Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] You're listening to the Poised Powerhouse Podcast. My name is Dr. Sita Hood and I'm obsessed with empowering women like you with practical life strategies to live authentically without compromising your wellness. I used to be caught up in the hustle hard mentality until I learned that my quirky little traits I thought weren't that important actually turned out to be the secret sauce. I needed to step boldly into my purpose and create impact not only in my life, but so many amazing women around me. Organizing your schedule, launching impactful programs, redefining leadership without code switching or compromise, and stepping boldly into your God given assignment are all topics we'll discuss here. Think of this podcast as that Sunday brunch with your girls that feels so therapeutic you can't wait to get to it. But let's clarify, this is not a substitute for a relationship with a licensed therapist. All right, grab your notebook and your coffee or your tea. We don't discriminate over here. And let's start the show.
[00:01:22] Hey. Hey. Welcome back for another episode of the Poise Powerhouse Podcast. My name is Dr. Ceda Hood, vision architect and licensed therapist. In today's episode, we are throwing it back and we're talking about how to boost your income by tapping into your creativity. Now, before you click off, number one, this is not clickbait. Number two, it is going to take some practical work from you in order to get there. There's no magic remedy. There is no guru hack or anything like that. But I promise, if you take the strategies that I'm talking about in this episode, you will see a boost in income. Number one, if you are a CEO and number two, if you are a kingdom creative working in a corporate space looking to boost your income. And that might require a job change in some situations, but it also might not. Here's what's up ahead in this throwback episode, why the company culture might be thrown off, how to overcome imposter syndrome, what the qualities of creative leaders are and how power book the show. Yes, you heard me. Power Book with Tariq and Tasha and Shanti. Uh huh. Yep. CBI, all of it. How you can use PowerBook to give you a playbook on boosting your income. Let's dive into the episode. How are you doing today? What's in your mug? We are back in our February mug. Here you have my heart. Xoxo. I just love these mugs because they're like a really good size. They're pink and pink and blue are my favorite colors. What's inside my mug, though, is Snickers coffee. And I ain't gonna lie to you, I think this Snickers coffee that had me in a chokehold for almost a year. Chad. Okay, cuz, how many times have y'all heard me say I am drinking on Snickers coffee? Of course we have our handy dandy water, but it's just in a plastic cup today because the water mugs are getting washed. Mentally, emotionally, I am feeling really excited about this new year. I'm excited for all the possibilities that this year holds and a little bit terrified of the work too. Okay, can we keep it a hundo on this podcast? I know we can because you real so you know what I'm saying? Real recognize real. So I know we can keep it a hundo. I know it's going to take a little bit of work, and by a little bit, I mean a lot of work, A little bit of work and a little bit of responsible hustling to get us where we want to go for the next year. But I'm up for the challenge. You up for the challenge? Hi. Then let's do it. Okay. All right. So let's talk about creative leadership today. Creative leadership matters because in all honesty, we just tired of the same dried out issues popping up that we just been putting a bandaid on one. Remember that time when you wanted to take off work but your time didn't get approved because it wasn't submitted 10 days in advance? And then when you ask your boss why 10 days was the rule, they had no answer? You remember that? Yeah. That's an example of old rules that might need revamping and restructuring. When you're structuring, when your systems are stale, the entire culture of the company is thrown off because you got frustrated employees. December, specifically is the month that I personally like to look at all of my systems, all of my routines, all of my habits and things like that after doing some vision planning for the following year. And I like to see if these routines, habit systems are still serving me properly. So if you haven't checked out the vision mapping workshop, you are going to want to check that out for real. Real for real. Because it's gotten some really positive feedback and it's going to help you to really set the tone for 2024. This is a workshop that's going to take you from an overarching theme, because a lot of people choose like a theme of the year, like a word of the year, and then just kind of stop there, maybe loosely develop some goals. No, the free vision Mapping workshop. I'm going to leave the link for it down below. This episode, the free Vision Mapping workshop, actually is going to take you from that overarching word that you choose, that theme that you choose. And we are breaking down your goals piece by piece, down to the quarter, down to the month, down to the week, down to the day. Okay? You can get as specific as possible. So no more wandering aimlessly for the year. And if you want access to that free workshop, go ahead and tap the link down below. But anyway, when your structure and your systems are stale in your personal, personal life or even in your professional life, then the culture is thrown off. So I meet with a lot of people that are like, yeah, I've set goals before, but, you know, I'm really struggling to achieve them. I can't really figure this piece out. I always start this and then I stop here. That's because your systems, your habits, your routines are not working for you. You have to get them to work for you. So creative leadership is boldness. Creative leadership is innovative. Creative leadership is risky and rewarding, all wrapped up in one little bow. And since I know, I know, I know this is a safe space, but. But I know that, you know, you struggle with imposter syndrome. Let's talk about a few characteristics that creative leaders have so that you can start to accept the truth and then you can walk on your truth. You ready? You ready? Come on. I know. You ready? And I know you missed this part. I know, I know. Okay, let's get into it. Spoiler alert. You're already the creative leader, even if you've been too afraid to show your creativity. But let me tell you this. 2024, it's a brand new year, and it's got too many opportunities for you to sit back and let it be snatched away from you because you're hiding your creativity. So let's go. Creative leaders often have high ethical standards. They are deeply connected to values and people's stories. And this is what produces the second characteristic, and that is innovation. This is something that we've been talking about already from the start of the podcast, innovation. They are not afraid to dream up big ideas that might fail. So they are connected to their people. That's another characteristic. And I wonder, does it surprise you that you seem to make effortless connections with people? You wonder why you are so heavily impacted by people's stories, why you feel like you can feel the very emotion that that person feels when they're sharing a story, and you see solutions for people and you understand the path that they might need to take and the systems that they might need to build to get them there.
[00:08:38] That is a sign of a creative leader. And if you found yourself in that creative leader bubble, where I'd argue, if you're listening to this episode, even if you're not necessarily in a leadership role, if you like this podcast, you listen to this podcast faithfully, then you're probably a creative, ambitious leader who wants impact, who craves also income to be at the same level of the impact, because we need income and impact both to join together. But here's the beauty of where you're at. There is an amazing reward waiting for you at the intersection of your innovation and impact, AKA the creative action that you decide to take at the right moment. You've heard it before. No risk, no reward. Low risk, low reward. Let me ask you a question. Would you want to work in a company where everything was decided for you and you simply show up and do your job? Or would you want to work in a company that valued your input, your insight, your ideas, and took it a step further and rewarded you for those ideas? If you work at a company where it's no room for visionaries, honestly, that's a little bit scary, because eventually the company is going to die. Without opportunities for growth, the company will inevitably fail. I want you to take the movie Flaming Hot, for example. If you haven't seen that movie, all the spoiler alerts, I'm telling you, they coming right now.
[00:10:15] Okay, so in the movie, the company Frito Lay is, like, struggling to keep people employed and struggling to continue to see their profit margins go higher. And it's because they didn't have any innovative ideas. I forget the guy's name that was at the top. He was looking for innovative ideas. So much so that he got to the point of desperation. He went beside the people that were hired for that specific role role to produce a company video that says, anybody with an innovative idea, we looking for you because we need you to help this company grow. And Richard Montane, the janitor at the time, had an amazing idea. And where did his idea come from? His idea came from the needs of the people. It came from his own need of being like, man, I would love it if they produce something spicy. My people love spice. And, you know, I think he was talking about the Hispanic people, but, you know, black folks love spice, too. So shout out to you, you know, for coming up with the flaming hots. And so it was birthed out of a need, birthed out of innovation, birthed out of him deciding that there should be representation even in the type of chips we eating. Come on.
[00:11:38] So this is what I'm talking about. When we're talking about creative leadership and creative leadership strategies, we like to overthink so much. And we can keep it just on a basic level. It doesn't have to be too much. So that person who never has enough hours to take time off while they're caring for their sick family member, that is a need, that is a problem, you know? And so we need innovative people to help think of solutions to help that person out. Because nine times out of 10, they're not the only person, right? So the reward that's found at the intersection of innovation and impact is an increase in income, an increase in peace, in freedom. It's better relationships. It's low key. An entire upgrade for your life because you decided to lean into your gifts. Let's go back to flaming hots. Again, increase in income. Not only did his idea help to save the company, generate the company way more money than what they were making before, but now from the development of flaming hots, so many other things were developed. They got flaming hot sushi rolls, the flaming hot drink. They got crunchy curls. And come on, y'all. Y'all know where to get the original crunchy curl recipe. Holla at me, please. Please. And if you ain't got no idea what I'm talking about, don't even worry about it. Because these new crunchy curls, they ain't touching on what we used to have. I need that original recipe. Okay, that was just a side note. But. But seriously, there were so many things that were developed simply from his innovative idea. So the collision of innovation and impact impacting the community, creating something for the community, impacting the company is income. It's peace, it's freedom, it's better relationships. He repaired some of his personal relationships with people in his life and even some gang members that he was connected to. The bottom line is that people's lives change when we allow innovation and creativity in the boardroom. Another example is the student loan forgiveness. I know somebody who had 50k in loan forgiveness shout out to you, boo. Okay, 50k in loan forgiveness changes their debt to income ratio. And since they started considering your student loan debt and your mortgage calculations, that loan forgiveness just changed the game. Okay, why? Because someone had the bravery to share their ideas and innovation. Now, don't get it twisted. There's definitely going to be some room for failure and some refinement. But in that refining comes your growth. Putting yourself out there does not mean that you're going to get it right every time. But if you don't quit, you will definitely find the reward. And you will definitely find the reward. Of course, it's always going to be people who want to leave things the way that they are, and they are not going to want to be open to change. And there's going to be people who are not in your corner. In fact, they ain't going to be rooting for you at all. Okay? They're going to actually be rooting for you to fail. But you have to stick to the plan and keep going. And an example of that, if y'all haven't watched Power Book or Power Force, whichever one with Tommy, I'm about to spoil that one as well. So you may want to click on ahead. But let me tell you who I can't stand. I can't stand Shanti, okay? And I can barely stand Genard. At one point, I really disliked Gen, okay? Like, a whole lot. And then when diamond brought him back into CBI and he started to clean up his act and everything, I was like, okay, maybe Janard trying to get back, right? Maybe Janard trying to be, like, real official. And then he started tripping when he had Shanti around him. And what is really getting on my nerves is that Tommy has really done some innovative things in their community. But simply because of who Tommy is, Shanti is dead set on sabotaging Tommy from the inside out. She's rooting for him to fail. She want him to fail in so many ways. She act like she's partnered up with him, but really she's worming her way deep into Tommy's stuff so that she can sabotage this man. And just like that movie, there's gonna be people that are rooting against you, that want you to fail, that are looking for ways to sabotage you, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because if you keep going, you are going to win. That's one of the things that I love about the show and I love about Tommy. Tommy is literally unstoppable. And by unstoppable, it doesn't mean that he don't face adversity, but he's literally unstoppable because he chooses not to quit. He chooses to keep going. People present him with a problem, and that man uses his brain and his strategy to always use it as a come up. Come on. Can't get no real than that. Okay? What would this show be without suggesting practical strategies for you? Okay, let's talk about ways to foster an environment for creative leadership. Number one, communicating shared values and even including everybody in the company in the development of the values. Going back to the movie Flamin Hot, he released that video for everyone to get on board discussing these values even in the interview process to make sure that people are in alignment with the company vision, that is imperative. But more than just at the interview process, discussing it in daily life, discussing it in regular increments to remind people of that. One of the companies that I worked for had a really good way of doing this. They didn't necessarily have company rules, whatever. They had company values. But then they had cultural norms, established norms. And when it came to see I'm the word that they used is so stuck in my head. But essentially when they came to giving correction, they didn't call it correction, they called it feedback. So I have since carried that on because I thought that was a really good a way to approach something that could be touchy topics for people. There are established norms, expectations for behavior. When you're on the job site that is based on our values, our company values, and then if you're out of alignment with that, there's some feedback to be offered or even if you'd like to offer feedback to someone else, there's room for that. So making sure that everybody is included and on board with the company values and the expression of those company values. Number two, giving recognition and reward for innovation.
[00:18:25] Don't just be a company that talks about it. Build a company that tangibly rewards innovation. If you want employees to feel connected, if you want them to help build the company vision, you have to give them opportunities to be actively involved. Another thing about Shanti little stanking self on power book force, Tommy's story, We just going to call it Tommy's story, okay?
[00:18:50] Another thing about that is Shanti was unwilling to make the moves that Tommy needed her to do until she knew to play. She wasn't trying to stick her neck out there until she understood the play. And even when she started working with Claudia, she needed to understand the play. So you have to cue people into the play. What's the company play? What's the vision? What is the overall value? What are the cultural norms? What are we actually trying to achieve here? And then number three, offering leadership training and development. Don't keep your training at the basics. Here's the thing. A lot of people feel intimidated by seeing somebody else's leadership qualities. But their leadership qualities ain't got nothing to do with you, okay? Nothing to do with your purpose, nothing to do with your assignment, nothing to do with your calling, nothing to do with you. Because if you're helping to build a company, if you're building the company, your company is going to thrive regardless. If you have these other pieces in place, you're going to grow even in your leadership abilities by teaching them. Because it's teaching you what people need to know.
[00:20:01] Girl, what you been watching, what you been reading, what you been listening to? Media Queens, what's up?
[00:20:12] Welcome back for another Media Queens. It's been quite a while since we have done this one, so what I have been watching as we talked about throughout the show, is Power Book.
[00:20:25] I love Tommy's example of creative leadership here. Tommy changed the game and he got everybody to join a gang coalition and that's where they stopped the beef and started working together to make money. Now do you know how hard that is? Do you know how hard that is yet? Tommy did it and they don't get no realer than that. Okay? That's all the proof that you need that even in the streets innovative leadership is risky and it comes with failures and it comes with successes. But it's still worth it in the end. If you enjoyed today's episode. Share the love, share with your mama, share with your auntie, share with your best friend. Then head on over to Apple podcast and leave us a five star review. Reviews help the podcast to grow. Well, that's, that's all I have for you today. I'll see you out on these social media streets. Bye.
