The Leadership Vision Podcast

How Life’s Challenges Shape the Way We Lead with Stephanie Chung

• Nathan Freeburg • Season 8 • Episode 9

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In this episode of The Leadership Vision Podcast, we sit down with Stephanie Chung, an executive leader in the aviation industry, speaker, and author of Ally Leadership: How to Lead People Who Are Not Like You.

In Part 1 of this conversation, we explore:

  • Stephanie’s early years as a military brat and how constant change shaped her adaptability and leadership.
  • Her journey breaking barriers in aviation and the power of mentorship in opening doors.
  • The influence of military culture on leadership, accountability, and team success.
  • Overcoming challenges like breast cancer and how it reshaped her purpose as a leader.

Takeaways for Leaders:

  1. How has your background influenced your leadership approach?
  2. Who in your organization needs an opportunity to grow?
  3. How can you foster a culture of shared accountability on your team?

This is an inspiring conversation about resilience, leadership, and the impact of embracing new opportunities. Stay tuned for Part 2, where we explore Stephanie’s book and dig into what it truly means to lead diverse teams with action and intention.

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The Leadership Vision Podcast is a weekly show sharing our expertise in discovering, practicing, and implementing a Strengths-based approach to people, teams, and culture. Contact us to talk to us about helping your team understand the power of Strengths.

Speaker 1:

Because of my upbringing, you know, on the military side and of course, my career choice being aviation and then specifically private aviation, it gave me a lot of material to have to understand how to work with people who were not like me. So where I would say that I have grown and developed to maybe become my own type of leader is to realize that in the military it's do as I say that's not necessarily effective outside of the military right. And so as a leader, I'm not a person of do as I say, I'm more of a person of like. Well, let's figure out here's what needs to get done Now, how we do it. That's up for interpretation. Let's have that discussion and really making sure that the team has a voice at the table, because at the end of the day, they're the ones executing it.

Speaker 2:

You are listening to the Leadership Vision Podcast, our show helping you build positive team culture. Our consulting firm has been doing this work for the past 25 years so that leaders are mentally engaged and emotionally healthy. To learn more about us, you can click the link in the show notes or visit us on the web at leadershipvisionconsultingcom. Hello everyone, my name is Nathan Freeberg and in today's episode we chat with an incredible leader, speaker and author, stephanie Chung. Stephanie is a pioneering executive in the aviation industry, a leadership expert and a passionate advocate for harnessing the power of diversity. She's also the author of a new book called Ally Leadership how to Lead People who Are Not Like you. This is a powerful guide for leaders navigating all kinds of diverse and evolving workplaces these days.

Speaker 2:

We had so much great stuff to talk about with Stephanie that we're actually going to be breaking this interview up into two parts. In part one here we dive into Stephanie's journey from growing up as a military brat to becoming a high-level executive in private aviation and beyond. We explore how her unique upbringing shaped her leadership style, the power of adaptability and the lessons that she learned navigating an industry where nobody really looked like her. Now, brian, linda and I, we always start our interviews by introducing ourselves to our guests, but normally I just kind of edit all of that stuff out because I don't know that our listeners would enjoy that part of the conversation. But for this one I left it in because it just felt important to the topic at hand. You know, since the topic is about understanding and working with those that are not like you, a big part of that is learning about someone's background, so I left it in. Now, as you listen to this, I'd like you to consider just two things in your own leadership journey. Number one, how does your background and life experience shape the way that you lead today? And number two, what strengths have you developed from times of transition or challenge that you can perhaps leverage in your leadership? Now, be sure to come back next week for part two of this interview, where we shift gears a little bit and explore the big takeaways from Stephanie's book Ally Leadership. Now, some of those things include what it means to be an ally in leadership, understanding and using privilege for good, and why diverse teams perform better. And it's not the answer that you might think, but for now, let's dive into Stephanie's journey and learn more about this inspiring leader.

Speaker 2:

So I'm Nathan. I've been with Leadership Vision since 2007, 2008. And then, in 2013, my wife and I moved out here, portland, oregon, with our then seven-month-old son. We now have four kiddos, ages six to almost 12. And they are all home at the moment because Portland is experiencing a rare winter storm and my background's in computer science I've worked in higher ed for 12 years, dear God, and really during COVID and because of all these kids that we keep having, haven't been doing as much consulting, because the podcast has kind of taken off and in the last little over a year almost a year and a half we started interviewing guests, people like yourselves, authors and leaders and speakers, and it's just been so awesome to chat with people and see where there's similarities and differences and you know what is your view of leadership, how do you deal with you know team culture and all that stuff.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, so I love doing this and I get to work with these two lovely people. Brian, I've known, no, actually no, linda, I've known longer, but I introduced the two of them. So, brian, why?

Speaker 1:

don't you introduce?

Speaker 3:

Oh, that's awesome how long have you two been married? Forever 16 years. 16 years Feels like forever, right.

Speaker 4:

How about 17 years? Did you carry the one?

Speaker 3:

I made the one. Anyway, you go ahead.

Speaker 4:

Stephanie, I'm Brian. I was the founder of the company. I never intended to be a business owner, but I founded the company in the year 2000. I had the good fortune to be someone that was on the front leading edge of when Gallup released the StrengthsFinder tool. So I had a grant at a university to do leadership program that was promoting distance education in 1998. So there was a pioneering work.

Speaker 4:

Gallup heard that we had all this money and that I needed a psychometrics. They called me and I said that the tool. Because of my education. I thought the tool sounded stupid. I took the call because I think my boss told me to and then that entered into an eight year partnership.

Speaker 4:

So my job with with that work was to help Gallup extend the use of the Strengths Finder tool from coast to coast with the age range of 18 to 34 year olds, cause we were trying to at the university create a distance education program that was not all white males but included women and people of different, diverse backgrounds. And you know that was interesting work. But what happened was in doing the work for the university I was asked to come back and talk about this whole idea of positive psychology and a tool that can help under something in you. And so that's when the company started. So it was complete accident, but I really believe that you know I'm doing the work that I love to do. I'm'm fulfilling my purpose and the significance for which I believe I was created by helping people understand who they are. My education is in behavioral psychology and my master's degree is in clinical counseling. The last 10 years I've worked on applied neuroscience. I geek out on reading neuroscience textbooks and applying that to the work that we do.

Speaker 4:

And so for me to be able to work with an organization speaking in front of an audience, or be coaching someone and watch them light up as they begin to investigate and learn about their inner landscape and discover potential they didn't know that they had, and how to apply that in their life, in their relationships, that just makes my light go on even brighter, and so I just love the work that we do and I guess that's all I love it.

Speaker 3:

That's good, okay, when Nathan sent the documents and we're talking with you, the first thing I said, oh, she is a player, so I loved reading about you and so Nathan's like we know all these things about her. I was like I think we know information, but we're really. I hope that you feel that we really want to get to know you and your story as well and we share some commonalities. So I joined Leadership Vision in 2008. Nathan recruited me to come and work, and so I, brad and I, were working together. Nathan recruited me to come and work, and so I, brad and I, were working together, and so I never expected that I would marry him so much as like do this work together and now be running the company. So, but in 2000, end of 2010, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Speaker 1:

Oh, we do have that in common, yeah.

Speaker 3:

So I so I get that, and Nathan was the person that helped us turn our story into a blog and keep our fan club apprised of what was happening, and definitely I needed the support. But I happen to be in a doctoral program studying how teams and individuals navigate change, as I am going through the absolute physical change of 2011. And for me, I'd never expected to be to study change and then be the actual case study, case study. So I was in my own case study and I think there was something where I emerged, maybe similar to you. I emerged out of this breast cancer battle. I was like I'm not going on the road with Komen.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but you know what?

Speaker 3:

You know what? I have an awakening, and I want to extend the reach to people to understand why they're here on this earth and what they need to do and be a part of, and so, anytime that we can highlight the brilliance and beauty of people, that's our, that's our win, and not just for their sake, but for the sake of humanity, that's right. So, uh, brian and I do the majority of the consulting together and we have we have a book coming out in June, so I would also like to talk about like oh my goodness, that's not for the faint of heart, not for the faint of heart, not for the faint of heart.

Speaker 3:

So we want to learn learn from you in that. But I just appreciate you taking the time today to be with us to share your story, to share the things that you've learned, as well as the things that you've studied and then shared with the world. So what a powerful story.

Speaker 1:

That's a really powerful story. So how long have you been? I'm assuming you're in remittance. Okay, yes, cancer brain.

Speaker 4:

Well, yeah.

Speaker 3:

So two years ago you'll like this, Stephanie.

Speaker 3:

My yearly checkup with my oncologist and at the end he's like well, we're done. I was like what? I was like wait a second. And I started bawling. And he's like what is wrong? And he said you didn't cry when you were going through chemotherapy and radiation and all the reconstruction, everything you didn't cry. Then Like well, what am I supposed to do? And he started to cry and he said this is why I got into this profession to help save people and I don't get to save everybody, but I was able to help you. And as he started to cry, I was like well, what do I do now?

Speaker 1:

Maybe I'm not seeing you every year.

Speaker 3:

And freaking out every year like leading up to that, and he said you live, yes. That's powerful Right, and so that was like shoulders back here we go.

Speaker 1:

That's right, that's right, exactly.

Speaker 1:

You got a new. I love that, linda, so much because I don't think that people, unless you've gone through it, they don't understand all the different. You know, yeah, you're so focused on just getting the cancer out of your body and whatnot, but there's so many other pieces that you don't talk about or think about until you're with someone who. I have a friend that recently got diagnosed and and, and you know, going through the whole process and I said the thing that you have to at least for me, what I had to brace myself for and I didn't nobody told me about this is that when you, you know luckily for me, thank God, we found mine really early but you still have to go to the cancer center and do all the stuff you got to do. And so the one of the things that probably hit me the most, Linda, was going into the cancer center.

Speaker 1:

You know, every week, every two weeks however many times I had to go and you're seeing other people, usually older couples. They'd been married for 50, 60 years and then one week you go there and they're not there or the person that you saw wasn't there, you know, and it's just. And so you're trying to like, keep yourself focused on. I'm going to beat this thing. But every week you go there and you're like where's John? You know what I mean and so it just all that that goes with it, or I? You know, I got to see and have a new appreciation. My parents were married, you know, forever, right and so. But you get to see married couples that have been. They're just an older, cuter couple and you're like you've been married 60 years you know what I mean, or?

Speaker 1:

whatever, and it's just so powerful and then, but you know, like, you just kind of tell, like you know, so it's there's little things that you go through that you never quite prepare for, because you nobody tells you to prepare for that, right? So yeah, I love your story. You and I are going to have our separate conversation.

Speaker 1:

Let's do a separate podcast on just that Cause, susan G would probably love to hear she. She she's actually a friend of, not Susan G. She's not a friend of mine. The CEO of Susan G's not a friend of mine. The CEO of Susan G Komen is a friend of mine and she's always wanting me to get involved.

Speaker 3:

And I'm like girl, I got a lot going on.

Speaker 1:

But let's have a conversation, but let's have a conversation, because I think it could be really interesting a different way to talk about it, right? So anyway, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So funny. When I was texting yesterday I was like Brian don't know if we, we don't, we may not need to be a part of this conversation. Let's just let.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I'm showing up and suddenly I will say and you meant you'd mentioned your husband, but I will say that I I couldn't have got through it without brian hundred percent I mean he and we just got married a year and a half into our marriage. He is is flying me out to California for my doctoral program. I'm like we're not stopping this.

Speaker 4:

You're going to get in that golf cart in the airport and drag you to the gate.

Speaker 1:

They gave you something to focus on, though.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, that's right and that's what Nathan and Brian both did is they gave me a to really grow through it, and so I yeah the last 14 years of of this journey. I'm just really thankful for them. So you, you, you will meet in Nathan and Brian men who understand the power of the collective, not just their, their power, but acknowledging and putting women in places of power. And influence.

Speaker 4:

We love strong women.

Speaker 1:

You do love strong women. Strong women don't intimidate you. You don't need to suppress them. That's awesome. I know I like you two.

Speaker 3:

So let's go, let's do this and Nathan's wife is a power player as well.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, and she works for.

Speaker 3:

Nike, so thanks for representing.

Speaker 4:

I know I was like we all have Nike representation.

Speaker 1:

That's right. Well, we got to love Nike. I love the fact that Nike I think, well, I think it was Nike that did the commercial, the female commercial for some people. Love that, love everything about it, and, yeah, it's, it's. I love the companies that are, that you know, grinding in like they're putting their calf muscles in and they're not cavemen, and so, uh, it's, it's, you know it's again their calf muscles yeah digging in.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, all right, let's hear let's hear about you, let's, yeah, let's hear some about you.

Speaker 3:

You do nathan, do you have?

Speaker 2:

nathan, do you have a question? Do you have a question? So there's a lot of stuff about you that I've learned Air Force brat. I don't know if that's appropriate for a military kid. I'm wondering if you can introduce yourself, but do it in a way that leads up to why you decided to write this book.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so one of the things that is probably one of the things I'm most proud of and yet makes me very probably unique in some instances, is the fact that I grew up a military brat. So my dad was a master sergeant in the US Air Force and really what that meant for me is that I moved every two years of my life. So I was that kid, so always the new kid, right, and I still think of myself as a professional new kid because I was always that kid that had to, you know, was new to the class, new to the neighborhood. I had to, you know, get to know everybody, so that is now my superpower. But when you're little, that's, you know, all the kids are doing it on the military base and so you don't know that that's unique and different. I'm so incredibly grateful that that was the lifestyle that I was kind of birthed into, if you will, because it has tremendous benefit to me now as an adult. But knowing all of that, you know, one of the things that kind of got me to the book, if you will, is one I was always around people who weren't like me, so that was the beginning of the whole thing, and then I had to learn how to acclimate right. I had to learn how to change my communication skills or observe certain things, because if I wanted to have any friends, then I needed to adjust to everybody in the situation at hand. And that's one part of it. The second part of it is growing up a military brat.

Speaker 1:

I knew early on that I wanted to be in aviation, and so when I was little though, you know, whenever I would see aviation depicted in TV, film, magazines, anything like that I would say if you were a man, you were a pilot, and if you were a woman, you were a flight attendant, right. So, though I knew that I wanted to be in aviation because I literally heard planes taken off and landing, my entire life I grew up on Air Force bases. And though I knew that I wanted to be in aviation because I literally heard planes taken off and landing, my entire life I grew up on Air Force bases, and so I knew I wanted to be in aviation. But the problem was that I didn't know what I could do, because whenever I would see aviators depicted in movies, tv, film, what have you? They were always, of course, either man, pilot, woman, flight attendant. They were always, of course, either man pilot, woman, flight attendant, but they also didn't look like me. But I'd never seen a person of color depicted as an aviator in any of the top tier media outlets, and so I didn't know what was available to me. So, that said, I started off parking planes loading luggage at the Boston Logan Airport.

Speaker 1:

Start off at the very bottom. I was always broke and needed overtime pay, so I would go work upstairs at the ticket counter to check people in for their flights. And while I was up there, one of the executives that worked for the airline said to me. He said you know, steph, every time I come to this airport, I see you. I see you with the smile on your face serving customers. I think we have you in the wrong position. I think you should be in sales, and I didn't know anything about sales. I'd never sold a thing, right and so. But I really I trusted him. His name was Jim, and so that then took me a different route, because up until that point I thought I was going to be in operations for the airlines.

Speaker 1:

I then moved into sales, got sold for the airlines for many, many years and then got recruited into private aviation. And the reason why I bring this up is because private aviation, you know, is an aspirational industry, meaning people either want to fly privately or at least have enough money to be able to fly privately if they so chose, and so it's a very aspirational kind of industry. But it's an industry that I have loved and it's loved me back, but it's an industry that I always say we suffer from PMS, we are pale, male and state Okay, and so therefore I grew up in an industry where literally nobody looked like me for most of my career within this space. We're working really hard to change that now and we've made some great progress, but we still have a ways to go.

Speaker 1:

I say all that to say that because of my upbringing, you know, on the military side and, of course, my career choice being aviation and then specifically private aviation, it gave me a lot of material to have to understand how to work with people who were not like me, because in the private aviation space, I would take over teams that were primarily white, male teams.

Speaker 1:

That was the complete opposite of who I am, and yet I needed to figure out how I was going to be able to lead them and lead them successfully, right, because we all had a job to do, and so that's really a lot of how the book was birthed is by my own life experience and the things that I did right and the things that maybe I didn't do right, and then, you know, create this book that I feel like was inspired. Really, you know, part of my passion and my purpose to take all of that information the good, the bad and the ugly and then to use it so that it can hopefully help other leaders, especially today's leaders as they're coming up, to be able to do it faster and better and to accelerate their leadership capabilities. And so that's what the book is it's a tool to say, hey, here's how I did it and hopes that it can help you as well.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love reading all those personal stories in there that you included, so thank you for that, thank you.

Speaker 4:

I have a question about your upbringing, Stephanie. When you're on these bases, what was like the personality type of a lot of the adults you were hanging around with?

Speaker 1:

really been instrumental for me in my life is, you know, one could argue we've got the best armed forces right. And so you grew up as a little kid seeing excellence. There's a couple things that stood out to me. I saw a cause and demand right, or cause and effect, I should say and I saw excellence. So meaning, you know you don't see sloppy soldiers. You know their pants are creased, their shoes are shine, their hair is in place, they're, you know, built like Captain America, right, which is what you see at some events. And so that's where that's the standard that you're paying attention to and functioning with.

Speaker 1:

The flip side is and a lot of people may not know this unless they've been on bases or been in the military you also see cause and effect. So, as a military child, if I did something stupid and got in trouble on the base, let's say as a teenager, I'm, you know, speeding on the base. If I get pulled over, it's my father who has to be accountable to the fact that I was speeding on base right Now, of course, that's going to trickle down and eventually have to answer for as well. But you know you were very mindful that if you did something it wasn't me getting called into the commander's office. It was my father, and so that's what I mean by cause and effect that you really were each other's keeper, if you will. So I saw that as a child, and how that impacted me in the workforce is, especially from a leadership perspective, is that you know, whenever I take over especially when I used to lead sales teams whenever I would take over a team, the very first conversation I would have with the team first conversation is on this team. You are your brother and sister's keeper. That's how this team's going to function, and so we're going to either all win together or we're going to all lose together. It's our choice, and why that was important is because when you grow up as a military child, you see teamwork right, everybody.

Speaker 1:

You know, when I, when I very first my very first leadership job, I remember calling my father and I was really excited about it, but I wanted to do a good job and I asked him. I said, dad, you know I really want to do a really good job, as you know, as a new leader, et cetera. And what are some advice that you would give me? And leader, et cetera, and what are some advice that you would give me. And so my dad, as a master sergeant in the air force, said there's two things for you to always remember always protect your team and always know there's two sides of every story and why that's important. And I still lead to this day.

Speaker 1:

So anybody who's ever worked on my team they know. If you've got a problem with somebody else, one of our colleagues, do not go into Stephanie's office and talk about it, right? Because the first thing she's going to ask you is why are you talking to me about it, didn't you? Did you go and talk to you, know, xyz? And if the two of you can't figure it out, then the two of you can come to my office and the three of us can try to. You know, sort it all out. But you were never allowed to just come to me, john, about somebody else, right? Because we're a team. And that's the first thing. Second thing is that that's the two sides of every story.

Speaker 1:

And then there's the protecting of the team. You know the leader should be protecting the team. Sometimes the team's going to do something. You know that was not maybe a good decision or what have you. The worst thing you could possibly do as a leader is throw that team under the bus right. When it's good, you give the praise. When it's bad, you take the bullets right. And so all of the way that I grew up as a military child really impacted how I be today, and quite frankly I think that's. My competitive advantage is because I can see things differently, because I was fortunate enough to grow up around the best armed forces in the world.

Speaker 3:

Would you say you're like your father, or what ways are you like your father? And what ways are you your own person?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I would say I'm like my father in the sense of my father was. You know, we were talking, we were joking about it earlier, before we went live, being able to dig in right, you know. So my father, my father, trained me where you must complete the mission, it doesn't matter what's going on, the job has to be done right. And so that I'm very much like my father. If you give me, here's the goal, here's what we're trying to get accomplished, here's what we need the team to do, whatever it is, it actually doesn't matter what it is, it will get done Right. So I really credit my dad to that.

Speaker 1:

Gosh, areas where I was a daddy's girl, so I was probably more like my father than not, the areas that I've that I've developed over time is, you know, the thing about the military is they always say there's no bad soldier, right, if the soldier doesn't do what they were told to do, it's because you didn't communicate it well, because they do what they're told to do.

Speaker 1:

So where I would say that that I have grown and developed to maybe become my own type of leader is to realize that in the military, it's it's it's do, as I say, kind of thing that's not necessarily effective outside of the military right, and so, as a leader, I'm not a person of do as I say, I'm more of a person of like well, let's figure out, here's what needs to get done. Now, how we do it, that's up for interpretation. Let's have that discussion and really making sure that the team has a voice at the table, because, at the end of the day, they're the ones executing it Right. And so I am. I'm more of a leader like that, and that's a little bit different than typically what tends to happen in the military.

Speaker 4:

So, as you were coming up like you're in high school college you're raised in the environment that you're explaining what were some of the shaping influences or experiences that you had in that 18 and 22 year old or 16 and 22 year old timeframe that you were able to test out your influence as a leader, like how you could see yourself impacting others? Was there like a team or was there an experience or anything that was doing that?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm trying to think. I've had so many different experiences. I'll tell you about an experience that I had. That was it was. It was good, but not really that good Right.

Speaker 4:

It was shaping and not really that good right.

Speaker 3:

We learned from all of it. It was shaping. It was shaping Exactly.

Speaker 1:

And I remember I worked for one of the major airlines at the time and you know we had to do some major layoffs, right, and so you know you're laying off, you know, thousands of people, right, and so we did all of that, and then at the end they brought in a psychologist or a psychiatrist to work with those leaders that were still remaining, to kind of talk through, because when you're in the middle of it, you're just completing the mission, you're just in the middle of it. But now it's time for us to kind of debrief, breathe a little bit, cry, do whatever we got to do. All the stuff we couldn't do during the middle of it, now's our time to do it. The stuff we couldn't do during the middle of it, now's our time to do it. And so I remember it's me and my, my peers, and we're all you know, uh, mid-level managers at this point.

Speaker 1:

And so I remember they, the psychiatrist, going around the table and everybody had to express their Felix and kind of a scale of one to five. You know where are you right on on the, on the barometer, and so most people were kind of at two or three and it was a lot of tears, just a lot of emotion, a lot of tears and they finally, you know, they get to me and I was like I'm at five, right, you know, and I remember like now I wouldn't have done it that way, but I remember some of my peers just like, oh, my goodness, how excited I am, you know, and it's almost like the room turned on me and I remember being surprised that the room turned on me because now it took me off guard, right, and the psychiatrist noticed it. Thank goodness there was me and this other girl. We both are at fives. Everybody else is like two or three. And he said you know me and I won't say her name. He says tell me a little bit about your upbringing.

Speaker 1:

Turns out we were both military brats. So for us it wasn't that we didn't go through the five stages of grief, we just went through them very quickly, right, and so so for us it was like we're having the same pain you're having. But we realized that we had a job to do. We got the job done and now we need to get our head back in the game, because there's still a whole lot of people here that need to be led, and now we've off guard. So I learned in that process to you. It wasn't that I said the wrong thing. I just needed to read the room better, right, and to be mindful that not everybody was at the same stage that I was at, and because they had different backgrounds and upbringings, maybe some people were going to take a longer time in the different stages and they deserved to be able to have that time, and so, anyways, that was one of those moments that I remember, just because there was so much emotion happening, and so it stuck with me.

Speaker 3:

Right, and it also makes sense that you said that your father taught you about completing the mission. So it's like maybe I spent 30 seconds at a two, yes, but we got work to do, so I'm going to say five yeah, the mission's not done yet, right.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and you know it's interesting because that still lingers on with me now.

Speaker 1:

You know, now I'm on boards and things of that nature, and I remember recently having a discussion and the discussion was about the CEO's compensation pay and we were having a discussion about the bonus and the person had hit, you know, 98%, whatever versus 100%, and I was fixated on but the mission wasn't completed, right, and everybody else is like, okay, but we had a lot of obstacles and, you know, the person still hit 98% and I was still like, yeah, but that's not 100%, right, you know. And so there's areas that it still lingers with me where I sometimes have to throttle it back a little bit, um, and just again read the, the, the scope of the room and figure out, okay, can we give on this one. But then I also flip side of it. I think that sometimes we give too much right. It's like no, if the goal is this, then the goal is this, like, why are we talking about anything that hasn't hit the goal Right and so? So, anyways, it's, it's.

Speaker 1:

I always say I'm, I'm, I'm. I've had people who work on my team go love working for stuff, because she demands excellence and that, going back to your original question, brian, that's one of the things that shaped me is I was around excellence and so I demand excellence. I give excellence, but I also demand excellence. We will do what we say, we will complete the mission, we will start what we will finish what we start Like. All of that, to me, is incredibly simplistic, but it makes life easier because, you know, some people spend so much time worrying about stuff because they just were so closed or have an excuse why they didn't get it done. I'm very black and white in a lot of things and it makes life a lot easier.

Speaker 3:

And you've tasted what excellence looks like and the rewards of it, so that can make a difference too. Brian, you had a follow up question.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, putting a lot of the pieces together of, you know, the, the, the, the work you're doing, the leadership experiences that the work you're doing, the leadership experiences that you have had and I know that there are. You know, our work is almost primarily focused on leadership, executive leadership teams and the struggles that they're going through. I'm sure you've witnessed many in your career. My question is what was the catalyst for deciding that you have to write a book? Because I you know, was it something where you know you thought you discovered this hidden treasure that needs to be shared with the world? Or was it out of sheer frustration? And keep running into a wall? You're like I've got to change something? What was it for you that brought you to that point of saying I need to refine this and get it out?

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So it's interesting because, because I'm a professional speaker, so that's that's really how I, how I make a living. And my speaker's bureau had said to me hey step, people are asking does she have a book? Like you come, you speak, they love it and they want more and they're like. So my speaker's bureau is the one actually who, who suggested highly, highly, you need to write a book, you need to write a book, you need to write a book. And I remember at the time I was also still a working executive, so I was in the.

Speaker 1:

C-suite, I'm on boards, I'm doing, speaking, and in my mind I'm like there is no way I have time to write a book. And so I just kind of, you know, would listen to them, but just knowing I just didn't have the capacity to write a book. Finally, I started to, you know, things started to change in my schedule and whatnot, and so I had time now at this point. But now I was really determined, brian, about well, what kind of book do I want to write? I don't want to just write a book, because they said I got to write a book, so what book would really do I feel passionate about?

Speaker 1:

And one of the things that I did, which I'd never done before, is I went away, and I went away all by myself, which I'd never done that, and I went completely off the grid. So no cell phone, no computer, no internet, no, nothing. It was just like I'm going away for five days and if in fact there's a book in me, this will be the time that it's going to have to be birthed. And so, when I went away, I'm a woman of faith and so it ended up happening which was not part of my plan was when I went away, the first three days. I always tell people it was me and Jesus.

Speaker 1:

It was something I had not anticipated, and it just became three amazing days of just worship and silence of just worship and silence, and I could really hear from for me, hear from the Lord as to what it was that he wanted me to do, and so when I walked out of there five days later, I had the outline of the book, and so I do feel very strongly about this book that it was inspired not because of me, but because I didn't know what our world would be going through.

Speaker 1:

I wrote this book last year and a lot's going on over the past year that none of us saw coming, and so the timeliness of this book is really incredible. One of the reasons why I wrote the book as well is I felt like a lot of the conversation that was out there tended to focus primarily on white men, so the conversation was all right. How do white men lead women and people of color? And though that's a good question, and primarily white men, because they still control so much of the leadership positions within Fortune 100, 500, et cetera. So though it's a good conversation, but I felt like the conversation needed to go deeper and wider, because, as the world changes so now you know, when we look at the modern workforce, we've got six generations working so intergenerationally. This is unheard of right, and we know that a Zoomer, gen Z, thinks very different than a Boomer, and so on and so forth. So that's one challenge that leaders are dealing with. The second challenge is that we've got women as the majority of the world's population and specifically in our country, we're the majority of this country's population, and so we have women, have a different perspective and viewpoint and communication style, and so that impacts the workforce. On top of that, you look at the demographics that are changing right. So the ethnic races are all growing. Non-ethnic race continues to shrink. That changes the demographics, not to even mention we've got people with different abilities physical abilities, we've got neurodiversities, we have LGBTQ plus community. The list goes on and on and on.

Speaker 1:

So leaders are being challenged on leading people who are not like each other and leading people who are not like them, and so I had already mentioned I came from an industry where, you know, I was literally the lonely. Only there was hardly anybody like me, and if they were there, I didn't see him on the way up Right, and so so what that did is when I started to write the book, it was just a lot of my personal. The book is filled with personal stories, a lot of my personal experiences good, bad or indifferent on how I navigated this whole thing, and so that's really the premise behind why I wrote the book and why I think it's really important. Not because I wrote the book, but I think it's important that if you're going to lead today, then you need to know how to lead all God's children, every race, every creed, every gender. That's the job, and so if you can't do that, no problem, right, but you're going to be like irrelevant eventually because the world's changing, whether you want the world to change or not, and you stick in your head in the sand ain't gonna make people go away because they don't agree with your particular way that you see life or your lifestyle or whatever. It just doesn't work that way. And so now is the time for leaders, all leaders, to be able to. You know, I wrote the book for every leader. I didn't want the conversation just to be hey, white guy, you need to do this, that and the other right. I'm like, okay, we all need to step up, right, and so all of us have a place that we could learn and grow. And how do we do that is really the question, and we have different ways to do it. There's no one way to do it right, there's different ways to do it. And so that's really where I feel very passionate. I feel like there's a lot of conversation right now.

Speaker 1:

Right before I got on this call, I had a big.

Speaker 1:

My PR team reached out hey, xyz Magazine wants to get a quote from you today about intergenerational work, right, and you know everybody's got to kind of ease up a little bit that each generation has something that they bring to the table, and most of people like we're probably all around the same age.

Speaker 1:

We tend to be the ones the boomers and the Gen X. We're in the leadership roles right now, but we're going to have to compromise, because there are things that you can learn from Gen Z and millennials, and so you know, let's embrace that, versus just assuming that they don't have focus and they don't want to cut to the office, and you know all those negative stereotypes. Some of that could be true, but there's also some things that they do bring to the table that all of us could really be blessed from, and, at the end of the day, we all have a fiscal responsibility, whether you work for a nonprofit or publicly held or privately held. Our job as leaders is to make sure that we bring profitability into the equation. That's right, and so, with that in mind, you want the best talent possible. Nobody needs to be having discussions about diverse workforce, because the numbers are clear.

Speaker 3:

So we don't need to have that discussion, it's just imperative.

Speaker 1:

It's just imperative, it's just a good way to do business. And so, anyways, I think that the leaders who can really embrace the fact that the world's changing and, instead of being afraid of it, actually lean into it, they're going to be the ones that really, you know, get to be unstoppable and change where we're going and the speed in which we're going, and they have the ability to really be, I don't know, very impactful, should they choose to embrace it.

Speaker 3:

I got chill bumps probably four or five times while you were talking and we really see that the generational gaps are really cultural gaps. It's almost like completely different cultures trying to integrate and talk to each other and find ways to work together. So many ways that I am resonating with you as you then put books into people's hands. What has been some of the conversation back to you, or which parts? And I'm sure, like when you write a book, you're hoping like well, it'll just, it's, it's been inspired, it's going to go out there and you hope that it'll have a certain kind of effect.

Speaker 1:

Is there? Has there been any surprising effect? Yes, yes, you know. What's really interesting to me is when I wrote the book. So I know you all are in the middle of writing a book. When you're in the book writing process, there's a part that you do beta readers right. So you're done with the manuscript and then you give it to the beta readers and the beta readers come back with you know, their, their. So you're done with the manuscript and then you give it to the beta readers and the beta readers come back with their perspective and places that they feel like the book could be better.

Speaker 1:

So for me, I did a couple things. I increased my beta readers, so I did more than I was asked to do, and I made sure that there was a beta reader representation from all different types because the book is really all about that from all different types, because the book is really all about that, right. But I also leaned very heavy on white executive men because I knew that this book because, again, all books had been towards just that one group and I wanted to go deeper and wider. So I really wanted to get their perspective as well. So when I gave my book to different beta readers.

Speaker 1:

I remember there's two things that would stood out to me beta readers. I remember there's two things that would stood out to me. One was the white men, who don't know each other, by the way, right, and they've all got big corporate positions. Every one of them came back to me with you know, steph, you're really onto something with this book. I think you should make it a movement, don't just make it a book.

Speaker 1:

And I was like, really, tell me more. And I said you know, tell me how you felt reading the book. And they said you challenged me, you made me think. And I remember saying did at any point ever make you mad? And like, no, you never made me mad, but you made me think. And that was what I was going for, right, that does nobody any good for people to be upset, Right? That wasn't my focus and so so that was really one thing that was interesting to me.

Speaker 1:

The other thing is, even though I wrote it for corporate America, I had people who were in ministry say to me this book is really good for ministry. And I was like, really, like you know? And they said, yeah, because pastors are leading people that are not like each other and they're not 100 percent sure how to do or at least they should be Right the church should not look like shouldn't look the same in the church, so because that's not how heaven's going to look. So that was another part that was really interesting to me, because I didn't write it for ministry, I wrote it for Marketplace but was encouraged by people in ministry saying this is a book that ministry needs to take hold of as well, by people in ministry saying this is a book that ministry needs to take hold of as well.

Speaker 2:

Wow, another big, big thank you to Stephanie Chung for this super fun conversation. Wow, just what an incredible journey she's had, from growing up as a military brat to breaking barriers in aviation. Stephanie's story is such a powerful example of how our backgrounds shape our leadership and how adaptability, resilience and even embracing struggles and new opportunities can really set the stage for success. Now, as you reflect on this episode, here's two more things to consider with your team. Number one how have your past experiences shaped the way that you lead? Number one how have your past experiences shaped the way that you lead? Take a few minutes to just reflect, or even share with your team, how your background influences your leadership style, decision making and team interactions. Much like Stephanie shared about her dad's style of leadership. You know how did that impact her. Think about your own example. Number two what opportunities do you have to build relationships with people who aren't like you? Stephanie's story was such a good reminder to me that stepping outside of our comfort zones and being intentional about connection can really help us grow, not only as leaders, but just as good human beings. And sometimes I think you really have to go out of your way to step out of your comfort zone. It's not going to be very easy, so think about what ways you can do that Now.

Speaker 2:

Next week, we'll get into Stephanie's book Ally Leadership and explore how leaders can better support, empower and lead diverse teams. So, if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the Leadership Vision podcast, wherever you get your podcast, just to make sure you don't miss part two. And until then, thank you so much for listening to the Leadership Vision podcast, our show helping you build positive team culture. For more resources like this or just to talk about what it may take to create a positive team culture in your organization, please reach out to us at connect at leadershipvisionconsultingcom, or you can click the link in the show notes, visit any of our social media pages or you can explore our vast online resource library at leadershipvisionconsultingcom. I would really encourage you to take what you've learned here today and consider how you can lead with greater awareness and adaptability in your own leadership journey. I'm Nathan Friberg and, on behalf of our entire team, thanks for listening.