Follow The Brand Podcast with Host Grant McGaugh

The Brave Path: Confronting Fear on the Leadership Journey

• Grant McGaugh CEO 5 STAR BDM • Season 1 • Episode 21

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Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!

Speaker 1:

All right, how are you doing? S Lewis Campbell? We finally got here. We have produced First Light. You have been with me on this journey for months, if not years, if I really think back at it for months, if not years, if I really think back at it. But I want to have a book discussion because you have written, you know, you've helped me produce the book. You have read the book several different times. I felt it would be a really good, cool thing to do, especially for our audience, for you to interview me and ask me questions around the book that you felt the audience would truly like. So let's get us started.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. Well, I'm feeling good, and I'm feeling good about this. I am very proud of how far you've come in the journey. To be honest with you, grant, and when I think about where we started with this, this book has been in production probably about, I would say, more than two years, and I would say probably maybe three to four in so long. But what is it about the book that has brought it to this sort of production over that course of time for you?

Speaker 1:

That's a great question and it always reflects back on my own life, my own journey, where I have been. I'm currently now in my early 60s and so when I take a look at this particular piece of work is really, as you stated, it's been over decades. Really, it is my career as it has been now put into light of what I have learned people. I've engaged with some of the principles that I have put in place, whether conscious or unconscious, that have gotten me to the next level as someone who has been had a career in business development, always engaging in the sales process. For me that's always been like a it's a professional sport, basically what I would say about professional sales or business development.

Speaker 1:

In that respect, you learn a lot of things, you engage with a lot of people. You see people when they're up and they're down. You find the ways to keep going even when the light is very, very dim. This is what brave is all about being brave. That's my blueprint strategy. So first slide is when you really get that first enlightenment to continue to move forward when the odds are against you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I can. I think we can definitely relate to that and I think, whilst we're talking about the BRAVE strategy, which you have trademarked, you know and is copywritten, I think we should really talk about. You know what the BRAVE blueprint strategy actually stands for. So, just to ensure that I get this correctly, I want to sort of confirm that it stands for boldness, resilience, authenticity, vision and execution, and these five elements form the brave blueprint strategy from the path that leaders walk if they want to create sort of real impact, you know, with their work and their vision for what they're doing their work and their vision for what they're doing.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, you've got to be brave to accomplish a worthy goal. When I work with individuals and a lot of people that have come and taken me up on the offer to engage with me on professional coaching from a career development or business development standpoint A lot of people know me for personal branding. Personal branding is all about where do you want to go? Are you looking to accomplish a career, a new promotion, let's just say, are you looking to create more business opportunities? You need to have a framework, a process that is a proven process, and people that have gone through my particular coursework have about a 90% probability of reaching their North Star. That's the main point. So, as the book starts out and I bring this to most of the people that I work with meaning, we first have to work with your current state right, and I ask them to meet me at base camp. Right At base camp is most important because I need to put you in a frame of mind outside of your normal state and then begin to query you about where you have been before you got to this point, almost like what you just asked me. Like, hey, grant, you've been doing this for four years. What were you doing before you got to this point? We need to understand ourselves and, looking at different origins or points of pivots in our life, where were you five years ago? That has now led you to this point, right, once you get a better understanding of what that looks like, you begin to craft that first part of the brand bold identity. I call that the brand identity, or being bold. You can't be bold until you begin to understand what you truly want to achieve and what you've already achieved up to this point. Now in the book you're going to find out once that has been identified In our character in our book.

Speaker 1:

He wants a promotion. He says, yes, I'm ready for a promotion. You want a promotion, wants a promotion. He says, yes, I'm ready for a promotion, you want a promotion. The first thing you find out is that you're going to have to embrace your fear. It's very, very important. There is a fear that is there. It has probably been with you for a very long time. It don't masquerade at a lot of different levels. Some people call it imposter syndrome. You know you feel uncomfortable in the role. That syndrome, you know you feel uncomfortable in the role that you're in or you feel uncomfortable about achieving the goal that you've said you aspire to, but are you really aspiring and do you have what it takes to get there?

Speaker 1:

All of these elements work together, and what was taught to me by one of what I call one of my mentors when I first started out is that these things have to be done in the right order. I may have your phone number right, but on my phone, if I don't dial the exact numbers exactly right, I will not get you on the phone, and that is what's most important. If you don't follow this process exactly right, I will not get you on the phone, and that is what's most important. If you don't follow this process exactly right, you will not achieve your desired outcome. So this is very important when we look at this framework, that it's not. Yes, it's a beautiful piece of work.

Speaker 1:

I think when people read the actual book, like, wow, that was a great scene, it's awesome. We also have a lot in the book about what this means for you and the journey that you're on. Most people are on some kind of journey, whether they realize or not, because of the challenges that they have. Like, wow, why am I being challenged so much. These challenges are usually in front of you because it leads to a higher path, the desired path that you want to go.

Speaker 1:

But if you don't climb that mountain, if you don't face those fears, you're never going to achieve the goal that you have in mind. And if you don't have a guide that can take you through it and a lot of people, they struggle, they're like well, I don't need a gun, maybe I'll just do it myself. You can do certain things yourself. You can learn to write or build a house by looking at YouTube. Youtube will take you through the whole thing and you can build a house. But I think you might find out along the way of building a house it's not that easy that you do need professional help, that you might have some of the components of building that house, but the know-how, the experience someone has did it before they know those little nuances, the, the precise elements that are needed. That is what this book is all about, and I love how you coined this a field guide. I first heard that really this a field guide.

Speaker 1:

I first heard that really, this is your field guide, so it's not a quick reading, it's not going to read it right. It's like you know what. That was great and put it aside. No, you got to pick this up, especially as you begin to track up that mountain to the goal that you set for yourself. And it takes time to get through these things, but you've got to know you are along these paths. So I hope I've answered some of that question for you.

Speaker 2:

I think you have, and I like the way that you put it. You know about the different stages is like where you kind of are pivoting, isn't it? You know, as you're reaching these, as you're making your way towards these goals, and you're going from one part of the journey or one part of the strategy, you're moving through one part to another, and I like the fact as well that you look at it as a destination. You know it's like a climb, you know that's where that vision comes from.

Speaker 2:

I also like what I love about the book as well is not only is it a guide, it's very much a handbook. You know, just like, for instance, if you, you know, back in the day before we had sort of like the technology that we have today, people would walk around with like dictionaries and things like that. You know, certain reference guides. You know, shows my age. You know I heard you mention roughly how old you are and I'm not far off, you know, kind of thing. So I do remember when we used to walk around with big bags and have all our textbooks in there because, you know, we wanted to write a letter. We wouldn't just be able to get on a computer and have all this information available to us, we would need to go away and do that work and that study. And that's what's so great about the book it is a handbook, a reference guide that you can always go back to and see where you are on the journey.

Speaker 2:

Another great dimension about the book that I really, really have enjoyed and I think this is my favorite bit because I speak to you about it often and that's about the wolf and the mountain and where you show the vulnerableness, about where you actually strip the person back, you know, to themselves at that very base point, like you mentioned, and I find that a lot of books that talk about leadership or just talk about anything informative to help others, never really talks about that moment. You know they talk about the destination, they focus on that, but we can't get to the destination if we don't know where the start is. So talk to me, or talk to me, and also, um, for the viewers, um, and for the readers as well, you know, when they start to look into this book in a bit more detail and start reading it for themselves, what made you come up with that concept? And just to say as well that, the reason why I love it even more so is the wolf is my most favorite animal in the world. Always has been Go ahead.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, and you know, wolves have been with mankind for a long time, whether as friend or foe. But as we encounter these things and this is an allegory, and going back to what I was talking about earlier you may have a goal in mind and just like if you're in a great wilderness and you are taking a stroll, let's just say a hike up a mountain, and you don't know exactly what you may or may not encounter. Now you're out in the wilderness, you can encounter a lot of different things. Typically, we think like well, we're just going to get to the top of this mountain, we're going to have a great view. You will have some challenges at some point in your journey. It's going to happen right. How that happens, you don't really know how it's going to jump out at you when it happens.

Speaker 1:

Now this is called I'm jumping back over to the business world but it's going to jump out at you that all of a sudden, you lose certain people that have guided you along your way. This happens a lot. You may have somebody that's a confidant, someone who's looked out for you, or a mentor for you or an advocate for you. All of a sudden, they move from a different department or they've gone to a different role at a different organization, entirely Big shakeup or the job itself. I had this happen in my own life. I've been gone through what you call layoffs, right Force management reductions, I think they call them and sometimes you see this coming, sometimes you don't. So over time, I think you start to develop some type of inner fear that you have about taking on, either taking that next step in your evolution and this is what we're really talking about Right, are you prepared, not only mentally or your capabilities, your skill sets, but are you prepared emotionally to truly take on this responsibility? Are you accountable for this type of thing? As you go through the book, the book will give you choices and that very first scene, that scene, is so powerful because you encounter the fear immediately when you weren't really ready for it. It's there, it's coming, it's real and you have to act. Some people don't. I don't want to give away some of the greatest, I think, points of the book as you read through it, but you will start to see that some people don't get past this point. You don't get past it because if you cannot engage with fear and fear is an internal thing, not really external right If you cannot get past your fear and you're pretending that you are, as you were learning to. You think you are, but you're not.

Speaker 1:

I remember one time I had the opportunity to go skydiving and I had a fear of jumping out of an airplane, you know, and thinking through that like why am I going to do that? Right, but the person I was with this is a true story. The person I was with showed me a videotape of them skydiving and they jumped out of the plane and said hey, that doesn't look like you're actually falling. My inner fear said you're falling out of a plane, you know, and you're going to drop those 2,000 feet. But that's really not the case. But the real case is that, yes, you're going to, you know, fall out of the plane immediately, but then you're buoyed by the air. You don't feel like you're going to. You know, uh, fall out of the plane immediately, but then you're buoyed by the air. You don't feel like you're falling, you actually feel like it's floating.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, it's a totally you know you've put that so well. Yeah, you, you said that very, very well. And I and you know what and I realize that's actually one of your strengths is how you're able to kind of explain things, because to me, I never, when I think about the wolf within itself and I hear what you're saying, it's like you're out there in the wilderness, aren't you? You know, with this very, very lack of a vision, even though you know what the end goal is, you've not thought about the steps in between, which are that's what you need? Is that understanding in order to get to the end goal? Is you've not thought about the steps in between, which are that's what you need? Is that understanding in order to get to the end goal? So I do agree with you. It's like you know, I never really thought of the wolf in that way.

Speaker 2:

To me, when I think about the wolf, I always and I see this in the book I think about probably the most strongest and courageous, you know, animal, you know.

Speaker 2:

But now, having read the book several times, like I've mentioned, I understand why the wolf is such a good depiction for this, because the wolf usually works from a place of fear, you know. That's their whole makeup. However, they're the most courageous as well, you know, because they're willing to put themselves out there on that limb, you know, in order to create their pack, create their force, and even without one, they can still be a very, very strong force within themselves. You know, because we know that wolves roam in packs. But I've spent a lot of time, as you can probably tell, over the years researching and watching programs about wolves, as I love them so much and to see that the way that and I've seen them, you know operate on their own, you know, and be a part of a pack as well, you know kind of thing and what that dynamic is like. And so, yeah, I found that very, very important. And so, yeah, I found that very, very important.

Speaker 1:

So, in terms, of the brave blueprint and the strategy within itself. How did you come up with that? Oh, that's a great question and it's a story behind that as well. Brave, in its essence, actually came from my father, who I've talked about a lot as far as I lost him early in my life through a health care mishap. But he had a company that he had. It was called A Braver Way. I thought that was really cool. That was the name of his company and I utilize that as part of the framework for brave itself.

Speaker 1:

So in essence, it's pretty much something that I got from my father. And going back to the wolf, you've got to be brave. See, when you overcome your fear like I overcame my fear of skydiving by actually doing it and once you conquer that fear, you can overcome that fear, you gain. It empowers you. So in the very first part of the book, the point of that scene is I have to empower you, because if you don't feel that you can actually achieve this goal, then we're wasting our time, because you will put a lot of excuses in the way.

Speaker 1:

This goal, then we're wasting our time Because you will put a lot of excuses in the way. Things get, you know, no longer it falls down in the priority level. Right, I can do other things and face this fear. You know, I got better things to do to go skydiving, right. We're talking about things that are self-limiting to you and to a point again, I also need to put the realism into what you want to achieve. So that's that next level I do is skills gap analysis.

Speaker 1:

Let's take a look, because if you're a base mount, or the base camp as I call it, you're a base camp. I have to assess your capabilities to getting up to the top of the mountain. I truly have to assess that. So, as we go through the wolf scene right now, we've got to go through a skills gap analysis, because one of the biggest problems that people have when they start on a trek toward a goal is they underestimate what it takes to achieve that goal. You underestimate what's happening on.

Speaker 1:

I call on the other side of the ball, right, you may say you know what I was great. Let's just say in high school football, you know I was great, just to say, in high school football. You know, here in the United States we play football. Football is going on right now and I was great and I said I'm going to play pro football. But first you've got to play college football, usually when it happens right and then you want to play at that level.

Speaker 1:

When you begin to find out, the things that you were able to do at the high school level aren't the same things you can do at the collegiate level and certainly not the same things you can do at the professional level. But if someone doesn't bring that to your attention, you're going to be, you're going to have delusions and you might make because of that uh, uh illusion that you have and then, when you fall into that, you shriek or you shirk back from trying anything else. Yeah, maybe you failed at the collegiate level and you gave up your goal of doing professional football. Let's just say, right, we need to understand, like why aren't you at where you want to be in the first place? What's what's limiting you? Is this something that is fanciful for you or something you're really going to dedicate yourself to and understand what it truly takes to get there? And are you willing to put in the work. That's very, very important.

Speaker 2:

I agree and I think also as well, learning more about because I know you do. In the book, you do refer to your father and so forth, and I am very sorry for your loss, which I mentioned before. However, I do think it's a wonderful way to you know, think about your father, you know, and actually have him form part of the book as well. You know, considering that he was the one who actually started, you know this framework, as it were, and thinking about how brave he has been, you know, in his own journey, and that you're being able to sort of utilize this book in a way as an extension of that is even more powerful to me, actually, and gives the book even greater meaning. And I like what you said as well. You know about greater meaning and I like what you said as well. You know about overcoming fear, and I hear what you said, even with about the football element. So one thing that we are big on, just like you're big on football there we use the same word for it. Here you call it something slightly different, which is soccer, and you know I'm big on the game.

Speaker 2:

You know I don't have as much time, unfortunately, these days to be as involved. But I will say to you that I have played soccer for a very, very long time. You know it's probably why I was suffering with a bit of cramp. You know, as I played many years before, years before and even when I was living in Australia, I played semi-professional for at my age, my grand age for a women's team in Australia for four years and I hear what you say again about the delusions of grandeur. You know I had to retire because I realized that, you know, while I was out there I was good and I was doing it more for fitness, you know, whereas others was taking it more seriously.

Speaker 2:

And whilst, when you're playing abroad, you have a very different set of rules than you have here, because obviously, if I'm hurt or injured, I can go and get it fixed. If I'm over there and I'm hurt and I'm injured, it's not the same. You know, as we've talked about when we've been in our previous podcast health series before, you know, the treatment globally is very significantly different. So you know and that brings me towards it's how you discover, I think, in a way is when you combat your fear, is how you discover your own authenticity, you know, and which leads onto that actually in the book and why that's so important in terms of leadership. So please do talk to me about that.

Speaker 1:

That's very important. We can always tell each other stories. I can tell you stories. You have a choice whether you're going to believe them or not, but I know the truth behind that story. I know the truth and then sometimes I think we tell ourselves stories and we begin to believe our own stories instead of believing our own truth. You've got to be authentic in what you want to achieve and truly see yourself as you are. It's not that simple, because even when you look at a mirror, you're only seeing 180 degrees at best of yourself. You're not seeing 350 degrees, and that is why you need other eyes on you, of itself, to be able to see that full circle of who you are.

Speaker 1:

Brave is about being bold. Once I empower you, you begin to feel some of that boldness, right. And then resilience, because now you want something. You can see it. Right, you can see, like you know, what I can play at that level. You begin to understand it and what it takes to get there. And now you're going to be resilient, because the winds, those headwinds, are going to come toward you, right, but you've got to be resilient in what you want to accomplish and you're using that empowerment that you have now to then take on these challenges and get through the game right, like in soccer. You've got to kick the ball, you've got to run, you've got people running or flying at you and you want to get to that goal and you want to score. Right. You're like I'm ready to score. You want to get to that goal and you want to score. Right. You're like I'm ready to score. You want to do whatever it takes to score, even though they knock you down, they go left, it goes right. You got to get out there. That's why I like soccer. It's a great, great analogy, right.

Speaker 1:

But then you get to that next level, which is being authentic. This is when you've got to really assess your assets. You've got to look at what I have, in this case, to be able to accomplish the goal. A lot of times in the book, I'm taking you through this entire levels of just self-awareness first, before we even get to the playing field. That's what authenticity is all about and that's recognizing your strengths, your weaknesses, the opportunity. That's the self-swan analysis of who you are, what you have, not just in jazz. We got to peel back some layers, we got to get deep in it Because, remember, you are truly, on a mountain and you're a quarter of the way up, halfway up.

Speaker 1:

This is not time to sugarcoat anything. You are either going to be able to progress toward the peak or you're going to find yourself frozen on that mountain in your fears or your incapabilities, because you haven't pulled out the different assets that you need to accomplish the goal. There'll be a point in time that you're like, wow, I needed that big coat. Let's just say, wow, there was a time that I needed to be able to face whatever obstacle was in my way. That's being authentic, and you have to understand what your weaknesses truly, truly, truly are, and that you're carrying them with you up the mountain. They can either be your best friend or they can become your worst enemy, because you will be exposed in that way.

Speaker 1:

Your authentic self, even though you think no one else can see it, but you, others do see it. They may not see it completely, but it's there. You don't embrace things yourself. Your true, authentic self. Right Now you're living in that world that you want to be in, that we call imposter syndrome, because you're not being your true self. So I teach you how to be that authentic self, empower you to be that authentic self. So then you can begin to tread further up the mountain I agree, and it's it's.

Speaker 2:

It's so important as well because what you're describing to me just keeps hitting me. Every time you've been speaking about it's about self-discovery. Isn't it really working out whether you've actually got the skills to do this, or is it just a brain wave, as it were, and and and and, even if, even if you feel that it is something that you can do, are you prepared to, to make the effort you know to in order to see it come true? And I like the idea about the self-discovery and you need to really start with that before you take on any sort of project, vision, desire, as it were, to really find out if it's for you. Because what we both know, the main aspect about self-discovery is, is that, as you're going on this path, you're going to find out that you are not the person you actually thought you were. You know, as you start going through some of these things, because what I have found out about myself is is that I'm open to change, because I'm always learning. You know about the skills, keeping up to date with things. You know the networking, the reading. You know education, as it were. You know educating myself, so as I'm learning more and more about various things that are of interest to me.

Speaker 2:

I'm learning that I'm also changing as well in the way that I think, in the way that in terms of my mindfulness and in terms of my path as well, that may even change.

Speaker 2:

And, for instance, the business that we had when I first started. There's definitely still some elements of that there, like our core parts of that business. That may never change, but it will always improve. But our business has changed over the years as well, where we were able to give a more professional service, a more improved service. You know, because whilst we're going away and we're, we're publishing for you and we're publishing for others, we are also developing that skill within itself. You know that, the skill that we enjoy, that we want to to know more about and be and not be perfect at, because I don't think that gives you room to learn, um, but it helps you to sort of be the very best that you can be whilst doing it, and there's always room for improvement. So talk to me about the vision. You know how can we stand out, you know, in terms of being visionaries in the fields that we're in.

Speaker 1:

Now, this is a very important part of the process. You've gotten the bold. We've defined that a little bit for you. The resilience very important the authenticity. This is all the inner work. The internal Vision is external. Vision is not all. Right, now I'm going to apply my skill set toward my goal. This is the application.

Speaker 1:

This is when you become visible. This is the visibility of value and this is when you're engaging not just with your self-beliefs, you're engaging with the beliefs of others. Branding is not so much about what you think about yourself as what others think about you. What have you built within the perception of others? Is your brand? Right At the point where you get to what I call the mountain of visibility. This is when you are on the field. Going back to our soccer analogy, our football analogy, this is when you take the field. This is when it counts. You got to be ready. You got to go out there and face whatever it is that you want to accomplish on this field and you're bringing everything to bear. You're starting to understand what it takes to do. You have the right velocity, do you have the right volume, do you have the right synchronicity to get this done right? Your vision is when you bring everything that's been a plan now and you're starting to actually come out with it. We have now launched First Light.

Speaker 1:

This is the visibility phase of my book. This is when it's meeting the audience. Am I ready? Is the audience ready Like huh? What does he bring into the table that's going to up my game, that's going to bring value to me in what I'm looking to accomplish and can I validate what's going on?

Speaker 1:

So this is when reality takes place of what you're looking to accomplish and you are doing what you need to do to make it real. Now we're short on time, but we're going to begin to unpack a lot of these things through our talks as we launch this book. But I wanted to really define that visibility phase. This is when, instead of being a singular type path, when it becomes multiplicity, meaning if you're operating within a business, you're operating with the operations people, the marketing people, the finance people. You're operating with sales people, the marketing people. Then you're operating in the business world. This is starting to become very, very visible of who you are and what you are looking to accomplish in your goals, of who you are and what you are looking to accomplish in your goals I agree and how you want to be seen by people.

Speaker 2:

What is the message you're putting out there? You know, so to speak, and, as you say, we're very short on time, so please tell us about that execution.

Speaker 1:

Well, executing is when you are on the field, you're actually playing the game, but then it's almost like think about this, like almost like halftime, you get a little break. Right, you have to assess what's going on. The evaluation phase Am I on course to achieve my goal? Am I on the best course? Is this the fastest way? Is this the hardest way? You've got to evaluate what you're doing and then you execute boldly upon your goal.

Speaker 1:

This is a moment where, if you have to switch gears this is when you switch gears because you're visible in the market. You have to evaluate what you're doing. Is it on target to reach the goal? If it isn't, you need to have the metrics. You have to be able to evaluate all those things. You have to see the ripple effects of what's happening and make those pivots where you continue to move forward. And do you have the right mechanisms in place? In the business world, they talk about it all the time. You can't manage what you can't measure. Make sure that whatever you're making visible is measurable. Right, so that you can execute upon all these different goals. You should be ready right at this point. Right, you know yourself, you know your strength, you're bold, you're resilient, you're authentic, you have a vision and now you're executing. This is what's important, and this is why this book is a field manual for those that are in the field and looking to score and win big.

Speaker 2:

I agree, and you know. You know the book is just so important and I'm so glad that we've done this today, because unless you read that book, you've got no hope in being an effective and sustainable leader with longevity it's just not going to happen for you and moving forward. If anyone wants to have a discussion with me about leadership, please come to me after you've read the book, because then we can have a real detailed discussion. It's a book that you're going to need to refer to every time you've got a new goal to achieve, you know. So I wish you every success with it, grant. You know, please do keep us updated, you know, with how it's going, you know, and how the book's journey has impacted your own life as well and the goals that you may have as well.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. We've launched the book. We've got plenty of pre-orders already. Thank everybody for ordering the book. Now it's available on a mass scale so anyone can go to Amazon. On the Kindle platform. You can type in my name, grant McGaugh. You can type in First Light the Brave Path to Authentic Leadership. It'll come right up. Looking forward to it, we're going to have a special hardback book that'll be'll be, you know, signature by the author. I'm going to get one out to you out there in london as well, and that when I do my um, actual in-person events, I'll have that particular book set available. You're going to want. This is going to be a beautiful, beautiful cover and please contact brown for a copy a lot time.

Speaker 1:

So next, when we do our next podcast about the book, we're going to talk about some of the contributors to the book who actually made it very special. They got first dibs on a lot of the work and they brought their game to the table and really took it to another level. So we'll talk about that. But I want to thank you again for being with us today.

Speaker 2:

You're most welcome Thank you.

Speaker 3:

You're welcome. Every leader's journey begins before the sun rises. In the quiet moments when doubt whispers and the path ahead is unclear, at First Light Brand Leadership. We believe that every shadow holds a lesson and every challenge is a chance to grow. Here we walk the brave path boldness, resilience, authenticity, vision and execution, transforming stories into strategies and uncertainty into opportunity. Leadership isn't about a title or a role. It's about the light you choose to carry and the impact you leave behind. Are you ready to step out of the shadows and begin your climb?