Episode 32 - Discover How Every Woman is a Natural Leader

There is a statistic where if a woman comes across a job description and doesn't meet every single one of the criteria, she won't apply. But if a man comes across a job description and doesn't fit the criteria, He'll still apply. And that just goes to show that women have higher self-doubt. And if we just were able to push past that and apply anyway, apply regardless, we would have more opportunity.

So, this is a note to encourage women, even if you don't think you fit all the criteria, know that you have a ton of experience in leadership. You are a leader in your life. Just go and apply. Just do it!

Welcome to the Women's Career Mastery Podcast, the show that's dedicated to empowering women to redefine success and break through barriers. I'm your host, Christine, and my co-host, Laura, along with our amazing guests and experts. We are here to shatter the myths that has been hindering women's careers.

Women's career fulfillment for far too long. So, if you're ready to master your career and take your life to the next level, join us in our journey together. The Women's Career Mastery podcast starts now.

Hello listeners. Today's episode is about to blow the lid of a well-kept secret: women are natural born leaders. With our special guest, we are going to unpack those often overlooked superpowers we've developed. Like nurturing relationships, mediating conflicts, and juggling a million priorities. And explore how these skills can be applied in your leadership at work. She will also introduce her hierarchy of needs for teams framework and share valuable insights on how organizations can best support women in leadership and genuinely empowered them to thrive. By the end of this episode, we'll hope you realize that you already possess everything You need to lead  at home at work and everywhere in between, and feel inspired to take those skills and run with them.  Without further ado. I hand it over to my cohost, Laura.

Hi, listeners. It's great to be back for another episode of Women's Career Mastery podcast. Our guest is Diondra Felicitty. Diondra is a professional facilitator, instructor, and two-time TEDx speaker specializing in personal and professional development with a goal to inspire and enable growth that builds more engaged individuals and teams.

She has a background in adult learning, instructional design, and a Bachelor of Technology. She's a two-time TedX speaker, based in the greater Toronto area, where she is sought after by colleges, universities, and small businesses for her thought leadership on teamwork, leadership, and personal growth. Trust me, she knows how to create the right environments for teams to thrive today.

She has done amazing work and has been highly recognized accomplishments, which we will include in our show notes.

Christine and Diondra met during a TEDx experience earlier this year. And like us, Diondra is committed to empowering others, which is evident in every aspect of her work.

She has an engaging style and practical approach, making her a standout in the field and definitely someone who's making a difference. So, we'd love to get started. Diondra, we're super excited to have you join us. Perhaps you can share why you wanted to join us.

Absolutely. And thank you for that very, very warm welcome.

It was so wonderful just hearing what you guys were able to put together. But I love joining podcasts like this and having these conversations because there's so much that women need to hear in their careers. Like there is so much potential that is untapped in women. I think there are so many skills that they naturally have, but self-doubt is much higher in women than it is in men.

And so having these conversations is important to remind women that they are capable at leadership at high level leadership and doing anything it is that they would like to put their mind to.

You know, one thing that we discussed before the recording of this podcast, you have the statement, that I'm very curious.

And if you can kind of share, why is it, you said women tend to be a better leader than men.

Yes. Yes. Now, women absolutely tend to be better leaders than men, but I don't mean that in such a way where men aren't good leaders. Its just women are more natural when it comes to leadership. And the reason for that is women have had more practice at leadership.

And so, a lot of the times in leadership positions, it's often an earned position, like you are a high performer in whatever job, and then you're, you're sought after by management to become the leader of that department. So, it's all about performance, whereas leadership itself is a separate skill. It's not necessarily about performing the task.

It's not necessarily about performing the job. It's about creating the environment for your team now. to be able to perform the task in the job. And so, creating that environment requires things like communication, empathy, and care, and women are very natural at those skills. When you think of women and what they do in the home for their families, as a mother, all the things that they are managing and creating an environment where this household is running smoothly.

If you ask, in most families, when you ask, who's the manager of the household, I mean, the men would love to stand up and say, it is I, but behind the scenes, who's planning the lunches, who's planning the doctor's appointments, who's ensuring this person gets to where they need to go, who's ensuring that this, This person's diet is being abided by.

There's so many little things that are happening, but they've created an environment where all these things are happening and everyone in the household is thriving. And so that practice in understanding everyone's needs translate to leadership because that is exactly what leadership is.

Wow! That's very clear distinction in what you said.

What really resonated with me is like, most people who become a leader, it's because they earn, it's about performance, but when you're a leader, it's, it's something totally different. Yes, of course you're going to, you have to do your, you know, your tasks and everything like that.

What really resonated to me is like you said, it's no longer about the job, about tasks, but about creating the environment where people can work. Well, absolutely. So the other thing that you mentioned as well that we are agreeing with is like, there's a challenges for leaders, and mostly also women in the leaderships that there is not enough support, like when you become a leader, sometimes it's feel lonely, because in a way, be careful saying things because you don't want what you said affect negatively to the people you work with.

Can you speak more about that topic?

Yeah, absolutely. And the first thing that came to my mind there is it's that situation is exactly what happens. Like think of when a mother gets sick, does she really have the time to lay down and not continue to be the leader? and continue to manage everything. She doesn't in most cases.

So, we'll still continue to work through all those things and all those challenges and at work it's the same. It is a challenge very much so to continue to show up even when you're going through personal challenges or team challenges. You're still responsible for and accountable for this environment.

So, it can very much be lonely, and that's why I think because leaders today are very much unprepared, taking that extra time to prepare them for the role that they're going into is something that a lot of companies miss out on. Because it most certainly is lonely, and Ideally, you would like to have a team of other leaders, so each department, the head of each department could come together in a leadership meeting, like having that sort of support group and that network is very helpful, so that you can get ideas to implement onto your team, and be able to run those challenges by those people, because you really can't do that with your team, you have to show them and guide them.

And if you show that you don't know what you're doing, then you'll lose some sort of engagement from that team. Because they're looking to you to guide them and all of a sudden, it's like oh, well that person doesn't know what they're doing Like why would I continue going to them? And so, leadership also involves constantly learning and constantly rising to the level of all of the challenges that your team is having.

So, if this person is coming to you with a problem, figuring out how to solve it for them, figuring out how to inspire them to get through that challenge, to get over that obstacle. So, it's a, it's a constant need. We're learning in this position, and so I think a lot of companies don't necessarily prepare the leaders, men or women, for those positions.

And like I said, women have more practice, but men and women are both very effective leaders. It's just we are most definitely unprepared as we step into these roles.

What I really like is that the way you articulated it, and I think our listeners and even, me, I needed to hear it. Like women have a natural ability to be better leaders, right?

Just making that connection between. leadership in a corporate or business role and the family, there's huge connection there. So, I just want to really call that out. I love that. And sometimes people just need to hear it to recognize it in yourself. And then, in terms of being prepared, like in the organizations, like companies do try, but I think they often miss the mark on it.

Um, this is not something, and you tell me, this is not something you can do in a one-day workshop, right? It needs to be a more comprehensive or holistic longer-term view and making sure that that new leader is prepared and can grow.

Yeah. I absolutely agree with you. I definitely think some companies certainly try harder than others. In some cases, there's no support at all for the leader. They're just sort of, they're now held against this, this unwritten standard as the leader. And now just simply responsible for the performance of this team without. But then this, like you said, this one-day workshop where they call in an expert, a lot of those workshops that I see are very outdated and not necessarily useful or tactical.

And what I think, if the workshop is the way you're going to go, which is fine, what you need to do is start giving people a framework that they can use to recognize what situation am I in and now what should I do about it. But I find a lot of these workshops are very filled with fluff and you know, oh, you've got to be more empathetic.

You've got to do this. You've got to do that. And it's like, okay, well, how I'm faced with this situation, how do these things apply to me? What do I look for? If I'm experiencing this problem in the team, what, what do I need to do? And so, I think giving them the framework is the first step in which can be done in a workshop, but it's also the follow-up and support because you're going to need that ongoing support because if this one-day workshop has not prepared you for a specific situation, where do you go now?

And sometimes it can be your leader or your manager, sometimes it's not because, like I said, that lack of preparation for all these leadership positions doesn't necessarily mean your leader can help you. So having a support network is very, very helpful, and sometimes that's available, sometimes that's not.

So, I do think I mean there's a lot of ways you can go about doing that, but recognizing like you said that there are similarities between other situations in your life. Like your team at home, your family is a team, and learning how to leverage those leadership skills and looking at the challenges you're solving there, and then looking at the connection between the workplace.

Because everywhere you go where you're working together with people, those are teams. A team is simply a group of people just working together towards a common goal. And that's a family. It's a group of people working together. They're under this household, they're living their lives together, and they have this goal of managing this household.

Same thing at work. You're working together towards this common goal. It just happens to be an organizational goal. Sports team, same thing. So, understanding that There are similarities between all these situations, but in all situations, you need help as the leader, for sure.

Yeah, I really like what you're saying, because at least in the beginning, when you are a leader, or you get promoted to be a leader, it's not like you're starting from zero, right?

Like you said, it's like things that happen at home or at work are connected. Life is connected. So, you can kind of apply. You not start from scratch. You already have some experience of it, maybe a different context. And what I like about that too, and I think this is the challenge about being unprepared is the role of leader, like at work, it's usually about masculinity, you know, do the work, do some actions, task oriented, but leader.

I found, especially what you said about creating an environment, supporting, people who are in your team, motivate them, inspire them and help guide them when they are having challenges. It's a feminine, qualities of leaderships. So, by connecting home and work, I think there is something there that can kind of shift our frame of mind.

It's actually bringing more feminine energy into the workplace, the nurturing side of you, the task-oriented side of you is there, but the nurturing side of you is there. And again, creating an environment for them to be thriving as a leader is again, the nurturing part of an organization where they can bring that feminine energy,

That can be effective to lead the team. What I'm very curious about, you also mentioned about framework. Do you have some framework that you can share?

Yeah, yeah. And I, I just quickly want to comment on what you said before about, the feminine energy and the nurturing. And I absolutely agree.

And another thought that came to my mind, another, similarity between leadership and motherhood is, imagine if you have more than one child and the children are very different, you know, one might need that tough love, whereas the other one might not, and they do not respond to tough love. And so, a large part of leadership is understanding how to get that performance out of each one of those children is taking a different approach. And so, it's a big part of it is understanding the personalities that you're dealing with. And that takes time, that takes nurturing, because you have to cultivate a relationship with that person to now understand, okay, this person, in order to help them grow, in order for me to take their performance from here to here.

I'm going to need to communicate with them. I'm going to need to encourage them because that's how they respond. Whereas this other person over here, they want tough love. They want me to hold them accountable. They want me to show them examples of what's been successful in the past. And they want speed of, of solutions and answers.

And each person on your team might be different. So, understanding that you need to get to know that person to understand what they need and then provide that. What it is that they need, and I do think that that is very feminine energy because it takes a lot of listening and understanding and cultivating a relationship.

So, I absolutely agree. And then further to your point, so asking about a framework. Absolutely. So, I have sort of a quick framework and then a more comprehensive framework and we probably don't have time to get into the comprehensive framework, but I'll get into the quick framework. And so many of you may know the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

If you've taken Psychology 101, you're familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. And so, we know that humans have these five levels of needs. And the structure of that concept is that you cannot get to the next level of without satisfying the first level. The thing is, if you take that exact framework, so the bottom of it is your physiological needs and then it goes up to esteem needs and fulfillment, those sorts of things, more higher level and complex needs.

That doesn't necessarily work for a team of people, right? You're not, responsible for feeding those people. It doesn't necessarily translate. So, if you're looking at how to get your team to be more motivated and engaged, you have to start framing your thinking around what does the team need?

And so, the basic framework is a three-level framework, and at the bottom, it's environment. The first thing is the environment. And if one of the biggest things is assessing what sort of environment you're cultivating with your team. And so that's one of the things I do. I'll go and do environment audits.

And so essentially what you're looking for is if I take a brand-new person and plop them on your team, what do they become as a result of the environment? Great. Right? We all know when we enter a group of people, you, they call it the vibe, right? What's the vibe of this team? And if it's everyone's miserable, everyone's grumpy, everyone complains about everything, it's only a matter of time before you fall into that behavior, because that's what you're surrounded by.

Whereas if you have an environment where people are solutions oriented, they're hard working, you start to adopt the behaviors of your environment. So, understanding what the behaviors are better common in this environment, because when you take someone new and plop them into this environment, they will become a product of your team environment.

So, that's the first thing. So, figuring out, what is my environment producing and then correcting that. Then the next thing. is inclination. That's the next level. Once you've got the right environment, you've got hard working people, you've got motivated people, the environment is good, now you can start looking at what is everyone inclined to do.

So, this has more to do with the alignment of the person. And what they're doing because I think we've all had the experience of doing a job that we really don't like and no matter how great the culture of the team is, no matter how great the environment of the team is, if we really don't like what it is we're doing, eventually you become disengaged and you're like, I can't look at these numbers anymore.

I can't look at this spreadsheet anymore. Like, I really just, this is not for me. It's you can't keep them engaged because they're just not inclined to do the work. So, figuring out where you can strategically place people or distribute tasks based on inclination. And so finally, once you've got those two things, then you can move on to activation.

And this is where every company aspires to be. So, whenever we think of activation, we think of the biggest companies who are very inspiring, who activate their team with a purpose. And that is very, very inspirational or aspirational thinking, but it takes time to get there. So, once you've got the right environment and once you've got your team inclined to do the work that they'd like to do. Now you can focus on how do I now activate the purpose within them? How do I turn that light bulb on where they're like, oh yes, I'm part of something, I'm connected to something, and I'm proud of the work that I do. And those three things take very different skills, but there are three very important things to look at to figure out how do I get a really and truly high performing team.

So, I call that framework “Diondra's Hierarchy of Needs for Teams.” I don't know. I've got to come up with a better name. It's super long, but that's all I got so far.

Do you have that documented somewhere, Diondra, on your website so we could share it with everyone?

Yes, I do. And it's also, if you watch, one of my TED Talks, I go into depth with examples for each level on things that, uh, that you can look at, but yes, I can share, um, that framework as well.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I've been in leadership development for a really long time. And I'm listening to you and I'm like, wow, she's simplified how to look at leadership. I'd love to hear some of the skills underneath each of those levels. But it just seems like a more simplified, realistic way of looking at how do I develop leaders and build those dynamic workforces and teams.

And that was my intention from the start, because, you know, I found that, you know, I've, I've sat in those, in those workshops, those one-day workshops where you're given a ton of content and you walk away going like, what did I, what, like, what's actionable here?

And the biggest thing for me is only 18% of what we hear, we actually retain. So, if I'm in a one-hour workshop, I'm only retaining 18%. So, what are the three things that I need to take with me and apply? And so, I wanted to create something based on all the problems I'm constantly hearing to say, these are the things you want to pay attention to because these are sort of the universal challenges.

I mean, of course, within those three things, it can differ and vary based on the team, but those are the things you just want to pay attention to. And it does get complicated because again, every team is full of different personalities. And it can be complicated, but there's ways we can simplify it.

So, I really like these three levels that you talk about, and if I can see it, um, first of all, about the environment. And if I think about responsibilities about collective and individual, the environment relates to everyone. It's a, it's a collective responsibility to create the environment.

And the inclination, it's more individuals. Looking at, each person, each one of the members of the team, what do you like? What is your, where, where's your strength? So, you have to really look at each of them and find out really what make them move or what make their heart sing in a way as they do their job.

And the activation is quite interesting because then I think that come back to the collective again, the group, because, yes, of course, each of us has. our personal purpose or something that we're passionate about, but to create and know the collective purpose. It's also a work of collective, like everyone, has to be involved and has to agree, it's a shared purpose.

So, if you can kind of go to each of these levels and maybe, share about what can we do as a member as a leader within those levels so that we can create and move all of us up to the next and the next.

Of course, of course. And you know, I love what you shared because it is true. Though I want to offer a different perspective.

And again, I always bring it back to the family because everyone can understand that. And so, for example, the very first level, the environment. If we say that it's a collective responsibility, which it is, but who at the end of the day is responsible for the environment? If, for example, your kids are misbehaving, they talk back, who do you look at to correct that behavior?

You don't say, oh, the kids are This isn't that you look at the parents. How are you allowing this behavior? And so, it's the same thing in a work environment. The leaders are responsible for the behavior because if you continue to allow this behavior to continue, it will. And so, it's the same thing with, I don't want to, I hate the word disciplinary, but when you're disciplining your kids and showing them the quality standard or the standard of behavior.

That is your way of controlling the environment. You, the, the children should know that they're not allowed to swear. They're not allowed to throw things. They're not allowed to write on the wall. How do they learn these behaviors? The leader of the household makes them accountable to those behaviors and introduces them to a standard of this environment.

If you are going to be operating in this environment, if you're going to be living under my roof, how many times have our parents said that? If you're living under my roof, you, you go by my rules. So, the same thing on a team. I want to, I want to add on that because you bring a very important point.

As a leader, I have to behave with the standard that I want others and my team to behave because they look at me as an example. I just want to add that because that's how they learn from their lead.

Yeah, great point because, like, you can't ask your children not to swear and then swear.

Yes.

Right? Because then you lose your credibility. It's like, well, if you can do it, why can't I? So automatically your environment is starting to break down there. So absolutely, if you're going to instill these standards and these rules, you also need to abide by them. So, I'm sure there, there definitely are leaders that have this double standard, but it is important.

 If you truly want a high performing team, then you need to also. Um, and so going to the next level, yes, so it's, it's definitely more individualistic, but as a leader, as you get to know your team, I know it's, it's very hard with large teams, but if you have a small team, getting to know the strengths and weaknesses of your team allows you to make strategic decisions.

So, for example, most recently with a customer service team, understanding how to distribute accounts based on the strengths of the people is an important skill and because it's not necessarily up to the team members individually to decide what they get, but you can distribute things according to their strengths or redistribute things. You know, if you notice that someone really can't work on this type of, job, depending on what the industry is, they can't work on this type of job, then you can redistribute it to someone who's more inclined to do that. So, it just allows you to make strategic decisions to maximize what you have.

And then finally, in terms of the activation, so that collective purpose. Now, one way I want to also encourage people to think about this is It doesn't necessarily have to be a purpose that's, you're instilling a purpose that's aligned with your specific team members personal purpose, because at the end of the day, your company has a vision and a mission, that's, that's why you're in business, so you have that sort of identified, but your team might be a smaller team with its own purpose.

And so, understanding what your team does in the grand scheme of things. So, going back to that customer service example, you know, our job here is to put a smile on our customer's faces, like giving that sense of purpose and asking them, did you make your customer laugh today? Did you share a joke?

Did you do this? Like things that lead back to the purpose of the team. I mean, the company itself might be making steel beams. Who knows, right? At the end of the day, the customer service person is not responsible for the steel beams, but they're responsible for making the customer smile. That's their purpose.

And so, reminding them of that and as the leader of the customer service team, instilling that and activating that purpose within them, helping them to understand, saying, our goal here is to make our customers smile. Here's how we're going to do it.

And so those are sort of the ways that. the accountability does come back to the leader. But like I said, each one of those things, easier said than done, takes skills, but it is important. And it really is how you, how you think about it.

So, I just want to jump in with something that I've heard lately, and maybe you have some advice on this.

I think this podcast is definitely going to help in this case. I'm hearing you say, women are natural leaders like this is natural to us and then we're talking about ways to do it, and we've simplified it, but there's still a lot that goes into being a leader. I'm hearing some clients say they don't want to step up to take the leadership role because it is complicated.

And I just, I'm shaking my head. Like, why not? Like, why wouldn't you step into the role? It's a great opportunity. Right. And they know it's a great opportunity, but I think there's a fear factor there for some reason. Have you heard this? Have you helped anybody to try to overcome it as well?

Yes, I've definitely heard that, and I mean, in some respects, they're right. It is a lot of responsibility. But also, I think people need to have a little bit more confidence in themselves because it's, it's a human skill. It's, it's something that, it's a transferable skill that you can take with you and use, and it is a great experience in that respect.

So, understanding that a) it's not something that you have to do forever, but b) like why not try? You're able to communicate with people, you're able to have conversations, and you can learn how to make better decisions by just knowing what to look for. And when it comes down to it, that's what you're doing as a leader, understanding the people, making decisions, and taking action.

And I think when you simplify leadership down to its small components, it can help people's mindset towards it. But, but also, I don't want to simplify it to the fact that it's, it's easy. I'm not saying it's easy by any means, but if you just break it down and focus on, okay, these are the things I'm going to try and implement, impossible things can be done.

There are so many stories of how people have transformed teams from, you know, taking the worst performing team in the NFL and transforming them, it's a task, but it can be done as long as you focus on the small things. And with the framework that I shared, if you focus on those small things, one day at a time, don't expect you to transform something in two weeks.

It's not going to take two weeks. But. That constant listening, that understanding and making those decisions is something that A, women do all the time in their families. It's just now, you're responsible for people who you might not have raised. But you're still going to be able to understand their behavior over time through conversation and observation and understanding.

It's a long-winded answer to your question, but, uh, I definitely see both sides to it. Yeah. No, thank you. Thank you. I think that really helps.

So how can, organizations help leaders, make an effort to support their leaders?

Yeah, that's a great one. And it's a solution that doesn't necessarily get implemented overnight.

Um, so, there's a couple things. So, a) leadership selection. So, because a lot of people leave their jobs not because of the work, but because of their leader. And how many times do you hear people say, I hate my boss, I hate my manager, this person made me quit, I couldn't work there anymore.

So being very careful about who you select for leadership is important. And I mean, that's a whole nother conversation because they are directly impacting the people under them. And when someone is stressed out and they hate their boss, it impacts their ability to perform. Absolutely. if you're sitting there humming and hawing whether or not you should go talk to your manager because they're rude or, or condescending, like that's time wasted, right?

As opposed to someone who you can just walk in and talk to. So, leadership selection, but b) then also leadership support. And having training programs for leadership is important. A company that does this really, really well is Deloitte. Oh my gosh, they have such a great leadership training program. So, learning from companies like that, and I know a lot of companies may not be able to implement it to the scale that Deloitte does, but having some sort of preparation so that these leaders aren't going in blind.

And then I would also have Some sort of network of resources and support for the leader and in most cases, that's going to be other managers in the organization to share what's working and what's not working and keeping within leadership, that transparency to share what's working, what's not working and making it more of a, instead of, you know, here's what's happening in my department.

Here's what we need. It's like what's working for you and your department. Here's the best practices for creating a better team here. This is what I've learned. very much. This is what the challenge was that I had this week and here's how I overcame it. There are managers meetings and then there's leadership meetings.

And I hope, I hope you know what I mean by that. It's, it's really not about coming to the table about just work and, and how different departments interact. It's how these individual leaders can learn from one another.

What I'm hearing you say is, so there's, the three levels, the environment, the environment that the leader creates for the team, but there's also an environment that the organization needs to create for the leaders.

Yes.

Yes.

And what you're just saying, it's more like peer support. So, it's not about the meeting to get the job done, but like it's supporting what's your, you know, what's your challenges? More like a mastermind actually. Exactly. Exactly. It's quite interesting because that is the least effort, they can do because there's no, except time, there's no other funding that can be put in there.

The other one is like having a coach program for the leaders to support them. And one thing that, you bring up very interesting point that make me remember, I talked with someone who are amazing customer service and who used to work at Apple in the stores, what he said, it's quite interesting that , before he got promoted to become a leader, or maybe like in between or close to that point, he was pair with.

Another manager, for six months like apprentice to see what kind of role the manager, do and building that relationship so that when he become a manager, he already has some experience based on, the other person's experience.

So, there's so many ways, creative ways to do that. First part, the selection, preparing someone to be a leader in an organization. I like that.

I think, yeah, I, I think that's wonderful. I would say most companies would probably say that, oh, we don't have the time to invest, which is unfortunate because it will take time regardless, but, yeah, I agree.

There’re so many creative ways that you can help prepare somebody and shadowing, is absolutely a great way. Yeah. Apple has a really great training program from what I've heard as well and, and, and it shows because you walk into any Apple store in the world, you already know how you're going to be treated.

No doubt about it. And that takes a lot of training and a lot of leadership.

And, coming from a learning and development background and you guys can attest to this, like its people learn better by doing right. So, if they're doing it alongside you and the flow of their work, they're actually leading a team and they're learning from a manager how to do it.

It happens in a much better way, and it's sustained, it's becomes a sustained skill that they can get.

Yeah, and even that helps for succession planning too, right. You know, you have this constant program that's ongoing, and you're, Filling the pipeline of, of future leaders.

So, I think that's a strategic move too.

So, Diondra, I think some of our listeners might be sitting on the edge of their seat. How do they contact you?

So where can people find you?

Yes. If you were a leader and you want to get ahold of me, please do. The best way would be to visit my website, which is driven by co, so Drivenbyco.com. And then you can send me an email through there. And like I mentioned earlier, I can do a team audit for you just to go through that framework with you and figure out some of the challenges that you're having and suggest some solutions.

But yeah, that's the best way to find me. If you want to find me online as well, just to connect on social media, all my handles are at driven by co. And your TED Talks? Yes, please. Thank you for reminding me of that. They are on YouTube. If you type in Diondra Felicetti on YouTube, Diondra Felicetti TED Talk, they should come up.

Okay. We're going to include those in the show notes. Links to everything.

Wonderful.

So, before we end, we always like to do our lightning round of questions. These are four questions where we look for short answers, one to three words, and it's just another way of us getting to know you more and a little inspiration for our listeners.

So, first question, where do you go for inspiration?

I try to build inspiration into my life, so everywhere my attention is, so if it's my Instagram feed, I'm very careful with what is popping up in the feed, the books that I have, the things that I post around me, my background on my phone, I try to make sure that my environment that I can control is inspirational.

Nice. What is one habit you adopted that has greatly improved your career?

Talking to more people and asking more questions. What

is one thing that keeps you moving forward each day? Um,

knowing that the world could be a better place by the work that I do. The world, the workplaces,

right? Yeah. The teams. The teams, right? Yeah. And the last question is, what is the most valuable piece of advice you ever received?

Oh my gosh. The most valuable.

I would say, be more open to criticism and

How do I put this? Yeah, I would say be more open to criticism. Pay attention to who it's coming from. If it's coming, from someone who is willing to teach you things pay attention, but if it's someone who's not doing anything related to what you do or is at the level that you're at, you know, let it go.

Be careful. Be careful in summary.

Oh My gosh, well, thank you so much Diondra.

Thank you the two of you for a wonderful experience and conversation today

Thank you, Diondra.

Awesome. Well, thanks listeners for tuning in to Women's Career Mastery Podcast. We'll see you next time.

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