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Guest Writer: JL Heather

The Innovation Toolkit: Key Strategies Every CEO Should Know

Media3L is the media arm of The Drop In CEO Brand which stands for Lift, Light and Lead. I like to shine a “Light” on valued partners in my network for which I have the pleasure of knowing JL Heather, Managing Partner and Principle Executive Coach at Centered. Enjoy his through leadership on Innovation and I encourage you to reach out to him and add him as a valuable resource to your network!

Innovation is the lifeblood of long-term success. Yet for many organizations, it remains elusive—a buzzword that sounds great in strategy meetings but struggles to deliver tangible results. Why? Because innovation isn’t a single initiative or a job title. It’s a system—a series of deliberate, interconnected actions that foster creativity, collaboration, and execution.

As a CEO, your role is to ensure that system works. It’s not about micromanaging ideas or dictating solutions; it’s about creating the conditions for innovation to thrive. Based on what we’ve seen at Centered, here are three key strategies to drive real impact from your innovation programs.

1. Understand Your Organization’s Innovation Readiness

Before you can foster innovation, you need to know where your organization stands. Are your teams aligned around shared goals? Do they have the resources, autonomy, and psychological safety to explore new ideas? Understanding these dynamics is critical, yet many leaders skip this step and dive straight into initiatives without assessing their starting point.

Take the time to evaluate your organization’s innovation readiness. Look at the alignment of your culture, processes, and leadership behaviors. Ask tough questions: Are teams encouraged to experiment, or is failure quietly punished? Do your systems and structures make collaboration seamless or stifle it? Knowing these answers helps you identify where to focus and how to unlock your teams’ potential.

2. Embrace Agile Problem-Solving Frameworks

Innovation isn’t a linear process. It’s iterative, messy, and often requires rapid adaptation. To move fast without breaking the wrong things, CEOs should champion frameworks that encourage structured experimentation, such as design thinking or agile methodologies.

These approaches allow teams to prototype, test, and refine ideas quickly, reducing the risk of overinvesting in solutions that don’t work. By embedding agile problem-solving into your organization, you create a culture of progress over perfection—a mindset that helps teams focus on outcomes rather than bureaucracy. Encourage experimentation, celebrate learning from failure, and model the value of adaptability.

A great way to dive in is with a Design Sprint!

3. Build a Leadership Culture That Enables Innovation

Innovation thrives when leadership inspires it. As a CEO, your behavior sets the tone for how teams approach risk, collaboration, and creativity. Are you creating space for exploration, or are your priorities sending a message that execution always outweighs experimentation?

Focus on building a leadership culture that balances vision and trust. Ensure your leaders know how to foster collaboration across silos, encourage open dialogue, and provide psychological safety for teams to take smart risks. Invest in developing leaders who can empower their teams and remove barriers, rather than micromanaging outcomes.

Your Role as the Innovation Enabler

As a CEO, you don’t have to be the source of the best ideas—but you do need to create the conditions for those ideas to emerge. This means understanding where your organization is today, equipping teams with the right frameworks to move forward, and setting a leadership example that prioritizes growth, experimentation, and adaptability.

Innovation isn’t just about big, flashy ideas; it’s about building the systems and practices that make creativity a repeatable, scalable process.  By focusing on readiness, agility, and leadership, you can build a system that delivers innovation not as a one-time win but as a repeatable, scalable process.

The question isn’t whether your organization can innovate—it’s whether you’re building the system to make it inevitable.

About Centered

At Centered, we empower your organization to innovate boldly.

By fostering a culture of experimentation, inspiring leadership, and building high-performing teams, we ensure your business continually adapts and thrives in a changing world.

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Media Matters: When the Audible Word is More Powerful Than the Written Word

I wrote “The CEO’s Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track” to lift up CEO’s by exploring their Hero’s Journey through the unknown, guiding them to their own Peace of Mind in 2021.

I was so grateful when it came out to share autographed copies and seeing the book sales in Amazon and other outlets. I thought I had hit the big times and then someone said to me, ‘is it available on audio?’ and then I realized I fell short of meeting my audiences needs.

The same thing goes for business; when leaders think the presentation or the email is enough to cascade a proclamation; I would say they miss the mark in communication and truly influencing an outcome. When a leader shows up with their voice and intonation, we connect with humanity on a different level. Know your market and communicate accordingly!

That is why I’m announcing that starting tomorrow, I am recording the audiobook for The CEO’s Compass and can’t wait to get it to my audience who prefers my voice. Yes, Deb’s voice will read the book in a way that I hope connects with you intellectually and emotionally; ultimately leading to Peace of Mind.

I’m excited to partner with David Wolf and his team at Audivita Studios | Audiobooks | Podcasts for this new media offer.

Anyone wishing to advocate for this offer, please DM me and I’ll share with you the marketing details.

Many thanks for everyone who has supported me along the way and for those who come knocking on my door in the future, I thank you in advance as well.

-Deb

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The Demise of Leaders When They Persist In Using The Same Playbook

You know I’m talking to you; you’re amazing at your leadership and have ascended the ranks and praised for your results. But now you’re in chaos; maybe even crisis and you wonder what has changed? I’ll tell you… the conditions, the unplanned for risks and even loss of a key leader are things you didn’t plan for, so who’s to blame? Quite frankly, I find it is the leader who persists with the same playbook with different conditions and expects the same result. Time to reflect on your own leadership or else it will be your demise.

Pro Tip:

  • Pause and reflect on your leadership style. Does it need to change? Do you need to adopt a new mindset that may require leaning on the help of others or bring in experts. Unless you move to being highly aware of yourself, then nothing will change your circumstances
  • Assess if you’ve been leading towards results or outcomes. Those that pursue results are destined to relive the cycle of missing the targets and then beating the teams into getting the results. That’s not leadership. When we lead with purpose and ask teams how can they achieve certain outcomes, you leverage the collective creativity of your team to solve bigger issues, not short sighted results that undisciplined leaders focus on.
  • Close the internal gaps within your teams and unleash their potential. When you focus on the human capacity, capability and confidence, they will achieve more. These are also leading indicators of future success. Look also at the interactions of team members or organizations and coach their ways of working and service level agreements. When you close gaps in the human dimension, you set the stage for sustainably reaching your results.

These are simple to say, but without the right mindset and behaviors, leaders are unable to change the cycle of going into chaos because they’re playbook is incomplete or they need a new one. I’m curious if you agree or have alternative views. I’ve had people say sometimes external factors “force” leaders to behave in certain ways. I get that, but I wonder then are these the organizations we as leaders should be working in? I’m not saying we should quite tough organizations, but then leaders need to have the courage to focus on changing the culture and show true leadership or else seek a different environment where they can use the same ole playbook and claim success.

The greater outcome is to reflect upon our leadership and ask if we were truly meant to lead. If yes, do you have the courage to try a new playbook?

If you’re curious or would like to dialog around this, let’s talk.

I’m forever in service to you and wish you much success-Deb


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Infinity Days: Gifted Time and How to Create the Most of it!

Raise of hands, how may of you have waken up at 2:00, 3:00 or 4:00 am wide away give into the fact you’re not going back to bed?!

I call these “Infinity Days” and in essence creating the “25 hour” day. With my additional hours and clarity of mind, I cherish these days vs. feeling doomed due to lack of sleep. Thus has been my good fortune this last week and wanted to share how I’ve leveraged the treasured Gift of Time!

Full transparency here, I’m going through a major well being journey and between the change in my diet, supplements and well-being focused, I think my body chemistry is evolving for the better. With these changes has come deeper sleep; thus needing less. When I wake, I’m “buzzy” and I can’t create enough lists to keep up with what I wanted to do. Until recently, I never fully committed to my well-being, but I knew it was foundational. Once committed, the side effects of alertness and clarity came with. My advise to you is clear the clutter, focus on what is important to you, trust the process and realize abundant energy.

It goes without saying, I’ve organized every draw & closet that I seamlessly ignored for years. I’m in full baking mode; leaning into my creative endeavors and a need to nourish all who comes across my doorstep. I’ve even endeavored in some home decorating, moving from simple surroundings to creative embellishments. While the home is springing to life again, it’s the purposeful work that is really taking off.

Up until now, there was projects I needed to complete, but I’d often procrastinate to the last minute. With a few extra hours in the day, I now plan the work more methodically and enabled by the removal of clutter from my day. Disciplined in email management, cautious to not overbook, delay what is not important and only focus on value added work has been life changing. The gift of time has allowed me to enter into each day without stress.

Another thing that has come that I’d been long awaiting: the return of my voracious need to create through Speaking, Writing and Podcasting. I’m creating strategies to network with more people to create opportunities to speak more, write more and even start a new Podcast Series called: “Chambers Across America: Elevating the American Dream”. Stay tuned for this new endeavor.

I’d like to now share how I lean into an “Infinity Day” and a few ideas for you to create the same experience.

Caution: I’m not advocating for you to set your alarm to 2:00 am to create an “Infinity Day”. I’m advocating for you to recognize these days where you have the gift of time and how to maximize it!

  • Clear your calendar of all unnecessary events or activities.
  • Only do deep email management 1 time per day. The rest of your day should only be to scan and file for when you have the time do to the deep work.
  • Where passive participation is required in a virtual meeting; stay engaged, but consider doing something that requires no attention and check a personal chore off your list
  • Be sure to balance your “to do” list with career / business and personal tasks. You want to end your day with joy knowing you invested in yourself as much if not more than your work.
  • Take planned breaks. If you have the gift of time and are knocking it out of the ballpark, taking 5-10 minutes to re-energize will allow yourself to keep up the productive pace.
  • Eat & Drink well. The body is a well-oiled machine and needs nourishment as well as for your brain to maintain clarity.

The gift of an “Infinity Day” is not to be taken lightly. It’s a gift and it’s up to you how to leverage it to fulfill yourself and to also give back to others.

Wishing you well and hope you have a pleasant and productive day!-Deb

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Photo by Lukas: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-survey-spreadsheet-590022/

“CHASING RESULTS”…Sounds stressful, right?

It is! The State of Chaos within your organization often has a lot to do with misalignment of priorities: are you pursuing short term results or long term peace of mind? Meeting a deadline elicits high-fives around the room, but is your infrastructure sustainable?

Through our work together, you will see the bigger picture ROI, and calm your mind in the process. Sound like a lofty promise? Read on so I can share with you how this is possible…

The common theme I see all the time is that chaos ensues when we don’t have the courage to go after the root cause of what is keeping you up at night. The result is rallying the troops to focus on the effort and at the end of the day after beating the teams until you can claim victory. The result is never sustainable because leaders don’t have the discipline to focus on the issue earlier and to seek peace of mind through sustainable processes, capable resources and continual leadership development.

I dropped in recently into a situation where the leadership was hell bent on getting an immediate result. Then upon the “hurry scurry” of making things happen, the leadership changed direction and expanded the scope and suggesting we get back to examining the process. That should have been the primary focus in parallel with stopping the bleeding of the current situation, but instead, pressure was their guiding principle and blinded them to the greater opportunity and causing havoc in the process.

After a bit of wasted time and effort, the team is back on track in hopes of getting to the root cause and sustainably creating a process that not only results, but long term trusted results… or peace of mind.

I keep using this principle of “peace of mind” over and over again in my writings. I do so because I don’t think most leaders have ever experienced this. When they don’t know what it feels like, they use the same playbook over and over again and artificially gain satisfaction, but often will lose sleep at night. This is not a good result for their health both for them and their team.

I propose leaders do the following going forward:

  • Provide guidance on what the outcome should be and trust the teams to do the work; don’t micro manager, but guide the ship
  • Focus on the real barriers of team dynamics, misaligned organizational goals and in general barrier removal vs. the task at hand.
  • Paint a picture of what the future looks like and also what peace of mind could be. If you can show them the picture or how it will feel, you will Lift up your team to achieve even better results than you envisioned. This is the missing peace I find in most leaders and I hope you can heed this advice.

I’ve been there, done that and I’ve seen a lot of wasted effort and leadership maturity that is needed. If you enjoyed this piece and want to discuss your situation, I’m all ears, heart and mind invested in your story. Until we meet, I wish you well and much success -Deb

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Secrets of the C-Suite: What an MBA Won’t Teach You…

In 2023, I recorded 52 solo episodes on The Drop In CEO™ Podcast for leaders that just want to have a seat at the table, but lack a support system on how to do that. I’ve not yet started writing the book, but I sense there is a strong need for it. I was once told, I needed an MBA on top of my engineering degree form Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to get ahead. While raising three kids and managing a career, I couldn’t do the MBA, but obtained certifications in Quality Engineering, Lean and Six Sigma. While technically those looked good on my resume and gained a few cool skills along the way, none of them prepared me for C-Suite level responsibility. The school of “Hard Knocks” and very little mentorship; somehow I learned what did and did not work. Want to learn more? Read on…

Presence is more than physical attributes; it’s what you stand for…

I asked a trusted colleague what was I missing to have more impact when I presented at my senior leadership meeting. They said technically I was spot on, but I needed presence. I asked if that was a new wardrobe, updated hairstyle and a firm handshake? They said, it was about what I stood for. Every time I walk into a “room”, everyone knew what I stood for. It wasn’t until I started my own business, that I figured it was the topics I was most passionate about and would get up on a soapbox to share what I thought was right.

If you don’t know what your presence is, I suggest you start writing down all your unique idea, things others have praised you for and also what may be contrary to the status quo. Let those ideas simmer a while and then take a chance on yourself to start speaking those words. Look carefully at how people respond and know if you are saying something that matters. Caution however if it does not resonate, you may need help in your messaging or you may be in the wrong environment.

Messaging for impact and it’s not about having a great looking presentation…

Having a presentation that is technically perfect and delivered well won’t get the impact that you want. I know having done many that it’s often met with silence. You are no longer celebrated for having the best content, but for how you articulate the main message. The rest of your content is just back up. Learn how to look at a slide and the key takeaway. Start with that message and the risk or opportunity and your position. You can then enrich it with information on the slide. By doing so, you move from technical expert to influential leader. I’m very good at this work and offer coaching to others to have an impact and get a seat at the table.

Mindset matters and the words you use are key…

When we use words like I “can’t”, “I’ve not” or any other derivative of the “n’t”, you project a persona of backwards or present only thinking. When faced with a challenge, too often people think about the possibility of failure based on uncertainty. When we change our mindset to possibilities and project forward, you’re seen as that “can do” person to trust. Such phrases as “based on past experience, we could”, or we “must” or I “believe” or I “propose” are powerful words for influence. Once we recognize these small nuance in how you communicate, you’ll catch yourself and make the shift. Then watch how the world reacts to you!

I didn’t learn these via an MBA, but through asking well placed questions, reading, studying others who seem to have what I want, I soon gained confidence in how I present myself. If you want to learn more about “Secrets of the C-Suite”, I offer several ways to work with you. Also, some of these lessons may also be found in my 1st book The CEO’s Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track. This was meant for people already with a “seat at the table”, but once think of yourself in that role, people see you in that role.

I’m here for you so you struggle less and if I can be of service, I would be grateful for you to reach out. Until we meet, I wish you well-Deb

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Pursuing Outcomes vs Chasing Outputs Can Bring You Peace of Mind

Society distills what we do down to agendas, action items and report outs; leaving very little to the human element. While we talk about change management, stakeholder engagement and team building are vehicles to help humans move through a project, they fall short of making a deep connection needed for sustainable results. I’m talking about the difference between Outcomes and Outputs for which we need to dig deeper and why we need to shift our focus achieve a Strategic Advantage in your work.

To illustrate this point, I had an opportunity to engage with a senior leader and get a particular result for my initiative; aka the output. I had my agenda and prepped what I wanted to achieve. Through our engagement, I got what I needed, but not before I realized there was something deeper that needed to be achieved. This leader was struggling with their messaging to move forward their strategic initiative. I realized they needed my superpower of deep listening to reframe what they said into something that was concise and messaged what needed to be said.

We took a moment to discover the disconnected thoughts and after they spoke at length, I played back what I heard and the enrichment that was needed to present a strong message. As soon as I delivered this to the leader, I immediately saw calm in their face and body. I was able to say what he’s been needing to say in a way that made sense. The outcome of this interaction was Peace of Mind for this individual. I also became a trusted partner for them in the future; for tasks unknown.

I could have stopped at the output of my agenda to get their support on my initiative. Instead, I carved out enough time to build a trusting relationship for which that outcome is far more important and may now be a strategic advantage for me for the next initiative or to support this leader.

The point is that we are rewarded daily for results, transactions and executing on an agenda. This behavior is short sighted and while necessary does not achieve sustainable results nor achieve outcomes that pay higher rewards. How do we balance the two and evolve our behavior and leadership? Ultimately, aren’t we in pursuit of Peace of Mind? The image on this article should be what we’re striving for through these insights both for ourselves and those we serve.

Actionable Tips for Strategic Advantage and Achieve Peace of Mind

Start with the outcome you want to achieve. Could it be to build a relationship, establish trust, or finding ways to build a long term partnership. This is the ultimate focus of your efforts and success criteria

Continue with your tactical agenda, but be open to not completing it in favor of achieving your Outcomes

Change your mindset on what does success look like. No one will remember you for the action item you completed. You will be memorable the relationships you establish and outcomes you achieve. Think about it.

I hope you found this article helpful. If you have a situation that is unique that you want a better outcome, I’m happy to talk you through it in a complimentary 15 minute conversation to help you to achieve a better outcome!

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How a disastrous pantry helped clean my soul!

Okay, what do you see in this picture? It’s unfortunately the result of me cleaning out my pantry after a few years and realizing how far I had let it get cluttered. I’m also frustrated with myself because of the neglect. What you don’t also see are the numerous draws and cabinets that followed the same decluttering all in the same July 4th weekend. I’m proud that I did the work and have a clean slate for our family and for my soul. But what else happened that weekend is the real story…

Why did the kitchen get so cluttered? Because there are closed doors. When the doors are closed, the world sees a clean kitchen. I focused on the window dressing for the last few years and quietly ignored the clutter that was building up behind the scenes. I got accustomed to moving things around to find what I needed and was not incentivized to do much more. Sound familiar?

I also was putting on a facade of taking care of myself and my well-being. I know I’ve been on a journey that has made me look better on the outside. Many of you have commented about my transformation. But behind the facade, there was still clutter and a lack of commitment to lose weight. I’m quite healthy, so there was no urgency to change. However, building up inside was clutter that I was not proud of. I’m pleased to say given now the clean kitchen inside and out, I’m also decluttering my body both outside and inside. Stay tuned for more changes.

Turning now to you, I pose a few questions for you to ponder:

  • Do have a great life, but maybe you are still uncertain about the future?
  • Did you recently take a vacation, but really didn’t fully relax and feel renewed?
  • Do you have everything you need, but still worry about financial security?
  • Do you have a closet or draw you’ve been meaning to clean up, but procrastinate?
  • Could it be you’ve worked hard to be a better You, but fall short of fulfilling your soul?

The theme is falling short of truly committing to yourself and until you think about that gap between great and being fulfilled, you may never feel like you’ve decluttered your life.

Take a look at my kitchen again and can you see the clutter that may still hold you back from feeling amazing?

My advice to you: Take one draw, one cabinet, one car, one plant, one pile and clean it up. In the process, your mind will be clear or it might wander. I promise you by the time you clean up the 1st, the 2nd and the 10th thing in your surroundings, you’ll cleanse your soul and maybe find a path to fulfillment in other areas.

Let me know if you tried this and what came to you as a result of the process.

For me, I have a clean kitchen and when I get back from my business trip, the huge pile of photographs may finally get organized! I’m also focused on an evolved branding campaign and an intense weight loss program. I’ll show you pictures of my progress! I’d love to see yours after you take the first step!

Until then, happy cleaning!

-Deb

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Playing to Positivity vs Pain Will Win Every Time

Been there, done that! I’ve fallen victim to pain sells. I’ve been conditioned by all the social media that if you identify a pain point and convince your audience they are a victim, they will seek the quick fix that is promised. The problem with that is it fails to build brand loyalty. The product or service looks enticing to begin with, but unless someone is willing to buy, the marketing scheme doesn’t work. For those that believe in the quick fix; they are often disappointed with the result. Why? because they’ve not addressed the root cause of their pain.

Which leads me to an important discovery for myself and a potential pivot in my marketing that may be valuable for you as well. I can market my solutions to a target audience, but unless they’re willing to invest in either themselves or the business, nothing is going to connect. The endless hours & months to create 7+ touch points with the ideal client are empty promises unless the buyer has made the decision to buy.

So why do buyers wait to invest in themselves or the business? Could it be fear they’ve failed and they’ve decided to muscle through with current resources? Is it, they’ve not realized the problem could be their mindset? Could it be, they don’t know how to justify the need to leverage skills outside their domain? What ever the root cause is, it’s for the buyer, manager, leader, founder, CEO to figure out for themselves. I will share my book, The CEO’s Compass as a tool to figure out it may be you that’s holding yourself back and the playbook that has made you successful no longer works. Until the buyer can sort through why they don’t invest, no amount of marketing to them is going to work. That’s my conclusion for which I now have to pivot.

The Drop In CEO is different and I’m a proponent that insights and inspiration sell; or at least build trust faster than pain. I believe by providing you content that is playing to one’s strengths and positivity, will resonate faster. While it may take a long time to be in service, it’s one that will be an easy sell once that individual (or you) wants to invest in support. So let me send some positive vibes your way…

I see you! I know how you’re feeling; a little frustrated. You’ve been an amazing leader up to this point and while the landscape has changed, please know you are still valued and can do amazing work. It may be a small course correction in your playbook or your mindset or the environment, know that you are still valued. Most of you are highly aware of how you feel and the need for a change. Let me be a sounding board for you to talk through your frustration so we can move you back to positivity that has rewarded you for so many years.

I’ve spoken to so many people; Quality, Operations, VP’s, Directors, C-Suite Leaders and every time we meet for 30 minutes, I’m able to impart some insight that makes them feel valued. Could that be you? Taking a few minutes for yourself may be the best 30 minutes to move you from a place of doubt to a place of being the leader you are or were meant to be. I’m hear for you because I believe in you.

So that’s my insight for you! Playing to positivity vs pain will win every time.

The universe must be speaking to me, because I found a similar article on LI on the same topic; check it out!

Wishing you all well and much success!

-Deb

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How to Lean Into Your Leadership Legacy

Marketing Strategies are broken because they lean into your pain points and tell you how they can fix you.

How many people out there are saying you are great and how can I help you to be greater?

Not many I bet you!

Marketing guru’s create a narrative that you’re broken and when people adopt that, it’s a tool to get you to buy services you don’t need.

What would it look like to lean into your leadership greatness to leave a legacy?

How many people are out there to help you on this journey to greatness?

Sure, there are publicists and media relations people that say you can promote yourself to get into the spotlight, but that’s not for everyone.

I propose you can do all of this yourself to leave a lasting impact and here’s how:

Get your thought leadership out to a broader audience!

You have what it already takes to be a thought leader and impact more people you can image. Consider taking your purpose, your talking points and leadership insights to more speaking events. Consider a podcast or even writing a book. It builds your credibility and your reach can be so much greater. You already have leadership figured out. Why waste it by not sharing it with others.

Mentorship is a gift!

If you prefer more intimate conversations to inspire people, consider mentorship or even better yet, start a program where you work. It doesn’t take much to set it up and with a simple structure, you can impact people on a deeper level. By the way, if you’ve had a mentor in the past, make sure you reach back out to them to let them know their impact. Giving the gift of mentorship one person at a time can leave a lasting impact for this and future generations of leaders.

Build a powerful network!

Connection is what humanity is about and we survive as a civilization because of our connection with other humans. By investing time in building not just vanity metrics, but deep connections, we build a set of advocates for what we stand for. They have your back when you need support, but they can also amplify your brand and personal to others who have not met you yet. Take advantage of building a powerful network as part of leaving your legacy. The worse time to build a network is when you’re out of work and need it. Build it during good times and they’ll have your back when the time is right.

In about 2 minutes, I’ve suggested ways to lean into your leadership legacy because you’re already great. I hope you can use some of these tips as you think about your future and the impact you want to make. If this was helpful, let me know. If you know of another great leader who might benefit from this, please share this article with them.

If I can be in service to you and you want to add me to your network, let’s talk and see how we can make you even greater!

If you want to learn more, I recently was on a Linkedin Live on 16 April where you can hear the full conversation on this topic. It will also be a future Podcast & YouTube episode for you to share with others.

Until we meet, I wish you well and much success!

-Deb

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