Authentic Leaders Build SMART Teams 🏳️🌈 All Pride No Ego Newsletter #32

Hello beautiful people!

This week we are continuing our exploration of Authentic Leadership and how to build high-performing teams.

This week’s post is pretty SMART… if I don’t mind saying so 😉

I would love your feedback on this topic. After reading, send me a quick email with your thoughts!

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✅ One Big Thing: Building SMART Teams

For 10 years at Disney, I worked under the supportive leadership of Andy Mooney.

Andy was an energetic, intelligent, and visionary Scotsman who built a strong and diverse executive team. He saw something in me almost immediately when I joined in 2001. Despite challenges in my initial roles, Andy consistently checked in, trusted my confidentiality, and shared his vision.

In 2004, I was promoted to run global retail sales and marketing. Later, he entrusted me with a "secret project" that led to me becoming Disney Stores Worldwide President in 2008.

Andy was a wonderful leader… setting ambitious goals, providing resources and support, and letting me and my colleagues shine. He had ours backs, believed in us, and was always available for advice and insights.

Looking back, I can see how Andy built a SMART teams: Our team was SMART: Safe, Motivated, Ambitious, Respectful, and Trusting. We achieved incredible results and formed lasting bonds.

What are they key ingredients of a high-performing, authentic team culture? SMART is a good place to start.

SMART teams drive innovation, productivity, and employee satisfaction. They foster psychological safety, inclusion, and growth. Authentic leaders know a SMART team is worth its weight in gold.

So, how can you create a SMART team?

1. Safe: Model vulnerability, transparency, and empathy. Encourage open dialogue and value all voices. Encourage everyone to share ideas, try new things, make mistakes, and learn. The opposite of a Safe team is one that punishes and ridicules well-meaning mistakes.

2. Motivated: Connect work to a larger purpose. Recognize achievements big and small. Invest in professional development. Building a motivated team starts with understanding the personal motivations of each teammate.

3. Ambitious: Set audacious goals. Empower calculated risk-taking. Learn from failures. Celebrate successes.

4. Respectful: Walk the talk on DEI. Challenge biases. Amplify marginalized voices. Cultivate a culture of belonging.

5. Trusting: Communicate with candor and consistency. Follow through on commitments. Trust your colleagues to do their jobs, and remember that trust is earned every day.

Creating a SMART team takes intentional effort, but the payoff is immense. As an authentic leader, you have the power to inspire greatness in others. Will you rise to the challenge?

I would love to hear about your experiences building SMART teams. What has worked for you? What challenges have you faced?

🌟 Leader Spotlight: Spencer Hoddeson

Founder and CEO of Gay Water — The award-winning canned vodka sodas

Spencer is the brilliant and creative founder of Gay Water, a canned vodka soda that is fun AND delicious! I love Spencer’s mission and definition of authentic leadership. Check it out below, and of course, pick up some Gay Water near you. 🏳️🌈

Follow Spencer on Social:

• Instagram
• LinkedIn

Previous Jobs/Roles:

• Head of Brand & Corporate Social at Yahoo
• Brand Marketing at USA / Syfy Networks
• Fun fact: started my career as an NBC Page

Your Mission:

• Personally and professionally, I think it's important to bring queer representation to the everyday. The community has been so focused on representation in media and on screens, that we've overlooked the physically day-to-day touchpoints like the spaces we visit & shop in. 

What authentic leadership means to you

• Checking your ego at the door. The best idea is the best idea, doesn't matter who it comes from. You don't know the consumer better than they do, so listen to them. Don't put your own ego ahead of the business.

Something fun you like to do outside of work

• NYT Spelling Bee and reading Fantasy & Mystery novels

🌈 What I'm LOVING ❤️❤️❤️

• HBR: Proof that positive work cultures are higher performing. Here’s an incredible statistic: Health care expenditures at high-pressure companies are nearly 50% greater than at other organizations. That alone should cause leaders to re-think their workplace culture, but this Harvard Business Review post is full of gems.
• Training Magazine: Empowering LGBTQ employees. Training Mag has a great piece on how to support and empower LGBTQ employees. I especially agree with the recommendation of sponsoring Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and giving employees the chance to network with other LGBTQ professionals at conferences like Out&Equal.

✊ What's Worth Fighting For

• A Closer Look at LGBTQ support in the United States. While support is still strong by historical standards, it has dipped slightly in the last year. This is a trend we CANNOT see continue… the response is advocacy, allyship, and telling our authentic stories. Thank you Leoule for sharing.

🏳️🌈 Read All Pride, No Ego. A USA Today Best Seller!

• Barnes and Noble
• Amazon
• ShopQueer.co
• Bookshop.org

Love the book?? It would mean so much if you would leave a review.

Last thing...

What did you think of this week’s newsletter? I would love to hear from you!

Until next time...

Jim