Leaders Lead, Leaders Read with Dr. Shaunta Scroggins

Thank you, Leaders, for arriving at the "end of the road" for season 6. This episode addresses navigating transitions. What are the necessary external and internal considerations for moving through transitions? Navigating transition also means navigating... change firsts and new things altered states waiting the will of those who are decision makers accessibility Emphasis is placed on wo...

Are we paying attention to how we think and make mental transitions? And are our teams at the mercy of our mindsets? Do we, as leaders, have expectations of our teams that stem from strength or weaknesses in our ability to transition mentally? This episode explores times of war, peace, and personal stress as initial examples of ways that we can pay attention to our thinking. Do our teams understan...

What kind of mover are you? Have you paid attention to your patterns of planning, packing, and moving? What patterns spill over into your leadership practice? Listen as Dr. Shaunta Scroggins shares some personal lessons from reflection and observation about her moving history. Our homework is to be thoughtful and grace-full in assessing ourselves. Look for change, growth, and patterns. Is our beha...

Click here for the link to a search result on "emotion wheel." This episode emphasizes finding the best ways to use language during emotional transitions. If ever asked how you feel, a tool to help communicate with simplicity and clarity is the emotion wheel. Dr. Scroggins explains how learning to find her words, and asking for time to do so, grounded her during transitions. Let's pr...

This episode confronts the leadership trends of planting one's practice in only one model without room for growth and agility. Someone has to lead, AND there should be collaborative moments for team member contributions. We need both. Models referenced: situational, servant, transformational leadership Books referenced: Turn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet and Servant Leadership Characteri...

This episode is about how we relate to time. Have we thought about how our earliest conditioning has helped or hindered how we transition with time? Deadlines, synchronizing schedules with others, making appointments, keeping appointments, deciding when our time is wasted or best spent, and more. What were your earliest lessons about time? Who taught you? Take a day, a week, and pay attention. Pay...

This episode is a review of Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey. Leaders, how are you resting in your transitions? What were you taught about rest? What do you believe about rest? Some say, "I'll rest when I'm dead." Others say, "I'll rest when I finish this or that." Tricia Hersey, founder of the Rest Is Resistance framework, shares other thoughts abou...

In this episode, we are flung back in time to our 22-year-old selves. Were we leaders? Dr. Shaunta shares a recent experience in memory when reconnecting with a former boss and his wife. She realized his leadership and impact on her life and leadership practice at the end of this meeting. Today we take a journey and consider if there's an I.O.U. anywhere for you. Is there anyone for you to tha...

This is a review for How to Walk into a Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away by Emily P. Freeman. In this season where we focus on transitions, this book provides a coach, guiding questions, appropriate anecdotes, and thought-provoking perspectives. Entering and exiting are the modes of our life. We are always moving in one of these directions. Where Emily P. Freeman applies...

"Life is a book we read by circumstance, one after another." In this season of transition, personal and organizational, leaders need to name our expectations. Our responses of deep frustration or deep appreciation clue us in to our expectations. Asking for help in transition should be a universal expectation. Join Dr. Scroggins for this reflective episode on the expectations we have of o...

We're back, and ready to talk about transitions. Thanks for getting caught up on the other seasons.

The Livermore model of Cultural Intelligence is now complete: Drive, Knowledge, Strategy, and Action. Listen to the book review in season one, and then parts one and two for a deeper dive on practicing cultural intelligence. Consider adding cultural intelligence to emotional intelligence emphases and see more benefit in cross-cultural interactions. The bottom line is this, leaders: it is easy to g...

How willing are we, leaders, to transform ourselves by addressing our biases and assumptions? This is the bottom line of our cultural competence in leadership, to work from the inside out on our views of others. In this episode, Dr. Shaunta uses David Livermore's book on cultural intelligence to discuss the first to quadrants of his CQ model: Drive and Knowledge. There are several ways to see...

All people bring baggage into the workplace. Some people manage well, disassociating to get the work done. Others have permanent baggage that cannot be resolved or escaped, and can have lingering effects in the workplace. Or, there could be simple bad habits like tardiness and a lack of consideration for others. How long do/should leaders wait to address patterns through coaching? In this episode,...

Today's topic is about the combinations of behaviors we can observe in the work environment. When it happens, how do we know with certainty which behaviors we see and experience from team members? When is the best time to take action, and which actions should we take? People who are shy can be limited without support and some understanding. Quiet quitters will not flourish in an organizational cul...

Today's topic is about pulling rank in today's work environment. When it happens, why does one pull rank? Longevity is not as big a prize as it once was in the working world. Depending on the industry, changing roles every two years or less is the norm. So then, is pulling rank a toxic behavior? Listen as Dr. Shaunta considers potential reasons why pulling rank is problematic. The Leaders...

Today's topic considers whether hoarding information is a toxic behavior. Dr. Shaunta presents a few scenarios where, if leaders withhold information to sadistically experiment with teams, hoarding information is toxic. Leaders, what is your conviction about sharing information? Do you enjoy having the information simply because others do not have the information? Do you want to see how innova...

Today's topic is inspired by a statement of my coworker. "Sometimes, you have to treat them like your kids." Yes, you read that right. In an intergenerational office setting, younger workers (and the rest of us too, if we're honest) act like children in the workplace. We become needy or destructively resistant: whining, excessive complaining, avoiding responsibility, making excus...

Today's topic is about Marquet's idea of empowerment versus emancipation and team members who resist the challenge to autonomous work. Younger workers enter established office environments for the first time or are new to the industry. They perform well in interviews, look great on resumes, but have difficulty adjusting to a free work setting. Dr. Shaunta considers the ideas of empowerment...

Today's topic asks whether toxic leadership is terminal. The answer is no, toxic leadership can be addressed successfully and replaced with transformational policies and practices. Dr. Shaunta refers to Alma Ortega's six scenarios that are not toxic leadership from Ortega's book Academic Libraries and Toxic Leadership (2017). These scenarios inspire leaders to think more broadly about...

Today's topic is addressing toxic leadership. It's best done from a systemic approach, and not an individual one. Leaders can be distracted from addressing toxic systems for two reasons: 1) individuals seem more controllable so resources are directed toward specific cases and 2) there are so many factors at play that nurture toxic behaviors that leaders can cave to the overwhelm and not kn...

Welcome back Leaders! It's season five of the Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast with Dr. Shaunta Scroggins.  There'll be more commentary than book review this season, with discussions on toxic leadership, crafting a philosophy of leadership, what our experiences and opinions need to ground our leadership practice, and possible gaps in the literature observed in leadership practice. Let's con...

We made it to the end of season 4! This is a recap episode. When the Gift of Giving Leaves You Empty by Aaron Hinkston, III Comandante by Rory Carroll Night , Dawn , and Day (trilogy) by Elie Wiesel Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China by Robert Jay Lifton, M.D. Seven different books with wonderful themes of per...

In this episode, Dr. Shaunta Scroggins reviews Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China by Robert Jay Lifton, M.D. This tome is organized in four parts: The Problem, Prison Thought Reform of Westerners, Thought Reform of Chinese Intellectuals, and Totalism and its Alternatives. Dr. Robert Lifton met with 25 Western and 15 Chinese subjects in 1954-55, and ha...

In this episode, Dr. Shaunta Scroggins reviews Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders by retired Navy Captain L. David Marquet. Learn more about the process of moving people from followers to leaders. Learn more about Captain Marquet's work at https://davidmarquet.com/. The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast with Dr. Shaunta Scroggins is sponsored by the Center for Le...