Level Up: A Leadership Podcast - Episode 1 - Why This Podcast?

One of my core values is that improving your own mind is one of the best things you can do for the people you love. I have been always believed in lifelong learning - in fact, the concept seems almost odd that it must be specifically called out. It's like saying you believe in lifelong sleeping, or breathing, or eating.

My work is a component of my life, and so I no longer distinguish work and life as two different parts of me to balance. It is one of my driving principles that guides how I live - not just how I work. Some of the guiding principles that drive my life and are anchoring motivators for this podcast series are below.

Guiding Principles

A few of those core principles I have adopted are:

1. SELF - I believe the best thing you can do to serve the people you love is to improve yourself.

2. WISDOM - I believe that if knowledge is power, then wisdom is a super power. There is a vast difference between wisdom and knowledge, and the space between them is courage.

3. HARMONY - I believe in striving for harmony not just balance.

What's In It For Us?

I thought about the three stakeholders of this podcast - the listener, the guest, and the host. I did this exercise for myself to truly examine why I am doing this podcast in the first place. Here - in this diagram below - is the honest set of answers I came up with:

Our brains - our mindsets - are our greatest and most valuable resource. In the world of senior living, healthcare, and any other industry where leaders serve people who serve people, there is a scarcity of learning opportunities that really feel like they matter.

A former direct-report shared with me recently that what stood out to her about my leadership style is how much I focused on self-improvement and that, in turn, became learning opportunities for her. It was a signaled permission of sorts and an endorsement that she should also feel free to lean into her own learning.

So, in that spirit, I want to continue my own journey of self-improvement, and my hope is that this podcast will serve as a library of those lessons while simultaneously being an avenue for others to listen in and level up their own skills and methods of thinking.

I will commit to staying focused on enjoying this process and that if I'm enjoying the learning process it may be valuable to others, too.

Thank you for joining the journey. I hope it is as valuable for you as I'm sure it will be for me.