Team Appreciation, Fall 2021

We’ve learned a lot as leaders – and we’re still learning every day. 

Part of that educational journey included growing from a team of 3 of us, to 7, to a dozen…and today we’re about 50 full-time and part-time employees spread across four departments, three physical locations, and three states. 

One challenge has been choosing what kind of leaders we wanted to be. Initially, we wanted to be best friends with our employees. That was tough, lines were blurry, it didn’t recognize our privilege, and it made management tough. We swung to the opposite side of the spectrum, trying to keep our (personal) distance from the team, hiding our full selves to project an image of the strong leaders we thought we were supposed to be. That failed too and was completely inauthentic to us. Besides, we always promised we’d be real and bring our full selves to work. 

Uncontainable by Kip Tindell

Then I remembered reading Kip Tindell’s Uncontainable and learning that his appreciation for his team could be the foundation, his driving force for creating a better business. 

It inspired us to get back to showing up fully at work, leading with love, and wearing our hearts on our sleeves. Even though that still has challenges, and we don’t always get it right, we can’t imagine another way to do business.

#success #Business #ATX #Austinentrepeneur #Passion #SpreadJoy