Ep 3 - Building a Solid Team with Strong Values and Compassion

Resilience in Leadership

Reese Fernandez-Ruiz is a former client of Anda who has built a social enterprise that creates bags, home items, and clothes with the help of the women in Payatas. She’s a multi-awarded leader that has helped alleviate poverty in Payatas through the jobs provided by Rags2Riches.

Reese ventured off relatively inexperienced in the workplace. She was a fresh graduate whose learnings came mostly from her professors, mentors, and group works. She has come a long way to where she is today. As a Millennial, she knows that the younger generation looks for their passion and purpose in life. She knows the importance of knowing her purpose which serves as her guiding principle as a leader and has been unapologetic in expressing that to others.

"Values cannot be just notes on a wall, or it becomes just white noise over time." Reese makes sure that the values they preach are not just words, but something integrated and operationalized in the workplace. It has to be practiced every day, which helps with habit-building.

One of the most important values that Reese instills in her team is gratefulness by starting meetings with a short sharing of things that the team is grateful for, which sets the tone for the day. Anda notes the intentionality of starting the day with this by setting the gratefulness mindset for the people.

Another one that R2R embodies is to start with what they already have. "This practice encourages being resourceful as looking for materials beyond what they have is a struggle", Anda chimes. Reese continues to say, "The limitation is not a constraint for them, but a jump off point to be more creative. Not having any resources won’t stop R2R."

Earlier in her career, Reese admits that communication was not something that she was fond of doing. Over time with experience, she has come to realize that although it might be the unsexy part of being a leader, it is her purpose to be able to communicate properly to her team. Difficult times challenge these values and practicing them is even harder, but it is during these times that make these values more important to do.

Perspective is an important aspect of remembering the purpose. Reese shares that she has turned to journaling so she can look back and reflect on her journey. This makes it feel like she’s conversing with her past self and giving her future self a different lens.

Leadership can be lonely and isolating. Reese has had the benefit of having a partner who’s a leader himself that she can bounce off of. Despite this, some things can't be outright communicated. As the leader, it is within my responsibility to facilitate and navigate a company. Having a coach helps process the raw thoughts and emotions before communicating. Finding the right coach is as important as finding the right life partner.

The most important quality is compassion because it makes one empathetic and transparent. These are important to being a leader because it makes one decide what's best for everyone and not as an ego boost. Compassion is having humility as well.

Episode Highlights:

01:48-02:25 - Introduction of guest

02:25-03:24 - Creating a Great Workplace

03:24-04:42 - Guiding Principles as a Leader: Purpose and Passion

04:42-05:32 - Rituals and Practices of Business Values

05:32-07:09 - Gratefulness

07:09-09:29 - Starting with What You Have

09:29-11:49 - Communication

11:49-12:52 - Challenges in Implementing Values

12:52-16:03 - Fulfilling and Remembering the Purpose

16:03-18:04 - Importance of Coaching in Building a Great Workplace

18:04-19:08 - The One Great Quality of a Leader

Connect with Anda Goseco and Ian Santos

https://linktr.ee/resilienceinleadership

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