The Rutledge Perspective Podcast

Being a leader is not for the faint of heart. It's easier to take the path of least resistance. It's easier to tolerate bad behavior than it is to address it. However, great leaders are less concerned with their own discomfort of having a hard conversation than they are about the overarching direction, goals, and needs of the organization. Today's show is about the not-so-glamorous side of leaders...

For those of you who need it, I am hereby giving you permission to put you first. But…here's the thing, you don't need my permission. You need to know that you are important enough to you that taking those small steps that relate to nobody but you is the thing that's going to ground you in so much power, love, comfort, and ability, that there's nothing that you can't accomplish! Today's show is no...

If you listened to the podcast last week, you know that we talked about taking action and why sitting still and doing nothing is not an option for leaders who truly want to make an impact. Well, this week we're going to take it a step further. Today, we're going to talk about taking actions that are aligned with who you are and the goals that you have for your business. Are you a founder who was o...

This week in the Rutledge Perspective Podcast, we're going to be talking about taking action. There's a great quote somewhere that says, "Don't be mad at the results that you didn't get, for the work that you didn't do!" As leaders, sitting still and doing nothing is not an option if we truly want to make an impact. Today, I'm going to challenge those thoughts and misconceptions that tend to keep...

Today on the Rutledge Perspective, I am joined by LaGina R Harris. LaGina is a Social Impact Entrepreneur and the Founder of the US Space right here in Houston, Texas. LaGina is also the Co-Creator of the Melanin Minds Mental Health Conference which provides mental health resources that educate, amplify, and create spaces for personal & and professional development within BIPOC communities. LaGina...

Today I'm joined by Adrian Villacorta. Adrian is an employment lawyer and the owner of The Villacorta Law Firm, P.C., located right here in Houston, TX. Adrian and I will discuss the fears and concerns that we as business owners and leaders are faced with as it pertains to implementing A.I. into our organizations. Whether you like it or not, AI is here, and it doesn't look to be going away anytime...

Let's talk about endurance. Endurance is defined as the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way. I need you to understand that leadership has a serious endurance component attached to it, you can't be an exceptional leader if you don't have some level of endurance, because leadership is hard. If you are running an organization and you are at the...

We often talk about networking, but we don't really talk about the depth of friendship and connection that can move from professional to personal and how important that is. If you are in an HR space, a legal space, or a very senior executive, then you know that it is lonely at the top. This creates a need to talk to people about the stuff that's going on personally and career-wise, how it's impact...

I know that it sounds cliché and I know that you've probably heard a motivational speaker ask, "What's your why," but what if I told you that getting a good understanding of your why can actually help how you move forward in your business?  I do what I do because I come from corporations full of hypocrisy that mistreat people to maintain power and support ego as opposed to operating in integrity....

After many years of leading corporations and running my own business, I've come to realize that there are leaders that don't share their own stories and that don't embrace the stories of others. When you're leading people, supporting people, and guiding people, whether that be in your own business, or an organization, part of your ability to connect with them, build trust with them, and support th...

Today's episode of The Rutledge Perspective is for all my Founders out there, specifically the seven-figure women Founders that are beginning to make that transition from Founder to CEO. This transition is tough as it is, but the waters can really get murky when we turn our passion project into a business and are not aligned with our purpose. Understanding the difference between passion-led and pu...

In order for you to serve the way that you want to serve, whether that be in corporate, in your own business, or in your family, there are things that you need to do to ground yourself and feed your root system, so that you can be strong, healthy, and clear to show up the best way that you can for those that need you and for those that you wish to be helpful to. Today, I'm going to walk you throug...

Have you ever heard the expression, "The struggle is real?" Well, the struggle is real but what people rarely talk about is the fact that the struggle is necessary! It's easy to try and find the shortcut and as a leader, it's easy to just give people the answer but in actuality, the struggle is an opportunity to use muscles that have never been developed or that have been atrophied from lack of us...

Hello everyone! This is a very special episode of The Rutledge Perspective as I decided to do a pop-up in New York City. Although I'm happy to be in NYC and doing my podcast here from this amazing studio, it hasn't been all peaches and cream. I've had to endure several potential setbacks upon my arrival in The Big Apple, but I was able to push through and deliver this episode. That's what today's...

Let's talk evolution. Not evolution in the sense of science but more so in life and business. Evolution is about being willing to see something different, understand something different, and move differently because of it. We all are familiar with companies such as BlackBerry, Polaroid, and Blockbuster that simply could not or would not adapt to change and were put out of business as a result. I'm...

Happy Juneteenth! As we take time to celebrate the Juneteenth Holiday this week, let's also think about the idea of freedom, what it means to have freedom, and how it relates to business and leadership. When we tie freedom to Business and leadership, it ultimately comes down to the freedom of choice. We are all free to make the choices that we want to make which means that as leaders we must under...

Have you ever heard someone say, "Show me your five friends and I'll show you how successful you'll be?" Well, I want to go deeper than that. Today, I'm going to walk you through how to be intentional and take empowered action that will help you build genuine connections that last and that are mutually beneficial. The problem is that people go into these networking rooms with a self-fulfilling min...

In today's episode of the Rutledge Perspective, you're going to hear an amazing conversation that I had with Navy Veteran and serial entrepreneur, Angela Tyler. Angela is originally from Miami, FL. She joined the United States Navy in November 2007 and was honorably discharged in 2015. She has been married to her amazing husband for 12 years and they are currently living in Japan with their 11-yea...

How are you going to spend your energy? That's the question for this week's show and it's an important one because we ultimately get a choice on what we choose to give our energy to. As a solopreneur and/or business owner, you would hope that your energy is going to first yourself but also to your team and into serving others. This is difficult when we get thrown off track due to dealing with inco...

Let's talk about accessibility. New leaders tend to struggle with this as they are prone to have an open-door policy and invite everyone to their calendars. This is particularly difficult for business owners that are moving from founder to CEO. However, the truth is the further that you go up in an organization the less accessible you need to be. I'm here to tell you that there is nothing wrong wi...

There are consequences for any agenda, no matter if that agenda is hidden or blatant. There will be consequences no matter what choice we make, and we are not free from the consequences of those choices. However, we can reap the benefits of making good choices, leading people well, and building up the leaders of tomorrow. This episode is about helping leaders make better decisions and expose those...

In today's episode of The Rutledge Perspective, we're going to be talking about guidelines & guardrails vs borderlines and why this is important to you as a leader or business owner. Boundaries are impenetrable lines. Examples of boundaries are fences and walls. This boils down to what's allowed and what's not allowed. A guideline is something put in place for people to follow. These guidelines sh...

I have a feeling that you've been in a rut lately. You haven't had that same tenacity and zeal in moving toward your goals. I want you to know that it's important that you raise your level of awareness to recognize what's getting in your way and that you take targeted action to find a solution to that thing that's bothering you. There's a lot of noise that's tied to old experiences. We get bogged...

Has someone ever told you to be patient and you literally wanted to punch them in the face? Well, I can definitely relate to this as patience has not been one of my strong suits when it comes to my personal goals. I think that this is because we have associated a negative connotation with the word patience. When we think of patience, we think that it means sitting and waiting. In actuality, patien...

Let's talk about risk. Risks are anything that gets in the way of you achieving your objectives within a company or your business. These risks can be financial, reputation, organization, production, and even talent. Before we address risk, it's very important that we are clear on our objectives, have a solid plan to reach those objectives, and also understand that the industry or business that we...