Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Leading with Impact: Values Based Leadership and Growth Mindset for Working Mothers - Dr. Lesley Robinson (part 2)
58 Plays18 days ago
In Part 2 of this powerful conversation, Leanna continues her discussion with Dr. Lesley Robinson, entrepreneur, educator, and fierce advocate for women in leadership.
Dr. Robinson unpacks what it really means to lead with a founder-focused mindset—whether you’re building a business or leading from within an organization. She dives into the unique challenges women face in entrepreneurship, the critical need for customer obsession, and the power of building community with purpose.
From navigating funding disparities for women to creating personal advisory boards and networking with values, this episode is packed with real-world wisdom for ambitious women who want to lead with impact, without losing themselves in the process.
🎧 If you missed Part 1, start with Episode 102 for the heart behind the journey, then come back for this deep dive into the mindset and mechanics of empowered leadership.
Full transcript available here.
Connect with Leanna here.
If you're ready for deeper transformation, check out The Executive Mom Reset; Leanna’s six-month coaching program designed to help ambitious moms stop merely surviving and start thriving. Book a consult now!
Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps more working moms and women leaders find this conversation!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to the Executive Coach for Moms podcast, where we support women who are attempting to find balance and joy while simultaneously leading people at work and at home.
00:00:15
Speaker
I'm your host, Leanna Lasky-McGrath, former tech exec turned full-time mom, recovering perfectionist and workaholic, and certified executive coach.
Continuation with Dr. Leslie Robinson
00:00:27
Speaker
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the show. Thank you so much for being here today. We have a part two conversation with Dr. Leslie Robinson. So if you have not heard last week's episode, go back and listen to that one.
00:00:42
Speaker
But if you are a true rebel and you want to listen anyway, i'm going to tell you a little bit about Dr. Leslie Robinson before we jump in.
Introducing Dr. Robinson's Work
00:00:51
Speaker
the Dr. Leslie Robinson is the founder and CEO of Emboldened Education, empowering founders through entrepreneurial leadership.
00:00:58
Speaker
She is the co-founder and director of education at IANA, a 501c3 foundation that uplifts women founders worldwide through education, community, and enhanced access to funding.
00:01:09
Speaker
She is also the associate director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship at Colorado State University and the program director for the University of Tulsa Cherokee Women's Accelerate Her.
00:01:20
Speaker
So welcome back, Leslie. so happy to be with you. Hello, hello. Or howdy. I'm a howdy girl. Thanks so much for being here.
Entrepreneurial Leadership Perspective
00:01:29
Speaker
i loved our last conversation where we learned all about you and your journey, your dissertation, and the things that light you up. And so today i want to talk more about that and specifically about entrepreneurial leadership. And I think what I...
00:01:44
Speaker
love about the way that you talk about it, because I know that we have some entrepreneurs, some women who are starting their own companies, but we have lots of women also working in corporate.
00:01:55
Speaker
But you talk about kind of a founder-focused mindset and bringing that into leadership. So I'd love to hear more about how you think about that.
Entrepreneurial vs. Managerial Mindset
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think that that's the the main point is it doesn't have to be about starting a business. So much of what I've learned and the experiences and especially in leadership that I've had have been intrapreneurial. So disrupting from within existing organizations. So I always tell people and especially students, like it's I don't talk about the business. I talk about who you are as a founder because...
00:02:25
Speaker
The founder is the foundation of if you are going to start a business or if you are going to be a leader within an existing business or corporation. So much of that is the leadership characteristics and competencies and mindset.
00:02:40
Speaker
around entrepreneurship. And as someone who has studied leadership, that's what my PhD is in is higher education leadership. I looked at a lot of leadership frameworks and I was like, nope, not me. Servant leadership, I don't have enough empathy for that.
00:02:53
Speaker
I would look at the different frameworks and the different characteristics and none of them really felt true and authentic to who I was and who I was evolving to be or wanted to be as a leader. until I came across the definition of an entrepreneurial leader.
00:03:06
Speaker
And that's someone who is extremely enthusiastic, dislikes hierarchy and bureaucracy, is forward thinking, obsessed with the customer, and really is going to embrace and support the team around them and be so focused on the opportunity that exists and not so much the problem that they're trying to solve. And so I read this definition and it had one of those like aha moments, like verbally out loud.
00:03:32
Speaker
And so then I really embraced entrepreneurial leadership and the mindset that goes with it because I've always been extreme growth mindset and not a lot of tolerance for like more fixed mindset to just quickly summarize this.
Opportunity-Seeking in Leadership
00:03:46
Speaker
An entrepreneurial mindset is going to be more opportunity seeking versus problem solving. So seeing what gaps you can fill, but especially through the strengths and values that you have and you bring.
00:03:58
Speaker
that's You've got to know your strengths. You've got to know your values. You've got to be able to do the introspective work to be able to then understand what kind of company or who you are as a founder to then be able to disrupt from within. That's so interesting.
00:04:13
Speaker
Tell me more about this idea. Give me an example of maybe a situation that you would look at and someone who would look at it as opportunity seeking versus someone who would look at it as problem solving. Like how would they approach that same situation differently?
Empowerment in Education
00:04:30
Speaker
Right. So it's oftentimes more like a managerial mindset versus an entrepreneurial mindset. And so I also think in terms, like, I love that quote where like, Leaders do the right thing and managers just do the thing right. And so that's always kind of also led who I am as a leader. But where this also started was that I was hired to create a entrepreneurial leadership institute. And so i had to get really clear on what that meant.
00:04:55
Speaker
But how I've embraced it, and especially within the industry of higher education, because that's the industry that I work in, always nonprofits, is really then how can we really center the student as the customer? Because in my opinion, in higher education and colleges and universities,
00:05:12
Speaker
the student is the customer. And so whether or not people are really intentional about that kind of changes on where you live and how you operate within higher education. So having the opportunity to to be the founder of Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute, it was to put the students as the customers, but also for institute to be as much run by students as possible. So we always said,
00:05:35
Speaker
It was an institute for students by students. And so the opportunity was actually putting the customer as the person who was building the thing that they would come to, that they would like, that they would react to, that they would breed their friends to, that they would vest in, and that they would contribute to.
00:05:50
Speaker
And so that's the example that I have in terms of higher ed. It's not just serving students, but it's actually having that experiential learning experience where students are are serving you know their their friends and their peers.
00:06:04
Speaker
who Interesting.
Customer Focus in Leadership
00:06:05
Speaker
As you were saying that, I was thinking about my entrepreneurial experience and how we always focus on the customer and having the customer be ah kind of a part of creating the future version of our product and of our service strategy.
00:06:23
Speaker
Because it was kind of like, if you don't start with the customer and put that first, then it's like, why? And how do you even know if you're going in the right direction? Yeah, you have to be obsessed with the customer, right?
00:06:37
Speaker
And especially when you're doing programming and looking for ways to get students engaged. And the competition is that you have a whole college campus of clubs and organizations and classes and extracurriculars to compete with, right?
00:06:51
Speaker
So what is going to be, you know, the the reason for a student to like commit to your institute, your organization, the programming. And so much of that comes with what they can contribute to, what they can feel like they are really leaving their mark or their legacy on. And so I think that's, you know, so much of the promising practices when I think about student engagement, or I just think about engagement or community building in general, it has to be you know, where someone feels like they can contribute and that they can show up as their true authentic self with sense of belonging.
00:07:24
Speaker
And so that's how I build community. And that's where I think in terms of um getting really engaged, invested customers, especially in higher education. Yeah.
Embracing Leadership Qualities
00:07:34
Speaker
So you teach entrepreneurial leadership, right? This is like your bread and butter. So what advice would you have to all the many leaders who are listening in order to maybe embrace more of an entrepreneurial leadership style or to become stronger in that mindset?
00:07:53
Speaker
Well, if you listen to the past episode, my background is in international education. And so I made this kind of like intersection of my two experiences with global international education, entrepreneurship education. So I believe that this infusion of a global and an entrepreneurial mindset is like just, wow, it is powerful.
00:08:13
Speaker
And so I think my advice is really just to get comfortable being uncomfortable right To really figure out how you can be resilient, how you can be authentic, where you can show up and and back to the word contribute, where you can contribute.
00:08:26
Speaker
Where are environments where you're not just surviving and thriving, but ultimately that you can see where you're going to flourish. That's giving back at the same rate. So if that doesn't exist, how do you create that for yourself? So I think that the key advice is get comfortable being uncomfortable.
00:08:41
Speaker
And it will become easier for you to actually be comfortable being uncomfortable. And so I actually seek that out. And I always thought you needed that with a passport and study abroad or coming to the US or new site sounds, smells and perspective. But actually, that is the mindset of an entrepreneur is that risk taking piece of it, too.
Women's Unique Impact on Entrepreneurship
00:09:00
Speaker
I want to ask about something that you said in the last episode that I'd love to dive into ah bit more. So when you were at University of Texas at Austin, you founded and ran the Kendra Scott Women's Entrepreneurship Center.
00:09:15
Speaker
You talked about how, like noticing the unique things that women bring to the table and kind of looking at women's roles in entrepreneurship. Can you talk more about that? I'd love to hear more.
00:09:25
Speaker
Right. Well, so with my dissertation topic, I was looking at women in entrepreneurship, and so much of the research was focused on the challenges and barriers that women face when starting businesses. And that's true.
00:09:36
Speaker
I mean, absolutely, that's true. And the biggest issues are going to be on dependent care and funding, and especially we hear stats around women. venture capital funding of only 1.8% of that going to women founders, even less for underrepresented founders. And I'll just mention like the least represented is actually Native American indigenous women, which is why I work with the University of Tulsa Cherokee Women's Accelerate Her is the percentage if you see funding towards that specific group is 0.0013%. So they say that you're more likely to be struck by lightning than to meet a Native American woman who has received
00:10:12
Speaker
VC funding. So the challenges are there and they're well studied and the data comes out. And, you know, we see also that women are starting businesses faster than any other group. And so we need to figure out then what the infrastructure and support is going to be for women.
00:10:25
Speaker
The motivations for starting businesses for women are varied, but oftentimes includes being able to have more freedom of schedule, right? To be able to have ability of to have control of your life. And so I think oftentimes of entrepreneurship as empowerment, right?
00:10:40
Speaker
I mean, I think about it, especially in terms of women's economic empowerment. So when women start businesses, and this is the research that I'm really interested in, is what are the differences? And so from what I've seen, it's oftentimes addressing and looking at and solving issues that face their communities, right?
00:10:59
Speaker
And so there's oftentimes more of a social impact, social entrepreneurship, give back to those communities. So it's oftentimes thinking about the goodness of the community.
00:11:10
Speaker
as a metric of success where there's you know always your standard ROI and metrics of success of what equals a successful business. I oftentimes think that we need to reevaluate those metrics of success. And there's a new metric called the social return on investment, right? So the SROI.
00:11:27
Speaker
And so I think if you put women in the businesses they start, with more emphasis on the social impact, environmental, government, environment, all of that, then I think that women would succeed. That's kind of the framework that I bring to it too, is just what is that give back to community and that oftentimes equals legacy. And that flourishing piece I talk about so much is the give back to community as you learn and grow.
Value Creation and Joy in Business
00:11:50
Speaker
and Yeah, I think that makes so much sense. So, I mean, i what I hear you saying is that when women start businesses, it makes the world better. I mean, I would not want to generalize that. I don't have the data points to back it up, right? But I believe that. I see that. That's been my experience.
00:12:07
Speaker
And I think about the founders that I have come across and the businesses that they're creating and the wicked problems of the world they're trying to solve. of and And oftentimes that is the centering piece.
00:12:18
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I think about it. I mean, for me, i hold a pretty high bar for like what I'm going to put my time and energy and effort toward and money. And so to start the business that I've started to support executive women, it has to be really important work. And I have to be motivated by wanting to make a positive impact or else like why do it?
00:12:41
Speaker
Well, and I think that comes back to like the focus on value creation versus venture creation, right? And that's why I love a founder approaches because oftentimes it's really more based on the values that you have as a human, as, you know, someone who's trying to do better, be better, and then thus create better things or companies, ideas, ideas.
00:13:03
Speaker
So I really like that reframe of values creation versus venture creation. Yes, it can lead to a venture, but also it can lead to an adventure, right? I love kind of just reframing how you think about business. And I don't think everybody should start a business. I think there is absolutely huge you know financial risk and in and doing that. But I think that everyone should do something that brings them joy, that that fulfills the values that they have. And that can be back to the start of this conversation,
00:13:31
Speaker
within an existing organization that you work for, that you want to work for, or it is actually venture creation and starting a business. Yeah. Yeah. I think that the women listening to this, you know, mostly have children and maybe want to make a change. Maybe want to go out and start their own business. And maybe it does feel really risky, of course, because there is a high level of risk.
00:13:53
Speaker
So what would you say to them or any advice that you would share, you know, from your experience and your lens for
Risk Mitigation Strategies for Women
00:14:01
Speaker
them? Yeah, well, everyone gets to define, you know, what risky means to them. I think that's first and foremost. And I think for women,
00:14:08
Speaker
that oftentimes they're the ones who understand what the family needs to be able to make it through the month, right? In terms of what does the care look like? What are the expenses? You know, what income needs to come? And so those are, that's life.
00:14:22
Speaker
But I think what I am helpful about thinking is the the mindset that accompanies that, is that entrepreneurial mindset, right? So then how can you take more mitigated risks? so you're never going to eliminate risks, but how can you actually come up with a decision-making tree, right?
00:14:37
Speaker
That will get you to a decision that feels less risky, right? And so oftentimes that can just include having a personal board of directors that you go to, right? It could be consulting with certain people in your life about certain aspects, right? Whether it be the finances or it be kind of the caretaking piece, or it could be just like who you are as a leader in that self-reflection piece. So think everybody should have coaches, mentors, cheerleaders, devils, advocates in their life. Like you should have a personal board of directors to make you feel more comfortable.
00:15:10
Speaker
Well, I'm also a very decisive person. So I believe that like, once you make a decision, like I trust myself to make the next best decision. That's a lot of resiliency, right? It's just I know that once a decision is made, I can make the best next decision.
00:15:24
Speaker
Some people need way more data points before they can make a decision. So this is actually where my. partner and I are a good team is he needs data points and I'm ready to go. And so we meet in the middle. And so if you are quick to decide or you're someone who needs more information, how can you speed the decision-making process up or how can you slow it down, right? How can you find the compromise? So if you're kind of like paralysis by analysis person, right? Like how do you get an executor decision maker to like, just kind of like cut through some of that. And so that goes with that personal board of directors.
00:15:53
Speaker
And so I think it's that, that risk piece that oftentimes keeps women from thinking about starting businesses. And so I think just how do you mitigate that risk? How do you just become more comfortable with the decision-making process around it?
00:16:06
Speaker
Yeah. I love what you said about kind of trusting yourself, that that it really is a growth mindset, right? To make the next right decision, whatever that may be. It can be really challenging. i was I was just coaching woman the other day who has this big decision to make. She was recently laid off from her executive role. She has another executive role offer on the table. And she's like, but i I was so burnt out. And do I really want to go back and do that again? Do I want to do something different? And really what it came down to was this big fear of making the wrong decision. And I think a lot of times that keeps us from making any decision. So we just kind of stay where we are. we just stay with the default because we're so afraid that if we make
00:16:49
Speaker
quote unquote, the wrong decision, going to happen is we're going to probably beat ourselves up about it. we know, we're going to tell ourselves a story that we're not good at making decisions and things like that. But I love what you said, because it's like, you know, we need to make a decision and then trust ourselves that, you know if there's something about that decision that doesn't feel right or that we want to change, then then we'll make the next decision. and so on and so forth, right? Not holding back because we're so afraid and paralyzed by potentially making it a wrong decision.
Importance of Personal Strengths and Support Systems
00:17:20
Speaker
And I think that's where investing in who you are, right? And back to like, who are your strengths and what are the, you know, the strengths that you bring, but also what are the blind spots and how can you supplement the blind spots with that?
00:17:30
Speaker
For example, that personal board of directors, right? So my partner is heavy on input and context. I am not. And so, yes, context is important, but am always going to make decisions off off of that?
00:17:42
Speaker
No, but Do I need to consider it? Absolutely. And so that's where I think if you can find that co-founder, right, in terms of your life and your decision making and what will make a really strong decision that you feel good about.
00:17:57
Speaker
And also, where do you feel your decisions, right? So being really mindful of like, do you make decisions with your head, with your heart, with your gut? This goes back to Enneagram. so much of my decisions are made with my heart where my partner is a head decision maker. And so as I've always made big decisions, I'm like, my heart is happy my heart's you know sad. I've always used this language, but I've got to get my heart right because that's the biggest decision maker. And so if I can feel it there, and that goes back to your why, right? My why has to be aligned, have to really be
00:18:29
Speaker
um excited about the work, which is why I've always worked with nonprofits and been mission driven. That is my motivation. It's not necessarily going to be the paycheck. It isn't. No, it absolutely isn't the paycheck, but you know, it is the North star at the end of the day when burnout is real. How do you keep going towards that North star? Yeah.
00:18:48
Speaker
So what else haven't I asked you? ah just love all these things that we're talking about. Entrepreneurial leadership, founder focused mindset, women and entrepreneurship and the idea of the social impact and the social or ah ROI? Yeah, I think it's back to community building. And so, as you know, if you listen the last episode, I've always been tasked over people and then have, you know, recently understood the power of relationships and community building.
00:19:15
Speaker
And I really think about community building in terms of collaboration for good. So finding like-minded people, really finding, you know, value aligned work, mission driven work, purpose driven leaders.
00:19:27
Speaker
So looking for those people, right? So leading with your values, um networking with your values has had a completely different return on investment for me. It's how the Ayana Foundation was created was, you know, four women doing similar things came together to understand the power of collaboration for good versus competing, you know, competing in terms of you know, having organizations focused on women in entrepreneurship, but we understood the collective power of coming together for good. And so that's been a game changer for me and and how I've looked at community building and someone who thinks about the world and checkboxes as an executor and where I can contribute.
00:20:06
Speaker
It is getting things started. It's activating and understanding that that might is my role on this co-founding team or whatever that is. because I've gotten really clear on who I am and what I can bring to a community. And so I now only want to show up in communities where I know and feel like I can contribute in meaningful, significant ways. And so it's just that alignment piece.
00:20:27
Speaker
And I mentioned it briefly in the last episode, but I think, you know, I can't not not talk about
Ikigai Model for Fulfillment
00:20:33
Speaker
Ikigai. And that's that intersection of what the world needs, what you're good at, what you love and what you can find value in.
00:20:41
Speaker
And oftentimes what you love and what you're good at are not the same things. And so that's sometimes really hard, but it's the best visual visualization that I've come up with to find purpose.
00:20:52
Speaker
And I think that there's an add-on to the Ikigai model, which is then making sure that your environment is right and making sure that you're doing everything that you can do to be in communities of care.
00:21:02
Speaker
Where you have strong sense of belonging, where there's psychological safety, where you feel like you can show up as you. And so where I'll is really just two leadership mantras that I have, which is you do you.
00:21:14
Speaker
I got you. But the problem is, if you don't know who you are, you can't do you. And so then I can't have you, right? Like, I don't i don't got you, which is bad grammar. But it's been the people who have really invested in knowing themselves that I've been able to cheerlead and champion because the they'll be their authentic selves in the communities that I care about because that's the most important thing.
00:21:35
Speaker
Yeah, I love that so much. And I love this idea of networking with values. Yeah. I am just curious because right now you're building community in a new place, right? and many of us have moved, you know, done cross-country moves and in moving to new places. So how are you applying that as you're building your community here in Fort Collins?
00:21:58
Speaker
And what does that look like? Like, how do you network with values kind of in your immediate community?
Community Building for Women's Empowerment
00:22:05
Speaker
Well, and I think it's more about the communities where I haven't felt good, right? Why?
00:22:09
Speaker
And so I think about more in terms of values of the non-negotiables, right? One of the biggest values I've learned, especially over the couple past two years, is that I'm an impact over impressions.
00:22:22
Speaker
Like I am way more focused on impact than I am on impressions. And so I want to be part of communities that are actually doing something that are going to be moving their mission forward, that you know, in the grand scheme of things on the global context are really working towards SDG five, which is women's economic empowerment.
00:22:39
Speaker
So I funneled, funneled, funneled, funneled my personal time right into women's economic empowerment that actually moves needles and especially in a global context. And so If it's not like getting that deep and it's not where I feel like there is impact and I can be part of that, then it's not a waste of my time. It's just a redirection of my time.
00:23:04
Speaker
And so that's been something I've really looked at in terms of organizational structures and ones that I want to be part of as I do more due diligence and research. You know, I'll look at an impact report before I join.
00:23:15
Speaker
And I want to make sure that that it's going to be focused on the things that I care about because I have a lot of free time now that I finished my dissertation. And so I always said, like, I'm going to have all these new hobbies and I really want to have hobbies that are aligned and fill me up and that I feel really, really, really good at. So it's at this point in my life more about quality than quantity of the organizations and the things that I do.
00:23:39
Speaker
I'm seeking that, but also I'm building that with emboldened education, what we're doing with IANA Foundation and, you know, looking for that collaboration for good always in terms of how we can really empower women and, you know, what that looks like in the different cultural contexts is where we live.
00:23:56
Speaker
And so for right now. That's been with Native American women and the Cherokee Women's Accelerator at the University of Tulsa. That has been the heart work, right back to like feeling in my heart and where I really have focused so much of my time and energy and passions and my why.
00:24:11
Speaker
yeah Oh, I love it. Well, I feel like we could talk for hours longer and i am just so grateful to you for coming on the show and being so authentic and sharing yourself, sharing, you know, so many things that you've learned with our audience. I know that everyone is going to get immense value from hearing from you. So thank you so much, Leslie, for being here, for talking with me for these two episodes.
00:24:37
Speaker
It's been a wonderful to hear from you. Thank you. I really appreciate it. All right, everyone. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. and I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Bye.
Invitation to Leanna’s Coaching Program
00:24:52
Speaker
If you're loving what you're learning on this podcast, I'd love to invite you to check out the Executive Mom Reset. It's my six month coaching program for ambitious, success-driven, career-focused women who are ready to stop surviving and start thriving.
00:25:08
Speaker
Together, we'll tackle the stress, guilt, and overwhelm that come with being a high achieving executive mom. You'll learn how to set boundaries, prioritize what truly matters, and build the confidence to show up powerfully at work, at home, and for yourself.
00:25:22
Speaker
Head on over to coachleana.com right now to schedule a free discovery call. We'll spend an hour talking about where you are now, what you want to create and how I can help you get there because every woman deserves to live the life of her dreams.
00:25:36
Speaker
Let's create yours together.