Values-Based Leadership with Dr. Christine Galib, Founder of Plan My Plate

Values-Based Leadership with Dr. Christine Galib, Founder of Plan My Plate

Intro:

Hi Everyone! On this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast, I sat down with Dr. Christine Galib about values-based leadership. Dr. Christine Galib serves as the senior director of programs at the Ion. And in this role, she oversees the development and execution of programs, including the Ions accelerator hub in the aerospace innovation hub for minority business enterprises, workforce development programs, and academic network and mentor programs. She also directs the Ion Smart and Resilient Cities Accelerator. She does a lot. And if that’s not enough, she’s also the founder of Plan My Plate, which offers leadership management, creativity, innovation, and wellness consulting. Christine is a Teach for America alumna with experience and investment management, pre-medical studies, and educational consulting. Christine holds her bachelor’s from Princeton University, a master’s from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Doctorate from Drexel University. Her speaking, writing, and research interests include entrepreneurial mindset, development, creativity, innovation, leadership systems, thinking mindfulness, wellness, and apologetics. Enjoy today’s episode as Christine, and I talk about values-based leadership as well as adaptive leadership.

Jenn DeWall:

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in to this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit. I am so excited to sit down with Dr. Christine Galib. Christine, we heard a tremendous introduction about you, but I want to hear it from your mouth. Could you please introduce yourself to the audience of The Leadership Habit? I want to hear about what you do, how you even got there, who you are, you know, we want to hear it all!

Meet Dr. Christine Galib

Dr. Christine Galib:

Well, and Jenn, thank you so much for having me. This is such a pleasure to be on this podcast and just kind of stand in awe of everything that you’re doing. So thank you so much for having me here a little bit about me. The first thing that comes to mind, I’m a non-linear careerist. So what that means is that I’ve had a career in several areas, and they’ve all kind of been maybe related, maybe not, but I’ve always kind of learned to navigate to the next opportunity. And sometimes that means knowing when it’s time to step away from something; sometimes it means knowing when to pursue something else. And so that non-linear career kind of follows me throughout my life.

Because I think first and foremost, I aligned my whole life to my values, and that’s rooted and aligned to my faith. So from there, that’s kind of my North Star, and then everything else aligns back to it. So non-linear careerist. Many people tell me that I think outside of the box, and then I ask them, well, what box? So box, I don’t even see a box, which must mean I’m a really creative person, I guess. Because you know, to me, we all kind of are enamored by creativity, but it’s really hard to define. It’s really hard to apply. Someone can think they’re creative, but if maybe they go through some type of schooling experience or another type of experience where they come out on the other side, and they think, well, I’m just not a creative person, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Everybody is creative; everybody has leadership potential. Everybody has this entrepreneurial, innovative kind of mindset. And it’s a matter of figuring out how your internal world, you, yourself, your personhood align with your external environment. And, and you can, if you think about those two kinds of in some type of dance or some type of interplay, what are the combinations in which the internal world comes up or brushes up against the external world? So creativity. So I’m a non-linear careerist, a highly creative person. And I’ve been described as a leader, so that must mean that I have some type of vision. So either I’m seeing things other people don’t, or, or I’m just a person, you know, going for a walk or something, thinking that people are following me. Yeah.

What is Values-Based Leadership?

Jenn DeWall:

Okay. I absolutely from hearing you speak, I absolutely know that you’re a leader. I would love to work with you just to, you know, I’m sure even get that greater perspective of how much of an impact that you have in your organization. You know, Christine, one of the things- and what we’re going to be talking about today is values-based leadership, as well as adaptive leadership. But you mentioned it earlier, following your North Star, one of the pieces that are most important to you as you kind of created that non-linear career path is values-based leadership for our audience. What in the heck does that mean to have values-based leadership? What does that mean?

Dr. Christine Galib:

Yeah. And Jenn, that’s such a great question. It’s so relevant to today’s world. I just, you know, obviously kind of facing the COVID-19 pandemic, but even thinking back, you know, not just the past year- but the past 50, 60, 70 years- values-based leadership. So I’d say it’s identifying your own personal values that guide you and then sticking to them. And, and what does that really mean? That means communicating them to people because other people are never going to know your values if you don’t live by them, act by them. But, but if you don’t communicate them to other people, they might not, might not know. So, identifying your own personal values— and what do I mean by values? So that could be the things that get you upright in the morning. What, what do you want to live for? Right?

What would you die for you believe in so strongly that you would die for it and then live for it, right? So it’s, it’s kind of sitting by yourself and, and identifying those top two, three things that if you had to put your life on the line for something, what would that be? Or who might that be? So that’s, values-based leadership, and examples of values can come from someone’s faith. My faith is very important to me. I can come from seeking the truth, right? This notion that the truth exists somewhere. And then maybe we’ve just got to find that it can come from integrity, from acting in a way that, you know, if no one’s looking, if, if no, one’s kind of seeing what you’re doing, what do you do in those moments? Do you take the shortcut because it’ll get you, you know, XYZ closer to whatever your goal might be, or do you think through what you’re doing?

And you say, no, I’m not going to do this because there’s something that’s not right about it. It’s that self-awareness knowing that, that you have some type of awareness of your own values and your own self and your own character and knowing how that plays out with other people when you interact with them. A few other values of mine that, that I can share: a white-glove service approach and then an act like an owner mindset. And my very first career, I worked on Wall Street for one of my first careers and kind of my first day, it was almost like the ten principles of the firm, or, you know, some type of thing like that. And the two that really stuck out with me were this notion of acting like an owner. So whatever you’re doing, preparing a pitch deck, or cleaning the kitchen sink right in the communal kitchen, you know, holding the door for someone, walking into the building, act like you own the place.

And, and that gives you the confidence and the mindset, not only of showing up with your best self but also kind of showing up to take care of things, to steward things whether that’s your pitch deck or whether that’s removing the milk carton that’s empty from the refrigerator. So someone after you doesn’t have to and then this notion of white-glove service, doing everything that you do with a servant-based leadership approach for the client themselves, right? So, giving your all to make sure that the client feels the way that you would like to feel if you were in their shoes.

Values-Based Leadership and Relationship-Building

Jenn DeWall:

Gosh, I love, I love both of those because they’re, they’re just so essential whether it’s acting like an owner and even just thinking about if someone’s maybe discouraged at work, or they’re just not sure where the impact that they’re making. Start acting like the owner. Treat it like you own the place. And that doesn’t mean going and telling people how to do things, but take ownership and accountability for how you show up. And then the white glove service. I mean, I think that sometimes, especially when you get into that of maybe the client and the person that you work for, we sometimes forget about the servant-based leadership practice. I think it’s easy to apply that may be to our employees, to the people that we lead, how can we help them grow? But sometimes we just look at that, you know, business to the client as just very transactional. So I love that you bring that into a, you know, a way that no, we really can care and think about what we can do to create the best possible outcome. Sorry. Were you going to touch on that?

Dr. Christine Galib:

Yeah. You brought up a great word transactional, right? And we don’t live in a transactional world. We live in a relationship-based world. We live in a system of systems based world, right. Where, where everything is a relationship. And I think we do ourselves and our clients, our customers, our employees, our peers, our teams, we do them a great disservice if we view everything as a transaction. Right. Because nobody really likes to feel like, okay, well, let’s just get this over with so I can move on to my next thing. And at the end of my to-do list, all right, I’ve accomplished everything. Nobody really wants to feel like that. So cultivating a relationship, I think, is one of the most important things we can do in our world as we practice leadership in our world. So I wanted to underscore that because you brought up that great word transactional.

Jenn DeWall:

Yeah. It is. I think we miss it. And I’m curious, and I know we’ll get told when we talk about how do you practice your values or how do you even start? But thinking about, you know, there’s a value that you can use to associate into everything that you do in that relationship that can help differentiate it from being transactional. But before we go there, because I want to hear from you, this is all about you. So how do we practice this? And if I think about my perspective as a coach, and I’m sure you’ve seen this too, sometimes when you say like, what’s your purpose or what’s your value, it can feel really overwhelming, but how do you even begin to practice values-based leadership?

Finding Your Purpose

Dr. Christine Galib:

Yeah. That’s such a great question. And you nailed it, you said it, what’s your purpose. And, and it’s like, okay, like the wind blows and the angels sing, and there’s this great big moment where you’re like “my purpose”!

Jenn DeWall:

Right.

Dr. Christine Galib:

I don’t know if you’ve seen Avenue Q, but there’s, there’s, there’s a great song in there about finding your purpose. And that’s, that’s a very big question for people. So I would say the first step, and I’ve mentioned this word before, self-awareness, right? Kind of bringing it right back down to the present moment before we start going with broad, big, amazing, bold creative visions, bring it right down to the present moment. And practice mindfulness. So I teach mindfulness. I’m a mindfulness practitioner. I teach mindfulness-based stress reduction as well.

Jenn DeWall:

You are so needed right now,

Dr. Christine Galib:

The past year has been, we’ve seen an uptick in need, not only for mindfulness but for mental health services. And that’s, that’s a whole other podcast coming. But focusing on mindfulness, because there are so many misperceptions of it, you know. Oh, I’ve, I’ve got to sit in this position, or I’ve got to have these clothes, or I can only do it if I’m in the room and I’m ready. And I love if our listeners, and if you would love to do a mindfulness exercise with me-

Jenn DeWall:

I just need to say this, does Dr. Christine not have the best, most calming voice, like you naturally have this voice? I can be relaxed with it. Yes. I’m ready for it.

Dr. Christine Galib:

So, so the, you, you asked how we practice this. And so I was thinking, and I said, we’re actually going to do it because what’s the best way to practice something most to actually do it. Right. This is proof, you know, for all of our listeners and for Jenn and for everyone listening. Let’s just kind of bring it back down to the present, and I’ll invite you just to maybe get comfortable wherever you are.

If you’re seated, if you’re maybe standing, just feel grounded, straighten the back, letting the shoulders roll back, maybe closing the eyes, if you’re able to, and then just take a big breath in, then let it go. Big breath in and let it go. And then slowly, beginning to open the eyes, come back to the present moment.

Jenn DeWall:

It’s amazing how just calm that feels. And how long did that even take us to do that?

Values-Based Leadership and Mindfulness

Dr. Christine Galib:

By the clock? Probably less than a minute, right? But that’s just one example of how we can begin to practice values-based leadership. Why is that such a great example? Because we dial into the present moment, focusing on the breath itself, the very thing that links moments to moments, to moments. Moments being the building blocks of those big milestones, right? So mindfulness is a key way to practice values-based leadership because it gives us that window into the stillness, the quiet, and to accessing our mind and our brain and having that space to bring present moment awareness. So mindfulness is a great way to practice values-based leadership. Active listening is another great way. We might’ve done some active listening in our mindfulness exercise. Maybe listening to your breath, listening to your body, maybe noticing things like how your feet hit the floor, right.

So, active listening and then really empathy. And we’ve heard this word— empathy— tossed around so many times. And I want to challenge us a little bit so we can rethink empathy, not necessarily from a feelings-based perspective, right? There’s a lot of feeling involved in empathy. Think of how someone else is feeling, but from a values-based perspective. So thinking even a phrasing, right? If someone says, well, I feel XYZ, right? That’s great. That’s your feeling. That’s how you feel in the particular moment, but let’s approach this through the lens of leadership as a leader, saying something like, I feel— again, that’s great— but it’s a statement that is only about you. Right. But that’s great. You feel a certain way. Fabulous. Great. But what about when a leader says, I believe something, signaling their value. Well, now I hear that, and I can link my values to your values, or I can identify, well, we don’t have the same value. So, all right. End of story. No further conversation is needed. Right?

So that’s, it’s kind of a, a little challenge for us. I challenge our listeners to approach conversations not from the “I feel” perspective but from the “I believe” perspective. I believe in access to opportunity. Okay, well, that’s signaling now because either you believe in that with me and we can move forward together, linking our “whys,” there’s a lot of literature around the purpose, and the why of leadership can link “why” from an I believe statement, but we can’t really link “why” from an I feel statement. Yeah. So it’s a powerful bridging device that gives us a way to practice values-based leadership. I

Jenn DeWall:

I’ve never actually heard it described like that before. I really haven’t. So the thing I’m in my brain, I’m like you’re right. It absolutely just saying I believe—if I think about myself— I believe we should have permission to show up exactly as who we are that someone else listening could then say, well, I might believe that too. That’s such an interesting connection and how you can build rapport, consensus, engagement, or just unifying people towards a goal. I really, really like that. Instead of just saying, I feel, which might, you know, take someone that’s like, why are we talking about feelings? Because we still have those people at work. Or, you know what, I didn’t ask how you felt.

Dr. Christine Galib:

It’s taken me here to come up with that. So it’s like kind of the reflection of what is really at work here because you know, you’ve got the people that say, well, the facts say this, and you’re like, I can’t handle the 20 million statistics that you’re about to throw at me. Right. And then you have the people that say, well, I feel this. And then it’s like, well, I don’t really care how you feel. Tell me about how I feel. Right. But then you kind of see those leaders, and they don’t explicitly say it, but what if we said, I believe this, right? So not “the facts say” because I can look up the facts, and they don’t particularly motivate me to act. Right? Right. Not I feel. But I believe now I’m motivated and you’ve, you’ve shown your values. And these, let me link my values to yours.

“I Believe” vs. “I Feel”: Communicating Your Values

Jenn DeWall:

Oh gosh, you are like connecting dots for me. There was, there’s a storytelling thought leader that we work with, and she always says her name was Kelly Swanson, facts tell, but stories sell. And putting that together with how you just described it. If you really think about trying to motivate and bring your team together, this is another way your belief statement is a way to connect them to your core. That’s your story. They see a different side of you. I mean, think little fireworks of this is more authentic leadership. We’re not just saying, Hey, you know, the company is behind by 10% or, you know, we’re down at revenues by 10%. We’re not going to make that. Or I believe that right now, it’s difficult. But I know that with the resources that we have, we can figure out how to get back to a flat comp or even better. You know, I love that. There’s just so much purpose and intention in an “I believe” statement, Oh my gosh, Christie, I’m trying to still keep her down for my mindfulness. But then, you know, my natural resonating places up here.

Dr. Christine Galib:

Well, you are already touching a little bit on why we, you know, why values-based leadership is important?

Jenn DeWall:

Yeah. So why, why is it important? I love that you’re sharing,

Dr. Christine Galib:

I’ll say a few things about that because it helps the leader articulate not only their values, right? Not only the things that are their North Star that guide them in this crazy journey we call life. Right. But it also forces the leader to come up against their own mental models. So Peter Senge’s mental models, kind of the way that we see the world, right? Our internal pictures of how the world works. And most people don’t really surface these mental models. It’s just kind of is what it is. Right. We kind of walk around all day with our assumptions and our own biases, and everybody does it. Everybody has them, but values-based leadership forces us to discover, identify and name these mental models of how we see the world so that we can figure out, well, from these mental models, which ones do I keep? Which ones do I discard? And how do I create the change that I would like to create in the world such that it’s not just different but better? Right? So, so identifying your mental models really gets you to a place where you can motivate the people that you’re collaborating with to help achieve the shared vision.

Jenn DeWall:

Christine, I want to pull out something that you had just said because there’s a point where when we reflect on our mental models, it gives us the opportunity to go with self-awareness, which was one of the first things. But what does the discard process look like? If you’re like, Holy cow, I have this thought belief assumption, like how do you even start to kind of separate that from your world view?

Dr. Christine Galib:

Jenn, you’re asking a great question. And this is, this is a whole, a whole other podcast because this is a really difficult process for people. You’re asking, how do you know what you know? But you’re also asking how do you know that what you know is true, right? Which then really forces you to get into some pretty interesting exercises where you’ve got to hold up your own pictures of how the world works. And you’ve got to say, where did that belief come from? What was it? My own upbringing? Was it something I read in a book? Was it something my friend told me? Was it something I read on Facebook? And all of these different sources of information are now in competition with each other to help you understand, ultimately, do I keep or discard this mental model? And that’s what I think we should really be teaching in schools. But that’s, that’s a whole separate conversation.

Jenn DeWall:

Yeah, because it’s hard to- you might even recognize something’s hindering you, but you don’t. I mean, I guess if I go back to the basic notion of perfectionism. We, you know, it served me—oh my gosh, I can credit perfectionism for so much of my success— until it stopped creating success. And just, you know, but it’s still one that’s hard to get rid of. It’s really hard to toss that out when I got all of this data validation. Hey Jenn, when you do this, even though, but when by even believing that I have data in the past, I’m still somehow done. I think probably discarding the data that I have right now that acting perfection with what I know is not serving me and my energy and my innovation and my creativity, whatever that may be. So what are examples of- I guess what happens? So what happens when we don’t practice? So going into that— if we don’t practice our values, if we don’t know them or maybe if we don’t even do the process of figuring out what ones work, discarding the rest, What, what happens when we don’t pay attention to this?

Dr. Christine Galib:

Yeah. That’s a great question because if we’re not purposefully and intentionally discovering and communicating our values, we end up either running in circles or having no ability to find alignment in purpose. And so what do I, what do I mean by that? If we don’t take, you know, you’ve heard the expression you know, measure 5 million times, but once. Right. It’s measured twice, but once. But I go a few extra just to make sure. Right. But what if my measurement wasn’t correct the first time. What if I did something wrong? And I kind of say it jokingly but, but that’s where the process really starts is asking those questions at the very beginning and saying before I rushed to whatever I want to do, I need to dial it back and go from my own values.

What would my value say as they guide me? Right. If I believe that access to opportunity is the most important value. How does that translate to this particular situation? If you don’t ask yourself that question, you’re going to end up instead of following your North Star, and where that leads you, you’re going to end up somewhere else. Right. Because if you don’t know where you’re going, then you’re going to get exactly there. Right? So that’s, I think we run into a lot of problems when we don’t have a clear sense of what’s guiding us.

Jenn DeWall:

Well, and that’s where I think that things like depression can be exacerbated. And I mean that if someone that struggles with depression, like I think that can be exacerbated when we feel like we don’t know, cause that purpose can be so helpful, and it is just motivating you or at least helping you see a place to go where, and I think it’s also good at, you know, even being able to reflect on your own self-love when you don’t know why you have value, then you might have someone else’s value that you’re applying to yourself. And that’s, you know, I think you probably see this all the time too. Like people are maybe in careers are taking actions that someone else said they should do and they’re miserable, you know?

Dr. Christine Galib:

And, and I couldn’t agree more. And something that comes to mind is Mark Twain’s words, right? Where he said, the two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why. Right? The two most I get chills. Just kind of saying it, the two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why. It’s not the day your parents found out why. If you’ve found out why— it’s not the day, you know, your colleague discovered why. It’s the day you find out why. That’s incredibly empowering, you know, as we talk about purpose and leadership and values, and I know we have a few more things to talk about too.

Adaptive Leadership

Jenn DeWall:

Oh my gosh, Christine, I want this podcast to go like 10 hours because there’s just so much value. But even just remind me, Oh my gosh, I just love even that last point about values-based leadership and thinking, you know, so what would be your final comment on that before we go into adaptive leadership if you had to give one final piece of advice to our listeners about finding their North Star, what would you say?

Dr. Christine Galib:

Yup. Oh, oh, I love it. So this is not my analogy. I can’t take credit for it, but if you think of a GPS, the GPS has the data. So it can get you from point A to point B, but the GPS doesn’t know why you should be going there.

Jenn DeWall:

You’re the only one that knows the why.

Dr. Christine Galib:

That’s always stuck with me.

Jenn DeWall:

I love that. And I think that reminds you too, that life isn’t an external action process. You know we can’t. We can set these goals that are outside of ourselves. We can accomplish these great things, but we still have to do that individual self-reflection to understand their whys and our motivation. Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much. Okay. We’re going into, you know, we have 10 minutes to basically cover adaptive leadership, which I’m sure can take us hours,

Dr. Christine Galib:

Maybe we can do a part two, right?

Jenn DeWall:

I absolutely would love to have you back on for another one. And I’m serious about that. So adaptive leadership, we see that more and more as a leadership trend. It’s something that, you know, we know that we need to be able to connect with people, to manage uncertainties such as the uncertainty that we’ve seen, but what is the definition of an adaptive leader? What does that mean to be an adaptive leader?

Dr. Christine Galib:

That’s a great question. And I actually, I live by the textbook definition. So when all else fails, go right back to the source because Heifitz, Linsky, and Grashow really changed my life when I read their definition of it. So I’ll just kind of read it right off for, from, from, you know, the actual textbook definition: adaptive leaders iterate on observing events and patterns, interpreting what is observed, developing multiple hypotheses about what is really going on, and designing interventions based on observations and interpretations to address the adaptive challenge identified. Now that’s a lot.

Jenn DeWall:

I was going to say that’s a lot there,

You Have to Learn Before You Lead

Dr. Christine Galib:

All-inclusive. And that’s why it stuck out with me because there’s so much opportunity to break it all down, right? Iterate, observe events and patterns. To understand the system, understand that you’re looking at the iceberg, but what you’re really looking at is the tip of the iceberg, not the underlying reasons that are below the surface. Interpreting, coming up with hypotheses, being an inquiry-based, curious leader, right? Showing up to the table, not with your expertise as quote the leader end quote, but with a mindset that says, well, all my expertise really positions me not to give better answers, but to ask better questions. Right? So taking this inquiry-based approach to really put other people first and take that systems-thinking perspective, to identify and iterate on and be flexible and, and enjoy this cognitive process of kind of bouncing around multiple ideas without converging on one.

And then interpreting what is actually observed. Can you take a video camera and just kind of record what’s going on and say, this is what happened and then say, okay, now I have to figure out why this is what happened. Those are two totally separate questions. And then that third piece designing interventions based on observed observations, what you observed not based on what you feel, right? Not based on quote, “anything else,” but based on what you actually observed. So a quote that I came up with very recently is you got to learn things before you lead things. So you’ve got to take the time to hold that magnifying glass up to the system. And then you’re in a position to lead the system.

Jenn DeWall:

I love the perspective of learning things before you can lead things. If I go to my even 20-year-old self as a leader, I either wrongly assumed I knew more than what I did, or I didn’t want to take the time. I just figured, like, I don’t know if I get to that position, I’ll just get there. I was never patient about learning. Or about just, you know, learning yes. In the academic sense. Absolutely. But the ego of wanting the promotion or wanting this was always the driver, but by this, it almost sounds like it’s a practice of, if you just slow down, so grounding yourselves, again, just like what we did with values-based leadership, then we can start to observe these patterns. And the other piece that you had said that I, I really found a lot of value in is you’re not looking at your own expertise as like, look at what makes me great, but you’re saying, okay, how can I use this data? How can I take this experience and use it to inform a different situation or to input on a different problem? If we’re designing something new, based on our observations, am I getting it right?

Dr. Christine Galib:

This is awesome. Yes. You’re getting it a hundred percent right.

Jenn DeWall:

I love that. We, you know, I think right, even by saying that you’re not looking at your experiences, data and successes as this endpoint to say, look how great, but it also then by saying that you’re in saying like I’m using my experiences to make something greater, you’re giving yourself permission to always learn, which then fights perfectionisms. I love that. You know, thinking why? And I forget the exact word that you used, but instead of I never heard it before, but you know, curiosity, we know that that’s important, but you had said observe something, and I’m blanking on the second word that you had. What was that?

Dr. Christine Galib:

Inquiry-Based.

Jenn DeWall:

Yes. Inquiry-Based I, you know, I wonder how someone’s workday, how that meeting that you might be just dreading, or maybe the meeting that you’re not showing up as the best version of yourself. Maybe you’re a little critical or jaded, and really applying that could change the way that you find solutions or collaborate with someone. What, how have you seen people really be able to leverage this? Or how, how have you leveraged adaptive leadership?

Dr. Christine Galib:

Yeah, that’s a great question. And I think the starting point is kind of knowing your own values, right? I got to tie it back to the values, but to really leverage adaptive leadership, you cited earlier, you’ve got to have a lifelong learning mindset, right? In mindfulness. We talk a lot about beginner’s mind, right? Because when you approach a new situation, it’s a new situation by definition. It’s never been done before. And I don’t know about you, but because time progresses forward linearly, every single moment is a new moment. Every single moment is a learning opportunity.

And, and once you kind of take that approach, you begin to really leverage adaptive leadership to see the system for what it is, right? That there’s, there’s a great moment in one of my favorite movies. And I’m dating myself a little bit, The Matrix, right? Where, and I don’t, I don’t want to spoil it if any listener hasn’t seen it, but I think you all might know the scene. I’m talking about when I say see the system, right? And Neo has this kind of new revelation. But you begin to see the world for what it actually is so that you can change it. So that it’s better and not just different. I think, you know, everybody wants to change and, and adaptive leadership. You’ve kind of always gotta be changing, but what are you changing to? Right? Some things I don’t want to change. Right. Other things, I want it to change yesterday. So what are you changing to? I think that is a really important question for us to ask. So that’s, I think really how we can leverage adaptive leadership is maybe kind of bringing our expertise to the table from an inquiry-based perspective rather than from a knowledge-based perspective.

Jenn DeWall:

Oh my gosh. That’s one thing I want to walk away with this. Like I’m not there to only provide my knowledge. I’m there to ask the right questions. I’m there to inquire as well as think about what is our North Star that we’re working towards. Where do we want to be? Again, I just, I love that because it softens the expectation that I think leaders put on themselves to be able to figure out the answer, to know the answer to somehow has foreseen that before. And this one is just saying, no, we’re constantly just evolving. Every person you meet is your teacher and your student. You have something to gain from them. And I just love this. So adaptive leadership, you know? Yeah. It’s not just the, how can I modify my approach? How can I be flexible to adapt to maybe changing certain circumstances or an uncertain environment?

Jenn DeWall:

It’s also about bringing in the future and holding in a clear vision. So how so that’s where it starting with our values. I love this whole thing. Like we have to have both, you can have adaptive leadership, but that will very quickly turn into a tactical, I guess, action. Instead of it, meaning something to you, meaning something for your team, meaning something for your leaders, Christine, knowing that we have to end this, which I don’t want to, like, how, how would you, what would you want to wrap in terms of saying to our listeners, to the leaders that are hearing about adaptive leadership, potentially even combining their values-based leadership, what would you want to leave them with?

Know the Power of Questions

Dr. Christine Galib:

Yeah. And I’ll actually leave us with just two things. Both of which I’ve said before, we’ve talked about, but just the power of inquiry, the power of questions. So stay curious and ask questions and ask the difficult questions. Even if you don’t have answers, don’t let that scare you. Because life really is not a multiple-choice test, right? ABCD. And I would always look for E, other, because creative for that. But if there’s anything that last year taught us, it’s the, you know, the world can change in two seconds. So stay curious and ask questions and find your North Star and, and let it guide you. Because once you find your North Star, its light will shine through whatever darkness you find yourself facing.

Jenn DeWall:

Oh my gosh. I want to talk about that at length too because I want to talk, Oh gosh, there’s so much, I have appreciated our podcast more than, you know, I love even this heart-centered servant-based leadership, but also very practical way to go about it. Christine, how can people get in touch with you? How can they connect with you? Where, where can we send them to?

How to Connect with Dr. Galib

Dr. Christine Galib:

Yeah. So that’s a great question. I think we’ll link up my LinkedIn page. I’d love to hear, hear from you all there. I also am the founder of Plan My Plate at PlanMyPlate.com. So you can also check me out there, but I’d love to hear from you all.

Jenn DeWall:

And she’s honest, reach out to her connect. We can all learn from each other. And if you want to talk about innovation and a variety of other areas that Christine has deep expertise in, you know, you can tap into a lot. Christine, thank you so much for just taking the time to share with us, share your insights, share your experience and share your inspiration. I greatly appreciate it.

Dr. Christine Galib:

Well, Jenn, thank you so much for having me here. It’s a pleasure to know you. A pleasure to know that you are creating the change yourself that makes our world not just different but better.

Jenn DeWall:

Thank you. Oh my gosh. Thank you.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast. If you want to connect more with Dr. Christine Galib, you can go to PlanMyPlate.com, or you can find her on LinkedIn. Now, if you know someone that can benefit from this topic, please share this episode with them. Maybe they need some help finding their North Star. And of course, if you enjoyed this week’s episode of The Leadership Habits podcast, please leave us a review on your favorite podcast streaming service until next time.

 

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