Leadership with Care: The Human Skills That Set Great Leaders Apart

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Business RadioX. If you’re a business coach who’s tired of being a best kept secret, set up a call with Stone Payton at bookstonephone.com to unlock your perpetual prospect pipeline. Today on the show, we have executive coach, owner of MDC High Potential Leadership Coaching, Maggie Dominguez Chamber, welcome.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Thank you so much. I’m so happy to be here today.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn about your practice. Tell us about MDC high potential leadership coaching, how you serving folks?

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Hi. Well thank you. Well, a little bit of consulting, a little bit of coaching, a lot of learning and development. Um, so it’s really customizable learning for people as they go through transitions in their career. So we have a lot of fun and making sure that the learning and to meet people where they’re at with their skill development.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you work primarily with individuals or organizations contacting you to help them, you know, kind of build up their bench?

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Yeah, it’s a little of both. So I wouldn’t say there’s more of one or the other. Certainly, I have to say that I love when businesses, um, are bringing together their entire teams. So really the ecosystem gets to benefit from the build and the learning. But we all grow and develop differently. So we. I do have individuals that also reach out to me.

Lee Kantor: So how, um, how do you define high potential?

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Yeah. So I love to say that leadership doesn’t start when you have the title, right? It’s too late. By the time you have, you know, you’re getting a title, um, leadership starts, um, when you’re an individual contributor. So I, I really define high potential as those individuals that you see that they have that spark, that little bit of something extra, they’re able to bring people in, they’re able to get results that others aren’t in the right way. So those, you know, for me, it’s the high potential that they’re really there. They have the ability to bring people together, even if they are an individual contributor. But also if they if they do have a management role, they’re able to bring cross-functional teams together, um, for high performance. So, um, when I think of high performance, I’m not just talking about numbers that they reach the results and the goals that were set. It’s how are they helping? They have high potential of a, a, a management or a leadership role to bring people together and organizations together, um, to do more than what was even expected of them.

Lee Kantor: Now how do organizations kind of pick like, how do they decide, oh, that person is a candidate for high potential. Like what makes them stand out to somebody in leadership? Like, are there certain kind of traits or behaviors or actions they’re taking. Like I always, you know, especially in these large enterprise firms, like, oh, that person’s a high potential. We, we got to invest in them.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Yes. Well, succession planning is very common in larger size organizations. It’s a little less common in smaller sized organizations. Um, but it certainly can, can benefit from them. But I think that we all have either witnessed or, um, have experienced when people were, let’s say, promoted because they did a good job, you know, they just did a good job. They met the sales results. So let’s say that they were promoted. Um, I won’t say that that’s the best way to determine high potential. Um, so I think organizations really have under are understanding more that it’s more about the difference between, between management and leadership. And what’s the special combination um of skills, um, that these particular people are um observing. So for instance, if I am, if I am a manager and I see that a someone on my team is helping other teammates along, they’re, they’re being selfless, they’re giving ideas to show that’s showing high potential. This is someone who is looking at the larger picture. So they probably have a higher potential than someone that’s just looking out for themselves and their numbers and keeping their secrets under lock and key. So I hope that answers your question, where some organizations are definitely looking at it through a, a longer vision lens than just short term.

Lee Kantor: But in especially in larger organizations, there’s some people, I mean, This isn’t a new thing, but it’s just an observation that I’ve never worked in a big company, but my wife has. And, uh, there’s just stories of people who are good at politics or self-promotion that might have an accelerated career path than the person who believes if I do a good job, then I’m going to be noticed and rewarded.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Yeah, I think that it’s again, each organization has their own culture, right? And I think that we’re in an inflection point, right? With, with the amount of disruption that has happened here where, um, you know, before leaders, um, you know, could tell people what to do, go do it and they’d do it and, and that’s it. Um, you know, now with the, the disruption of AI, it’s a lot different now because it’s so easy to input something, you know, like instructional designers creating like now instructional designers, um, are needing to leverage different strengths of their creativity and innovation. Because if I wanted to make an infographic, I could type it into AI and, and the system will, will pull out something beautifully put together if I gave the instructions correctly. So now it is that inflection point of how do we identify the difference between managing and leading? Because these organizations definitely need people to manage things, right? Processes, manage schedules, those type of things. And they also need managers that can put their, their, their foot into the leadership. As things are changing, processes are changing disruption. Okay. Ai has taken over this function of the team. How are you going to be able to repurpose those individuals to use their time and energy, their talents on work that needs more critical thinking, maybe more, uh, more strategic thinking, problem solving. Those are the things where identification of some of those skills are becoming increasingly more important to be able to elevate and, um, keep people engaged, right? To keep going to want to, um, continue with the vision of the organization.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How’d you get interested in this topic?

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Well, um, I’ve been in leadership for over 37 years, and I’ve had the opportunity to grow over the last 37 years and witness and help develop managers and leaders across the world. And what’s always fascinated me was why are some more effective some leaders than others? What is that secret sauce? You know what? What is it that they’re doing differently? How are they getting the results? Having engagement scores that are phenomenal and growing good talent and keeping good talent within the organization. Um, so I’ve, I’ve really over, over the last 37 years have really, um, just collected information, um, read studies, um, you know, from Harvard, um, to all, all of Deloitte, you name it, all of the big names in research, in leadership and and created something that I feel is the secret sauce, which is leadership with care. Um, and that and care is an acronym for create amazing rewarding experiences. And that’s really the back story is I’m so passionate about leadership getting it right because we’re impacting people, we’re impacting cultures, we’re impacting communities, and someone has the power to do this. And, um, so they make a difference. And, um, I have a seven areas of focus that I, I say that, um, you know, leadership with care is, and I, I’d love to share those seven with you, if you don’t mind. Sure. Yeah. So, so one is care for yourself by doing what you love and what brings you joy.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: The best leaders know that they bring them their best selves to work when they’re passionate about what they’re doing. They may not be passionate about all of the the, you know, the integral details of, you know, an Excel document or this or that. But they care and believe in what they’re doing. So it gives them energy. So, um, and it really takes emotional intelligence and communication skills and adaptability and a bunch of more skills to, um, to make that work. But that’s why it works is when they’re doing something that they love, it’s going to show and it’s going to show in the culture. The second thing is care for one another and collaborate. And why this works is we can’t do anything alone, right? So nobody gets anything done alone at work. And that teamwork, the collaboration leaders really know that they need to listen more and they collaborate with people to get things done. So, um, that’s really the, the, the second thing. And then the third thing is they care to learn from others and grow your perspectives, right? So I am going to go outside of my immediate expertise. I’m going to go out to other people outside of the industry. I’m going to learn from other people so I can come back in and apply that. I can learn something new every day. I can stay adaptable and innovate with diverse thoughts.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: That’s the other secret sauce. Number four is care for your work by committing to excellence. You know that builds trust, right? Every day that you that these leaders show up and they’re consistent in their, the way that they are, they present themselves. They’re consistent in people know what to expect from this leader. Not that, oh my gosh, how is this leader going to feel today? Are they going to blow up or are they going to be in a good mood? No. Um, so really caring for the work by committing to excellence. It really builds trust. It builds confidence. Um, and, and it really starts showing them the culture that this leader wants to build. Number five is care to help others succeed. And that really means creating a supportive environment. And when you build a supporting environment, people are going to want to work for you. Right. People who are on your team are going to talk about how great it is to work with you. Um, and how you help them grow. Whatever it, it really does make a difference when you care enough to help others succeed. When you feel on a team that my manager wants to help me grow. They’re not trying to just keep me in the same spot. No, they want to see me succeed. Number six is care to make great friends along the way.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: And what I love about this one is I personally feel very strongly about this. We spend so much time at work that most of my lasting relationships over the last 37 years, they’ve become some people have become my great friends, people that I need to confide in, people that I need to be able to say, I need your support. I need to ask you, did I sound off in that meeting and that they’re really going to give you true feedback? So you really need to have fun at work. You need to make friends. It doesn’t mean everybody has to be your friend, but having that core set makes a difference in helping in, in, in helping you succeed and others succeed. And then last but not least is seven is care enough to leave a brand that you would be proud of. And why I say this is because it’s there. It’s your legacy, right? It’s your character, it’s your reputation. It’s the impact that will live on beyond you. You have set the foundation and as a leader, when you are leading with care, you certainly are making sure that your legacy lives on and it’s improved upon because you’ve built the skills of people, strong, high potential people around you. So leadership with care. It truly is creating amazing, rewarding experiences not only for yourself, for your, your employees, for your clients and your communities.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there any advice you can give organizations that might be struggling with kind of, um, getting the most out of their high potentials is their low hanging fruit that you would recommend leaders kind of lean into.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Especially these days, I would say. Absolutely. Um, human skills is, is just as important as AI skills, right? So as leaders are, are, are, um, really, I don’t want to say struggling, but they’re really working towards getting better at this disruption that we’re going through with, um, with technology and skills and satisfaction of people at work and people feeling scared that, you know, their jobs are being taken away. It’s just how, how do they use their human skills? Right? Um, to be more powerful leaders. Um, so I would say that investing in, I don’t want soft skills is such a soft word to me. It’s not soft. They’re hard skills. Um, and I would say that there’s, you know, four key areas of human skills to focus in on. And that’s the heart, the voice, the brain and the muscles, right? So if I think about the heart, I think about emotional intelligence and empathy. And, you know, leading from the heart builds trust and psychological safety. You want a team that’s going to trust you so much that they’ll give you the good, the bad and the ugly, right? So invest in learning and developing those skills. It doesn’t come natural for everyone to lead from the heart. The voice is just as important, if not, um, you know, on equal levels, right? So it’s, it’s the voice is multiplying your business and your team capabilities by being clear, clear communications and collaboration, as I mentioned earlier. And then the brain is your thinking skills, right? If you think about, you know, the skills needed, um, soft skills needed for, um, uh, for your brain, it really is your analytical precision, right? Your critical thinking skills, your strategic thinking skills, problem solving.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: And one of the biggest things that I think, um, we’re, we’re getting, we’re not getting better at right now because of AI is, is having good judgment, right? Ai doesn’t have good judgment. Ai, um, doesn’t necessarily have all of the information needed, needed for great problem solving skills. So we need to invest in building our brain, our capability and our analytical precision. And then, um, last but not least is building your muscles. And that’s your adaptive, uh, in thriving through rapid transitions because we’re going through it now, right? Adaptability and learning agility. Those are the two under building your muscles that we’ve got to get better at is we need to get better at learning. We need to how to learn, how to learn. So that way we if there’s disruption, we’re like, okay, hold on, let me put my learning hat on. I’m going to become more resilient as I get better at learning. And you can learn how to be a better learner as you’re practicing and learning more and often and more often. So I would say out of those four that I just mentioned, those four areas, the heart, the voice, the brain and the muscles, I would say bookend the heart and the muscles. Because if you don’t have the heart and the muscle, when you have the heart and the muscles, it makes everything in between the voice and the brain so much easier to, to accomplish.

Lee Kantor: Now, for the organizations that are struggling in the area of implementation of like, we’ve been talking about AI for a while, but AI to me is such a blunt instrument. It’s, it means different things to different people. And within your organizations, your teams are going to deal with AI in different ways, like your marketing team is going to use AI in a different way, your accounting team or your customer service team, or your leadership or your C-suite. They’re all. And to call one thing AI and have it one AI policy to me seems insane that you really have to kind of manage how it’s used team by team, almost person by person, because everyone is going, some people in your team are going to be kind of lean into it and love it and play and experiment and do great things. And other people are going to think of it as it as their replacement and be hesitant, and they’re not going to kind of kind of get all the value they could out of the experience. How do you help, um, an organization kind of manage an implementation that’s this disruptive and, and we’re all learning as we go. Like it’s not like there’s a right way to do it. Like it’s it’s like you said, you got to be flexible and agile in order to implement this effectively.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Yeah. The first thing that I would say is that’s where the heart comes in, right? Emotional intelligence. That’s the baseline because we have to be able to stop, pause, and think about what’s right, what’s wrong, how am I reacting? Should I think deeply about this? Am I getting too emotional? Are are my employees emotional about this? And for what reasons? So when you think about implementing in a larger organization, it’s, it’s really doing analysis from the top down and the and the bottom up. Right? How, how is this organization framing the changes? Are they how emotionally intelligent, um, is the leadership team? How are they performing. Um, so to me, I think that it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s not, I can’t answer the question directly for all organizations, but the starting point is, are we understanding when I need to manage emotions, manage what’s going on, understand my, the people within my organization and how they’re feeling to ensure that psychological safety is there because the leaders need to rely on their people to give them information in order to act in accordance to what’s needed to move the organization in the right direction, to move functions in the right direction and the people in the right directions. Um, as, as people and processes and systems will continue changing, right? So the World Economic Forum, I think, I’m sure that you’ve, you know, you’ve read the article talking about we’re going to continue to see disruption until probably 2030, major disruption until 2030. So we’ve got to be able to say, how are we as a as a leadership team in an organization? How can we help look at understanding what’s needed now and into the future?

Lee Kantor: So is there a story you can share that maybe illustrates how you work with an organization with challenges like we’re discussing? Don’t name the name of the organization, but maybe share the challenge they came to you with and how you were able to get them through this to maybe a new level.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Yes. We’re working. Um, actually, I’m working with, with an organization right now. Um, it’s nonprofit. I’ll just say that. Um, and. Major disruption, right? With, um, AI, it’s a smaller nonprofit. It’s not a large, larger nonprofit, I would say midsize. And they’re not leveraging technology. And what’s happening is they’re not seeing the, the marketing, the, the, the support that they were looking that, that they had seen in the past. And that’s because other organizations that may be doing similar things, um, are, are out there and getting more of, um, of the attention space is what I’ll say. So we’re currently working together to talk about what are the roadblocks to moving forward with dipping toes into leveraging technology for some of the, their their marketing. And then they, you can use their people resources in a much deeper problem solving, um, strategic thinking for more of the high, um, people interaction people, interaction resources. So that’s an example of where we are making a plan on where they feel comfortable saying, let’s test the waters and let’s repurpose some of the staff for other functions. So it’s been, it’s been fun to leverage, um, and to leverage technology with this organization. Um, and we’re already seeing some good results. So I’m very happy about that. But it’s step by step, right? Because it’s all dependent on the size of the organization and the resources that they have. But but this is a good one because they have limited resources. It’s nonprofit. So it does become a little squirrely, as I call it. Um, but it’s been, it’s been really fun to see them step out of their comfort zone and getting into, um, the world of AI now.

Lee Kantor: Do you have a niche that you specialize in or a type of client you like to work with? You mentioned nonprofit. Are there, is that where you primarily work or I would imagine this work is industry agnostic, so you could work pretty much anywhere.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Yes. I’m so thrilled to say that I’m, I, I truly am, um, you know, open to, to any business because leadership skills to your point is we, there are core set of leadership skills, right. And they they can be learned even, you know, some people have a natural lean to leadership skills, others it’s a learned behavior. But, you know, I’m open to most industries and I’m excited to expand my portfolio with other industries. I primarily have worked with financial, um, the financial sector. And then now moving on to, um, like I mentioned, some nonprofits now.

Lee Kantor: Can you share a little bit about the difference? You mentioned it like leadership. These are things that can be learned. Um, so I guess there are some people that they say are born leaders, but do you think that with enough, uh, desire and maybe counsel or coaching that you can kind of turn anyone into a leader?

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: 100% if they have, if they have the desire to be a leader. I do feel like most people can become great leaders. I mean, if you think about it, if you just if we were to ask the audience to just close their eyes and say, you know, think of a leader or someone, you know, as you were growing through your professional career, someone that you admire that helped you grow. What was the trait that they had? And if you think about that, nine times out of ten, the answers and the responses that I receive are all things like they were. They were very trusting. I trusted them, they helped me grow. They saw my potential before I did. So these are all things that can be learned in consistency and in training and in feedback. The most important thing is as people are developing. It isn’t about just going to a class that doesn’t make you a great leader. What makes you a great leader is getting the feedback that you need. Every time you go to grow in a particular area. So if it’s coaching, for instance, managers and leaders need to coach if it’s coaching. How do you know how well you’re coaching and how well you’re performing? Have you had someone observe you coaching and give you feedback? Um, so those are the things that I would say is I’m answering. Yes. It’s a learned behavior. You definitely need to get the feedback in order to have true success in your development. So have a 30, 60, 90 day plan and then start all over again to continue to act to assess what additional skills are needed for your development.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned managing and leading. Do you see those as two different things?

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: I do, I do I. So I always say manage your managing stuff, right? You’re managing stuff, but you’re leading people, you’re inspiring people. A leader needs to have the vision, be able to tell a vision, bring people in. Um, you know, as, as, you know, create a mission, uh, a mission statement and, and have people flock to you because they believe so deeply in your vision and mission. Um, where a manager needs to manage the work that needs to get done to accomplish all of this. Now you have entrepreneurs, they may be the self, you know, they’re, they’re the, you know, the sole owner of the business. So they have to work within management and leadership. They’re doing it all themselves. They have to know when to turn on the management versus the leadership side, right? So you’re managing a project, you’re setting, you’re setting schedules, you’re, you know, um, you’re, you’re, you’re opening and closing whatever it is, you’re managing the processes. Leading people is much different because now this engages people to bring, bring people in. Um, so yes, it’s very different. And the higher, if you’re in a, in an organization and you’re in a, in a management position, you have to work in both, um, more often, you might have to stay in management a little longer, but you absolutely have to lead as well to have to manage and lead a high performing team.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more and get on your calendar, uh, is there a website? What’s the best way to connect?

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Yes, absolutely. I am here, um, at my website is mdccoach.com, and they’re more than welcome to reach out. There’s, um, uh, I have a monthly blog there. You can learn more. Um, I have a blog, uh, monthly blog called Margarita break, um, pouring wisdom into leadership, um, where we talk about, um, leadership impacts at all levels of leadership from individual contributor to manager to first time manager, mid-level manager and senior executives. So, um, we have information on the website there, but there is a, there is a link to contact me, um, in the website.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Well thank you. Um, well, I think just getting the word out to me, I think what’s most important for people to walk away with in my mind is that credibility comes from competence, right? People expect you to be competent, right? So your credibility comes from your competence. But real leadership and influence comes from deeply human skills and leaders that lead with care. And that is what wildly successful leaders know is that they know that they have to work on their human skills just as much, if not more than their, um, than their area of expertise.

Lee Kantor: Well, Maggie, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Maggie Dominguez Chamber: Well thank you.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.