Leading with Impact: Values Based Leadership and Growth Mindset for Working Mothers - Dr. Lesley Robinson (part 2)

Leanna Laskey McGrath  0:04  

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. I'm your host, Leanna Laskey McGrath, former tech exec turned full time mom, recovering perfectionist and workaholic and certified executive coach. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  0:24  

Hi everyone. Welcome back to the show. Thank you so much for being here today. We have a part two conversation with Dr. Lesley Robinson. So if you have not heard last week's episode, go back and listen to that one. But if you are a true rebel and you want to listen anyway, I'm going to tell you a little bit about Dr. Lesley Robinson before we jump in. So Dr. Lesley Robinson is the founder and CEO of Embolden Education, empowering founders through entrepreneurial leadership. She is the co founder and director of education at ayana, a 501c3 foundation that uplifts women founders worldwide through education, community and enhanced access to funding. 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 AcceleratHER. So welcome back. Lesley.

Dr. Lesley Robinson  1:22  

So happy to be with you. Hello, hello, or howdy. I'm a howdy girl.

Leanna Laskey McGrath  1:27  

Thanks so much for being here. 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 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 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 them. 

Dr. Lesley Robinson  2:03  

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 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 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. 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, 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. 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, 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. So 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.

Leanna Laskey McGrath  4:12  

That's so interesting. 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? 

Dr. Lesley Robinson  4:30  

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, 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, 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 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 said 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 bring their friends to, that they would invest and that they contribute to. 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 serving, you know, their their friends and their peers. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  6:04  

Hmm, interesting. 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 a kind of a part of creating the future version of our product and of our service strategy, 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?

Dr. Lesley Robinson  6:34  

Yeah, you have to be obsessed with the customer, right 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? 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 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. And so that's how I build community, and that's where I think, in terms of getting really engaged invested customers, especially in higher education.

Leanna Laskey McGrath  7:33  

Yeah, 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. 

Dr. Lesley Robinson  7:53  

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. 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 back to the word contribute, where you can contribute, 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, 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 sights, sounds spells of perspective. But actually that is the mindset of an entrepreneur, is that risk taking piece of it too.

Leanna Laskey McGrath  9:00  

I want to ask about something that you said in the last episode that I'd love to dive into a bit more. So when you were at University of Texas at Austin, you founded and ran the Kendra Scott Women's Entrepreneurship Center. 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.

Dr. Lesley Robinson  9:25  

Right. Well, so with my dissertation topic, I was looking at women and entrepreneurship, and so much of the research was focused on the challenges and barriers that women face when starting businesses. And that's true. 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 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 AcceleratHERs, the percentage of VC funding towards that specific group is .0013% so they say that you're more likely to be struck by lightning than to meet a Native American woman who has received 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. 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. 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? 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 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, 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.

Leanna Laskey McGrath  9:25  

Yeah, I think that makes so much sense. So I mean, what I hear you saying is that when women start businesses, it makes the world better. 

Dr. Lesley Robinson  11:59  

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. And I think about the founders that I have come across in the businesses that they're creating, and the wicked problems of the world they're trying to solve of and oftentimes that is the centering piece.

Leanna Laskey McGrath  12:18  

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 ?

Dr. Lesley Robinson  12:40  

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 approach, is 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 e better, and then thus create better things or companies ideas. 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's absolutely huge, you know, financial risk and doing that. But I think that everyone should do something that brings them joy, that fulfills the values that they have, and that can be, back to the start of this conversation, within an existing organization that you work for, that you want to work for, or it is actually venture creation and starting a business.

Leanna Laskey McGrath  13:38  

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. So what would you say to them, or any advice that you would share, you know, from your experience and your lens for them?

Dr. Lesley Robinson  14:01  

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, 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. 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 risk, but how can you actually come up with a decision making tree, right, 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 and that self reflection piece. So I 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. 

Dr. Lesley Robinson  15:10  

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. Some people need way more data points before they can make a decision. So this is actually where my partner and I are 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 execute or decision maker to, like, just kind of like, cut through some of that. And so that goes with that personal board of directors. 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? 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  16:06  

Yeah, I love what you said about kind of trusting yourself, 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 just coaching a woman the other day who has this big decision to make. She was recently laid off from her executive role. She has another executive offer on the table, and she's like, but 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 quote, unquote the wrong decision, what's going to happen is we're going to probably beat ourselves up about it, you 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. 

Dr. Lesley Robinson  17:20  

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, 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 I always going to make decisions off of that? 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. 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 happier. My heart's, you know, sad. I've always used this language, but I've gotta 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 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?

Leanna Laskey McGrath  18:47  

Yeah. So what else haven't I asked you? I 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 ROI. 

Dr. Lesley Robinson  19:03  

Yeah, I think it's back to community building. And so, as you know, if you listen to last episode, I've always been tasked over people. And then have you know recently, understood the power of relationships and community building. 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. So looking for those people, right? So leading with your values and networking with your values has had a completely different return on investment. For me, it's how the ayana Foundation was created, as, you know, for 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 how I've looked at community building. And someone who thinks about the world in check boxes as an executor and where I can contribute, 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.

Dr. Lesley Robinson  20:27  

And I mentioned it briefly in the last episode, but I think, you know, I can't not, not talk about 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 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. 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, 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 end is really just two leadership mantras that I have, which is, you do you, 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. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  21:35  

Yeah, I love that so much, and I love this idea of networking with values. 

Dr. Lesley Robinson  21:40  

Yeah.

Leanna Laskey McGrath  21:41  

I am just curious, because right now you're building community in a new place, right? And many of us have moved, you know, to 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? And what does that look like? Like, how do you network with values, kind of in your immediate community?

Dr. Lesley Robinson  22:04  

Well, I think it's more about the communities where I haven't felt good, right? Why? 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 am an impact over impressions. 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 for 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. 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. 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 is I do more due diligence and research. You know, I'll look at an impact report before I join, 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. I'm seeking that, but also I'm building that with embolden education, what we're doing with Ayana 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 where we live. And so for right now, that's been with Native American women and the Cherokee Women's AcceleratHER 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.

Leanna Laskey McGrath  24:11  

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, Lesley, for being here, for talking with me for these two episodes. It's been wonderful to hear from you. 

Dr. Lesley Robinson  24:40  

Thank you. I really appreciate it. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  24:41  

All right, everyone. Well, thank you so much for joining us today, and I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Bye. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  24:52  

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. 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. Head on over to coachleanna.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. Let's create yours together.