Embrace your humanness

Everyday Leadership for Smart Women

“The courage to be vulnerable is not about winning or losing, it’s about the courage to show up when you can’t predict or control the outcome.”

Brené Brown

Yesterday, while cooking my seven thousandth meal in the past few weeks, I was listening to one of my favourite podcasts, NPR Politics.

These hosts, who have been in my earbuds for years, are now recording from home – trying to produce a high-quality news show, while toddlers climb up their desk chairs and dogs bark in the background. I laughed yesterday, as one hosts’ dog barked a few too many times and she had to tell Buster to just “shush!”

It was a moment of realness that pre-pandemic, would have quickly been edited out.

There are have been many more of these moments over the past few weeks, as Late Night Show hosts introduce us to their family members, business owners share challenging behind-the-scenes moments of keeping operations afloat, Bon Appetit chefs teach us how to make gourmet Kraft Dinner, and closer to home, we all get glimpses into how people really live thanks to Zoom.

And while we all wish COVID19 wasn’t a word in our lexicon, let alone dictating the way we live and work, there are some bright spots amongst the clouds.

Our new willingness to let our audiences in – whether they be our friends on Facebook, our team members, our clients or our audiences-at-large – is an opportunity to connect with our people in a deeper, more authentic way. And I think that’s a great thing.

Enjoy the episode.

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Buster the NPR podcast-interrupting dog

Notice these moments

Children interrupt BBC News interview

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