The Remarkable Leadership Podcast

00:00:08:10 - 00:00:40:00
Kevin Eikenberry
Work and the conditions and implications of it continue to change, and even in the face of technology, business is still driven and powered by humans. Today we are talking about how all this is connected and how, as we consider human powered leadership. Welcome to another episode of the Remarkable Leadership Podcast, where we are helping leaders like you grow personally and professionally to lead more effectively and make a bigger, positive difference for their teams, organizations and the world.

00:00:40:04 - 00:01:01:19
Kevin Eikenberry
If you're listening to this podcast, you could join us in the future. Live where you can get this information sooner. On your favorite social media channel where we live stream, so you can find out about when those future live episodes are happening and get connected with us and therefore, of course, interact and see. The sooner you can do all that by joining our Facebook or LinkedIn groups.

00:01:01:19 - 00:01:32:22
Kevin Eikenberry
Just go to Remarkable podcast.com/facebook or remarkable podcast.com/linkedin to do that. I hope you'll do those things. I just want to remind you that today's episode is brought to you by my latest book. As you're hearing these words on the podcast. It's out. Been out a few weeks. Flexible leadership navigate uncertainty and lead with confidence. It's time to realize that styles can get in our way, and that following up to our strengths might not always be the best approach in a world more complex and uncertain than ever.

00:01:32:23 - 00:01:56:01
Kevin Eikenberry
Leaders need a new perspective and a new set of tools to create the great results for their organizations and team members. That's what flexible leadership provide you. You can learn more and order your copy today. Just go to remarkable podcast.com/flexible. I hope you'll do that. And with that let me bring in my guest and I will introduce her and we will get started.

00:01:56:01 - 00:02:28:14
Kevin Eikenberry
Her name is Doctor Christy Smith. She has over 35 years of experience advising the C-suite of fortune 500 companies. She's found the founder of the Humanity Studio, a research and advisory institute dedicated to improving the way we live by revolutionizing the way we work. She has held global leadership positions at Deloitte, Apple and Accenture as a highly respected expert in leadership, talent development, organizational design, workforce management, change management, and executive team performance.

00:02:28:15 - 00:02:47:19
Kevin Eikenberry
She's a speaker on business strategy, leadership and culture. The AI people and analytics, and the impact of workforce technologies and AI. She earned her doctorate in clinical Social Work with a focus on leadership and culture from New York University. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, fortune, and CNN.

00:02:47:19 - 00:03:06:02
Kevin Eikenberry
And now, in her brand new book that she's coauthored with Kelly Monahan, Essential How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts Are Creating a new Human Powered Leadership. Christy, I've said all that stuff. Why would they not want to know you? Welcome.

00:03:06:04 - 00:03:10:02
Dr. Christie Smith
Thank you so much, Kevin. It's a pleasure to be with you today.

00:03:10:04 - 00:03:29:01
Kevin Eikenberry
It's my pleasure to have you and so excited as we're doing this live two days before the drop or launch or pub date, whatever word you want to use of the new book or so. So excited for all of you that are listening to this later on the podcast. Of course, you'll be able to get it and we'll tell you all about how to do that as we go.

00:03:29:03 - 00:03:49:12
Kevin Eikenberry
So, Christy, I said a few things about your past in the in the intro here, but what's the journey? What leads you to this place of writing this book? I'm guessing when you were five, eight, ten, you weren't thinking you're going to write a book. You probably had some other sort of career or life aspirations.

00:03:49:14 - 00:03:54:11
Kevin Eikenberry
What? Tell us just a little bit about the journey as it connects to and leads to the book.

00:03:54:13 - 00:04:24:01
Dr. Christie Smith
Yeah. You know, I think, Kevin, it's interesting that you talked about me being five. I actually think that the journey, to writing this book has been a lifelong endeavor. You know, I grew up the youngest of eight kids. And so grew up in the late 60s and 70s where the conversation around our dining room table was certainly about service, was about our obligation as an upper middle class family to be the voice for the voiceless.

00:04:24:03 - 00:05:00:20
Dr. Christie Smith
It was, an era where we were, grappling, as a nation, and as a, as a world with the Vietnam War, with the Cold War, looking at women's rights, you know, civil rights, all of these things. And so there was an obligation around the table. No, no matter being the youngest, that we, contribute to the the advancement of the conversation, awareness and education, and to, again, be that voice for the voiceless.

00:05:00:20 - 00:05:05:14
Dr. Christie Smith
So I think everything, started around that dining room table.

00:05:05:16 - 00:05:24:11
Kevin Eikenberry
That's where I've asked that question now 400 and some times. And, I don't know, anyone has given me a, a more direct through line than that. So that's that's very cool. So all right, if in some ways I'm kind of putting words in your mouth here, but in some ways your whole life has led up to this book.

00:05:24:13 - 00:05:26:12
Dr. Christie Smith
Yeah.

00:05:26:14 - 00:05:37:19
Kevin Eikenberry
Why now? Like, there's stuff in the subtitle, distributed teams, generative AI, global shifts. But. But why now? Why this book?

00:05:37:21 - 00:06:09:16
Dr. Christie Smith
Yeah, I mean, I think that now is, because of the gift of time. I, you know, left to corporate, the corporate world last August. And, you know, my entire career, as I said, has been in the pursuit of helping others be excellent. As a consultant, certainly as a vice president at Apple. You know, these, you know, my work has been about what are the systems I'm part of as an organization.

00:06:09:21 - 00:06:49:17
Dr. Christie Smith
Those systems I've been invited into, in organizations I've been invited into as, a consultant and to make them better. Now, it I think we are at a the usual time in, our world today. And, looking at the combination of issues that leaders are facing and that employees are facing, with, war, in Europe, in the Middle East, with socio economic and political pressure, with a skills shortage, with employee engagement at a, at an all time low.

00:06:49:19 - 00:07:19:04
Dr. Christie Smith
Multiple things are and technology, of course, these things are impacting the way work gets done. And, and the humanity in the workplace like they've never been before. And so, Kelly and I really felt that there was no definitive book out there talking about the totality of these issues on leadership. Rather, there was one offs, that people were addressing.

00:07:19:04 - 00:07:31:14
Dr. Christie Smith
And so we really wanted to look at, how do all of these things, impact leadership and the humanity in our workplaces?

00:07:31:16 - 00:07:50:20
Kevin Eikenberry
So, I'm going to ask you an impossible question, and I'm going to tell you up front that it's an impossible question because, I think about the book in three parts and the whole first chunk of the book, from my perspective, is about that sort of level setting, about where we are and how why we're at the point that we're at.

00:07:50:22 - 00:08:16:14
Kevin Eikenberry
And so the impossible question is, if you had to say one thing now, like, what's what's one of those things that maybe, is that you're thinking about the most right now? Or maybe that's even a little different than as you finish the book. Or even just the thing that you would want to frame the rest of sort of our time together, about of all of that sort of context setting about where we're, we're living and working now.

00:08:16:16 - 00:08:20:06
Kevin Eikenberry
Yeah. What would be that thing that you'd want to start us with?

00:08:20:08 - 00:08:24:16
Dr. Christie Smith
That leadership is hard. It's really hard today.

00:08:24:18 - 00:08:26:11
Kevin Eikenberry
And work never been easy.

00:08:26:16 - 00:09:00:08
Dr. Christie Smith
Never been easy, never been easy. But the requirements of leadership from employees from, a shift from being fiduciaries of a PNL or a product line or what have you, to being global citizens and having to weigh in to socio political, economic issues, and the rise of technology and the pace of change, all of these things makes, leadership incredibly difficult.

00:09:00:08 - 00:09:04:01
Dr. Christie Smith
And therefore we need a new playbook.

00:09:04:03 - 00:09:28:02
Kevin Eikenberry
So we're going to talk about that playbook a little bit. But one of the things that you bring out in the early, well, let me do this. I'm going to a different place. So you've talked about how the world is changing. Yep. And stuff's happened fast. I think everyone who's listening would not there head. A wise person asked me and another author asked me several books ago and they said, Kevin, what have you learned since you wrote it?

00:09:28:02 - 00:09:45:12
Kevin Eikenberry
Because as you well know, it's been a while since you wrote the words that I read this weekend. Yeah. And that others will be able to read soon. What have you learned since then? Stated a different way is what may be the kind of wish was in the book. Now, based on what you know now.

00:09:45:14 - 00:10:23:01
Dr. Christie Smith
That isn't I think it's a great question. I would say that, you know, we wrote this book, fairly quickly. So, you know, we started this endeavor, you know, about the beginning of last year and, finished it in about, 7 or 8 months. I think that, if, if I were to point to anything that, is, you know, even more pressing, it's the it's the issue of polarization.

00:10:23:03 - 00:10:45:11
Dr. Christie Smith
It's the issue of how, we have lost the art, and leaders need this art desperately. The art of holding the conversation in the middle. And how do we have that conversation in the middle? I think that may very well may be the subject of, the next book.

00:10:45:13 - 00:11:19:05
Kevin Eikenberry
That's a great way to frame it. And I think that that is a real issue. And I think it's maybe one of the reasons leadership is hard, but it's also one of the ways that leaders, I'm a big believer that, you know, nothing positive happens in the world without someone leading us there. And there's no reason why those of us listening can't be among those leading us to that place of having being able to have a conversation in the middle and even being able to have a conversation if we know our our politics, for example, that's not the only thing we're polarized about that, where we might know our politics are different,

00:11:19:07 - 00:11:26:06
Kevin Eikenberry
and yet we can still even have a conversation, period, which in many cases has been a challenge, I think, for a lot of folks, as well.

00:11:26:06 - 00:11:57:16
Dr. Christie Smith
And I just might add, civil discourse, and underscore civil is, something that I think, really does fall on the shoulders of, the private sector and, leaders in the private sector as, as leaders have really moved, as I said, from that kind of shareholder to, you know, fiduciary responsibility to more global citizens.

00:11:57:16 - 00:12:33:13
Dr. Christie Smith
We are looking for leaders everywhere in our society today, and we are looking for leaders most, you know, notably in business, to help us navigate socio political and economic conditions. And, so therefore I think a that makes, you know, leadership really hard. But I also think it requires this ability to, hold, you know, civil discourse and have conversations that are fundamentally different than we're having in a much more broader sense.

00:12:33:15 - 00:12:36:18
Dr. Christie Smith
In a polarized world.

00:12:36:19 - 00:12:59:17
Kevin Eikenberry
I love that I'm going to shift gears a little bit and say, and, and take us to another place. One of the things that that I believe that you believe, is that in some ways, we're living in a, a modern renaissance. And I'd love for you to say a little more about that, because so far we've been sort of saying, hey, it's hard, it's difficult.

00:12:59:18 - 00:13:07:08
Kevin Eikenberry
Hey, look at all these challenges. And yet if when I hear that idea, that feels very hopeful.

00:13:07:10 - 00:13:08:10
Dr. Christie Smith
Yeah.

00:13:08:12 - 00:13:14:10
Kevin Eikenberry
So first of all, do I have this right? And then secondly, what does that mean? And why do you say it?

00:13:14:12 - 00:13:47:20
Dr. Christie Smith
Well, you know, it's, it's a it's a wonderful question because we even in the book start the book out with, you know, historically how the Black Plague led to the Renaissance, in Europe, with the appreciation, putting humans at the center, art, the sciences, you know, music, all of those things were born out of this tragedy of the Black plague.

00:13:47:22 - 00:14:27:08
Dr. Christie Smith
And so we, you know, talk about that parallel of coming out of, Covid and the the Renaissance period that we, you know, have had with the refocus on humans and humans at work, how, when and where we work. What are the tools in the innovations? What's the appreciation for, art, music, that kind of thing that, you know, Steve Jobs so beautifully talked about when he started Apple, which is the intersection of art and science.

00:14:27:10 - 00:15:00:20
Dr. Christie Smith
Right. How do we bring those things together? And I think early on, post-pandemic, we were very much focused on, humanity at the center of the arts and sciences. And so, you know, this book is really looking at, okay, so given. Yes, given, the reality of this renaissance and with the pace of change and the pace of technology and the pace that we are moving in terms of growth and, human need, right?

00:15:00:22 - 00:15:10:20
Dr. Christie Smith
How do we, emerge? How do we all emerge as leaders that can covet that and can nurture it?

00:15:10:22 - 00:15:31:00
Kevin Eikenberry
We're going to talk about some of the ways that we can do that in a minute. Before we get there, though, in the chapter where you're talking about sort of the digital stuff, the, the generative AI stuff, you make a you, you write, the two of you write something which I really, really like, and I'm going to read it and let you comment on it.

00:15:31:02 - 00:16:05:21
Kevin Eikenberry
And it also it's you use a word gray collar. So I'm going to ask you to describe that. I don't think everyone may know what that is, but let me read the quote first because it's, it's it's under everybody. The subtitle of the section called Centering Humans in the Digital Age. And she they write in other words, to stay ahead of the digital age, leaders must not only excuse me, will not only have to upskill workers, especially those considered gray collar, but redefine what it means to engage a workforce with increased say and growing expectations for leaders themselves.

00:16:05:23 - 00:16:16:21
Kevin Eikenberry
So there's quite a bit we could unpack there. So start by telling everyone what you mean by, again, gray collar. Maybe not everyone quite understands that. I think that's useful in and of itself. And then let's unpack it a little bit more.

00:16:16:23 - 00:16:55:21
Dr. Christie Smith
So we've always talked about our workforce in, two extremes, right. Blue collar workers who are health care workers, plumbers, you know, electricians, those people who, are really doing manual labor. And then we've talked about white collar workers who are in our offices, who are knowledge workers, who are more analytical. What have you may be very technically inclined, obviously, with the rise of technology and innovation, but we we've really talked about only two segments of our population.

00:16:55:23 - 00:17:41:07
Dr. Christie Smith
What we wanted to do was introduce a third population that overlaps, both, which is what we call gray collar workers. And gray collar workers are those individuals who have to kind of borrow from both of those extremes in order to get their job done. So if you look at let's talk about automotive, for instance, and you look at automotive workers, even when I go get an oil change or a check up on my car, that individual needs to understand the electronics within my car like they've never had to understand before in order to reset, recalibrate all of those types of things.

00:17:41:12 - 00:18:27:07
Dr. Christie Smith
They are using technology and in some cases I right to understand the machine. The same is true for you know, and we would call that gray collar workers. That requires a whole different set of education. For white collar workers, they need to understand how things work fundamentally differently. And the technologies that, exist today. I mean, when we looked at, research where we looked at thousands of senior leaders who said, yes, technology is going to change everything, and we know we need to meet this time.

00:18:27:13 - 00:19:05:14
Dr. Christie Smith
And that change today, only 25% of those leaders were even considering doing something about it. Right? Because the technology is intimidating. So this notion of a third category of worker in our society called a gray collar worker is, growing. We need the educational and skills development, infrastructure skills are outpacing today. Our educational systems, and traditional employment models for learning and development, simply can't adapt.

00:19:05:16 - 00:19:34:20
Kevin Eikenberry
Yeah, I would argue that that's that's where all of the job growth is, right. And all the conversation about, reskilling, upskilling, what are the jobs going to be in the future? They, that they almost all follow in their as opposed to in the pure white collar, pure blue collar. In fact, I think of almost everyone that I know and most all of our clients, and the folks on their, in their organizations, I find it hard at this point to identify very many people who are truly blue collar.

00:19:34:22 - 00:19:36:05
Dr. Christie Smith
Right.

00:19:36:07 - 00:19:59:21
Kevin Eikenberry
And, and I think that's, you know, it's like anything else, there's gradations. But I think that point alone, is really important for us to get as leaders to figure out and to understand. And, I mean, I was having a conversation with a client 30 minutes, Christy, before we started, and we were talking about sort of two parts of the organization kind of in this sort of, well, white collar, blue collar.

00:19:59:21 - 00:20:28:01
Kevin Eikenberry
They didn't use language. And yet those distinctions become less and less important when we start to realize how much is really happening in the middle. That's great. I love that. So I want to shift gears. You talk. And I said, there's sort of three parts to the book, in my opinion. Next part, you talk about three things that that it won't surprise you that we've had conversations on this podcast about, like the importance of purpose, well, meaning and connection.

00:20:28:01 - 00:21:00:03
Kevin Eikenberry
But the fourth one is agency. And I'd like to talk about that one, even though all of all of it is important. I'd like to talk about agency as it relates to, how people are feeling about, first of all, before I go there, when you when I say the word agency to you, as a as a human powered leader, what should we be thinking about as it relates to agency?

00:21:00:03 - 00:21:00:15
Kevin Eikenberry
Let's just start.

00:21:00:15 - 00:21:31:07
Dr. Christie Smith
There. Yeah. I think that we should be thinking about empowerment. How do we understand our employees in a way, and this is the new playbook or model that we introduce. This is an element of it is to how do we know our employees and the humanity within our workplace well enough that we can empower them to either structure their work, do their work, actually define who they am?

00:21:31:07 - 00:21:45:13
Dr. Christie Smith
They are, beyond a set of competencies or a job title, or the color of their skin or their gender to really contribute to the organization, the team, and what needs to be done.

00:21:45:15 - 00:22:15:10
Kevin Eikenberry
So. So why, how do we do that? Especially in a time when there's all the conversation and even all the experience that people might have who are listening, around using technology like generative AI, for example, how how do we as leaders cultivate this sense of agency and how does that intersect and connect with things like generative AI?

00:22:15:12 - 00:22:46:07
Dr. Christie Smith
Yeah. So, we have to fast forward, right, to, to what is this new model of leadership that we are talking about in the book? You know, most of the listeners, who are listening to this understand this concept of emotional intelligence, which is this idea. And we see lots of leaders talking about this today, this idea of understanding myself and the attributes I need to create for myself as a leader.

00:22:46:13 - 00:23:21:11
Dr. Christie Smith
It's an internal job. Things like empathy, compassion, transparency, all of those things. You know, you take a nice little test from emotional intelligence and it tells you where you fall on some of these attributes and what you need to do to cultivate them. And that's great. It's a precursor to what we call emotionally mature leaders right now. The difference between emotional intelligence and emotional maturity is, as I said, emotional intelligence is all about you, right?

00:23:21:13 - 00:24:07:09
Dr. Christie Smith
Emotional maturity is all about the humanity in your organization, which is the the attributes of emotional maturity are suspension of self-interest, insatiable curiosity about the people that work with you, understanding the context in which they're coming to work and doing their work. It is about cultivating, cultures of excellence. That give people a sense on your team and architect, the team that here's the work that we together define that you need to do that gives purpose, agency, a sense of connection, a sense of well-being in the work that you do.

00:24:07:11 - 00:24:24:03
Dr. Christie Smith
And then certainly meeting those human requirement that we lay out in, in the book. So this evolution from intelligence to maturity is really a shift from self focused to human focused.

00:24:24:05 - 00:24:42:02
Kevin Eikenberry
And we were going to get there and it's, it's great that we weren't there in the, in the book, you call it what you just described to us as the essential leadership flywheel that I want to talk a little bit more about. And, and one of them is this idea that, well, it's not about us, right.

00:24:42:04 - 00:24:50:00
Kevin Eikenberry
And you said it. And in the book, you talk about it as being the mindset of suspending self interest.

00:24:50:02 - 00:24:54:14
Dr. Christie Smith
You know, hard, super hard.

00:24:54:14 - 00:25:21:03
Kevin Eikenberry
Not not exactly how humans are generally wired. So talk about that. Like, I think, listen, those of you that are listening are, are likely in a subset of all leaders because you're choosing to listen to this, or watch this. And so, so Christie, at some level, you're speaking to the choir here because chances are most people here intellectually get this idea.

00:25:21:03 - 00:25:39:07
Kevin Eikenberry
Yeah, it's not about me. I have to suspend my self-interest. And it's hard, as you said, give us a couple things that we can do to help us shift this mindset. Remind ourselves of this mindset, move in the direction of this approach.

00:25:39:09 - 00:26:22:09
Dr. Christie Smith
Yeah. Well, let's, you know, in order to give you that, let's first start with some realities in the workplace today, which point to the need for a suspension of self-interest. One number one, there is we are experiencing the lowest scores on corporate leadership trust that we've ever had globally. So we are looking at the Edelman Trust survey says that 62% of people trust their organization leaders now, 62% is misleading because that includes countries like China, the UAE, Russia, right.

00:26:22:09 - 00:27:14:05
Dr. Christie Smith
Where it's a little difficult to speak out. Right. And so you're really looking at, more in the 40 percentile for Western countries, right? So, so that's number one. Trust is at an all time low. Number two, we are looking at an epidemic of, employee disengagement that's costing us $8.8 trillion a year. Now, if you put that 8.8 trillion into contact, that's like saying the combination of annual revenue of Microsoft, Apple and, and Amazon together, a year plus $322 billion of mental health issues that we're paying for, and burnout with employees a year.

00:27:14:07 - 00:27:43:18
Dr. Christie Smith
So we've got an economic crisis boiling as a result of this. Right? So if that is the precursor lack of trust, lack of engagement, when we examine what why are those things happening? It's because leaders only care about themselves, right? That that it's about their productivity number. It's about their revenue number. It's about their bonus. And we all know leaders like this.

00:27:43:20 - 00:28:02:04
Dr. Christie Smith
Now I'm not vilifying that. That is human nature. It's how we were all raised in our organizations. I get it right. What's going to be my bonus at the end of the year? What's going to be my rating at the end of the year? How am I going to take care of my own? Those are very natural things.

00:28:02:06 - 00:28:45:08
Dr. Christie Smith
However, they don't meet the time that we're in today because of those economic realities that I just talked about. So this notion of what we used to call servant leadership, this notion of suspension of self-interest, so that I can understand my team and my employees to such a point where I'm structuring the work and architecting how we get that work done so that we meet better, productive goals, that we meet better revenue goals, that when I suspend self-interest and I'm invested tirelessly in our people, all the rest will come.

00:28:45:10 - 00:29:09:14
Kevin Eikenberry
Yeah, it's the other way. It's I got to get mine and then it's the other way around. And then and then everyone can win. The other thing that, I just love the phrase that you use and, and before we started the, before I hit the record button here, you were asking me about my new book. I said, there's one thing in your book that is a really close, close connection to what I've written about in Flexible Leadership.

00:29:09:14 - 00:29:27:13
Kevin Eikenberry
And so this idea of context and you talk about it, the two of you talk about it as contextual competency. And I love yeah, I love that frame for it. So say a little bit more about it because I, I'm with you that the context in which we lead matters a huge amount really this entire. That's what this whole conversation has been about.

00:29:27:14 - 00:29:37:21
Kevin Eikenberry
That's right. And that's true at the macro level. It's also true at the micro level. And I do believe it's a con, it's a competency. So say a little bit more about what you mean there.

00:29:37:23 - 00:30:08:06
Dr. Christie Smith
Well, I think that you're right about the micro and the macro. Right. When I started we started talking about how difficult leadership is. Well, let's look at the context of leadership today in the world that we live in. It's got all of those headwinds that we have already talked about. But if you think about on the micro level, I mean, you know, Kevin, I am sure you and I are of the the same age when we entered into the workplace where we had to check our humanity at the door, you came to work, you didn't talk about life.

00:30:08:06 - 00:30:53:12
Dr. Christie Smith
You didn't talk about what was happening outside work. You came and you did your job, and you did it with excellence. And that was it, right? That is not the world we live in today. So understanding the context in which people and this is where and it's tied to insatiable curiosity, understanding the context in which people are coming to work to do their work and why they may be working with one hand tied behind their back, whether that is because they are dealing with childcare, elder care, a divorce, a, you know, a child with autism, whatever it is, we come to work right within a context of what's happening in our lives.

00:30:53:16 - 00:31:38:12
Dr. Christie Smith
Now, do we have to disclose all of that? And there are sold to our leaders? No. But what leaders need to do is understand that the people who are on their team are coming with challenges of their own. And my job as a leader is to make the the job easier and to understand the context in which that person's coming to job, to their job, and have the flexibility to help them, you know, achieve beyond their wildest dreams their work, despite the conflicts or the issues that they may be bringing into work.

00:31:38:17 - 00:31:57:04
Dr. Christie Smith
So this notion of contextual competence and understanding your team and what their own, you know, pardon the consultants phrase headwinds may be is something that I, as a leader, need to do in order to help them achieve their professional goals.

00:31:57:06 - 00:32:18:19
Kevin Eikenberry
Yeah, I think that's and again so so right I the longer that I live, the longer than I do this work, the more I think that context is supremely important, more profoundly important. Again, at the macro level, as we've talked a great deal about on this, in this conversation, as well as at the micro level. And so I've got a couple of the things.

00:32:18:19 - 00:32:32:06
Kevin Eikenberry
Christy, I want to ask you before we finish a couple things that I like to ask people in this setting. I this is this is. Well, I'll get to in a second. Let me ask this first. What do you like to do for fun?

00:32:32:08 - 00:32:56:16
Dr. Christie Smith
Haha. I, love to play golf. I love to. I still consider myself, you know, an athlete. That's that's the brand I grew up with in that big family. I talked about earlier. So, triathlons, running, weight training, all of those things. I absolutely love. And and most importantly, time, with my family.

00:32:56:18 - 00:33:14:10
Kevin Eikenberry
Awesome. And the other, the only thing you knew for sure I was going to ask you is this next question. And I'm going to put context around it for everybody. So if you've listened before, you probably know what question I'm about to ask. Christy knows because it's, you know, when I told her I was going to ask, but I'll give I'll give everybody a little context for that.

00:33:14:12 - 00:33:34:09
Kevin Eikenberry
When I've ever since I was a kid, I've, I've found that when I met smart people, people that I admired, I always wanted to ask them this question. So what are you reading? And. Yeah. So when I started doing the show, I'm like, well, why wouldn't I do that? Ask that question not just for me, but for everyone else that gets to hear it.

00:33:34:09 - 00:33:37:22
Kevin Eikenberry
So, Christy, what are you reading these days?

00:33:38:00 - 00:34:07:22
Dr. Christie Smith
Yeah. So I, I'm reading a bunch of different things. Right? Certainly Adam Grant's work I absolutely love. So his new book I am reading, I love Mel Robbins new book. Let them. I think that is, fascinating. I, I love history and the stories of history. So, was Winston Churchill's, biography.

00:34:08:00 - 00:34:30:13
Dr. Christie Smith
So I jump back and forth. I also really enjoy, you know, a daily feed of all of the newspapers and, you know, magazines that I love, whether it be The Economist or the Financial Times or the Journal or what have you, New York Times, all of that. I just love information.

00:34:30:15 - 00:34:41:22
Kevin Eikenberry
We will have all that for you, as well as a link to Christie's book, which is the question you really wanted me to ask from the beginning. Christie. So, like, where can we learn more about you? Where do you where can people go to get the book? Like, what do you want to tell people? How do they.

00:34:42:02 - 00:35:17:05
Dr. Christie Smith
Well, yeah. So, I appreciate you asking. You can buy the book on your favorite, book websites or in your book stores. Certainly is listed on Amazon, Goodreads, and, many others. You can go to smith-monahan.com, which is, the book's website. So please, you know, take advantage of that. I am working now on a project since I've left, the corporate world called the Humanity Studio, which is a leadership advisory firm.

00:35:17:07 - 00:35:33:06
Dr. Christie Smith
And so you can find, the humanity studio.com, find more about me, the book and, and everything else. So, I appreciate you asking and really look forward to hearing people's views, on the book.

00:35:33:08 - 00:35:57:09
Kevin Eikenberry
The humanity studio.com and Smith monahan.com, the book is titled Essential How Distributed Teams, Generative AI and Global Shifts are Creating a new human powered Leadership. Christy, it's been a pleasure to have you. But before we say our goodbyes, I've got a question that I ask all of you. And again, it's the thing I ask you every single episode.

00:35:57:11 - 00:36:17:21
Kevin Eikenberry
It's the most important question that you could ask yourself before we finish. And that is now what? What are you going to do with what you just heard? Just having heard it. Found it to be interesting. You know, better than doing your exercise with only your own thoughts. Like, that's one thing. But what we really hope is that you take some action with what you learned.

00:36:18:01 - 00:36:36:04
Kevin Eikenberry
Close the gap between, oh, I learned this, and what am I going to do with this? I have my own notes. My notes don't matter. What matters are the things that you thought of, the actions that you want to take. Certainly we would hope that one of those is to order a copy of the book essential. But beyond that, what actions will you take for having been here?

00:36:36:04 - 00:36:50:07
Kevin Eikenberry
Because it's in that that you have the chance to lead differently and start to make a bigger positive difference in the world? Christy, thank you for being here. Such a pleasure to have you enjoyed our conversation. I hope you did as well.

00:36:50:09 - 00:36:54:01
Dr. Christie Smith
Thank you. Kevin, it was so much fun to be with you.

00:36:54:03 - 00:37:11:17
Kevin Eikenberry
Everybody. That's it for another episode of the Remarkable Leadership Podcast. If you enjoyed it, make sure you are subscribed wherever you're listening or make sure that you're telling others they should come listen to whether this episode or the next episode, because you know, there'll be another episode next week. When we back with another episode of the Remarkable Leadership Podcast.

00:37:11:17 - 00:37:12:05
Kevin Eikenberry
We'll see you then.