Ask to Elevate: How Curiosity-Driven Leadership Accelerates Your Career

Shachella James (00:00)
Getting results is important, but you don't have to have all the answers. If you can ask some powerful questions, so that's what curiosity really, really means to me is how are you demonstrating forward-thinkingness? And sometimes those powerful questions is how you get that in. Not just being factual all the time, but asking really good questions.

For me, I've witnessed it be a career accelerator for other people.

Ralph Owens (01:06)
welcome to another edition of Leadership Sovereignty Podcast. We are excited. We have a very, very special guest with us. Terry, how are you feeling today?

Shachella James (01:13)
Okay.

Terry Baylor (01:17)
Man, I done got my workout in, so I'm ready. I got the adrenaline, the

endorphins, whatever it is, they're moving. I picked up some 35 pounds, man. It's killing me.

Ralph Owens (01:26)
Alright.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

All right. I see. I see.

right Well without further ado want to introduce our guest for today. Miss Cecella James ⁓ Cecella, welcome to the show. Thank you for taking the time to spend with us. How are you this morning?

Shachella James (01:43)
Thank you.

I am wonderful. Thank you for the invitation. I'm looking forward to the conversation.

Ralph Owens (01:52)
Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. So for all of our listeners, a little bit background about Chella. She has over 17 years of technology experience at Centerpoint Energy covering roles such as VP of Technology of Operations, VP of IT, Infrastructure and currently serving as the VP of Enterprise Systems. Her span reaches Enterprise Systems, Platform Solutions, Infrastructure, Business Services, aligning technology and strategy with business operations. Educationally, she holds a

BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas. I'm sorry, from Texas A University. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, yeah. you ain't kidding, what? People not in Texas, that's a big deal. Also an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, Austin, and a cybersecurity certificate from Cornell University.

Shachella James (02:28)
Right.

Terry Baylor (02:30)
you know what? You almost

started a fight right there. I'll tell you.

Shachella James (02:37)
Right. That is a big deal. Gig them at.

Great.

Ralph Owens (02:52)
All right, so her leadership expands beyond tech. She's deeply engaged in inclusion and diversity initiatives, especially STEM education and board service. So again, welcome to the show. Welcome to the show.

Shachella James (03:04)
Thank you so much. You know, all of those experiences have played a huge role in who I am today and I'm hoping that it's going to contribute just a little bit, not just in terms of education professional service to the conversation that we have. I'm excited. Let's go.

Ralph Owens (03:19)
I know it will. know it will.

know it will. So, Suchella and I served together in a different organization and we were having a conversation. I don't know if you remember this. We were having a conversation. We were at dinner and she said, you know, something that has always been on my mind is curiosity and how curiosity could really serve you in your career. And we need to talk about that. And I was like, you know what? We're going have you on the show to do that. So here it is. We're going to dive into it.

Terry Baylor (03:36)
Mmm.

Shachella James (03:44)
Yeah.

Ralph Owens (03:46)
We're gonna dive into it. Well, so let's start with a warmup. So what's one thing about you that most people in your professional life don't know?

Shachella James (03:55)
You know, I'm really going to get real personal in the sense that many people don't know that I enjoy running and walking half marathons. I'm actually preparing for my 12th one with a group of friends. So that you lifted 35 pounds this morning is exciting to me, but put some steps with those weights too. Not many people know that I'm an avid professional improvement for my personal health.

Ralph Owens (04:03)
Thanks.

Shachella James (04:25)
type of person.

Terry Baylor (04:26)
That's awesome.

Ralph Owens (04:27)
Awesome, awesome,

awesome, awesome. Yeah, yeah, me too.

Terry Baylor (04:29)
I love that. I love that. And also too, because that's one of those four pillars that we talk about here, right? And if you don't take care of your temple, man, it can't give back to you. So I love that. And definitely want to dig into, because I ran one half marathon and ⁓ man, I'm like, I don't think I can move for the next 10 days here.

Shachella James (04:38)
it.

Okay.

You know what, that's a topic for another podcast because it really is a study in resilience. The fact that I've done it 12 times just really shows that once you get it in you and you just keep pushing that envelope to go further and further, it does make you ask some questions. Why haven't I done this before? Or what mental block that I put on myself that I stopped and didn't do it again. So yeah, we got to bring that one back.

Terry Baylor (05:15)
Ooh, wow, ooh, definitely. That is good.

Ralph Owens (05:15)
Mmm, that's good.

Terry Baylor (05:19)
We have to, a study in resilience. Ooh, boy, you know, because Ralph knows that. That's the kind of stuff that gets me going. You know, I like a good fight. I like a good fight. ⁓

Ralph Owens (05:19)
Yes. Yeah.

Shachella James (05:26)
Oh my god!

Ralph Owens (05:32)
That is awesome. is awesome. is awesome. So, Sicella, when you hear the word curiosity, what does that mean for you personally?

Shachella James (05:41)
Well, I am going back to when we had dinner because it actually was a phenomenal conversation. There were so many things going on in my space and head at that time that it really brings to me, curiosity brings to bear progress based on innovation and leadership acumen that it really demonstrates that

Getting results is important, but you don't have to have all the answers. If you can ask some powerful questions, so that's what curiosity really, really means to me is how are you demonstrating forward-thinkingness? And sometimes those powerful questions is how you get that in. Not just being factual all the time, but asking really good questions.

⁓ For me, it's been, and I've witnessed it be a career accelerator for other people. If you just stack some things up side by side, and I'm not really just leaning on just credentials, but what have you done in the workplace together? ⁓ The credentials you brought to bear, the people that you've actually led, when you start putting those things side by side, what is the real difference? Is the ability to demonstrate the forward-thinkingness?

in that thought leadership, I've really just had an epiphany. It comes from asking really good questions. It is the ability to connect the dots and help people to see a bigger picture and demonstrate a willingness to learn before you leave. So I know I said a lot, but that's what curiosity really, really means to me.

Ralph Owens (07:21)
Yeah, I'm scared.

That's fantastic, that's fantastic. Terry, thoughts about that?

think we lost your audio too.

Terry Baylor (07:38)
I wanted to make sure I wasn't passing on any background noise. So I have a 22 year old, I have a 20 year old and a 17 year old. And we're in that space where curiosity is kind of natural, right? Where you're trying to explore life, you're trying to find out who you are. And one of the biggest challenges that I see ⁓ for me and them in this space, right? Because

Shachella James (08:04)
Thank

Terry Baylor (08:07)
I have a lot of answers, right? Because I got, there's a lot of water under the bridge, right? How would you, how would you encourage a, season? so, and then, so let's take this and like translate it into, you know, the corporate space or even a mentee space or mentor space. How do you foster that curiosity and ⁓ educate on how to ask the right questions or what?

Shachella James (08:12)
Mm-hmm.

Terry Baylor (08:33)
What should be the framework for your question or the framework for your curiosity? Because there's all kind of curiosity, There's some things you just don't know about, you want to experience it, right? I want to be in the moment. ⁓ I want to, I've never been exposed to that and I just want to try it, right? I mean, so I see parallels in being a young adult, right? And then I see parallels into being, I'll just say, you know, kind of brand new or within the first five or.

seven years of your career, right? How do you foster the right kind of curiosity?

Shachella James (09:11)
Yeah, I'm a parent too. I have an 18 year old and a 21 year old and she's soon to be 22. So finding myself getting out of the way so that she can blossom and same thing for my son. But just in terms of a leadership principle, I would say there's three

curiosity driven leadership principles that guide me every day. And how I would ask you to translate this to the young adults in your lives. ⁓ Tell them to lead with learning. ⁓ Never let a title be a limit to your curiosity. in the sense of the new person in the workplace, let's just call them the analyst, all the way up to that C level person, CEO as a matter of fact, ⁓

Ralph Owens (09:52)
Hmm.

Shachella James (10:05)
using those ability to lead with learning to bend your personal arc to what I call being a learn it all as opposed to being a know it all. We do come with a lot of experience and our coworkers may not appreciate that sometimes too, just like our kids may not. But if we approach that leading with learning it all as opposed to knowing it all, helps us to position.

Ralph Owens (10:15)
Mmm.

Terry Baylor (10:16)
Mmm.

Hmm

Shachella James (10:35)
the questioning. The second thing in terms of a principle is asked to elevate. So when you're helping your young adult and even the people, I'm going to parallel the young adult and the people in the workplace quite a bit, ask to elevate. Basically, frame your question such that it actually uplifts the other person as opposed to just clarifying your own confusion.

Terry Baylor (10:41)
Mmm.

Ralph Owens (10:41)
Mmm.

That's good.

Mmm.

Terry Baylor (11:01)
Okay, you didn't just help me right there. Okay, we can shut the, let's shut the show down. I gotta go have a conversation. I dropped the mic. my gosh, that's brilliant right there. Ask to elevate. my God.

Shachella James (11:03)
Right?

Ralph Owens (11:06)
You

That was so good.

Shachella James (11:14)
Ask to elevate.

And so, what are some ways that you could do this, what you can exemplify? So focus on the strengths, not the gaps. So usually in a corporate setting, for sure, we go in, but why didn't this work? I know I've asked that question many times, but instead of saying why didn't this work, what worked well and what can we build on?

Ralph Owens (11:29)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm.

Terry Baylor (11:39)
Mmm. Mmm.

Shachella James (11:40)
Just

flipping that perspective a little bit and then you shifting the problems into possibilities. So what went wrong may have been the original question, but what opportunities do you see to strengthen this situation as opposed to just what went wrong? So shifting from the problem into a possibility. Now here's the thought too, is tailor your question

Terry Baylor (11:48)
Hmm.

Shachella James (12:09)
such that you invite vision, not just explanation.

Ralph Owens (12:12)
Hmm.

Terry Baylor (12:14)
⁓ boy. ⁓ man, this getting bad.

Ralph Owens (12:14)
Wow. ⁓ that's good.

Shachella James (12:15)
Okay.

Can't, instead of saying, you explain this decision just as an example? ⁓ Again, we're going for vision here. If you had no constraints, how would you approach this situation? It's just a different way of getting to ⁓ answering, yeah, this is how we got here, but the ideal solution could look like this instead. And that way they can just kind of

Ralph Owens (12:33)
Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

Shachella James (12:48)
what foster on the bigger picture as opposed to explaining how we got to this point. And then here's one additional thing too is ⁓ encourage personal agency. So again, we're helping our young adults. We're helping the people in the workplace. Typically, you know, we get a lot of this finger pointing going on. So instead of saying who is responsible for fixing this, we say,

What part of this challenge can you influence the most? Right? So the person is taking on some personal agency for solving a problem and we're using curiosity in a way, again, back to we're asking to elevate as opposed to incriminate, if you will. And then another tactic that I would recommend as we're helping folks with their questioning is

Terry Baylor (13:20)
Mmm.

Ralph Owens (13:20)
that's good.

That's good.

⁓ that's good.

Terry Baylor (13:36)
That's real good.

Shachella James (13:46)
build a culture of curiosity. So in a sense that you're rewarding the learning atmosphere, you're rewarding ⁓ asking the good questions, not just getting the results. What are we doing to stimulate the conversation and advance it? So that is a lot. So you build a culture of curiosity, you're leaning into learn,

Ralph Owens (14:02)
Mm-hmm. Mm. that's fantastic.

Terry Baylor (14:05)
There was a lot there. Wow.

Shachella James (14:15)
and you're asking to elevate as opposed to just hard, direct questions. You gotta think questions are something you have to think about, right? You wanna come with what's top of mind, but sometimes you need to pull yourself back in and frame it with a bolder premise in mind.

Ralph Owens (14:32)
Hmm.

Hmm, hmm, that's so good. That's so good.

Terry Baylor (14:36)
I love that. Thank you. Thank you. I'll be, I'll be sending a tithe on that. be, I'll be, I'm

Shachella James (14:37)
Thank you.

Terry Baylor (14:42)
telling you, man, you just don't know. You just don't know.

Ralph Owens (14:46)
That is so good. So, would you say curiosity creates confidence and visibility, right? As you continue to do it more and more.

Terry Baylor (14:48)
It is good.

Shachella James (14:57)
⁓ You know, I appreciate that I don't know it all. And because I have gotten better at asking questions, I get a lot of the, that's a good question. And that response alone tells me I'm engaging other people.

Ralph Owens (15:17)
Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Shachella James (15:23)
And that builds so much confidence in me because, and I encourage it in other people too, because it really does ⁓ bring other people along. One of the most defining points of leadership is how you bring other people along with you. A leader with no followers in a sense is just an idea, right? How you gonna get things done?

Ralph Owens (15:37)
Mm-hmm.

Shachella James (15:49)
People have to be persuaded. They have to feel included. They have to be informed. But not because you know it all, but because you brought them along. And one way to do that is literally to frame those good questions. So that's how it has built confidence in me. I have literally been not unique to me, but I've experienced it so many times being the only female in the room.

Ralph Owens (16:16)
Hmm.

Shachella James (16:17)
being the only person of color in your room. Long ago, I was the youngest person in the room, but time has shifted.

Ralph Owens (16:20)
Mm-hmm.