes at me right now. Like, what? Didn't I hire them to do this job? Why do I now have to create engaged and committed employees? Shouldn't that be on them? Listen, my friend, they spend a third of their life within their career frame, within their career journey, with you. We owe it to them to build a culture of psychological safety and trust. We owe it to them to provide them with an environment where they can be innovative, when they, where they can be creative, where they can belong and feel like they belong in this unit, in this department. This is part of your leadership practice. This is your responsibility. I love this particular reason why or how science can help you lead effectively is because I did my dissertation on employee engagement and commitment and I surveyed hundreds of university and college employees from all over the country.17:49 And I was so interested in researching how to keep an employee committed, how to keep them engaged because engagement and commitment showed that they performed at a higher level because they felt like they were contributing to a greater cause because they felt like they had a purpose. They wanted to be there because of their immediate supervisor. By the way, that was one of the results that I found. And I was able to use that science to take back with me as a leader to implement those strategies. Knowing what I knew about how employees were committed, engaged, I was able to be a better leader to effectively lead them with these particular principles because I wanted to create a strong workforce, a bond that kept us unified, a bond that kept us moving towards achieving the mission and the vision and those objectives in our department.18:46 It was incredible work that I was able to do with science. And we get to use science to create that bond with our employees. Alright, leader, I know that was a lot of great information about how science can help you lead effectively. I want for you to take this episode and replay it if you have to, but just integrate with this information. Know that this is just the other side of your leadership coin. It is your responsibility, dear leader, to develop both sides of this coin, the art and the science of your leadership practice. All right, leader, that is it for me. I hope you found these two episodes so helpful. Episode 1 39 and this 1, 1 40. Please let me know over on LinkedIn how you benefited from these episodes. I always wanna hear from you. Alrighty, take good care and I look forward to serving you on our next episode. Bye for now. Hey, leader, do you want weekly leadership tips, coaching and training straight to your email inbox? Yeah, I thought so. Head over to dr denise simpson.com/leadership. Again, that's dr denise simpson.com/leadership. Just submit your name and your email address and we'll get started right away. I look forward to serving you inside your email inbox. See you soon.
