0:05

Welcome to the Ambitions Nurse podcast

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, where I provide tips , tools

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and resources for the experienced nurse

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to put in your career bag to

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help you be a better person , a better

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leader , a better professional and

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, most of all , a better nurse . I'm

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your host , bonnie Meadows , a career

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coach and a clinical nurse specialist

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with over 18 years of experience

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in health care and nursing . It's

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my passion to help experienced

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nurses develop their careers to

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impact health care and their communities

0:37

. Hello and welcome

0:40

back . So excited to be

0:42

back again to talk

0:44

about a fresh topic

0:46

. On today , I have a pretty interesting

0:49

take , as we are going

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into the month of February

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, and February not only

0:56

it's the month of love , but it

0:58

is also Black History Month . So

1:01

I will have two podcast episodes

1:03

focused on Black History Month . The

1:05

first one is today and

1:07

the next one is next week . I

1:09

actually already have a blog post

1:11

on it , but I just wanted to take

1:14

some time to go

1:16

back through it again and just talk

1:18

about leadership

1:21

within Black History and

1:23

in nursing . So that

1:25

will be next week . This

1:28

week I have just a different

1:30

take and I'm going to use Dr

1:32

Martin Luther King Jr and

1:35

Malcolm X as my two

1:37

examples in talking about

1:39

leadership , and

1:41

so this concept came to

1:43

me about sometime

1:46

last year and

1:48

I am always

1:51

on Twitter . I'm usually just scrolling

1:54

. Every once in a while I might say a little

1:56

something , but there are a few people that

1:59

I follow , lots of people that I follow

2:01

. Some are nurses on

2:03

Twitter and I typically

2:05

follow a lot of Black nurses on Twitter

2:08

, or maybe not

2:10

a lot . I mean , they just show up on

2:12

my feed and then if

2:14

they have something interesting that they're saying

2:16

, then I pretty

2:18

much I try to follow them . I look at their timeline

2:21

and see what they've been talking about

2:23

and if it's somewhat in the positive arena

2:25

, then I click and follow them . I

2:28

was say one thing

2:30

that we tend to deal

2:32

with as Black nurses

2:34

. I mean , I know everyone that's listening

2:36

to this podcast is not Black , so

2:39

I am pretty much the

2:41

whole podcast is not going to be about that , but

2:43

I do give you a peek inside

2:45

our world of the way many

2:48

of us view it , and so there are some of

2:50

us , as Black women or Black nurses I'm going

2:52

to say that experience

2:55

Black nurses . So I am still

2:57

in that realm of

2:59

how do you grow professionally as

3:01

an experienced nurse , and a lot

3:03

of that is leadership . Many

3:05

of you who are listening to this podcast

3:08

, you want to grow . You are ambitious , you want

3:10

to do other things besides

3:12

work at the bedside . You want to expand

3:14

your reach , and a

3:16

lot of it has to do

3:19

with you want to grow in leadership . John

3:22

White Maxwell gives me just

3:25

at such a comforting definition

3:27

of leadership , because

3:30

I have been in leadership since

3:32

high school Captain

3:35

of the cheerleading squad , I

3:37

reached up to Colonel , which

3:39

is like the highest rank in our

3:41

junior ROTC they don't

3:44

give that out to everybody and

3:46

then held several leadership roles

3:48

when I was in college . And then it

3:50

just continues to spilled over , like

3:52

when , when I was in high school , you had

3:54

to be invited to go to leadership school and that's

3:56

where I learned a lot of my training

3:59

was in my junior ROTC

4:01

program and it

4:03

was Air Force shout out to Air Force

4:05

. But I learned a

4:07

lot in that . And

4:10

back to John Maxwell he gives the

4:12

gives this definition of leadership

4:14

and he said that leadership is

4:16

not about a title but

4:18

it's about your influence . And

4:21

if we think about Dr Martin

4:23

Luther King Jr and we think about

4:25

Malcolm X , yes

4:28

, they were leaders . Dr Martin Luther King Jr , he was

4:30

a pastor and

4:33

Malcolm X . He was a leader

4:35

in his own right in

4:37

the Islamic faith and

4:40

y'all . If I get that wrong , please forgive me . Please

4:43

forgive me , I'm not going

4:45

to be . I'm going to be in general

4:47

terms here . I am not going to be

4:49

factual today . So this is all

4:51

opinion . This is all just

4:53

my thoughts , just to kind of get you thinking

4:56

about . Let's stay focused

4:58

. We are , I am here to get you thinking

5:00

about . What does influence look like for

5:02

you ? That is what this podcast

5:04

is about . And

5:07

so if we think about how Dr

5:09

Martin Luther King Jr led

5:12

his way

5:14

of leading with , influence

5:16

was through love and kindness

5:19

. They both had the same

5:21

mission , martin Malcolm

5:23

same mission Generally

5:26

they wanted black

5:29

people to be treated equal . Martin

5:32

was probably a little bit broader . However

5:34

, once Malcolm came back from Mecca , his

5:37

definition probably became a little bit broader

5:39

because he was exposed to

5:42

different ways of thinking

5:44

and a different understanding . So

5:47

just let that settle there . Exposure

5:49

can give you a whole

5:51

lot . Sometimes it's not just

5:53

about what credentials you have

5:55

, but it is what exposures

5:58

that you've had in your career that

6:01

you can put in your back pocket . That

6:03

will help you to grow and

6:05

make an impact , and

6:07

so Martin's method was by love and kindness

6:10

, you know , do unto

6:12

others that you would have them to do unto you this

6:15

, that and the other . Malcolm's method

6:17

was , by any means necessary , hands

6:20

down . They both had

6:22

a heart for the people , they both wanted justice

6:24

for those who were wronged , and

6:27

they both had a great following . And

6:29

we , as nurses who are ambitious

6:31

, who want to grow our careers

6:33

, we have a heart for our patients . If you're

6:35

listening to this podcast , you more than likely have

6:37

a love for healthcare and you

6:39

wanna see it grow and you wanna see it flourish

6:42

and you want to

6:44

reduce the injustices that

6:46

are happening to our patients and

6:49

you wanna figure out ways to fix

6:51

it , and so I wanted to

6:53

do a short exploration on their

6:55

influence and the way they went about it . So

6:58

one thing they had in common was that they were both

7:00

great speakers . I'm not

7:02

saying that that's what you have to do , but let's

7:05

just state the obvious they

7:07

were great speakers . And

7:09

I'm not saying that you have to go out

7:11

and start creating all of these

7:13

speeches and speaking to

7:15

the masses and doing this , that and the

7:17

other , but you need to have

7:20

an understanding of what is

7:22

it that I stand for and

7:24

what can I speak on

7:26

, and how can I hone that

7:28

area of impact and

7:30

influence ? What am

7:32

I passionate about ? What more

7:34

can I learn about it so

7:37

that I can speak to it when

7:40

someone needs cause ? People do date

7:42

an opinion on things . It does

7:44

need to be factual

7:46

. Your opinion , like you

7:48

, are putting the pieces together using

7:50

your scientific method of but

7:52

these facts say this , then this is cause

7:55

and effect and this should happen

7:57

. Hypothesis this , that and the other , and

7:59

then pulling together those things

8:01

to say here's what I

8:03

believe we need in healthcare

8:05

in order to improve

8:08

the care for our patients . They both had

8:10

a message placed in their hearts and

8:13

others resonated with that

8:15

message . So don't have a message that people don't resonate

8:17

with . Like I said , martin's message

8:19

was rooted in loving others and treating them

8:21

with kindness , regardless of how they treat you

8:23

. Malcolm's message

8:26

, like I said , it was by any means necessary

8:28

. It was on the

8:30

front part of his career . It

8:33

was more so a

8:35

put down of another area

8:37

and a lift up of another , and

8:39

I'm not condoning that . But

8:42

I will tell you what I see on

8:45

Twitter , and sometimes , a lot of times it's

8:47

with black nurses and sometimes it's

8:49

white nurses , or sometimes it's little to everybody

8:51

. But we do this thing where

8:53

we're putting down another just to

8:55

elevate another , and it shouldn't have to be that

8:57

way . You can elevate your

9:00

own group , your own value . Some

9:03

go at it like hardcore , like

9:05

they're going for your neck when they

9:07

come for you . And then there are others

9:09

who will Kind

9:11

of weave it into telling you you're wrong

9:13

. Others will flat out tell you you're wrong

9:16

and then they'll tell you why . So they'll

9:18

beat you down to it . And then others

9:20

will just kind of lovingly say well , you're wrong

9:22

. Hey , you know , and here's why I Am

9:25

a Martin type of person I will

9:28

tell you that you're wrong , but I will do

9:30

it in a lovingly way . And then

9:32

, if I don't feel like you're

9:34

going to receive the fact that

9:36

I'm telling you you're wrong , then I'm going to

9:38

ask you enough questions for you to think

9:41

about whether you are wrong or whether you're right

9:43

when I'm having a discussion with

9:45

someone who thinks totally

9:47

different from what I think

9:49

. One , I am

9:51

a stickler about standing on the facts and

9:53

two , I'm not here to change

9:55

your mind . My goal is

9:58

to Get you to

10:00

a point to where you're understanding where

10:02

I'm coming from , and then you

10:04

can make a decision as to whether you want To change

10:06

your mind or not . And so the

10:08

point from this one is what is your message ? What

10:11

do you want to get out to the world ? Where

10:13

do you want to make that impact ? And

10:16

then , what is your stance on Nursing

10:18

and in healthcare ? What are those things that you

10:20

believe Should

10:22

be focused on in nursing and in healthcare

10:25

? That helps

10:27

you to just to solidify your value

10:29

. It helps you're

10:31

already valuable with the knowledge

10:33

that you have . It just

10:35

takes a moment to sit and reflect

10:38

. People don't know who they are

10:40

because they don't sit down and reflect

10:42

. We fly off the handle and we

10:44

do just whatever because we're not

10:46

sitting down to reflect , but

10:49

you end up getting yourself in trouble along the way

10:51

if you don't stop and think . Number

10:54

two they believed in

10:56

getting in the fight , but

10:59

in different ways . Martin's

11:01

message was don't fight back with

11:03

your fists and weapons , but

11:05

fight back with action and with love

11:07

. Talk to talk and love

11:09

them along the way . Montgomery

11:11

bus boycott . Talk to talk , walk

11:13

the walk . Because they weren't necessarily

11:16

like in a position to talk , but

11:18

they was walking the walk and their money

11:20

did the walking of the loss of billions

11:22

of dollars from not riding

11:24

on a bus . Take action

11:27

in love . Fight

11:29

back with your dollar . Malcolm's message

11:32

was more so Fightful , was right

11:34

for me , yours , and if they come for you

11:36

, be prepared to fight back by

11:38

any means necessary . Let me tell you

11:40

, both methods are effective

11:43

and you actually need both methods

11:45

in the fight , because

11:47

I am a Martin type of leader

11:50

. I actually do need a Malcolm

11:52

on my team . It's like Steph Curry

11:54

and Dreymond Green . He needs to be the antagonist

11:57

. So Steph Curry can be who he is

11:59

, because somebody got the ruffle of feathers

12:01

and not think that the team

12:04

is soft . Same way in

12:06

healthcare . If you've got somebody

12:08

who's like a negative Nancy or a no , but

12:10

they do great work Listen

12:12

to him because they've gotten an opinion

12:14

about something and if they're really

12:16

trying to do right about the patient , it's . It's

12:19

very appropriate for you to listen and

12:22

understand where they're coming from and

12:24

then y'all team together To

12:26

work on improving your workplace

12:28

, your hospital , your

12:31

state . Work together . That's

12:34

what ended up happening in the long run . Malcolm

12:37

and Martin started working together because

12:39

they're like we better together than a part . Those

12:42

my people I'm just like . Go for it . You

12:45

push me hard enough and

12:47

I'll come for you . But that's not

12:49

my initial MO . It's

12:52

not . And so you

12:56

have to think about which one do you want to be portrayed

12:58

as and be okay

13:00

with that . Do you want

13:02

to be the one who is able to win others

13:04

over with words , or

13:07

do you want to win others over by force , by

13:10

any means necessary Sometimes

13:13

it takes by any means necessary . I'm

13:16

just going to tell you . I probably use

13:18

that maybe once or twice in my life . That's

13:21

not my initial MO , but if it's yours

13:23

, great . Number three , last one

13:25

they both had influence and

13:28

, like I said at the top , influence

13:30

is leadership , leadership is influence

13:32

. It is not about your title

13:34

. There are plenty of people

13:36

who have a title and

13:39

they don't have influence , they

13:41

don't have respect . I'd

13:44

rather have influence all day

13:46

long than for you to give

13:48

me a title . Actually

13:50

, let me back that up I would rather have influence

13:52

and walk in the freedom to

13:55

do what I

13:57

have been called to do in

14:00

an unconventional way than

14:03

to have a title . But

14:06

you micro manage me at

14:08

the whatever level . I'm

14:12

good on that . I'm not knocking those titles . I

14:15

think those titles are great and

14:17

you can have influence and be in those

14:19

titles at the same time . And they do give

14:21

you some influence . They do . But

14:24

just remember that just because you have

14:26

the title , like , that influence

14:28

might be there initially , but

14:30

if you're not really leading , then you

14:32

lose it . You lose the

14:34

influence that you have . So

14:38

it is better to build up your

14:40

leadership skills so

14:43

that you can have influence than

14:45

for you to get a title and just be like oh

14:47

well , y'all should listen to me just because I am who

14:49

I am . What have you done ? And

14:52

not even physically like how are you motivating

14:54

the people ? How are you supporting the people

14:56

? That's just like and

14:59

I've seen this several times before nurses

15:02

will get a master's degree in nursing and

15:04

then will apply for these jobs

15:07

that they've not to date . They

15:09

qualify for on paper , but

15:12

when they write the best out , they weren't doing anything

15:14

. And I believe that even

15:16

if you have lots of kids

15:19

, there's always something that you can

15:21

be involved in that doesn't take

15:23

time outside of work . If that

15:25

is your struggle . But you need to be building

15:27

your resume along the way so

15:30

that when it is time for you to move forward

15:33

, you've built resources

15:36

and influence in other areas

15:38

. I will say I

15:41

believe Martin's message

15:43

went further because he was able to influence

15:45

at a very high level in politics

15:48

and in government . He seemed , and

15:50

someone said to me before you

15:52

are very accepting

15:55

of people . And I said

15:57

I am very accepting of everyone

15:59

because I believe everyone is a human

16:01

being . I believe everyone

16:03

has a chance at

16:06

growing , at doing , at being

16:08

, and everyone is valuable as

16:10

a human being . But just because

16:13

you're acceptable

16:15

of everyone , it doesn't mean you're agreeable , and

16:17

I believe that that's the stance that Martin took . He

16:20

was accepting of everyone because he felt like

16:22

every human being was

16:24

valuable . But it doesn't mean you

16:26

have to be agreeable , and people mistake

16:28

acceptableness with

16:30

agreeableness Two different things

16:32

. But you can have influence in

16:35

not being agreeable

16:37

, and that's what I'm saying . Take

16:39

your stance , lead how

16:42

you're going to lead , whether it be the Malcolm

16:44

Way or the Martin Way . Let your

16:46

goal be about the mission , not

16:48

the title , so that you can have influence

16:51

, to be able to make impact

16:53

. People are less guarded

16:55

when you lead with love . So

16:58

if you have a hard time leading

17:00

the Martin Way and you're leading

17:02

the Malcolm Way , then partner

17:04

up with someone who is leading the Martin Way

17:06

, because they need you to work together . You

17:08

can be strong in your stance without

17:11

strong arming someone else to

17:13

convince them that your way is right . However

17:16

, when the strong arm is needed , you need to raise up

17:18

. Raise up because we need

17:20

you . I hope you enjoyed this podcast

17:22

on today . I really want you to consider

17:25

and think about are you a Martin leader or

17:27

are you a Malcolm leader ? And what are you

17:30

doing ? What is

17:32

your stance in nursing and

17:34

in healthcare ? What are those things that you

17:36

truly have a heart for

17:38

, believe in ? Those are

17:40

the things that make up your personal , your professional

17:42

brand . You can't be

17:44

about everything , so

17:47

what is that thing that you're going to hone in on

17:49

and say these

17:51

are the few things that I choose to

17:54

focus on as I build my career

17:56

, because this is what I've learned

17:58

that I do love

18:00

about healthcare and nursing and where I

18:02

feel like I have the most passion

18:05

around it . And if

18:08

you figure that out , let me know . Thanks

18:10

, see you

18:12

next time . Thanks for joining

18:14

us this week on the ambitious nurse podcast

18:17

to review the show notes and

18:19

any links mentioned in today's episode

18:21

. Please go to the ambitious nurse podcastcom

18:24

. If you enjoyed this

18:26

conversation , follow or

18:28

subscribe so you don't miss a future

18:30

episode . Also , please consider

18:33

leaving a rating , review and

18:35

or comment about what you want

18:37

to hear . This helps more nurses

18:40

, just like you find this podcast

18:42

. Thank you for joining me , bonnie

18:44

Meadows , on the ambitious nurse podcast

18:46

. I look forward to chatting with you

18:49

the next time and remember

18:51

you don't have to grow your career alone . As

18:53

iron sharpens iron , one

18:55

person sharpens another . Thank

18:57

you for letting me sharpen you as you take

19:00

this knowledge to sharpen the next

19:02

.