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This conversation is with Jennifer Marcou and how she coaches others to Lead with Quiet Confidence.
Like many people I’ve spoken with about their superhero powers, their journey to making an impact with others started with their personal relationship with that superhero power and applying it for themselves to overcome a challenge. And Jennifer’s story is no different.
In this episode, Jennifer answers the following questions:
- What is like to be an introvert? And what is like to be an introverted leader?
- What is the difference between introverts and extroverts?
- How to use the introverted behavior as a strength?
- What it's like to be an introvert in an extrovert world?
- How to Lead with Quiet Confidence?
What I know to be true about the episode: Jennifer does a masterful job at helping us look beyond labels or ‘styles,’ and focus on what is true for our leadership. In doing so, we can be more effective as we live into our strengths and how our brains are wired.
What I learned from the episode: It is a great reminder how many of our leadership perceptions, ways of working, and co-creation methods are geared towards extroverts. These non-inclusive behaviors are literally leaving money on the table – by not adjusting our working methods to better tap into half the workplace that do not process out loud, who do not write the most sticky notes, and who do not raise their hand first.
As a female leader in a male-dominated industry, she found that her natural style of working, and her gender, was not well represented in her peer group, and definitely not in the ranks above hers. She was faced with challenge of putting on a mask and leading inauthentically, or learning how to lead in a way that was authentic to her own style, to, as she says, how her brain works.
In this conversation, Jennifer shares with us how she recognized how to work with and how to lead with her introversion, and how she now coaches other leaders to work with their natural styles and use those styles as an advantage, not something to cover over.
Her message, like that of others who speak on the advantages of introversion, is a great one for introverts to embrace and to embrace their introversion as nothing more than a style.
It’s also a powerful message for extroverts and ambiverts to learn so we can be better aware of what we can do differently to be more inclusive and be better partners and co-creators with everyone in the room…not just the ones who are first to speak or speak the loudest, but for those who whose voices are equally valuable, important, and worthy of being heard and being engaged in the conversation.
Resources mentioned in the episode…
Jennifer’s company, Marcou Coaching: https://www.marcoucoaching.com/
Lead with Quiet Confidence Program: https://leadwithquietconfidence.com/
Liberating Structures: https://www.liberatingstructures.com/
Book: “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain https://bookshop.org/p/books/quiet-the-power-of-introverts-in-a-world-that-can-t-stop-talking-susan-cain/8213418?ean=9780307352156
Book: “Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead” by Tara Mohr https://bookshop.org/p/books/playing-big-practical-wisdom-for-women-who-want-to-speak-up-create-and-lead-tara-mohr/7788504?ean=9781592409600
Susan Cain’s Introversion & Extroversion Quiz: https://susancain.net/quiet-quiz/
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What Do You Know To Be True? is also available on the following platforms:
- Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-do-you-know-to-be-true/id1708762851
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4fJ9ME5AzOhfEZtFGCH2lA
- Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/97817e1d-596b-4c79-8414-1aa5945b5efd/what-do-you-know-to-be-true
Music in this episode created by Ian Kastner.
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent or superhero power and the meaningful impact it has on others. The intention is to learn more about their experience with their superhero power, so that we can learn something about the special talent in each of us which allows us to connect more deeply with our purpose.
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/