The price of leadership can be steep. Every leader has to be ready to pay that price if they want to be great. In this episode, Dr. Tracey Jones gets coach and entrepreneur Lisa Marie Platske to discuss the principles of leadership. Lisa and Tracey discuss the how-tos of leadership and the price of leadership as seen from Lisa’s point of view. Lisa also shares her pillars of leadership and how these lead into a leader’s wellbeing. Tune in and learn more on the principles of leadership from Lisa and Tracey.
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Lisa Marie Platske - Leaders On Leadership
I am excited because we have our guest, Lisa Marie Platske. She is an award-winning leadership expert in human behavior and has received accolades from the United States Small Business Administration and The International Alliance for Women. She's also recognized as one of the top 100 women making a difference in the world. She left her Federal law enforcement career after 9/11 to build Upside Thinking, Inc. She's a member of the Forbes Coaches Council and has trained or coached over 100,000 leaders around the globe. Lisa, I'm excited to have you on the show.
I'm excited to be here, Dr. Tracey. This has been something I've been looking forward to spending some time with you.
Thank you. For our readers out there, you want to get your notepads out because Lisa has talked to hundreds of thousands of leaders, as well as her own journey. I am excited to know what you think about The Price of Leadership.
I have been a raving fan of Tremendous' work for what has been decades. Speaking about The Price of Leadership, I did not realize that leadership had a cost. When I first took my journey, I thought that being the leader, you get to the top. It's where you want to be and you get to be number one. I did not recognize all of the things that come with that journey that gets packed in your backpack.
That's a beautiful way to put it. Thank you. A lot of times, our readers want to know the context of how Lisa found the Tremendous universe. She was telling me before we started that her grandparents knew our Founder, my father, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones. She's a PA girl too. That's exciting. With that intro, I want to unpack the four tenets or the four costs, as you beautifully put that leadership has a cost.
My dad talked about that in one of the speeches that he gave, and that is probably the speech he gave the most. That was called The Price of Leadership. His premise is that if you're going to be doing true leadership, there are going to be three things that you're going to have to pay the price of. The first one is loneliness and we've heard it. I'm sure you've coached many leaders. It's lonely at the top. “Why am I the only one out there thinking this?” Can you unpack what loneliness in leadership looks like? Maybe share a time when you went through for our readers out there.
My background is in Federal law enforcement. There was its own loneliness in that journey as I rose through the ranks in supervision because of being a woman in law enforcement. I thought that especially being in law enforcement where guys have your back, you're in uniform, and you're working together, that there would be this camaraderie that happened when you rose through the ranks.
There wasn't. There was a bit more of, “What did you get that I didn't get? How did you get that? It must've been because you slept with somebody. It must have been because you did something that we didn't see.” That was incredible. You'd think that when I opened my business, I would have remembered some of those things. However, I didn't.
I thought, “I'm going to be my own boss. I get to call the shots.” The reality is opening a business left me feeling many times that I was on this island someplace with this great idea and God-given purpose to make a difference in the world. Yet, I had to do it by myself. I had a lot more surprises. The word loneliness is not something I would have used. It's more surprises on the journey.
How long did that last? I appreciate your authenticity because many of our readers out there are like me and you. We're entrepreneurs, maybe they're solopreneurs. We know God put us and what we're supposed to be doing but it's like, “Where's my part in this? Where are the resources?” How long did it take you before you started to jell? I know it's all in God's timing. I get it but can you unpack how long that took? Maybe somebody is out there dealing with this now.
It's been waves. I've been in business for many years and there are still waves of loneliness. I have a huge circle of friends, colleagues, peers, mastermind groups, and coaches that I could call. There are times when I'm in my office and I could call my assistant or other coaches on my team and yet I'm going, “I can feel the weight of responsibility.” It'll move me to tears because the why feels so big. I sometimes feel like I'm traveling alone.
Principles Of Leadership: You get to the top and it's where you want to be and you get to be number one. And you do not recognize all of the things that come with that journey that get packed in your backpack.
I appreciate your authenticity because there is this thing that after 10,000 hours, you ought to have this dialed in. No, it isn't. My dad would always say that there's the pendulum. You're going to have to walk alone sometimes. You're going to be alone because you make mistakes. It's par for the course. I appreciate you sharing that. I would echo that too. Loneliness ebbs and flows but you said it. It's the weight of responsibility. Although you have a great team, there are only two shoulders that that fall on. We have to remember as leaders, that heavy is the head that wears the crown.
That's the part where I don't know that I truly understood that. I don't know that I got that. It was just, “I'm going to go do what it is that I'm called to do. We're going to have fun.” It was like, “It's resting on my shoulders. I'm the one that received the scrolls.”
Along with loneliness is weariness. My dad was very pragmatic, snarky, and funny because he had worked with people. He flunked out of school in the eighth grade so he was very real. Whenever people would be talking about, “Everybody's great. Let him be great and then they will be great.” He's like, “How many people do you work with?”
He was always like, “Weariness. You're going to have people that do more than their fair share and you're going to have a huge swath of people that do less than their fair share. You'd have 80/20. Eighty percent of the work is done by 20% of the people. It's draining for us as leaders. How do you stay refreshed and replenished? Do you celebrate Shabbat? How do you stay on point and strong spiritually, mentally and physically?
I have seven areas of wellbeing that I examine and look at every single day. Those seven areas of wellbeing are ones where I look to see if there's anything out of balance. From physical wellbeing, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, financial, relational, and in my work it's, “What do I need? What's missing?” There's a SNAP technique that I use over and over again during the day. SNAP means stop, notice, ask questions, and then pause, pivot, pray. This is not something I do once a day. It's not something that I do two times a day. It's understanding when something is off.
Sometimes, I'm working on a project. I am committed to it, and something's not right. It could be that I need water or I need to be quiet and say a prayer. It could be that there's something that is nudging me in the back of my head around a relationship with a client, friend or loved one. Whatever that is, it's going to pull you from whatever you're to do because there is such responsibility. Those are my two, ensuring that I stay within those seven areas of wellbeing, and then also using the SNAP technique.
What a great little mental hack. I love that your soul will let you know if something's not right. You know when it is well with your soul. You know when your little spiritual radar or something doesn't compute. SNAP is a great thing, stop, notice, ask, pause, pray and pivot.
Pivot if you need to. Maybe you need to do something else.
There's loneliness, weariness and abandonment. Abandonment typically gets a negative rap. There's a fear of abandonment. I'm in pet rescue so that has a bad term. My dad looked at abandonment as a good thing. We need to focus on what we need and ought to think about and not what we'd like to want to think about.
For him, abandonment was hyper-focused so you can stay singularly focused on everything else. I'm sure you get that as an entrepreneur, all the new things. A hundred new ideas come to us a day. All these people are calling us to do these partnerships and let's do this. How do you stay on point and focused?
Just like I have seven areas of wellbeing, my business is built on seven pillars of leadership. In those seven pillars of leadership, pillar number six is the one that I use all the time. It's to evaluate your progress. Sometimes people go, “In my company, we do an annual review.” Some people say, “I do a quarterly review or even weekly.” I say, “I evaluate every single day, whether or not it's efficient or effective.”
Principles Of Leadership: Staying hyper-focused on what matters most means you have to say no to some things, even if they seem like great ideas, because they are distractions and pull you from what it is that you're called to do.
Is this a task that's I'm just looking to get checked off? Is this a task that allows me to be a force for good on the planet? Is this something that's actually effective and moving me towards what it is that I want and what I'm called to do on the planet? Is this the thing that somebody told me that needs to get done? What is it and which bucket does it fall in? With 24 hours a day, staying that hyper-focused on what matters most means some things I've got to say no to, even if they seem like great ideas because they still are distractions and pull me from what it is that I'm called to do.
That's good for your team. Working for somebody like us, I know when I worked for my dad it can be a little maddening because there's so much going on, and if you're a more linear thinker, you need a little bit more, “Bring it all down.” You clearly outline your roles and responsibilities but I'm all about the results. Everybody's telling me, “We should be doing this and this will do this.” I'm like, “What are the results?” We're supposed to be good stewards of our time and resources. You do that every day. Is it at the end of the day?
Every single day I look in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening. Where is it?
Readers, how freeing would that be if you decluttered, pruned, and cut off the non-value-added stuff? I'm telling you whenever my soul feels awry, stressed or I'm spinning, it's because I have not put up boundaries. I love Henry Cloud's book Boundaries. It's because I have let something weasel in or scope creep. They're all good things but I'm supposed to be focused on this and not that. I appreciate you talking about that this is a daily struggle.
I appreciate you using the term scope creep. I did a board retreat for an organization and they had seventeen things that they wanted to accomplish for the end of the year. I said, “This is great. However, you've got to pick two,” and they couldn't do it. By the end of the retreat, they said, “We're going to keep all seventeen.” At the end of the year, they ended up doing none. What you said is also that you have this idea and it's so easy to think that you can get more done or let something creep. I think that this one is really important if you're going to make an impact on the planet.
This is the one thing that people struggle with the most. Number one, getting the clarity as to what is that one great purpose. Number two, staying focused because it takes time to work your purpose out. You're going to be, “I'm looking over here. I should be doing this or that,” but the leadership literature even says one thing at a time. I know we like to think, “If you're Elon Musk, you can probably think one thing at a time.”
Prioritize it. Pick the big things and knock them out. I appreciate you bringing that up. When I came back to run the business, they're like, “What do you want to focus on?” I'm like, “All of it. I love all of it. I want to do it all." They're like, “You're so young and naive.” I'm like, “What?” They were right. You need to hone it down.
There's loneliness, weariness and abandonment. The last term my dad talked about was vision. For him, vision was seeing what needs to be done, which everybody can. Number two is doing it, which very few people do. There are the executors, integrators and pontificators. He said, “If you're not able to execute or draw the right people, you can't call it a vision. You can call it an idea or hope, but that's no strategy for growing a business.” How do you keep your vision going, getting honed, moving forward and cast?
Vision is one of my three elements of courageous leadership. I agree so much with your dad. You don't have a vision, you live a vision. It's action-oriented. It's not something you write down on a piece of paper. It's having that courage to do that. I believe that the practical part of this, I'm going to bring in my law enforcement, is that you're a detective. That's how you get to live your vision. It’s to be a detective. I ask questions about the who, what, where, when, how and why of a situation. Whatever it is that I want and that allows me to stay.
This is my vision. My vision is to be somebody who makes everyone feel valued, appreciated and loved when I'm around. I'm moving towards creating a world where everyone wins. All of my actions have got to be taken in order for that vision. Who is it that I'm seeking to do that with? Where, when, how and why for everything that comes my way on my desk. Whether it's being here with you on this show, choosing to get up and go for a walk, whatever I put in my body, everything is about me becoming that vision. Not me only speaking about it. It's truly the embodiment of it. It's about who you are, not what you do.
A world where everyone wins. You should have a book with that title. You embody that. I can tell that. That's difficult because a lot of people are like, “Yeah,” because we're self-oriented. There's that element of you're not here for yourself. You're here to bring out the other things and create for other people or lead in other ways.
I find that I want to be a bridge-builder and not a divider. Just because you have an idea and it's very different from mine doesn't mean that you can't win and I can't win at the same time.
Principles Of Leadership: The world needs your brilliance and it needs all of you, not a part of you, not a segment of you, not a part that somebody told you is acceptable – all of you.
A Bridgett, a bridger. Not a burner, a Burnett. That was my latest book. Burnett or Bridgett. Do you want to burn or bridge it? We need bridgers and you were that. What else would you share with our readers? As you've coached all these people in leadership, what are the pearls of wisdom would you share with them?
The world is hurting for great leadership. You're here on this planet for a reason. The world needs you, your brilliance, and all of you. Not a part of you, not a segment of you, not a part that somebody told you is acceptable, but all of you. If every single person did that, stepped up and fully allowed themselves to be seen and to do whatever they're called to do, the world would be a very different place. It would be so purposeful and so much lighter. My call-to-action is the world needs you and your brilliance now more than ever. Go shine your light and go do whatever it is you're called to do to be a force for good on the planet.
Amen, sister. I think you are my sister.
I think so too.
There's so much congruence here. How can people get ahold of you?
My website is UpsideThinking.com. That's the best way to find me. I have an annual event that is Upside Summit, which is my Design Your Destiny Live event every January. I host that. You'll get some information on the website about that and my blueprint as well.
You were talking about working with coaches. Do you train coaches or do you work with leaders who need a coach? What's your area of focus?
I work with leaders, influencers and world-changers. They're people who understand they've got something big burning inside of them and they aren't sure how they're going to live it out and position themselves. For some people, it's internally companies. They'll come to me and say, “I want to start a business.” I'm like, “You're actually called to be in this company.” For some people, it's for them to have businesses. For some people, it's to sell their business. It's leaders, influencers and world-changers.
For our readers out there, make sure and check out Lisa's website. Lisa, thank you so much. You fueled my spirit, and I know our readers out there. Thank you for your transparency and the difference you're making in the world. You're offering so much and it's so needed. For readers out there, don't waste any more time wandering in the desert. Hook up with somebody like Lisa who can help you. The big burn. You got it. No more grousing. Get that big burn and turn it into a beautiful flame that lights the world. Thank you, Lisa.
Thanks so much, Dr. Tracey. I appreciate being here. It's an honor.
You're welcome and welcome back to Pennsylvania. I hope to see you soon at the summit. I would love that. I'm going to check that out. To our guests out there, we couldn't do this without our Tremendous tribe. If you like what you read, please be sure to hit the subscribe button. Do us the honor of a five-star review. Also, thank you so much. Leave us a comment. We answer all our comments. Share this with somebody else that you think may need a little bit of uplifting or tremendousness in their life. Remember to never stop paying the price of leadership. We're so thankful for you. There are many leaders out there in name only but you're the real deal. Thanks so much.
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About Lisa Marie Platske
An award-winning leadership expert in human behavior, Lisa Marie Platske has received accolades from the United States Small Business Administration, and The International Alliance for Women, recognized as one of the top 100 women making a difference in the world. She left her Federal law enforcement career after 9/11 to build Upside Thinking, Inc. A member of the Forbes Coaches Council, she has trained or coached over 100,000 leaders around the globe.