Laura Flessner, Innovation & Leadership Coach

There. My name is Avil Beckford, and this is the latest episode of the One Problem podcast. We know that there are tens and thousands of problems in the world. We don't want to get overwhelmed. So we're going to tackle them one problem at a time. Most of the guests who come on this program, I have some prior relationship with them. And that's the case with my special guest today, Laura Flessner. I met her on LinkedIn. I think we have known each other for about six months now. She is an innovation and leadership coach. Over to you, Laura. 

Laura Flessner

Thank you so much, Avil. It's such an honor to be here today with you. The one problem that I would love to talk about today is the problem of wanting to be seen as a leader, but no one else sees it except for you. This is prevalent in what I'll call diverse professionals, women and minorities, even introverts. And this has a lot to do with biases that we have in the brain that we are often not even aware of. I have them, too. And so how do you combat this? How do you step up and be able to be seen as a leader?

Well, I had the same problem when I was working at Pfizer in consumer health care. I was working really hard, and I wanted to have more responsibility, have more strategic projects. And even perhaps some promotion. I even asked for it because that's what you're supposed to do for career advancement. Ask for what you want. And I had really great feedback and my managers told me so. They said, “it's really great, but not yet”. I said, okay, well, what else do I need to do? And they said, “nothing”.

Laura Flessner: How to Be Seen as a Leader

“You're doing things great. Keep doing what you're doing.” I was like, well, that's not helpful. Obviously, they don't really see me as the leader that I see myself as. But of course, I am a woman. I had three small kids, so a young mom. I'm Asian. We're known as good, hard workers, but not necessarily in leadership. I'm an introvert, so I work behind the scenes often.

Laura Flessner

And I look really young, which is an amazing blessing. But it doesn't really help you in looking experienced in the professional world. What I ended up doing, not knowing this is what I was doing. I had a side project. I had an idea that we needed an innovation space at work. We were said to be an innovative company. I looked around and it's cubicle land. This is when pre-COVID. People were actually in the office.

How can you be innovative that way? So I'm in R&D. I'm not known as an innovation guru‌. Plus, I wasn't in management, no director, no political influence. But I pitched the idea, and I got President stakeholdership and $1.5 million. And half of an office floor to reconstruct into this innovation space that people could collaborate in.

Laura Flessner

And after the first year it opened, over 65 teams used it. Suddenly, people saw me differently. They said, Oh, Laura can do this? I wonder what else she can do? And suddenly I was being asked to be on different projects that I didn't even ask to be on that were more strategic. I ended up getting a promotion. When I jumped where I wanted to jump, outside of R&D into the commercial side, a role that I had no formal training in, the management was ready to take a chance on me.

Have you read or watched?

1. Jennifer Regular, The Soul Illuminator
2. Judith Sherven, Executive Coaching for the Brightest and Best
3. Jackie Lyles, C Level Growth Strategies to Maximize Sales
4. Jackie Maclean, Energy Innovator and Clinical Hypnotherapist
5. Leslie Nydick, The Conflict Strategist, How to Lead Inclusive Conversations
6. Holly Jackson, TEDx Speaker, Holistic Leader
7. Kes Morton, President and CEO, Pisces Research Project Management
8. Kerry Wekelo, COO of Actualized Consulting
9. Dr Pauline Crawford, The Conversation Game Changer
10. Syya Yasotornrat, Podcast Strategist and Producer
11. Becky Wolfe, Works with Burned Out Teams
12. Dena Lefkowitz, Business and Career Coach for Lawyers
13. Lisa Rangel, Executive Resume Writer
14. Lucia Kanter St. Amour, VP United Nations Women (San Francisco)
15. Traci Lamb, TV Show Host For The First/Only Caregiver Show in Mass Media
16. Jane Lehman, Legal Shield – Affordable Access to Lawyers

So what I've realized from my experience now is that you can show up as a leader by being an innovative leader, showing your innovative leadership. And that is what I call the next step beyond thought leadership. Thought leadership is pushing ideas, pushing boundaries, having really imaginative thinking that gets you beyond. Innovative leadership does that, except it takes things to the next level. You actually then make that idea real.

Laura Flessner

You create real impact, and you go and you do it. And particularly for leaders that are diverse that potentially have some biases working against them, it's important to do this outside of where people expect it from you.

People didn't expect me to create an innovation space. And because it came from the unexpected and invoked surprise, which is a really powerful emotion that breaks expectations. It breaks the biases that people have against you. And they level set to, “oh, what else is possible from you?” And so that's what I love to share is that being an innovative leader is so powerful and anyone can do it.

It doesn't matter your level. Honestly, it doesn't matter your expertise because great leaders find the information. They find the experts. They don't have it themselves. But they push and move things forward and make it happen. And that I believe anyone can do, and especially you that's listening. So thank you so much, Avil, for this opportunity.

I hope people understand now that innovative leadership is an option that you can choose to help others see you as the leader you are that you know you are. All right, over to you, Avil.

Avil Beckford

Thank you so much. I attended your Masterclass. When you mentioned the distinction between thought leadership and innovative leadership, it made so much sense to me. It's like uplevelling. Thank you so much, Laura.

Laura Flessner

Absolutely.

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