Sometime back, Jason Treu invited me on his Executive Breakthroughs podcast. It's unique because it's the longest and most personal interview I've even given.
At 90 minutes, it may be a lot more of me than you want to hear about, but Jason is a great interviewer so he keeps it interesting.
I talked, among other things, about growing up a child of the South:
My parents had views about race and other things that, to me, flew in the face of what felt right. I think it led to me being a more questioning person, which leads people into journalism sometimes -- questioning the conventional wisdom. So a lot of me focusing on Southern history at UVa. was trying to understand what was making these people tick. Why were they making decisions that hurt other people?
I also spoke about how my background has influenced my approach to leadership:
I think you can be honest without being hurtful. It comes down to preparation. Mental preparation to deliver the message in such as way as to protect the other person's feelings. Even when you have to be critical with an employee, you can always be positive and encouraging. Leadership comes down to inspiring people to want to be part of what you're doing. And that means having a culture and narrative they want to be part of.
You can find the interview on Jason's site as well as Apple Podcasts,
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