Your story, your brand. Pt. 5

Welcome to Leadership Sovereignty, the podcast. I'm your host, Terry Baylor, along with Ralph Owens. And today, we'll discuss feedback versus constructive criticism, owning the outcome, getting better and building trust, defining your core values and beliefs, the characteristics of who you are, and building a strong narrative. Enjoy the show.

Okay. But, so what about the, career journey? Right? Talking about where you came from to where you are. Right?

Terry and I talked about, you know, the time that we we we spend and we've worked in multiple jobs together, but in that one particular one, you have to be able to tell the journey that you've taken in your career. You know, maybe you were someone who was just passionate about technology and you got a job working for a community college. Right? And then from a community college, you got a job working for a bank or something like that or be able to tell your career journey. I mean, any thoughts about that, Terry?

Yeah. I'm just I'm gonna tie that into the next one. Right? Because here's the deal. And and, know, Ralph, I'm key on I'm key on words, man.

And and and my wife and I were talking about this the other day. Not structured criticism, but Constructive? Constructive criticism. I'm like, man, I don't wanna be criticized, but you can give me some feedback. Here's why that's important to me.

And I'm going somewhere with this. Anytime that you feel that you've been criticized, very seldom are you coming out of that situation. It it could be all dead true. Mhmm. Mhmm.

But if it's given in a tone of criticism, you can call it constructive criticism. And so the reason they do that is because they consider it's true. It's the truth. Right? It's the truth.

So I'm gonna say, well, I believe if we use the framework of feedback Yes. That's a total different It's a total different framework on how that exchange is going to go. Because if I'm giving you feedback, the connotation is I'm helping you get better.

Yes.

If I'm giving you criticism, matter what kind of it is,

It implies that somebody's telling you that you're wrong.

Exactly. And you're not building me. So I say that to say this, right? Along our journeys, this goes into the next point, there have been things that we could have done better. Here's the number one thing, and I was at an event the other day, Ben, and I a Man, I need to get this guy's name.

I need to get his name. But I was at an event with Liz down at the Houston Astros Youth Academy. And this guy used to be an owner of the Astros, part owner of Astros, African American gentleman. And he said he had a coach that told him this and it changed his life. And he was on the football field.

He had missed some assignment. And he said he don't even remember what he said to the coach, but he remembered what the coach said to him. And the coach told him, excuses are for losers. But what he meant by that is this, own it. If you did it, just own it.

Hey, my bad. I missed it. And so I say that to say in our careers, we all have had a moment that we could have done something different, said it differently, performed it differently, prepared differently, but own that so it can make you better. Yeah. Right?

And don't shy away because here's the deal, the reality is none there was only one perfect man on this world. And if you go into an interview or a situation that said that you have you've done it all right every single time, I'm like, I can't trust this guy. I can't trust this young lady.

That's exactly right. That that's the point I was gonna add is that most people who are looking to interview are leaders, they're not going they will respect you if you own what you did wrong. Right? There there's a level of respect that comes along with that. If you try to act like you're perfect and you don't do anything wrong, you become highly suspect.

Highly suspect. Yeah. And it's hard to trust a person like that because we've all we've all made our mistakes.

Ralph, we always say this. Right? Look. Look. There are only two outcomes.

We either win or learn.

That's it.

That's it. Yeah. There is no lose. We win or learn. Okay.

So awesome. Alrighty. So, again, this is all in building your story, right? So we want you to build your personal narrative, understand who you are. This is kind of digging deep and just exploring you as a person.

What are your values and your beliefs? What's at the core of who you are? Some people are just naturally kind. They're just that way. Some people are naturally, I'm just gonna go out here and dig these ditches and I'm not stopping until every ditch is dug.

They're just hard workers. Some people have a knack for economics. That's just you just love that. Right? Who are you?

What is what is at the core of who you are? Right? Some people just exude grace. Right? Some people exude empathy.

Some people exude encouragement.

I think it's important to note here that we're not talking about you saying that you are, a diehard Republican or Democrat. That's not what we're saying. What we're saying is your characteristics. You know, I love to be kind. I love to help people.

I'm a hard worker. I have a hard work ethic. That's not to say that you can't share your Christian belief, but you wanna do it in such a way that if you're that you're articulating the behaviors that you do as a Christian. Right? Right.

Because the workplace is in is really one of the ultimate stages, for for ministry. Right? But it's based on how you live your life, not based on the the label that you wear on your chest. Right? So just trying to make sure that, you know, when we talk about values and beliefs, we're really talking about the characteristics and of who you are as a person and the things that you, you know, like to believe in, not necessarily affiliations that you're in, because that could cause problems for you.

Ralph, I think that's a great I think that's a great call out. Right? What do you believe? Right? Because here's what we do know.

Here's what we do know. What you believe I love this too. I love this. I've read this in so many books. I've heard so many folks who speak on development and you know, creating your framework for your life.

Your belief system is what drives your actions.

That's good.

What you believe, right? I read a book that it's the title matter of fact, I need to pull it off the shelf. I want to make sure I say it right. Here it is right here. Hold on.

Let me grab it. Here it is right here. The power of right believing. Right believing, he says will lead you to right thinking. So what you believe, man, is gonna drive your actions.

And I I wanna throw this book out there, Seven Keys to Freedom from Fear, Guilt and Addiction. The power of right believing. Yeah, your your belief system drives everything that you do.

That's good. That's good. So so going on to the next, point there, again, this is, all in building your narrative. What are your future aspirations? You know, where is it that you wanna go in life?

Leaders wanna know that you have that you're driven to go higher and to be better and not just to be stagnant. Right? So including your future aspirations is important. Who are your role models? Who is someone that you admire and how they've influenced your personal and professional life.

Right? Again, this all ties back into telling a great, personal narrative. Right? You know, Terry talked about his parents and how they they their their lives, you know, and the example that they gave helped to, drive, you know, who he is.

Thank you for being with us today on Leadership Sovereignty. Stay connected with us on X, formerly known as Twitter, and on Instagram by searching for Leadership Sovereignty. And just like this podcast, let's all collectively grow as we go. God bless.