Subscribe to my newsletter - the Step Up! You'll get an inside look into my thoughts, mental models, and ways of going about life - with the goal of helping you do the same. Take the first step and join me on this journey. Newsletter every Thursday at 4:30pm CST.
The Step Up - Vol. 31: Diversity and Challenge Networks
Vol. 31: Diversity and Challenge NetworksMy Goodwill Senior Leader Program kicked off this week, and our cohort group is truly phenomenal and diverse. 22 people from so many different backgrounds. White. Black. Latina. Native American. Gay. Straight. Lesbian. PhDs. Masters. Non-college grads. Social workers. Higher-Ed professionals. Military vets. Catholics. Protestants. Non-Christians. A Canadian. An ex-Yugoslavian war refugee. A Finn who lives 100 miles from the Russia/Ukraine war. A Venezuelan immigrant who’s the daughter of a drug dealer and a drug addict. All people. All good people. All people wanting to make Goodwill and our communities better. Our discussions have been dynamic, engaging, productive, and meaningful. The perspective everyone provides has made our group better. We are better than the sum of our parts because of our diversity. In short, diversity is our strength. This truth is core to who I am. It's even the ethos of Sigma Chi. "Different temperaments, talents, and convictions." While longer than my typical writing, I've included the Spirit of Sigma Chi below. Please read: "The Spirit of Sigma Chi, as conceived by the Founders more than 170 years ago yet visible and alive today, is based on the theory that friendship among members sharing a common belief in an ideal and possessing different temperaments, talents, and convictions is superior to friendship among members having the same temperaments, talents, and convictions, and that genuine friendship can be maintained without surrendering the principle of individuality or sacrificing one's personal judgement." Read that again. Genuinely, read that again. "Friendship among members sharing a common belief in an ideal and possessing different temperaments, talents, and convictions is superior to friendship among members having the same temperaments, talents, and convictions..." People of different personalities, skills, and perspectives that share the same common goal. This is superior to people who are all the same. And even further: "genuine friendship can be maintained without surrendering the principle of individuality or sacrificing one's personal judgement." You can have different people working toward the same goal without anyone sacrificing who they are. In his book "Think Again" (a book and concept I could talk about for days), renowned organizational psychologist Adam Grant talks about the concept of "challenge networks" - a trusted group of diverse people who provide you with radical transparency and feedback to help you improve. Having a challenge network is critical to unlocking your full potential as a person and a leader. Goodwill SLP Cohort 42 is my challenge network. Sigma Chi is my challenge network. Leadership Lafayette Class 38 is my challenge network. the705 is my challenge network. Look around at your life. Do you have diversity? Do you have a challenge network? See you next Thursday, Steppers. We will succeed, Grayson Song of the Week:
Sam released a new album recently, Broken View, and it got me going back to his project Restless Mind. Indigo is a perfect song to just sing with your family and friends while chilling around the fire or sitting on the couch. Beautiful melodies and harmonies, heartfelt lyrics, and a solid song structure. Sam is one my favorites in the modern country scene. |
Grayson Stepanek
Subscribe to my newsletter - the Step Up! You'll get an inside look into my thoughts, mental models, and ways of going about life - with the goal of helping you do the same. Take the first step and join me on this journey. Newsletter every Thursday at 4:30pm CST.
👣 Step 37: Turning Juice into Sauce A wise BestBuy worker once said: "Juice is temporary. Anyone can obtain the juice... but the sauce - the sauce is forever" Shoutout bro. An absolute gem of a video, and he's 1,000% right. Now how you do use this knowledge to your advantage? We're going to replace juice and sauce with some more "universal" terms - hype and loyalty. And we're going to talk personal branding and how you can turn hype into loyalty. Turning juice into sauce. Hype = short-term...
👣 Step 36: Why Are You Here? I read The Cafe on the Edge of the World this past weekend (I implore everyone to read it. I'll even buy you your copy. I'm not kidding), and it's core purpose is stated in the subtitled: "A Story About the Meaning of Life" While I'll leave the general story ambiguous so you can experience it yourself, I do want to focus on one of the three core questions discussed: "Why are you here?" Read differently, to yourself: "Why am I here?" It's a heavy question. Crazy...
👣 Step 35: We're So Lucky Some of our the705 Board after our meeting at Tampico's New naming convention I'm trying out! 👣 = The Step Up. Step = volume. I saw this montage of people from around the world enjoying life to the audio of a woman singing - each line ending in “I’m so lucky.” Afterward, I found myself singing off countless things I’m lucky for to that same melody. My fiancé. My family, friends, and Pluto. A quiet, clean apartment. Bluetooth headphones. A job I love. Iced coffee. My...