Lens of Leadership: A Ted Lasso Rewatch Podcast
Marnie Stockman and Nick Coniglio, authors of the book Lead it Like Lasso, dig into each episode of Ted Lasso with a lens of leadership. Each podcast starts with a fun quick-clip summary of the episode. Marnie and Nick tie together the leadership principles from Ted Lasso, their own business successes, thought leaders and everyday advice to help individuals level up as they lead themselves (and others). This is a great podcast for TedHeads! There are many other Ted Lasso podcasts out there - this is the "same but different."
Lens of Leadership: A Ted Lasso Rewatch Podcast
Leadership Lessons from Season 2 Finale: Inverting the Pyramid of Success | S2 Ep12
🎙 In the Season 2 finale of Lens of Leadership, Nick Coniglio and Marnie Stockman wrap up with Episode 12: Inverting the Pyramid of Success. They're joined by special guest Jessica McLeod-Waddell, a higher ed leadership pro and soon-to-be PhD student at the University of Georgia, who brings wisdom, wit, and warmth to a discussion rich with leadership takeaways.
Episode Highlights:
🔑 The Keys to Growth: Jessica introduces a fresh perspective on symbolic storytelling in the Lasso-verse—spotlighting keys as a metaphor for character transitions, identity shifts, and being “locked in” or “locked out” of transformation.
💬 Every Choice Is a Chance: Ted’s moment of owning his panic attack sparks a powerful conversation on values-based decision-making, how to lead your own story, and the real consequences of letting others define your narrative—especially in the digital age.
Special Guest Insights:
From student mentorship to social media guidance, Jessica shares actionable strategies for helping young leaders develop self-awareness, career clarity, and the confidence to pivot. Whether it’s leaning into red threads, chasing purpose, or tuning out the noise, her insights shine with empathy and practicality.
âś… Owning your message in the age of TikTok
âś… Building your Diamond Dogs: The power of peer support and professional community
✅ Mentorship magic: The mentor’s role in listening, lifting, and letting go
âś… Helping students rewrite their story with purpose, not pressure
💡 Key Takeaway: Leadership isn't about solving every problem—sometimes it’s about creating space to talk it out, lean into your values, and surround yourself with people who help you grow.
📚 Read it like Lasso: Explore more character-driven leadership in our book Lead It Like Lasso—designed for real life, real growth, and real connection.
đź“Ł Connect with Jessica McLeod-Waddell: Find her on LinkedIn to follow her journey through education, career coaching, and leadership development. You can also learn more by following Jessica on Instagram and at: https://jessicamcleodwaddell.com/
#LeadershipPodcast #TedLasso #LeadItLikeLasso #ValuesBasedLeadership #LensOfLeadership #CareerDevelopment #MentorshipMatters #StudentSuccess
Welcome to Lens of Leadership, our Ted Lasso rewatch podcast. Before we dive into this episode's leadership lessons, let's watch a quick recap.
Speaker 2:Season 2. Episode 12. Inverting the Pyramid of Success starts off Saturday Soccer, revealing Ted's panic attack. Beard knows it is Nate and confronts him. Roy confronts Jamie. Ted apologizes to the team. Banter wants to finance Keeley's PR firm and Higgins gives her great advice. Sam keeps an eye out for messages from the universe. Roy doesn't make the Vanity Fair article on Keeley, ted and Beard clear the air over a beer. Keeley thanks Rebecca for turning a panda into a lion. Roy needs the Diamond Dogs. Ted asks Nate why he is mad and what Ted has to learn. Nate's false nine works. Sam decides to stay, ted talks about mental health and athletics and the end sets up season three with four cliffhangers.
Speaker 3:Hi everyone, I'm Nick Coniglio.
Speaker 1:And I'm Marnie Stockman, and this is Lens of Leadership, a Ted Lasso rewatch podcast. We are the authors of Lead it Like Lasso, a leadership book for life, your life.
Speaker 3:And this podcast is an extension of many of the elements outlined in our book. We invite you to join us as we take a deep dive into each episode and explore the leadership principles as they play out in this series. And for today's episode, we're diving into season two, episode 12, Inverting the Pyramid of Success.
Speaker 1:I think this is a great episode, but I'm even more excited that we're welcoming Jessica McLeod-Waddell. So let me tell you a little bit about her. She's a seasoned professional in college career centers, currently at UGA. I'll say go dogs for the sake of all the UGA friends on the call. The first time we connected with Jess, we hit it off straight away. Her focus on leadership and leadership development, especially as it relates to career development for college students, is really right, in line with the things that we discuss regularly. So she's built leadership programs and curriculums, including how you can lead while selling hot dogs.
Speaker 1:So anybody that's read the book knows we can appreciate that, and we love chatting core values and strengths, so here are some of her straight from LinkedIn input individualization, connectedness, visualization, connectedness, learner and Arranger. Jess, we are super excited to have you.
Speaker 4:Super.
Speaker 1:I did not mention the degrees that you have, are going for, et cetera, so please share that and tell me anything else we missed.
Speaker 5:Absolutely. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here and to chat about these things. I love how, in your introduction, to Lead it Like Lasso, you call yourself leadership geeks. I am definitely a part of that squad, so very, very excited. You did a fantastic job with the overview. I'm happy to talk about a little bit of my credentialing. So I do have a master's degree in higher education administration from Georgia Southern University and I will actually be graduating in May with my second master's degree in professional writing. So cool, so excited. Yes, I'm also currently working on my certification to become a certified professional career coach, which will hopefully wrap up in the next couple months. And, most excitedly, I just got news that I'll be starting a PhD in English program at the University of Georgia in the fall. Love it. So very, very excited to kind of continue my education in that way. And was just so excited when you all invited me to read your book and join the podcast because, as those credentials tell you, this is right up my alley.
Speaker 3:I think we, Marnie and I, probably are on the geek side. I think we're going to classify you as the guru on this call.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're going to put you on that side yes, we're super excited to learn everything about where you come from and your perspective on things, and typically we start out we don't dive right into the leadership aspect of the episode. We start out with something a little different, some sort of icebreaker. And for this particular episode, you had mentioned something to us a while back that got us thinking, and this happened to be one of the episodes where it came forth. And I'm talking specifically about the end of the episode when Trent can't find his keys and he's locked out of the car. So I have two questions for you, because you brought it up once before. What's the deal with the keys? Because we've seen it in other episodes. And then I'm curious, in this specific episode, what you thought the symbolism of Trent not having the keys to get into his car, love to hear your thoughts.
Speaker 5:I love that, yeah. So I really started noticing the the keys as a theme in an episode with Colin, where his you know they he was having a conversation with one of his teammates and he was talking about how his keys got thrown in the lake by a date or the river by a date, and I was like that's an interesting detail to share. And of course, later on in the series spoilers, you know we learned that Colin is, one, a terrible driver and two, that his dating history is a big part of his identity, that he hasn't quite been as transparent with his team yet and that's a big part of his character development. And so when I was going back and watching the series I was like what an interesting little. I don't know what you would call it.
Speaker 5:I guess Easter egg that's exactly what I was thinking yeah, the development that is to come with Colin and I feel like the keys kind of symbolize this like introduction into a new character arc or development piece where they're lost in some way, shape or form, and the keys are symbolizing that. I think we see this with the episode all about Beard and his wonderful, exciting nightlife and he keeps losing his keys, amongst other things. But the keys keep popping up and I need to rewatch that episode, but I think the key even gets stuck in the door at one point.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it does yeah.
Speaker 5:And I think that episode really focuses on a lot of Beard's development and kind of the spaces where he's lost in life and trying to find that security. And so I think that brings us to this episode where Trent is about to go through this big adjustment in life. He has just willingly and confidently kind of betrayed his own ethics of journalism by revealing the source to Ted, losing his job over it, willingly admitting to it and kind of saying, yes, this is what I need to do. I'm feeling a confliction here and so I think you know, the last thing we see of him in season two is him locking his keys in the car. I think that symbolizes that area of transition for him.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I think that's, I think that's awesome. You know, in the lasso verse, people talk about Easter eggs all the time here and there are some very obvious, some not so obvious. I never hear this discussion and the first time you brought it up a couple of weeks ago, when we were talking about it, I was like, huh, that's, that's interesting. And you know, I think this is, it's hard to find something new, right About the show that's been watched by millions upon millions, upon millions of people. And I, I, by golly, I think you found it, I think it's super cool. And what we know for one thing for sure spoiler alert again is Trent's not really leaving AFC Richmond, so he can't get in his car, you know, and that's kind of a foreshadowing.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting.
Speaker 5:Yeah, he's stuck there.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I also am thinking about and I won't give that scene away I'm thinking about a scene in the next season where I believe that someone is kind of locked down.
Speaker 2:So interesting.
Speaker 1:All right. So in this episode, ted finally owns up to the panic attack to his team. Right, and he one of the quotes that really resonates with us every choice is a chance, right, and here he's saying that he didn't make the choice that would have allowed him to establish more trust with his team.
Speaker 2:Because every choice is a chance, fellas, and I didn't give myself the chance to build further trust with y'all.
Speaker 1:And that choices really show us who you truly are. So is that something you ever discuss with students in terms of setting themselves up for future success?
Speaker 5:Absolutely Kind of the base of a lot of my teaching philosophy, both in leadership education and writing education and career education, is really focused in a term coined by Drew Dudley called values-based decision making, which is really all about kind of taking control of our choices instead of letting life happen to us and going with what might feel natural or what we think we're supposed to do.
Speaker 5:I think when we're talking about choices, it can be really easy to go with what people around us are doing or what we've been told is the correct thing to do or what's the most comfortable thing for us to do.
Speaker 5:And I think, especially when you might be navigating big times of transition exiting high school, entering college, exiting college, entering the workforce, changing career pathways it can be really easy to feel like there's a lot of noise and chaos in that space and there are a lot of different choices to make and a lot of voices kind of indicating that. And so I really like the idea of values-based decision-making, which kind of elaborates on the fact that you're already making choices subconsciously from your values right, or from the values that you think you're supposed to have. And if we take control of that, do a little bit of time learning our values, learning ourselves some values identification and, instead of letting our values subconsciously lead our choices, taking that power back and letting our values intentionally lead our choices. We're going to be so much more fulfilled and confident in the choices that we make.
Speaker 3:Well, we mentioned at the outset that you're our type of people and I think that answer just kind of demonstrates all that. That's a yeah. Clearly we talk a lot about that Love, that so kind of sticking with the same storyline within the show. You know the fact that in holding in holding back the fact that he had a panic attack, ted really lost his ability to control his own message and instead the story was delivered really without comment in the independent for the whole world to see. Marnie and I talk a lot about. The fact of losing control of your own message can be really dangerous and scary, and in today's world we see that more and more and more with social media. So the question for you, Jessica, is we suspect you might see this, especially with students being all over social media. Do you have any advice for students on how to get through that when they lose control of that message, their own message?
Speaker 5:Absolutely, and this is such a loaded question. I have some big thoughts on social media in the space of career identity. I think we have to be very intentional with our presence online, and this is not to say that our professional identity needs to rule the spaces that we're in online, right. We just have to remember that what's on the Internet lives forever and it's not fleeting. And just because it might be on a Snapchat story doesn't mean it hasn't been screenshotted or shared and might pop up in other spaces. Has it been screenshotted or shared and might pop up in other spaces? Right, and I think this goes into a larger conversation about responsible use of social media that I won't get into a tangent about, but bringing it back into that professional space and losing your story, I think it comes from. The best thing we can do is be proactive, right, and so a part of that is using social medias intentionally and for the purposes they're designed to be used. So I really encourage students, especially as they might be entering into the job market, that I'll use Instagram as an example. If it is your personal Instagram, like, you are talking to your friends, you're posting pictures of you. You know doing things. Do so responsibly but private it right. That's a space for you to really keep that for you, for your space. Use the close friends option on your stories. Really utilize the privacy things that are in there so that you can still have that space and that social community that might be really important to your personal thriving and really, instead for your professional identity, lean into LinkedIn, lean into the social media platforms that are built for that and don't confuse them Like you're going to have you know different portrayals of yourself in certain spaces, which I like to say are just different sections of your you know authentic self.
Speaker 5:I like to say, have your, your most authentic professional self on LinkedIn, right. Don't share stories that aren't appropriate for the workplace. Use a nice headshot on there. Engage in conversation in your field and with Instagram. Keep that you know personal if you want and private, but sometimes we know that those things leak right and we lose control of that story and I would say own it, own it.
Speaker 5:One of the biggest things that you can do for yourself and you know, for the communities that you're within, is to own the mistakes you've made, and I think that's something that shows up over and over again in Ted Lasso. I think especially Rebecca is a really great example of this, of own your mistakes, ted in this scene, a great example of him saying, hey, I should have told you this and I didn't. And if the story gets out of hand and you lose control of it, that's how you get it back, like this is such a great example of that, and I would be remiss to say on here as well, talking about social media in this place, tiktok career advice can be wonderful. It can also be a detriment. Vet the advice you're getting and giving on these spaces. Definitely engage in this community presence, but that's one of the easiest ways for your story to get away from you is if you're engaging with sources that might not be reliable for what you're looking for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that just reminds me of the conversation you and I had of sort of what has changed with curriculum in general with the advent of the internet and people needing to check their sources and sometimes you do like okay, that person has seven followers and is definitely preaching like they are the guru and geek of the situation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting, but in the land of who you get your information from, higgins had a great line in here about mentors. I love this. Keely came in and was I mean albeit he was sixth or eighth or tenth on her list of people to check with.
Speaker 4:but he was available and he said Keely a good mentor hopes you will move on.
Speaker 5:A great mentor knows you will.
Speaker 1:So, um, what do you think being a great mentor entails? Like, what else does a great mentor do?
Speaker 5:Absolutely, and I love this line from Higgins Um, it's one of my favorite ones. It like hits me every time.
Speaker 5:I think being a great mentor first and foremost active listening, being present in the moment I talk about this a lot with students and mentors that I coach of one of the most powerful things we can do is build connection with one another in community. Right, and networking is really just intentional, professional community building and being truly present with one another. Not thinking about I have a meeting in 20 minutes that I need to prep for, not thinking, oh, you know, after this I'm going to meet with my other mentor, this other person or I have this assignment like really being able, in time with a mentor and mentee, to take a breath and be there for one another, because it is about mutual connection and benefit. Right, like the mentee is, in many ways, serving the mentor in ways as well. It's definitely that give and take, and so I think being present, active listening, providing support and empathy are all really important pieces and I think, to Higgins' quote here, the way that a great mentor helps to push you out the door, you know, is to open the doors for you. Right, to connect you to other people that can help you to grow, and it's all about asking the right questions.
Speaker 5:As a mentor, I often times when I'm in mentoring sessions with students, I'm like am I wearing my mentor hat? Am I wearing my coaching hat? And really they're really the same color. You know, there's so much going on there and it's less about being the expert in a space and the room in a space and more so, sharing experiences and helping the mentee to have the conversations they need to have that they might not need to know or they might not know they need to have.
Speaker 1:When I also think being the Trent Krim in the space and asking the questions, which is one of Nick's superhero powers, right? So in that act of listening yeah, it's not always coming up with the right answers, but having the right questions thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's not always coming up with the right answers, but having the right questions, absolutely, and I, I, I love the, the perspective of that. You talked about the mentor and the mentee, the whole notion of reverse mentoring. Uh, you know you have the ability. I mean it's, it's, it's not just for the mentee right Taking on a role as a mentor, you begin to learn from those that you're you're actually working with and I think a lot of people don't go in with that perspective, but it it is fulfilling in so many different ways and I think that's I'm glad you highlighted that.
Speaker 5:Absolutely, and I feel like I've learned probably more from my mentees than they've learned from me, probably more from my mentees than they've learned from me. And I tell that to the students that I supervise and that I work with throughout the years that there are a lot of times that they're teaching me lessons that I wasn't expecting. And you like what a gift it is to have that when you're open to it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, especially if you're trying to figure out all the words on TikTok and whether you should be saying them or should not be saying them.
Speaker 4:I think that's a great time for some reverse mentoring.
Speaker 5:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:That's funny. So we talked about Trent earlier when we first started chatting, and in this episode we see that he's about to embark an entire new chapter after leaving the independent, and it made us think right, this is change, and a leap like this could be really exciting, or it could be really scary, terrifying, and I'm guessing. Again. We're going to go back to your interaction with students. A lot of times, students they're thinking about switching gears, whether it's changing their major, selecting a major or thinking about different career paths that they might, that they may take on. So we're curious in terms of that what, what kind of advice do you have for students who are considering switching gears entirely or chasing something a little less traditional?
Speaker 5:Lean into the why behind the change. Are you running towards something or are you running away from something? And neither one of those answers is wrong, and a lot of times the hope is it's a little bit of both. What is it that you are running away from? What about that career pathway wasn't right for you. That is so important to know. When I'm doing career exploration with students and alumni and even just peers, that's a question I really like to ask is what is it that you didn't like about that internship or that job? Because eliminating the things you don't want is half of the battle, but it's not the only part of the battle. We can't just be running in no direction right. Then we have to think about why are we running towards this specific thing? What is it about this that interests us, that we that we really want, that we feel called towards Right, and really think about what is the origin of that. Hopefully it's values based, right, strengths based.
Speaker 5:I work a lot out of Marcus Buckingham's book Love and Work. It's one of my favorite books I've created. All of my intern program curriculum is rooted in that, and he talks a lot about weaving red threads your passion areas into the work that you do, no matter what work you do, right? So, talking about, like, leading through hot dogs right, you might not be passionate about putting those hot dogs on the roller grill and getting yelled at at halftime, right, but what are you passionate about? Maybe you're passionate about customer service, maybe you're passionate about operations and trying to figure out the most efficient way to get the hot dogs out. Where can we lean into these passion areas? And, I think, when we're thinking about pivoting, a question I like to ask is before we run away from something, is there an opportunity to redirect it? Can we weave our red threads in anywhere? Right? And if the answer is no not for me that's totally fine. Let's use that red thread to lead us to where we want to go, totally fine.
Speaker 1:Let's use that red thread to lead us to where we want to go. My goodness. So my son, nick, knows the story. But the whole time that you spoke I was thinking of my son and his career shift, that it 100% came down to the values and there was a value that was being rubbed up against in where he was. But he was able to use the strengths from what he had there and completely change industries, but he still got to do the piece that he was red string passionate about in the other job. So I love that and it's interesting. In talking about switching and making those changes, sam had a big decision to make in this episode, right, and he decided to stay, not because of somebody else's expectations but because he felt like it was best for his journey.
Speaker 3:But the truth is, I think I need to stop worrying about how others feel about me. I'm staying because it's what's best for me and my personal journey.
Speaker 1:Right, and that's a super powerful moment, and I think some of what you're talking about kind of leads into this. Like how do you help students tune out other people's expectations or what they're supposed to do and focus on their own growth? Not what sounds good on paper? That's the other thing with the, with the social media, instagram world, right. Like that sounds good on the Internet, but how do you, how do you help folks stay in that red line, red thread moment?
Speaker 5:Oh, I love that you bring this up and I'm going to sound like a broken record Values it comes back to values and I think Sam is the perfect example of somebody who leads through their values at every decision-making place, someone who is confident through their values at every decision making place, someone who is confident in their values and is self-aware enough and knows themselves enough that when something butts up against that value, a red flag goes off for him and he doesn't respond immediately. He thinks about it, he, he reflects for signs in the universe.
Speaker 5:Yes, and the universe gave it to him and I love that. I actually I took the assessment and lead it like Lasso, on who I most like, and I was not shocked that Sam came up, and I think it was because of that values piece. And so you know, when I am talking to students, which is almost every day, this is a huge part of my job in this time of transition about decisions. Am I going to take this job? Am I going to go here? Am I going to do this?
Speaker 5:You know, I really like to talk about values from a perspective of we don't judge them. It's OK if your value in this part of your life is focused in financial well-being. If your value in this part of your life is focused in financial well-being, in fact, that's probably very healthy to a certain degree, depending on your life circumstances. Yeah, and it's okay for that to be a value that you're making a decision off of, and sometimes you might have a value of financial well-being and altruism, and sometimes those can be a little conflicting when we're in a clash.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah where we're at and so you know when we're thinking about. You know all of this noise that we might have, you know of my parents think I should do this, my mentor thinks I should do this, my professor thinks I should do this. You know I'm seeing all these people on linked doing this and you know feeling the space. I think when we can get out of that and into ourselves, that will lead us in the right space, and I think Sam does that. Like we see so many moments of him walking by himself, having conversations with his trusted community, his father, and still saying I still need to think about it, like he sets those boundaries and I think that also leads him to buying the restaurant in addition.
Speaker 5:Right, that was another one of those decisions that came from himself and his values and that fulfillment, and so I would say really leaning into that space and I think values can be something that students are really uncomfortable talking about, not just students, people. That feels like a big word and what does that incorporate? And I think there are so many wonderful tools that are out there that can help you work through values identification, if that's something that someone's struggling with and, like I said, I go back to Drew Dudley's book. I think it's Start With Day One. I hope that's the right title. That is all about values based decision making. I think that's such a wonderful resource.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean you. And in switching gears love that. And switching gears, though. You mentioned Sam and his trusted community in this episode. It's his father, right. But we also had in this episode what I had been waiting for forever since early in season one, which is Roy joining getting his first taste of the Diamond Dogs, and I absolutely love it he's got goosebumps Getting his first taste of the.
Speaker 1:Diamond Dogs and.
Speaker 4:I absolutely love it. I just got goosebumps.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know, marnie, and I love Diamond Dogs so much that we actually had a draft at some point where we, like the NFL draft, we drafted characters on who would be on our board of advisors, who would our Diamond Dogs be. But we love the fact that you know he said a couple, not just the fact that he was part of it right, that he decided to give himself into it but his assessment at the end, which is wait, you don't have to solve anything here, you can just talk about things. But from your perspective, you talked about students and talking about their values, discussing their values. What does peer support look like for students and do you encourage them? Do you encourage them to have some sort of board of advisors, diamond dogs, whatever you want to talk about? Reference it as.
Speaker 5:Absolutely. I talk about board of advisors a lot, building a community of people to serve in different spaces for you. You know your mentors, your challengers, your cheerleaders, and I think the wonderful thing about the peer connection is they're riding along with you. They're on the same roller coaster right, or they're at least in the same theme park.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 5:Right, they might be on the Goliath and you might be on the American scream machine, but either way you're both screaming on the way down. You're both a little stressed and excited at the same time, right, and I think that sometimes you know we need to talk about those emotions and the successes and the failures and we need to process them with people who understand what we're going through. I think when I'm coaching students, when I'm working with alumni or clients, everybody just wants to be understood and sometimes, when you're in a time of transition, it can feel like you're siloed. It can feel like you're the only one going through this. You know the highs and the lows like nobody understands. Even when you're applying to graduate school and you're getting acceptances and rejections and offers and trying to navigate all of that, it can feel very siloed. And so getting with your peers and just diamond, dogging it up and being like y'all, this is, this is what happened to me today, right, and somebody going oh yep, like my favorite thing is Higgins, you know always being there. You know to just be like that, understanding that, even though it might not be exactly the same, there's an empathy there and that you're not alone in that space and you know I highly encourage students, you know, when they're working with their peers on applying to jobs, not to look at each other as subject matter experts.
Speaker 5:Not necessarily to review each other's resumes, because depending on the field they're applying into, there might be different expectations. That might hurt more than anything. But get together at a dining hall, get your favorite cup of coffee and sit together for a couple hours applying for jobs and go. Man, I'm so frustrated, I'm so tired If I have to write another cover letter like I just don't know what I'm going to do, and then also go oh my gosh, this new job just posted and I would be perfect for it. And let your friend hype you up and I think that's what the Diamond Dogs are so good at doing is like sitting together and uncomfortableness so that you're not alone, and hyping up when it's appropriate.
Speaker 4:In the world of hyping up Beard's reaction when Roy agrees with that, when he's like oh, so many the gesturing and the facial expressions. They're so excited for this. They knew it was kind of the full circle from the like. He's the first domino to fall, coach right, and he'd already fallen, but this is just like now we get that he is playing our game all the way for sure. So one last question for you what's one?
Speaker 1:piece of career advice you wish every student could hear before they graduate.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I love this and I think this really, you know, plays into the last question perfectly Build your professional community and lean on it. Careers do not happen in silos and I don't care what your field is. You could be the most introverted of introvert person going into the most introverted of introverted field. You will not be successful if you do not have a professional community around you, and that includes the mentorship piece that we talked about someone to guide you through. That entails that peer space, someone that you can just process through this journey with in a safe space. That you're diamond dogs I also think about in our current job market. Right, networking, networking, networking and I know networking can have a certain connotation to it Right, I talk to a lot of students that feel like networking is performative. It's one sided. Everybody on LinkedIn says the same thing in the same tone of voice, because most of them are written by chat.
Speaker 5:Yeah they are. I know we don't talk about that, but you know, and that's something that's very off putting to a lot of students, because it doesn't feel authentic and that's why I really like to rebrand it. If you don't like that way of thinking about it, think about it as professional community building.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 5:Think of it as building that network, that board of directors. Really going in with the mindset of this is not to land a job. This is to build relationships Right, so that not only can I benefit from it but hopefully they can benefit from it, just like when you're building friendships or you're a part of a club or organization on campus Right. That team mentality that it's not all about me, it's about us can come from that networking perspective, that community building perspective. So build your professional community and lean on them. That's perfect.
Speaker 3:I mean so many nuggets on this episode. Jessica, you have been fabulous. We cannot thank you enough for sharing your insights. And to circle back to what we said at the beginning, we are leadership geeks and we learned a lot today.
Speaker 1:And that's what this is all about. So thank you. So, before we let you go, how can folks get in touch with you? See your professional presence on social media. How can folks find you?
Speaker 5:Absolutely, and I'll be transparent. I'm new to this. I'm building mine as well, so you can see firsthand what it looks like to build something like this. You can connect with me on Instagram at jmwwriting, and also my brand new website that I've created, jessicamacloudwaddellcom, and so I have lots of fun things on there about my leadership musings, but then also some writing about writing, as I like to call it, and writing instructions and tips for writing personal statements, cover letters, things like that, and also some of my creative works that I do for fun, so hoping to build that community more as time goes on.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it. I am definitely checking it out, thank you.
Speaker 3:As am I, and we'll put that in our show notes as well, for our listeners to take a look. Thanks so much, jessica.
Speaker 5:Thank you.
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