Mikel Brand Oliver Inspires Impact Leadership
This episode in the celebration of Black History Month series shines a light on Mikel Brand Oliver and her work in impact leadership. Mikel joins host, Tonya Dawn Recla, in this special Science of Superpowers episode to explore how we can harness the impact leader within each of us. Mikel shares her insights and recommendations for courageously pursuing mission-driven leadership and impact for the greater good. Be sure to listen to this fabulous episode that inspires us to show up brilliantly in the spaces we’re called to lead.
The Superpower Network celebrates Black History Month
In honor of priceless contributions to the betterment and welfare of us all. Let’s shine brightly on the 2023 theme of Resistance as we uplift the efforts of so many who endeavored against great odds to show us the light. May we walk side-by-side to heal the past so we can step forward together. We love you, love each other.
Tonya Dawn Recla:
Hello everyone and welcome back to The Science of Superpowers. I am so excited to be here for this conversation we have with us today Mikel Brand Oliver. Hi, Mikel. How are you?
Mikel Brand Oliver:
Hi, Tonya. I’m peaceful. How are you?
Tonya Dawn Recla:
Oh, fabulous. I’m so excited to have you here because we get to talk all about how Mikel Brand Oliver Inspires Impact Leadership, right? This is these are crazy times, folks. And so what are we talking about right and leadership and what does it mean to be impactful and, and she brings such a wealth of information to that and inspiration truly just with the thing she’s already had her hands and let alone where she’s bound to go from here. And so really excited to focus on her work. In just a moment, we’re gonna read our statement of support here for Black History Month, the Superpower Network celebrating Black History Month, and our priceless contributions to the betterment and welfare of us all. Let’s shine brightly on the 2023 theme of resistance, as we uplift the efforts of so many who endeavored against great odds to show us the light, and maybe walk side by side to heal the past. So we can step forward together. We love you and love each other. So thank you for being here. I love being able to open up this space, particularly for people who are doing so many amazing things in the world. And this is no joke. And so I’m just going to shine for just a second on black women for one heartbeat. You’ve been in this series with me, folks. So you know where my heart is on this. And you want to talk about resistance. As I said, it kind of comes with the territory, but part of the definition is that, especially in the United States, there’s this is resiliency to its fullest, right? These women have been forged, right? It is a necessary part of the game here. And we can learn so much from that journey from that process if we would take the time to listen and to receive what’s been being spoken all along, right, and just learning how to how to have these conversations. And so that is near and dear to my heart. So thank you for stepping into such a container and being willing to shine and sort of represent on some level like, hey, we need to talk about this. And while we get that it’s a very, very, very individual journey for everyone, we also should acknowledge that there are bigger things we can look at that are going to have a huge impact on all of us. And so I’m really excited to learn from you today to hear what you have to share about impact leadership. And we’re going to open that up by first asking you what are your superpowers. And how are you using them for good?
Mikel Brand Oliver:
Great question. And hello, everyone, and thanks so much for having me. So my superpower is I have a line of sight into the greatness within people that they typically don’t see or believe that they possess. And a couple of ways in which I operate within that superpower is listening. Listening with a deep curiosity just for who people are their lived experiences, edifying people, pushing people bearing truth to people and just walking alongside of them in their process and their journey, and it’s been incredible. I actually my mom has saved so many things from my childhood and like my baby book, and I actually have a record of my pre-kindergarten teacher her observations of me and she wrote about me at like four years and two months and five, five years and eight months can be said about me today like McHale freely compliments her peers she recognizes their emotional needs and tries to meet them and I’m like that is me still today. So the superpower has just been cultivated but God designed me with it from the beginning.
Tonya Dawn Recla:
Brilliant. I love that and love the testament to the fact that this is bigger than just a personalized or personal development skill. Right we hold that in the same light in the sense that whatever our belief structures are right we do believe that these are from something bigger right? Some of us have a relationship with God some of us are into more of the Creator concept whatever your walk is with that we believe wholeheartedly, we’ve yet to see a solution that truly works that doesn’t involve that and so that’s sort of where we settled in on like you have to have some component where you can be present to identify with associated with have a relationship with something outside of yourself. You know, I believe it holds the key to a lot of things but particularly perspective regardless of whether or not you’re ready to jump into the religious or spiritual ship there. There’s real value in turning around and looking at your relationship with God. Like he may not be wanting you You’re going to have one, but why is that? And what does that mean for you? Because in being willing to do that, you’re saying, you know, I’m not going to allow this kind of fear this component to keep me from looking at myself, truly, and I know a lot of us kind of struggle with that, because it changes, right, our definition of self changes.
So where we come from, how we got here, and what our purpose is change as well. And, and it gets confusing, and I think a lot of us found is questioning faith or in strengthening faith, especially during COVID in the pandemic, and everything that ensued, the ripple effects, right, and we were gonna have, and there’s just, there’s so much happening that pushes us to try to conform to a particular standard or have an expectation of others. So we lose ourselves along the way. So having that anchor can be grounded in who you are, and then having community and others and being in a space where other people’s giftings are working. People can show you a mere reflection of your greatness and radiate light back from themselves to you when you back to them. So that’s right, hugely helpful in moments, particularly of trepidation or tumultuous SNESs, which seems to be really common these days. Right? So, so in talking about impact leadership, how do you typically work with when you’re talking about leaders? What are the clients that you find yourself navigating around?
Mikel Brand Oliver:
Yeah, so I work with Mission centered initiatives, individuals, and institutions. So at the institutional level, it could be Chief Executive Officers, Chief, Chief Operating Officers, Dean of colleges and universities, Provost of colleges and universities, right, people who have the standard typical leadership title and enroll. I also work with nonprofit leaders who may be on the programmatic side, the leadership side, or the Board of Directors side. I also work with school leaders, whether they’re teachers or founders of schools. And I also work with one on one clients that have an idea or have a venture that they want to give some skin-to-skin nourishment, and I support them on that journey as well.
Tonya Dawn Recla:
Beautiful, beautiful, and the focus of the mission-driven inspired leadership structure. As you start working with it like that, it takes a little bit to define yourself as that I think, I don’t know about you, but I know for us we walked through quite a journey of like, how to connect into that how to relate into that concept in the marketplace and in your own world and in how you’re holding it the branding around it like it’s a delicate walk. I think feeling guided to have your businesses or your organization’s or your purpose in life driven by something beyond yourself. That really does create some divisiveness and people have real opinions about it. Right? What was that walk like for you to really focus on mission-driven businesses and in establishing yourself in that space?
Mikel Brand Oliver:
Yeah, it’s, it has been an aligned walk. So my background, I started in education as an elementary education teacher and an instructional coach, and the work of education is hard work. It’s hard to be in science, right? And that really aligns with who I am my core values of faith, relationships, character, and injustice. So the walk has been very aligned with who I am as a person. So even if I’m working with a for-profit organization that has a mission-centered initiative, that organization is full of people, right? It’s a collection of people, whether it’s people that you’re working with on your team or people that you’re aiming to serve or stand in solitude with. It’s all people’s work, right? And people want to be seen, heard, and loved. So that is a message that can be a tough sell. But that is a message that resonates with people, whether it’s the people that are working with me as clients or consulting me on how to best meet their community. So it’s been aligned, aligned journey.
Tonya Dawn Recla:
Yeah, feels that way. Brilliant. Well, we’re gonna, we’re gonna talk all about leadership and those of you who are wanting to step out into that or find yourself in leadership positions and what you can do to have a greater impact when we come back from the break before we do, Miguel, where can we send people to find out more about you?
Mikel Brand Oliver:
Yes, you can go to striveformpact.com and there’s no “i” on impact.
Tonya Dawn Recla:
Brilliant. Thank you for that and go to check out Mikel’s work over there, folks, and make sure you’re getting over to SuperPowerExperts.com. And check out sci-fi if you want to know what it feels like the right to harness your superpowers, that energy where we can sit in our own stillness our own calm, and our own strength. If you want that experience again, you want to remember what that feels like, make sure you get over to SuperPowerExperts.com. So you can dive into more of that over there. We are talking today on The Science of Superpowers with Mikel Brand Oliver, of our all about how to inspire impact leadership. We will be right back after the break.
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