Whole Foods HQ’s Journey through COVID-19 with Jess Kolko - podcast "Allowed" #24 by Dr. Caneel Joyce
ULTRA-RUNNER + TOUGH + CARING + TRAINING = MASSIVE ACTION & ADAPTIVE INSPIRATION... that is what I took away after listening to Jess Kolko talk about her experience at Whole Foods Market HQ and the moment (on 3/13/20) when the news of dramatc change hit her and her team — POW.
Dr. Caneel Joyce (coach) & Jess (coachee) explore the real-life internal and external challenges of leadership inside of a big, complex company, operating in the face of crisis. I recommend listening to the entire Dr. Caneel Joyce "Allowed" podcast (see video below). Here are the highlights that stood out for me...
"IF THIS HAPPENED A YEAR AGO, I WOULD HAVE PANICKED."
12:00 "I would have not known what my first steps were going to be. I would have started spinning, spinning in victimhood, not understanding what needed to happen, what I needed to mobilize, who I needed to talk to. And I probably would also have been very scared that I was going to fail. And that would have been a huge disappointment to the company because there's a lot riding on that transition.....and at times in the past, I would not have been proud of the way I would have responded. I would have probably responded in a way that was not sensitive to their needs, and not in a way that I would have been an exemplary leader.”
“For a long, long time, I struggled with perfectionism. And I think that a lot of the work that I have been doing for personal growth and professional growth has been around that or something somehow tangentially related to that struggle with perfectionism, and just being a human and it being okay to be vulnerable and acknowledge that vulnerability is a huge step for me in the right direction... I'm human and sometimes I'm going to mess up."
20:00 - There is a need for emotions when we lead. Caneel and Jess talk about working with emotions and using them to your advantage including the concept of intelligent fear. "Over a year ago I got a coach to stop being so emotional at work."
