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029 - Leading with Heart: Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Vulnerability, Grace, and the Soul of Nashville
35 Plays8 days ago
In this special episode of Vulnerability Muscle, host Reggie D. Ford sits down with Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell for a heart-centered conversation that goes far beyond politics. From the power of vulnerability in leadership to the importance of authentic community connection, Mayor O’Connell opens up about the emotional weight of public service, the challenges of navigating state and city tensions, and how he stays grounded in the midst of it all.
Reggie and Mayor O’Connell explore what it means to lead with compassion while facing the daily fires of executive decision-making. With reflections on family traditions, childhood memories, and his favorite Nashville gems (shoutout to Big Al’s Deli), this conversation is a reminder that behind every title is a human being with a story, a heart, and a deep desire to serve.
You’ll also hear insights about affordable housing, transit reform, and Nashville’s future—and why slowing down and doing the small things well might be the most radical act of leadership.
Whether you’re a civic leader, a lifelong Nashvillian, or someone who believes in leading with love, this episode is a masterclass in vulnerability and vision.
RESOURCES:
1) Financial Empowerment Center (FEC)
- The Nashville Financial Empowerment Center offers free, one-on-one financial counseling to residents of Davidson County and surrounding areas.
How to Schedule an Appointment:
Website: fec.nashville.gov
Phone: 615-748-3620
Counseling is available in English and Spanish, with translation services for other languages. Sessions are currently conducted remotely.
2) Mental Health Support
- 24-Hour Mental Health Crisis Line: Call 855-274-7471 to connect with trained crisis counselors.
- Mental Health Cooperative: Offers a 24-hour walk-in crisis center at 250 Cumberland Bend.
3) Emergency Financial Assistance
- NeedLink Nashville provides short-term financial assistance to help residents avoid homelessness and utility disconnections.https://givingmatters.civicore.com/needlink?utm_source=chatgpt.com
4) Volunteer and Nonprofit Engagement
- Hands On Nashville: Connects volunteers with local nonprofits across various sectors.
- Center for Nonprofit Excellence: Supports Middle Tennessee nonprofits with resources and training.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Vulnerability Muscle Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
All of those things are very closely connected. ah Vulnerability, the ability to give grace as a response to vulnerability, and then authenticity. Welcome to Vulnerability Muscle, the inspiring podcast challenging norms and helping you redefine vulnerability as a strength.
00:00:17
Speaker
I'm your host, Reggie D. Ford. Each episode of Vulnerability Muscle dives into a variety of topics such as mental health, social issues, and mindset shifts.
The Power of Vulnerability in Connection
00:00:28
Speaker
We explore the power of vulnerability in fostering meaningful connections, healing, building resilience, and promoting personal growth.
00:00:37
Speaker
Sometimes these conversations are uncomfortable, but good workouts often are. So join us and flex that vulnerability muscle. Welcome to the Vulnerability Muscle. I'm your host, Reggie D. Ford.
00:00:50
Speaker
Today, you can see that we're in a different location. i have an amazing guest here with me, Mayor Freddie O'Connell of Nashville. How you doing, Freddie? I'm doing all right, Reggie. Oh man, I am so excited for this and I want to start by just asking, how is your heart?
Mayor Freddie O'Connell on Leadership and Vulnerability
00:01:06
Speaker
My heart is good. um My heart is also concerned about the hearts of a lot of people in the world right now. yeah yeah um But I feel like for me, just for myself, for my family, for my friends, for the people that I get to spend time with every day my heart's in good shape.
00:01:25
Speaker
Oh, I love that and i love your your compassion for other people and I think that's what makes you such a a great servant leader. you You've been leading for a long time, like a long time. What's the what what's been the the biggest shift, I know it's been huge ones, but the biggest shift from being a council member to to now mayor?
00:01:46
Speaker
I think just um the process of legislating and the process of executive decision making are very different things, right? This is um this is a managerial role where you know daily attention to how budgets are playing out in the world. It's not just, ah there's a difference between the process of floor speeches and analysis and feedback, which happened a lot in the council world versus, you know, day to day putting out fires.
00:02:18
Speaker
This is a lot more decisions and sort of the volume and pace and magnitude of those decisions. You know, ah a change in dynamic for people who paid a lot of attention to Metro Council, who are now paying attention to the mayor's office and sometimes good, but other times very challenging. Yeah, I'm sure it is challenging. And I want i want to hop into a segment before we go any further. It's called, What Comes to Mind?
00:02:43
Speaker
So it's three simple questions, I think simple, that I ask folks. And so you let me know the first thing you think of. What comes to mind when you hear the word of vulnerability?
00:02:54
Speaker
um I mean, ultimately, I think relationships. I think the basis of friendship, family, love, all of those things has to exist in a space of vulnerability.
00:03:10
Speaker
I love that. that was one of the reasons I started this podcast. It was to yeah recognizing my level of vulnerability with my book and then ah just as I talk and and who i who I show up as in the world now, how it has allowed me to connect and grow and build family, chosen family, you know, not even, you know, the the family that I was born to and the depths of those relationships because of my vulnerability. So I love that answer. Well, and I think similarly, um you know, you can build up walls inside yourself. And so I think there's a a vulnerability that's an internal type that, you know, i like that happens too. it's I like that. Your relationship with yourself matters. That's at the most, the most important. i love that. I love that. All right.
Balancing Personal Life with Public Duty
00:03:57
Speaker
What is something you do? Because you have so many decisions to make. You have so much. What is something you do to relax and center yourself if you are stressed, overwhelmed by the decisions and challenges?
00:04:08
Speaker
I mean, i guess I'm also very fortunate in this regard in that I i tried very hard to make make the... but Once I had the decision that I was going to even try to do this, it was sort of...
00:04:25
Speaker
you know, go ahead and preemptively set aside as much of the stress as you can. And so I guess I'm very fortunate in that even though there is a lot of difficult decision making, there is a lot of emotional weight to this.
00:04:40
Speaker
Most days i am not actually feeling stressed out or overwhelmed. So that's, that's very good. But I also think in that I was very intentional from day one of making sure that the job itself, the role itself were not my life. Like this was never,
00:05:01
Speaker
you know, being in politics or being a politician was never and still isn't, I hope, and after I'm done serving, ah won't be core to my identity.
00:05:13
Speaker
And so already having ah rich network of friends, already having, you know, a rhythm to our family means that I can still um enjoy a lot of things. Like, we do a lot of things as a family that are fun. I mean, we try to... um I'm sort of like the the adventure mapper for for the family. we just We just try to get out and enjoy the the amazing things that are here in the city that were not here when I was growing up. yeah um And just around us. i mean, there are so many places of natural beauty where you can do everything from just go on a hike in a beautiful park in Nashville or very near Nashville or get out on a zip line. yeah
00:05:58
Speaker
you know And so I do that, but I also i ah read a lot. If if i you know there's space in a given month, ah the place that you're most likely to find me if I'm not in the mayor's office is probably seeing live music or being at the Belcourt Theater watching movie. I love that. I love that so much. so It's such a rich experience here in Nashville. I love i tell people who come here from different places, like, I live in East Nashville, and I can go from my house to being in Shelby Bottoms and like in what is outside and nature and wilderness in five minutes. And once you're in Shelby Bottoms, it's still, to me, one of the most amazing things.
00:06:41
Speaker
You can turn a corner. yeah And you've got the river and you've got woods and you know wetlands and fields and you don't even know you're in the city. Yeah, and it's it' beautiful. And of remarkable because it's right there in East Nashville.
00:06:55
Speaker
Stay in there. Stay in there. What is one of your favorite childhood memories? You know, um again, very lucky that I have a lot. We used to we used to go as a family to the old Elliston Place soda shop as a regular.
00:07:12
Speaker
And I definitely remember sitting there flipping the old jukeboxes that didn't work anymore. But I mean, it was a neat thing to grow up knowing that like we were regular enough that my family knew the servers and they knew our family. And I just i think there's something neat about that that has ah much more of a small town feeling. yeah um And so that was kind of neat. I mean, it's funny, we've had the opportunity to Update a lot of my old memories just in the past few months some of my old memories at municipal auditorium We're seeing the globe trotters and the old You know Barnum and Bailey circus nice, and so we've gotten to take our girls over to those like refreshed experiences over at Bridgestone nice oh wow yeah We got to see like they got to experience the globe trotters and ah they're kind of both getting into sports experiences now so yeah fun and and
00:08:06
Speaker
um And you know, it's it's really interesting to watch like a modern day circus play out. Yeah. We just recorded with a harlem a former Harlem Globetrotter of 18 years. Oh wow. um it herb ah Herb Flight Time Lane.
00:08:21
Speaker
was an amazing guest, and he's doing some amazing work around kindness and spreading that message around the world. And ah so it's good to hear you bring up the Globetrotters and how impactful that was to your your experience.
00:08:34
Speaker
um And so therere there when you bring up family, I got to announce that ah we are related. This is my brother. This is actually my brother. So my soul mama, my soul mama. She's a surrogate mother to me. And i she was my French teacher in high school.
00:08:56
Speaker
French teacher, well, let's go back. She started off as the honor council teacher that was staring down the back of my neck in eighth grade when I had an honor council offense. Uh-oh. And then became my French teacher. You learned the hard way before you learned the right way, Yeah. Then became my French teacher and became family to me. And and by the way, you're family to me. And so this is such a huge honor to be able to sit with you and interview you. And I remember I was so proud to walk into that booth and press your name and just and then hear the announcement that you had been elected mayor of Nashville. It's just like such a huge honor. so
00:09:35
Speaker
Man, it's just amazing. But with that, Mama sent me some stuff to ask you. Oh, God. Nope. Those are, Alex? No. No, we all in families, we may have sayings. We may have phrases that from movies, from books, the things that stand out and stick out in our families. And so in your family, I just wonder, what does this what does this mean to you, this catchphrase?
00:10:03
Speaker
Eat, boy. Eat. Yeah, well, I mean, this the like I was, um and it's funny now to be raising one of my own, but I was what you might describe as a picky eater when I was younger.
00:10:17
Speaker
And so that was definitely a constant refrain from my dad when we would sit. And again, i can't. I don't overstate how fortunate I am that my brother and I both grew up. We could gather around our kitchen table almost every night and enjoy a meal together. But yeah, I mean, there were moments like that where I might be, you know, messing with something. And I will say I think that there is a there's probably some embellishment on a lot of the stories.
00:10:51
Speaker
have been told and retold and revised and no longer actually resemble reality. love that. What about this I don't love it as much as you both do.
00:11:04
Speaker
I'm having a good time. What about this one? Puh to you all. Yeah, the I mean, a lot of these are Tim O'Connell specials. Oh, okay. These are, as he is now frequently known, Papa Tim.
00:11:18
Speaker
i Because, you know, again, i think... it is It's really been, i mean, you knew my mom as an advisor, as a teacher, but she is now, I think, enjoying the period of her life where she is a professional grandmother. yeah But, you know, in those um in those moments, if there was an Eat Boy Eat, I will say I think sometimes my brother and I would find ways to rib Papa Tim, and the response then was a poor to you all.
00:11:52
Speaker
dismissiveness of of the environment that happening. Yeah, yeah. oh I love that. I just wanted to touch on a couple
Authenticity and Authority in Leadership
00:11:58
Speaker
of things. But I'm curious what your thoughts are on the role of vulnerability in leadership. Like, how do you show up for your people, but also in politics? and politics Like, you have to hold some things to the chest. Like, how are you able to be vulnerable while maintaining that balance?
00:12:15
Speaker
you know When you asked earlier about the first thing that comes to mind, maybe one of the things I'm still encouraged by and find refreshing when I'm out in the world is that ah people tell me that they
00:12:32
Speaker
they find my approach to this job, they find my approach to community very authentic. And I think that's also what it means because i you know i had similarly going back to seeking this role in the first place one of my friends was like I knew you knew a lot of people but it was until I was working at a poll that I understood this for real wow and I think that's always been ah willingness to um you know try to understand what people are going through to give grace as often as possible
00:13:08
Speaker
um as a first order. And I feel like that's, like, they're all of those things are very closely connected. ah Vulnerability, the ability to give grace as a response to vulnerability, and then authenticity. yeah so it's not an easy part of the job. i mean um I think so often the model of leadership is one of ah purely kind of strength and authority, but I think you can deliver strength, authority, confidence, and not sacrifice vulnerability and authenticity. And i I try to do that as often as I can, but, um you know, it's how can you not
00:13:48
Speaker
have a vulnerable response to a moment like the Antioch High School shooting? How can you... um Similarly, when you are participating in any kind of recovery effort for something difficult that has happened, I mean, we've just in the past 18 months, we've had deadly and devastating tornadoes just this week, even though the sun has been shining, it is after a week of rainfall that produced localized flooding in multiple different parts of the city. And so making sure we operationally respond to that is important. But, you know, I mean, i
00:14:27
Speaker
um I will say too, I think there is i there are just some moments that are unexpected that um that almost pull the vulnerability out of you. I was over at Vine Street actually and church this Sunday seeing a friend preach.
00:14:46
Speaker
And she had a really wonderful sermon, but right after ah the service concluded, a woman just came up and it was sort of a moment where it didn't require a lot of words, but it was just like a She needed a hug. I was ready for the hug. She was almost in tears and there's no way you can be in that space and not have some of that, yeah you know, come and meet her where she is. Wow. so I think it's I think that's part of it, too. Yeah, I love that. i love that you you said you can have the strength. You can have the authority while also being vulnerable.
00:15:24
Speaker
And then the the different. character, qualiti the character traits that you named, like authenticity. I'm curious, like with your role in in Metro Nashville being a ah democratic city and in having, what are the challenges that you're seeing now when it comes to, um you know, our our national leadership versus our state leadership and then how you're able to do things? What challenges do you face because of those differences?
00:15:50
Speaker
Alex, how much time do we have? I mean, this is... um I would say all of that in some ways is actually right now our greatest challenge. You know, in just the past few weeks, it has been a daily process of having to have our departments of law and finance not just tracking but responding to things. i mean, a couple weeks ago,
00:16:19
Speaker
We learned that a triple threat of cuts coming into our Metro Public Health Department meant we suddenly had to say goodbye to five Metro employees. And so these are the first employees that I was fundamentally helpless to protect their jobs, protect their livelihoods. but as importantly, protect the role they were playing in the community from working on ah rapid rehousing scenario for people experiencing homelessness to um community health work and, um you know, kind of vaccine uptake. Like, we we lost some really good people in the space of public health, and I i mean, that's...
00:17:03
Speaker
the worst sensation of some of this moment is very often feeling like you are somewhat powerless, somewhat helpless, and then having to go search for those places where you can um find empowerment and find the opportunity to be helpful. And so, um so much of just, you know, after the first year in change where I feel like we were able to have a strong and reliable federal partner, recalibrate a relationship with the state.
00:17:37
Speaker
um We're now at a point where we're trying very hard every day to maintain a high quality state and local relationship, but then have a new, what I would say is almost a ah threat vector to the city in terms of we have a platform for, I think,
00:17:58
Speaker
broader prosperity, we have a platform where we should be able to more comfortably accommodate some of the growth that we know is coming, expect to come. um you know Having built a great city way before i took this job Like it has been getting, in my opinion, better and better year over year. And I think about it through what my life was like as a kid growing up here and then what I see my daughters experiencing growing up here. And the the fact that that it like so many of the things that we built a foundation for over the past year are already hitting some turbulence through forces beyond our control is a very significant challenge. Yeah. i think it's
00:18:43
Speaker
humbling to hear you say you know you feel powerless at times because I think the the misconception is that you know the leader of a city has the power to do what it is to do in our city but you don't always have that that ability.
00:18:55
Speaker
and so i mean if we If we lose either the funding or the legal right to do certain things, um that comes from people above my pay grade. yeah right And there are plenty of people above my pay grade. Yeah, definitely.
00:19:10
Speaker
ah I know the the state of the of metro is coming soon. Can you give us some some maybe a ah quick highlight of some of the things that that you'll be talking about or some of the, let's brag on Nashville. We've been doing well.
00:19:23
Speaker
Well, I think a couple things are
Nashville's Infrastructure Progress
00:19:26
Speaker
important to me. I think in this such rapid-fire digestion of information that I think is fueled by social media, I do think it's important to have slower reflections. And so I think it is very, very important to remember what a significant moment it was in November when we secured dedicated funding for transit and infrastructure as a city, when a super majority of us came together, hundreds of thousands of Nashvillians said, we know we have not been doing enough for far too long, and now let's change our future.
00:20:02
Speaker
And we should celebrate that. That is something that happened since last year's State of Metro address, and I want to be in a position to talk about what that means, where that will take us.
00:20:15
Speaker
How much funding was secured? Well, I mean, we're going to get hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and that it's so good that we did that in that moment because we don't have any confidence in federal funding to support especially transit, but also some of the types of infrastructure we were hoping to offer from a safety perspective on our roadways.
00:20:38
Speaker
um you know I think we will still see some opportunities for infrastructure, but what this means is already this year, we're doing service improvements that mean more nights and weekend service. we're expanding our paratransit for people with disabilities into more of a real-time scenario with again greater points of access for our disabled community. We're offering our first ever low-income fare program and all of these things are specifically possible because we made a choice as a city last year to do this. We're accelerating sidewalk construction. We're putting fiber in the ground to have technology that supports
00:21:17
Speaker
smarter traffic signals that will have more green lights. And we did all of these things together in November and already this year, we'll be able to put some of that funding into play for the improvement of the city. And so there are some things that we've been able to do that are local self-reliance where we don't, I mean, we could certainly do more if we had a stronger federal partner, but um we we will be able to do a lot.
00:21:42
Speaker
Similarly, i don't want to lose sight of the fact that, you know having just been to a remembrance ceremony for the Covenant school shooting, I feel like the entire city um felt that impact and that it reverberated even beyond Davidson County and you started to see young people from other areas ah come in and participate in very significant advocacy efforts, spending lots of times at lots of time at the state capitol.
00:22:11
Speaker
And I want to make sure that we don't um forget about the impact to the Antioch community of the Antioch High School shooting, right? So I think slowing down a little bit and reflecting on both what we've gained and what we've lost over the past year ah will be really important. i think, too,
00:22:32
Speaker
um Just noting that a lot of what is to come is going to be a lot of pure focus on continuity execution. This is not a time when we're like I'm not going to be announcing something big and bold and new. This is really a time of responsibility, ah so frankly, a celebration that things being normal and stable is that's good and yeah refreshing.
00:23:01
Speaker
And so we're going to try to really just get some improvements to our employee pay plan. We're going to really lean into housing as a top priority now that we've kind of gotten transit done.
00:23:14
Speaker
um and When you say housing, affordable housing. As much as we can, we're going to try to make a dent in what we know is an affordability issue in our housing market locally. And then we're also going to try to, um you know,
00:23:28
Speaker
take this moment after COVID where we got a lot of one time, particularly federal money to do some things in schools, to do some things in our response to homelessness, to do some things for people ah going through the process of eviction because we saw a lot of displacement through COVID.
00:23:49
Speaker
And we're going to try to make some of those things that have really been effective structural in the budget. And then we're also very likely to um you know continue putting things in place that let us weather uncertain economic times. so um Yeah, and and I think it's important to be able to say at a local level in particular, governing well so that you can see the things that we're doing that more effectively remove snow from our streets, that fine-tuning our trash collection process, that we have already this year
00:24:26
Speaker
filled more than 10,000 potholes and we want all of that stuff, right? You know, and that all of those things matter, right? That's like, we don't want to lose sight of the basics being where people really experience their local government. And so just making sure too, though, that everybody has all of the entry points in hand for programs that can help them, yeah right? Like we have,
00:24:55
Speaker
a completely free financial empowerment center that has over the past decade helped people eliminate i millions of dollars of bad debt, increased savings. Completely free financial empowerment center. FEC.nashville.gov.
00:25:10
Speaker
We have strengthened it over the past year with a program called Reset ah that focuses on seniors who have... Like, we can quantify the number of people who haven't claimed different types of benefits that they might be eligible for and say, look, we are pretty sure you can improve your financial horizons if we can get you to enroll. And so we want to we want to help people with that navigating and wayfinding process to the remarkable programs that already exist and then strategically introduce new ones. Yes. We've been supporting My Brother's Keeper. Yes.
00:25:44
Speaker
supporting this opportunity wellness zone and 37208 trying to lower blood pressure and look at programs that we can then scale we're looking at how our partners like the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee ah that we can stand with them and absorb all this data we got from a project called Imagine Nashville over the past year yeah and so anticipated in a lot of that a lot of looking at what we can do to maintain a level of resilience I think it's going to be necessary I love that. And I love hearing about all the different offerings that you have because I think you you mentioned that at last year's Metro address. We started it. And what I realized over the past year is actually we need to even, yeah like we need to go a little further. Yeah. And like put it in in people's faces I think is is important.
00:26:30
Speaker
One thing I love about what you just said was because we want grand and we want complicated and we want that. But like the simple foundational things and slowing down. and making sure that we are able to bank but build sustainability and resilience to then set our city up for the growth that is happening and will continue to happen. That's the thing is we want our investments at neighborhood scale. We want everybody who walks into one of our community centers to just, it's all those little things. It's like making sure that Every water fountain in a park is working, making i sure that
00:27:02
Speaker
um you know that the surfaces of our basketball courts and our tennis courts are in good shape. It is making sure that we have enough fire trucks and snow plows and all those things. And if we do those things well as a city, then, again, it's sort of a...
00:27:21
Speaker
we can maintain the quality of life that all of us expect and deserve and then we ideally i can also start to have an impact on cost of living and yeah try to make it as possible as we can for people to have access to that quality of life wow that's beautiful i love that you um you i want to go back to uh I'm not so political and and and more fun stuff for me at least.
00:27:50
Speaker
ah I think you have a friend, or had a friend maybe, Stuart, who called you on Christmas morning. And y'all had a conversation and and I think something prompted you to hang up in Stuart's face.
00:28:01
Speaker
Do you remember that conversation? See, this is the problem. I have heard all of these stories 300 times probably already this year. i don't i don't need to revisit any of them.
00:28:16
Speaker
That is so funny. Oh, man. Well, let me ask you some of these questions. i what is what is What is your go-to comfort food when you've had a long day? Oh, man.
00:28:28
Speaker
um You know, it's probably
Personal Tidbits and Reflections on Leadership
00:28:30
Speaker
something with too many carbs and too much cheese. You know, like, I definitely can go for a serious ah nacho plate. Ooh, yeah. OK. I like that. I like that. ah ah you're One of your favorite hidden gems in Nashville.
00:28:46
Speaker
I definitely encourage people to get over and stop by Big Al's Deli. Yes, i yes. I seriously don't know. there is There is a magic to how you invent a new hole in the wall. But Al did it somehow. Like a little over 10 years ago in our neighborhood, it was just like, okay,
00:29:09
Speaker
um I didn't even know that wall was there. What's this hole in the, oh, it's Big Al. And he just keeps making amazing food. He does. And so, you know, it's just, ah that's one of those little things that, and it's even been better because on snowy days, like he has just opened his doors, been behind the grill, and we'll feed the neighborhood, yeah you know. Yeah.
00:29:32
Speaker
No, just a ah neat place. Nice. Al, like yeah I don't know that he's ever had a customer that isn't a friend. Yeah, definitely. It's a fun place to go check out. just to again like if if i That is a place where I can go find multiple multiple options on that comfort food list. There you go. Yeah, yeah.
00:29:54
Speaker
I'm curious, who's the best basketball player in your family, in house right now? Oh, easily me. You know, they're like we used to play, so, you know, my dad is actually the tallest of me my brother and me, and we used to play 36 on a gravel driveway, which is a great way to work on the discipline of your ball handling.
00:30:19
Speaker
because you never know when a dribble is going to cause the ball to just go off careening in ah an unexpected direction. But um he didn't go easy on us. So it is always good to be playing against someone who is better than you are. yeah um But I suspect, and so, um you know, my brother and I got in a, we've gotten in a couple of, actually, over the past couple years when he has come during the holidays,
00:30:45
Speaker
ah We've gotten in a couple of pick-up three-on-three games. And, you know, I mean, i i think I'm probably in the overall, ah part of it is just, I have maybe maintained the best overall shape and approach to fitness over the past several years, and so I i think that probably gives me an edge. All right, right. I hear there's some little girls that are challenging you on that. They're going come up and beat you.
00:31:09
Speaker
They, you know, are our younger daughter um is, like, I have watched her year over year. She just finished her second season of youth league basketball, and it's awesome to watch her. I mean, you know,
00:31:23
Speaker
She naturally kind of drifted into being the point guard for the team this year, and it's really neat to see her build up her fundamentals, watch some of her good friends sort of also work on it, and to see the team dynamic come up where they can work on, ah you know, like,
00:31:43
Speaker
like an easy passing routine where you can watch them realize wait like we can do ball movement find each other get an assist and that's as exciting as basket definitely yeah definitely well i got one last question it's a fill in the blank um and and feel free to take it as far as as shallow as you want but leadership means blank At the end of the day, i think this is a full circle circle circle moment where I'd say leadership means vulnerability.
Conclusion: Embracing Vulnerability in Leadership
00:32:14
Speaker
Wow, that's powerful. Freddie, I appreciate you for taking the time. i know you're a busy man, and so I'm just i'm just i'm fortunate to have this time. Thank you Alex. Thank you to the city of Nashville. Thank you all to everybody who has has made this moment possible for you and for me. Hey, glad to do it, and thanks for offering this platform to the listeners. Yes, Mayor Freddie O'Connell, with all the things that you could be doing, all the places you could be, appreciate you being here with me embracing vulnerability. I'm glad to do it.
00:32:43
Speaker
Thanks for having me.
00:32:46
Speaker
Thank you for joining us in another episode of Vulnerability Muscle. If you've enjoyed these conversations around vulnerability, please consider leaving a review. Your feedback not only motivates us to continue to do the work that we do, but it allows other people to witness the power of vulnerability.
00:33:03
Speaker
Share your thoughts. on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, or wherever you're listening from. And don't forget to spread the word. You can follow us at vulnerabilitymuscle on Instagram and me personally at Reggie D. Ford across all platforms.
00:33:19
Speaker
Visit vulnerabilitymuscle.com for additional resources and support. And remember, embracing vulnerability is not a sign of weakness. It is the source of your greatest strength.
00:33:31
Speaker
Sometimes it's uncomfortable, but most workouts are. So keep flexing that vulnerability muscle.