Illustrating Leadership Lesson: The Relationships That Matter
Shoshana has spent nearly 30 years in leadership development, and her work has become increasingly focused on the intersection of neurodivergence and leadership. Through her own late-diagnosed neurodivergence, her family experience, and her work with clients, she has developed a deep commitment to helping people rethink what leadership can look like.
And that is really the heart of this conversation.
Leadership does not have to look one way.
It does not have to sound one way.
It does not have to fit the old model of power, control, perfection, and certainty.
When I asked Shoshana about a leader who shaped her, she shared about Karen, a manager she worked with for nearly eight years.
Karen created a team culture rooted in relationship. Almost every morning, the team gathered for coffee. Often, they were not talking about work. They were getting to know each other as human beings.
What mattered to them.
What frustrated them.
What lit them up.
What was happening in their lives.
That relational foundation changed how the team worked together. They knew how to lean into one another’s strengths. They knew how to collaborate. They knew how to support one another as people, not just as roles.
For Shoshana, that leadership still stands the test of time.
Karen saw what each person needed in order to thrive. She did not manage everyone exactly the same way. She led from the same principle, but adapted her approach to the human being in front of her.
That is such an important distinction.
We also talked about values, curiosity, neuroinclusion, and what it means to decolonize leadership. Shoshana described decolonizing leadership as the ongoing work of questioning the assumptions we have inherited about power, authority, control, and what a “real” leader is supposed to look like.
Instead of power over, what if leadership became power with?
Instead of control, what if leadership centered connection?
Instead of maintaining the status quo, what if leadership helped more people feel seen, heard, included, and able to contribute?
Shoshana left us with a simple but powerful tool: curiosity.
Curiosity helps us pause before assuming.
Curiosity helps us stay open when we are triggered.
Curiosity helps us ask better questions.
Curiosity helps us build more human-centered leadership.
And maybe that is where rethinking leadership begins.
Not with having all the answers.
But with being willing to ask better questions.
Connect with Shoshana
Check out Shoshana's website and definitely send her a connection request on LinkedIn!
Connect with Jessica
Learn more about how your host supports leaders by visiting her website...and definitely send a connection request on LinkedIn and let her know you listened to this podcast!
