Be a Voice of Change: How to Communicate Transformational Leadership with Dr. Lesia Crumpton-Young: Podcast Ep. 399

Be a Voice of Change: How to Communicate Transformational Leadership with Dr. Lesia Crumpton-Young: Podcast Ep. 399

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We’re continuing our new podcast series on Executive Speaking!

This episode is full of inspiration and practical insights if you’re looking to enhance your leadership skills, embrace transformation, and make meaningful connections. 

Dr. Lesia Crumpton-Young’s journey is a testament to the power of perseverance, innovation, and the importance of showing up.

Whether you’re a seasoned leader or just starting your career, her wisdom will resonate and empower you to take bold steps towards your own greatness.

Dr. Crumpton-Young is an award-winning engineer, academic leader, and transformational coach. From her impressive journey as the first African American woman to earn a PhD in engineering at Texas A&M University to her pivotal role as a university president, Lesia shares her profound insights on leadership, transformation, and the power of showing up.

Tune in to discover:

  • The power of showing up, exemplified by how I met Lesia (you’ll love this story)
  • The essential qualities of a transformational leader and how to cultivate them
  • The significance of authentic and transparent communication in fostering strong relationships and driving change, including the one thing leaders and speakers must do
  • Practical tips on overcoming challenges and making impactful decisions
  • The exciting launch of a fashion line dedicated to empowering women and inspiring greatness

About My Guest: Dr. Lesia Crumpton-Young is the founding President and CEO of Greatness Gurus Corporation. Dr. Lesia L. Crumpton-Young served as the 13th President of Texas Southern University. She is regarded as a transformational leader who has led organizations to achieve unprecedented success at an accelerated pace. 

President Crumpton-Young received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University where she was the first African American female to receive a Ph.D. in engineering. Previously, President Crumpton-Young held the positions of Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Morgan State University; Vice President for Research and Institutional Advancement at Tennessee State University; Program Director at the National Science Foundation; Associate Provost at Texas A&M University; Associate Dean of Engineering at Mississippi State University (MSU); Professor and Department Head of the Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Department at the UCF; and Department Chairman position at UCF.

President Crumpton-Young is an experienced, innovative, and accomplished executive leader with a firm understanding of higher education who has strategically and intentionally positioned institutions by implementing transformative initiatives to ensure organizational success. President Crumpton-Young is an accomplished researcher in modeling Human Systems under Dynamic conditions and the recipient of the US Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) with more than 150 scholarly publications to date.

 

About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it’s through women’s stories, voices, and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/399/ 

Lesia’s website: http://www.greatnessgurus.com/ 

Lesia’s podcast “Heart to Heart: Transformation Conversations with Dr. C-Y”: https://www.wecareradio.net/ 

Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/

Enroll in our Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/ 

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399-SYB-Lesia-Crumpton-Young.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

399-SYB-Lesia-Crumpton-Young.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Carol Cox:
We’re continuing our series around executive presence with how to communicate transformational leadership with my guest, Doctor Lesia Crumpton Young. On this episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast. More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses, running for office and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a TV political analyst, entrepreneur and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies, and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand, your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience. Hi there and welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast. I’m your host, Carol Cox. We’re continuing the series we’ve been doing all around. Executive speaking last week, we talked about storytelling for leaders, crafting narratives that inspire and persuade. And the week before that, we kicked off the series with an episode called Speak to Lead, elevating your executive Presence. Today’s episode is full of inspiration and practical insights. If you’re looking to enhance your leadership skills, embrace transformation and make meaningful connections. My guest is Doctor Lesia Crumpton Young, and her journey is a testament to the power of perseverance, innovation, and the importance of showing up.

Carol Cox:
Whether you’re a seasoned leader or just starting in your career, her wisdom will resonate and empower you to take bold steps to your own greatness. Doctor Crumpton Young is an award winning engineer, academic leader, and transformational coach. She was the first African American woman to earn a PhD in engineering at Texas A&M University, and her most recent position was at a university president. So in this episode, we talk about the power of showing up, exemplified by how I met Leah a few months ago. And you’re going to love the story, the essential qualities of a transformational leader and how to cultivate them, the significance of authentic and transparent communication, and fostering strong relationships and driving change, which we as we know people don’t like change, especially within companies. So that’s what we talk about, is what leaders and speakers need to do in order to effectively manage change. We also talk about practical tips on overcoming challenges and making impactful decisions. And Lesia shares a new project that she’s working on, which I know you’re going to be excited about as well. Now let’s get on with the show. Welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast, Lesia.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
Hello, how are you today?

Carol Cox:
I am fantastic, I’m so glad to have you here on the podcast. I’m going to share a very funny story about how we met, because this is so much the power of showing up. And I know that, you know, after the years of the pandemic and all of us having to be at home, I was been very excited to get back out and about into the local community of Orlando, where I live. And at the beginning of this year, I made a commitment that I was going to go to a lot more events. I used to attend events all the time before the pandemic, very much got out of the habit. And then, you know, forcing myself to get back in. So I was at an event and I was walking out at the end of the evening, and a woman who I never had met before, that I had remembered, was walking to the elevator at the same time as me. And she had on, of course, this gorgeous outfit and these like 4 or 5 inch stiletto heels and five.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
Inch, five.

Carol Cox:
Inch. Okay. Yes. Because, you know, and, you know, just a gorgeous woman. And I said, oh my gosh, like my feet hurt. I after standing here for two hours at this event, I can’t imagine how you feel. So we struck up a conversation kind of figured out we knew had people in common. She asked what I did. She said, oh, you have to talk to my sister Lesia, because she just started a podcast and she’s now getting into coaching. And so I said, yes. And so this was a delfine. And so with three of us ended up having lunch and we had such a great conversation. I think we were there for almost two hours. And I said, oh, I have to have you on the podcast. So number one, the power of showing up because you never know who you’re going to meet and then by extension, who you’re going to meet through those people. So, Lesia, that brings us to what brought you to Orlando, Florida, because you moved here relatively recently. So tell us, tell us what brought you here, and then we’ll back way back up and how incredibly impressive and credentialed you are in your career.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
So let me say thank you for having me on the podcast. And I’m super excited that you met my sister. You noticed the five inch pumps, and she is really a person who believes in the power of communication, the power of relationships. And as you said, the power of showing up. So literally. She called me that day and said, I met a fantastic person, when can you go to lunch with her? And and so it was wonderful. I had a chance to meet you. Um, I think that for me, when I talk about my background, I have to tell you that I was a little girl who loved math and science. I loved math, science, I love strategy, and I love fixing things. Right. So in solving problems and that was who I was. And then all of a sudden it parlayed into someone saying you should be an engineering major. And so I did I pursued a bachelor’s and master’s and a PhD in engineering. And one of the things I’m very proud of is that I was the first African American female to earn a PhD in engineering at Texas A&M University in the history of the institution. And it was really because I decided that I love math, I love science, I love strategy, I love fixing things, I love solving problems, and this is a wonderful profession to do it in.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
I specialized in human factors engineering because the other thing I love is people. And so I specialized in workplace injury prevention and control. And I specialized in ergonomics, which many of you have heard about. And I specialize in user centered design. But all of this was to make sure that the humans in every loop would always be properly accommodated, and they would be taken care of. And so that’s my disciplinary background. I then decided that instead of going to corporate America and making millions and millions and millions of dollars, I decided that my gift was to continue to think about designing for the human in the loop. And so I decided to go into higher education. So I was there for 30 years, had a chance to really my career excelled, had a chance to serve in leadership roles, and I had a chance to be at seven different institutions. So I was at Mississippi State University. I was at the University of Central Florida, which is one of the reasons I love Orlando and that I’m back here now. I was at Texas A&M University. I was at Tennessee State University, Morgan State University. I had a chance to be at the National Science Foundation in Washington, and then I ended my career as president of Texas Southern University.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
So 30 great years in higher ed, 25 of those in senior leadership positions. And it was interesting that while I was in the position of vice president, Carol, I just decided I had not had enough education. So I actually went back and completed my MBA because I wanted to make sure make sure that I was really prepared to be a good leader and prepared to help the university flourish in many of the ways that businesses flourish. Uh, and so I love that. And what I really loved was learning about transformation. And I know we’re going to talk a lot about transformation, but I love the concept of transforming individuals and transforming organizations. So after retirement, um, I moved back to Orlando. So you’re right. I haven’t been here long, moved back, and I’m close to my sister. I’m very close to the University of Central Florida, which is where I was there for many, many years on their faculty. And I am now president of my own company. And we are called the Greatness Gurus. And, um, we’re committed to transforming the lives of individuals and helping to transform organizations. So a lot about my background and what I’m doing now, and certainly I could probably talk about that forever, but I won’t.

Carol Cox:
Well, it is so impressive, Lesia. And and let me let me ask you this about transformation, because I definitely want us to focus on that in our conversation today around transformational leadership, what that looks like as a leader, but also how what it looks like from from a communication perspective. But how do you define transformation? What does that look like to you?

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
So for me, I, I define it very simply as a significant shift or change or making a significant impact. Right. So if you if there’s a significant shift or change in the state of an organization, then they have transformed. If there’s a significant shift or change in the life of an individual, then they have transformed. And, um, it was wonderful when I was president of Texas Southern University because I simply said to everyone, our mission is to transform lives, to transform that life of a student from the time they entered the institution to. Uh, to their exit from the institution because we know if they complete their degree successfully, then we have made a significant impact. And they have they’ve gone through a significant change. So I like to define transformation very simply as that.

Carol Cox:
And what experience or moment or story comes to mind for you personally of a transformational moment?

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
Yes. So one of the things that I loved, um, was watching the university grow or expand. Right? So as I was, um, working as president, we had the opportunity to transform our infrastructure. I had the opportunity to plan for three new buildings on campus, had an opportunity to get the funding for those. I mean, we had we had an historic appropriation from the state. So I was pretty excited about the fact that I was the catalyst for that, um, transformation for that significant change. And so new buildings on campus is one example of changing the landscape. Also, though, to have a student to perform well and be selected to participate in a global opportunity, that was another transformation, uh, transformational moment for me as president or to have faculty members say, oh my God, we’re going to get engaged in research and produce significant outcomes associated with health disparities. Or we even set up a wonderful, um, center for Covid on campus. And many individuals were not receptive to getting the vaccine. So we produced a lot of educational, uh, courses and information and all types of activities that then made a significant shift in the number of individuals in the community that agreed to get the vaccination. So those are all examples of transformation that I personally have had an opportunity to be part of. And I’m excited about. You can hear in my voice. I also say transformation requires inspiration and passion and excitement when you’re a leader. And so you can hear in my voice as I talk about transformation, how excited I am, how passionate I am, and I think, um, I think I always tell everyone that’s a true sign, that transfer that you’re thinking in a transformative way.

Carol Cox:
Oh, I love that. So as a leader, if you feel like you are, you naturally have that inspiration and passion for whatever it is that that’s obviously going to be conveyed to whoever you’re sharing that with. What other qualities do you see in transformational leaders? What has helped you to become a transformational leader?

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
Well, I think that, you know, number one, inspiration is a big quality. You have to have that, um, you know, vision that’s that’s grand enough that inspires people to action. So I remember when I first came in as president, I said to them, we are going to achieve unprecedented success at an accelerated pace. And they were like, wow, okay, unprecedented success. That means we’re going to have, you know, more success than we’ve ever had in the past. Accelerated pace. Oh, great. That means we’re aren’t going to do this slowly. We’re going to have some quick wins. And and so I think that that that having that vision, something that’s compelling, exciting, something that engages individuals, inspires them. That’s the that’s a major ingredient, um, to being a transformative leader. I also think communicating communication is key. You have to be able to talk about the vision, you know, what does success look like? How will we feel when we get there? You have to be able to describe that. Um, we have to be able to describe, you know, we have to make things that are complex, you know, a little simple. They have to be clear and concise. Although it’s complex. We have to talk about what are the steps, what are the strategies, what’s needed and be able to communicate that, um, and articulate that well.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
I also think that to be a transformative leader. You have to listen. Most people think that, you know, because transformation is such a significant shift or change, they think that they have to be talking the entire time, right? Telling you what to do. And and you also have to be a good listener and, um. I used to talk with my executives and I used to ask them, you know, we talk about an open door policy, but do we have an open ear policy? Right. Are you listening? Are you open to hearing what people have to say? Um, one of the things I learned in one of my stories is that. I went to work for one organization and they said, we want you to be innovative. We want you to be creative. We want you to be disruptive. We want you to be transformative. But every time I started talking, they interrupted me, you know? And so finally, I found myself. And I think a lot of women probably have experienced this. I found myself asking if I could just complete my sentences. So. And it was, you know, so I started out very delicately and I’d say, you know, when they would interrupt me, I would pause because I’ve been taught not to interrupt individuals. And so I’d pause and pause.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
And finally I realized, I’m not going to get to finish any conversation if I’m just so polite and I can’t scardina pause. So. So then I would. I moved to a new strategy. I would say, May I complete my sentence, please? You know, and then finally, that didn’t work. So then I used this, you know, analogy, and I explained to him, I said, well, I’m an only child and I didn’t grow up in a family where I had to fight to complete my sentence or fight to have the chicken leg at dinner. I’m just not accustomed to the fighting. And so when I said that to them, they were like the men realized, okay, we are cutting her off. She is having to fight or struggle just to finish her sentences. And so I, I couldn’t. I considered it a complete success. One day, as the vice presidents were sitting around the table. I was the only female at that time. And we were talking and I was trying to talk. And I had, you know, they’d cut me off and interrupted me a few times. And finally, one of the male vice presidents, he said, can you please just let her finish her sentences? And I said, success. I’ve communicated my needs enough so that now someone else can communicate my needs.

Carol Cox:
Yes, Lesia, thank you for for mentioning this. And I have a few thoughts that have come to mind. First, good for that other vice president. The other the man and one of the men in the room to point that out. And because you need allies in the room. And that’s why they say, you know, it’s so important, whether it’s for leadership at companies or for boards, to have more than one woman woman on them, because the other women will probably notice these things more quickly and then hopefully advocate for each other and point it out when those things are going on so that we can finish our sentences and not get interrupted. The second thing that came to mind is that recently, as at the time of this recording chat, OpenAI released their chat GPT for O model, which has voice capabilities. I don’t know if you’ve seen some of the demos, but you know, the AI talks back to you in a conversational way, like the movie her from ten years ago. But I saw a LinkedIn post that a woman wrote and she said she watched all the demo videos from OpenAI. There were about a ten of them, and every time there was a female AI voice, the men that actually human men who were doing the demos would interrupt the female voice all the time, but they didn’t do it as much. If the AI voice was a man and I was like, wow, right? Like like we are. So I just socialized. Yes, right. To do that. We don’t think people realize that we do it.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
And we I don’t know if they realize that they do it at all. So that was one of the reasons that I would say, May I complete my sentence, please? Is it possible that I could complete my sentence? Is this a good moment to complete my sentence? And it was because I think they needed to hear me say it, for them to recognize that they were doing it right. And it and it’s I mean, it’s it’s common for individuals in leadership roles. I mean, it’s it’s sometimes it’s too common, all too common for them to talk the majority of a meeting. And I. And so I’m always saying to my transformative leaders that, yes, we want you to be clear in the training I do. My company does leadership training. We also do professional development seminars. And then of course we do keynotes and then we do coaching. But as I’m working with my leaders, I’m always saying to them. Yes. Communicate clearly, concisely, and be compelling. But you also have to learn to listen, because if you aren’t listening, then you won’t understand where those hurdles are, where the difficulties are, where the challenges lie.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
You won’t understand any of those things, and those will become barriers to your transformation. You won’t know where they are. You won’t know where the landmines are at all. But then you also won’t know what’s happening in the culture of your company. Right? Because and then if you don’t understand culture, you will it can derail transformation. And and so we have to understand that we have to know what their concerns are. We have to know what their hesitations are. At the same time, we have to listen and learn. What motivates them? What inspires them? Um, what they’re excited about doing, where are their strengths? Right? We can assume that Lisa’s strengths are in math and science, but I also have strengths in strategy. I also have strengths in teaching. I also have other strengths. And so it’s important not to make those types of assumptions. As a leader, it’s important to listen and to learn. Um, so I think that’s so critical. Um, and so and so you have to learn to not interrupt people so you can hear them, you can listen to them fully well.

Carol Cox:
And and, Lesia, that reminds me that just about a month or so ago, I did an episode on this podcast, number 392 called why I No Longer Teach from the Stage and why. And what I do instead is what I call engaged from the stage. Because and I talked about this on the podcast all the time, that especially as high achieving women, we get stuck in what I call the expert trap, where we get very much validated for our expertise. And I always say, yes, be an expert with your clients because that’s what they’re paying you for and that’s what they need. But when we’re out there talking about transformational change, we’re out there helping our audiences think differently about about their industry or think differently about a topic. And we want to add to the conversation that’s going on being being like stuck in this expertise where you’re telling people all the time what to do, teaching them all the time instead of listening, like you said, where are they at? How are they feeling about whatever change they’re being challenged with? What are their goals? How can you empathize with them and validate what they’re feeling and listen to them? Even as a speaker, even if no one says anything, back out to you out loud, you can feel the energy of the room, and it’s like an energetic exchange with the audience. And as a speaker, the better you get, the more attuned you get to your audience and what they need. And I’m sure you have found that as well.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
Oh, you’re absolutely right. I always say that in order for transformation to occur, you have to have innovation and you also have to have disruption. Right. And so innovation is creativity and action. So I love when you said you engage others because we have to be able to really pull their creative. I call them the creative juices. We have to be able to pull their creative juices out and allow them to put that in action otherwise. Otherwise, it’s not innovation, it’s just a creative idea. I always tell everyone innovation requires action and implementation. But then we also to your point, we also have to think about disruption as well, right? Not doing those things that we’ve traditionally done. And I love when you said you changed that, you would you would go to the stage and now you’re now you’re engaging individuals instead of trying to teach them. And I think that as. Leaders. That’s one of the things I teach in my leadership class the proven Practices of transformational leaders. I talk to them about why disruption is so important, right? So many of us, we continue to do what we’ve always done. Number one, because it maybe it works, but also we’re comfortable with it. Yes, but disruption means that we have to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Right. And that is just sometimes that’s tough. I mean, that takes you really rethinking and having activities that really change your behavior so that you can become a disruptive thinker. Um, and, and be okay with being uncomfortable.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
Right. And my, um, I have my daughter. I just of course, I’m in love with my children, but I have a daughter who’s finishing up her master’s degree in clinical psychology. So she her specialty is mental health. So she’s always, you know, helping the family, you know, with, with, with our thoughts and things. And so one thing she said, which I loved, it goes along with disruption. That’s why I’m bringing it up on the podcast, because I would love our listeners to have the same liberating feeling that I had when she said it to me, she said, mom, it is okay not to be okay. And so when you really think about it, it’s like it is okay not to be okay today, you know? And it’s okay to be to be uncomfortable. It’s okay. And once we once I really listen to that and internalize it, I was like, that is the essence of disruption. Now I can do things that I haven’t done before. I can be receptive to new things. I can be open to exploring all types of ideas, new strategies, new technologies, and it’s okay not to know about them. It’s okay not to be. It’s okay to be, um, be nervous about trying something new. Um, and so it was for me, super liberating. So that’s my new thing. You know, they say if someone says, Lisa, are you okay? I’m like, no. And it’s okay that I’m not okay. I’m comfortable with that. Yes.

Carol Cox:
Well. And all right. And it’s also being honest. And your role modeling for other people that we don’t have to put on this perfect facade all of the time, that no one is perfect, no one has everything together. We’re all have challenges, whether it’s personal or professional and, you know, and some, some weeks or months or years of our lives are better than others. And that’s okay as well. And, you know, thinking about it from a leader’s perspective as a leader in one, if you’re not willing to be vulnerable in front of your whether it’s your team or your audience or what have you, then how can you expect them to come to you if they’re not feeling okay, even if it’s just they’re they’re feeling uncomfortable about a change within the organization that they feel like is going to impact them. But if they don’t have the trust in you as a leader, that they can come to you and talk about it because you’re not willing to listen to them, then that’s that’s really going to impact the team’s performance.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
Yeah, I think I totally agree with everything you’ve said, and the literature speaks to that. It’s right. If people are uncomfortable talking with you, sharing their thoughts with you, then they’re not at their highest level of performance. And if they aren’t at their highest level of performance, then as a leader or an organization, you aren’t getting their highest level of productivity. So if we really think about we want high performing teams and we want high performing organizations, we have to become open to be allowing our team members to communicate openly with us, to be vulnerable with us. And then the other one is to ask us questions. You know, sometimes we act like as leaders we are too busy for questions. It’s like, well, if a person has a question and it’s related to their work, they can’t be productive until they get that answer to that question. So let’s minimize the time that they’re unproductive. And let’s just answer the question, you know, and I think it’s so interesting. Some people will they’re not willing to do it. They’ll say they’ll say there’s no such thing as a stupid question. But then when a person asks one, they kind of insult them and act like, well, that’s a stupid question, and I don’t sometimes I don’t think leaders realize they’re doing that. So I, I always try to help my leaders become very self-aware of, you know, their biases, you know, the things that they that annoy them, the things that and that. And so therefore they know that. And they can then rectify those things as they’re working with their teams.

Carol Cox:
Lisa, let me ask you if you have any, you know, stories of your own, you know, times where you’ve been, you have felt personally challenged as a leader, like maybe something was going on and it wasn’t quite going the way that you had expected, whether it was communication with someone or maybe it was getting buy in for a vision. And you know, what did that what did that look like? And then what helped you to get through that?

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
Well, I will tell you, in 30 years, 25 years in leadership, I had a lot of those situations. Right. And I think it’s and the reason I started off by saying that is that people would look at my bio and say, oh my God, she won the US Presidential Award for excellence. I mean, only seven people in my class out of the whole nation that received that. Or she’s the first, you know, female to complete a PhD in engineering. She was the first, um, female to be a department chair at the University of Central Florida in, in engineering. So they will look at those things and think that my entire career has just been all about the triumphs, and there haven’t been any trials. Right. And that’s just not true in life. Um, I think about, you know, the time that I was super excited about, um, putting in some new, um, strap techniques and new technology on campus, and everyone was like, we don’t want to do that at all. Like, why would we want that? You know? And I said, oh, oh, oh, okay. You know, so that was one of those moments when you, you are you, you have to listen to the team and say, well, I thought it was a good idea. Perhaps it isn’t. And then you just do some, some self-correction there. Um, there have been some other times wherein I, you know, have I haven’t said I haven’t said yes to some ideas that other team members have brought to me. And I look back and I say, gosh, I should have said yes to that, you know, where would the organization be? And, um, and you have to you have to do some good reflection.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
I think you have to be honest with yourself when you do your self reflections. And so that’s how I am as well. Um, gosh, I can think about the time when I was I made a terrible hiring decision. Right? And when one of the things I always say to my team members is. The moment you discover that you’ve made a bad hire is the moment that you have to remove to. To remove that person, you cannot. Some people say, well, it was a bad decision. I’m just going to have to live with it. Not when it’s one of your critical members of your leadership team. Um, transformation will not happen if you don’t have the right, right people on the bus. And of course, many people have read the book about having the right people on the bus. So one of the things I, I pride myself on is not is rectifying bad decisions. If I make a bad decision and it when it comes to my, you know, mind that you have made a bad decision. I think we have to rectify them quickly. And I know a lot of our female leaders struggle with that. But I’m here to say. Fire people as quickly as you hire people. If you have to have your facts and if they are not the right fit, then they need to leave your team and we have to have the guts to do that.

Carol Cox:
Yeah, and it’s not easy. Right. And yeah. And I feel you and thank you for sharing those stories, Lesia, because it shows that, you know, it’s especially because you’ve had such a stellar career. Clearly, you know, you you’ve kept, you know, getting these these increasing positions of responsibility. And guess what. Like we all make mistakes sometimes we all like do things sometimes that don’t work out the way that we thought or whatever. It doesn’t mean that things are over forever just because something doesn’t go right. You know, I hear on the podcast I’m very transparent. I talk about, yeah, I had a speaking engagement a number of years ago and it was awful, like awful. Right. But I share that to show like, I’m not perfect and maybe the listeners have had a bad speaking engagement too. It’s like it happens. And guess what? We still get back up on the stage and then we have great ones. So like it happens. And I think the more that we share that these things happen to quote unquote, the best of us, then we all realize that this is just part of being human. Yes.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
And it’s part of it’s part of of being a leader. Right. You are. You have they’re going to be challenges. They’re going to be mistakes. They’re going to be moments where you go, wow, what’s going what am I thinking. And that’s just all part of the process. It’s you know it’s par for the course.

Carol Cox:
Yeah absolutely. All right. So I want us to tell you about uh, tell us about your podcast first, and then I want to hear a little bit more about the greatness gurus. So your podcast is called Heart to Heart Transformation Conversations. And I have a link to the podcast website on the show notes page. So make sure to go check that out. So talk. And of course you have transformation right there in the title. But you also have heart to heart. So tell me about that combination.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
Yes. So one of the things that I learned is that transformation can’t occur without authenticity. And so that’s why it’s called Heart to Heart, that we need to have conversations that may be difficult conversations, but they’re critical to our advancement, to our success. And so that’s why the show is called Heart to Heart. I want it to be open, transparent, honest conversations about challenges, about issues, situations, circumstances so that people learn as much from someone else’s challenge or how they handle their experience, that it helps them. It transforms who they are. It helps them to live their best life. I always say Heart to Heart is about transformative conversations that help you live your best life, and that’s what our podcast is about and I love we do it on Sundays at 3:00 because I love Sunday brunch. I think it’s a perfect time for women to celebrate and and, um, celebrate who they are, celebrate their successes, reflect on the great things that they’ve accomplished, and then think about those challenges that they need to overcome as well.

Carol Cox:
And then you have greatness, guru. So I’ll make sure I also include a link in the show notes for that. So that is for the leadership and professional development. And with your sister Delphine, you also have a fashion line. Do you want to tell us about that?

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
I am super excited about it. We are. We just finished all of our technical designs. Um, we have decided that our our line is going to be manufactured in Italy, and so literally the collection will come out this fall. And the name of the fashion line is called greatness. So and it’s really for us it’s, it’s more than just fashion. It’s it’s a movement. We want greatness to be, um, an apparel line that signifies that I’m, that I’m empowered, that I’m elevated, I’m enlightened, that I’m working towards being my best self, whatever that is. You define it yourself. But we want the line to be a symbol of your empowerment, but also serve as inspiration to others when they see you that, oh my gosh, she’s working on greatness or oh my gosh, she’s wearing greatness. Um, and you know, I said to my sister when we were thinking of the name of it, I said, it’s wonder. It’ll be wonderful when someone, you walk by someone and they say, oh wow, who are you wearing? And you just say, greatness. So it is really meant to inspire. It’s meant to encourage, to empower women. And then for them to also be that inspiration for other women as they’re wearing it. So the name of it is greatness. It will. If you would like information about great, the line we have on our website, the Greatness gurus.com website, we have the ability for you to join the greatness community. And so it just gives you a chance to say I want to be part of the movement. I want to be part of a group of women who are focused on being my best self, living my best life, inspiring and helping others to be their best selves, live their best life. And, um, and then ultimately, we’ll all wear some things that are symbols of that.

Carol Cox:
I love that so much. Lesia, I am so excited for the fashion line. Cannot wait for it to come out. Make sure to share it once it is ready to go. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It has been such a pleasure to chat with you.

Lesia Crumpton-Young:
Thank you for having me and I hope everyone has a great day.

Carol Cox:
Thanks again to Lesia for coming on the podcast. Next week we’re wrapping up the series around executive speaking. We’re going to talk about why introverts make great speakers and leaders. Contrary to popular opinion, I believe introverts do make great speakers and leaders. I’m an introvert and so many of our clients are as well. And that’s where we’re going to talk about on next week’s episode. Make sure to share this podcast with a friend and a colleague, and don’t forget to take our free speaker archetype quiz as speaking your Brand.com slash quiz. Until next time, thanks for listening.

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