How can we build a leadership mindset? In this episode of Your SuperPowered Mind, host Kristin Maxwell is joined by guest Kyle Gillette as they talk about the importance of self-awareness in figuring out what kind of leader you want to be. Kyle shares some ways to move past the imposter syndrome and show up genuinely like yourself. Kyle also explains how the fear of change holds leaders back, and how you can create active accountability that gets you into action. Join Kristin and Kyle in today’s episode to start building a leadership mindset.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Your SuperPowered Mind. I’m your host, Kristin Maxwell, and in this show, we explore the process of transformation and give you tools and strategies that you can use to transform your own life. Today I have the pleasure to be talking to Kyle Gillette about what the optimal leadership mindset might be if there is such a thing.
Kyle Gillette is the owner of Gillette Solutions, a coaching and consulting organization that works with leaders of family-owned businesses to help them minimize stress, enjoy work again, by helping them develop their people, and improve processes to boost profits. He’s the host of the SAGE Mindset Podcast and author of Lifemap: Building a Future When You’re Lost in the Present. I love that title. Kyle Gillette, welcome to Your SuperPowered Mind.
Hey Kristin. Thank you for having me. I’m excited to talk about this stuff. It’s a lot of fun to talk about.
Good. I just love picking people’s brains, and mindset is my thing. My first question is always, what superpower did you uncover as the result of mastering your mind?
Yeah. Have you ever experienced where things just feel a little pixelated if you think about it like a web page or a website where the image is really pixelated and unclear?
What I found is that my superpower has to do with helping people take that pixelated picture about their thoughts, the goals that they have for themselves, the goals they have for the business, and making it high definition.
I have this ability to understand the truth of what someone’s trying to get at, and help them reveal that, and then turn that goal, that plan, that mission, into actionable steps. We take the confusing, jumbled mess in their minds or in their brains and we clarify it through lots of coaching, lots of questions, and then we’re able to take smart actions to help them achieve what it is they’re trying to achieve.
That sounds quite helpful I would say.
Yeah, it’s super rewarding because when people achieve their goals there’s just something different about what that does for someone. It just perpetuates more and more achievement because they go, “Oh, wait a second. I was really confused about this thing, but now I’m not. Now I can pursue this other thing that seems difficult, but because I overcame this area and I have clarity in this area, I can now pursue this one.”
Then it just keeps on going and builds the momentum that we all love to experience.
Yes, that is so great. And I love that visual of a pixelated picture. What I often see is like a tangle of knots in your head where you have all of these different threads that you’re trying to follow, but they’re so tangled up you just can’t, and you end up in a big knot. That’s a different visual.
Yeah. I totally explain it that way too, and you can’t see me but I was nodding my head vigorously in agreement with you.
Yeah, it’s like almost having been one of those people with those tangled thoughts is what it felt like.
Yes.
Yes. You know, the way I went into this is wondering if there is sort of an optimal leadership mindset. You work with business owners or the people who are running businesses. Do you see that there’s a certain way of interacting with life and their situation that actually sets them up to succeed, or does it depend? That’s a big question.
I mean I have my own framework that I use with my clients that I help them to kind of adapt. I think that there’s a bunch of different approaches that will work for people. I really do. I have my own approach that works for my clients. I call it the SAGE Mindset, which is the approach that I use with the businesses that I work with in terms of the personal side of it, the leadership, growth, and progress, and all that, but it also translates into the business as a whole. So in my own way, I believe that the method that I use is very effective and it’s very effective for most people.
Great. Well, I do find that lots of people, if you can simplify, well, this jumbled mass that is often our thoughts and our visions, and give a process to take people through, it is so helpful in figuring out where to turn and what to pay attention to next. What’s involved in your process? I don’t want you to give away your whole thing if it’s something that’s kind of a secret, but what generally do you do with people?
Yeah. The individual versus the business is a little bit different, I’m going to focus on the individual because since I primarily work with family-owned businesses, I’m working with the business owner, and the way that they lead the business is the culture of the business. The way that they lead, and the hangups that they have, and the strengths that they have, are really reflected in the business. I call it the SAGE Mindset, and SAGE is an acronym for self-awareness accountability, growth, and empowerment. My theory is that all great leaders are SAGE leaders.
What that means is, they are obviously self-aware, but this means that they’re aware of their own emotions, their own instincts, their own giftings, their own limitations, but they’re also aware of how those instincts, limitations, strengths, are impacting those that they’re leading. And then they’re aware of how those that they are leading are interacting with them. It’s really kind of the EQ side of the equation. So very, very emotionally intelligent and working towards more self-awareness. What are my hang-ups? What am I struggling at? Where am I limited, and who can I surround myself with to create a better team, to create a better version of my leadership, a better version of my business? That’s the first piece.
Yeah. Good, and you know what? I’m going to stop you because we do have to go to break really quickly. But I am going to hang on to that and come back to it. Because what I love is, I haven’t heard a lot of people talking to leaders, “Okay, what are your hangups?” You know, “What are your weaknesses?” And of course, that would show up, so thank you for pointing that out. Before we go to break, where can people learn about you, and your company, and your work?
Yeah. You can find me at gillettesolutions.com, and then I also have a podcast. It’s called the SAGE Mindset Podcast. You can check me out there, but the best way to reach me is definitely gillettesolutions.com.
Great. Thank you. Hang on people. When we come back, we’re going to talk a bit more about developing the optimal leadership mindset.
To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.
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