This afternoon,  I was at a Leadership with the Senior Leadership Team meeting, and the Senior Leader of this session was the CEO of my $dayJob. We have these every few weeks with either C-Level or other senior level leaders, and they talk about various aspects of mentoring, giving feedback, paths to leadership, and good stuff like that. It’s pretty great. Sometimes I’m pretty jaded about these kinds of things, especially when it feels like lip service, but I genuinely like the leadership who’ve been talking to us. So there’s that.

Some of the content was recycled from other things that BigBossman has participated in – a wellness podcast, town halls, other leadership lunch’n’learns, company-wide messaging from emails or blog posts, Bring in your Parents night… but reinforcement is good, too. Today, there was a soundbite that I wrote down to reconsider later. And guess what? It’s LATER!

BigBossman was talking about how leaders are considered more effective when their teams are strong. If someone only works at improving their skills (presumably to eliminate competition for a particular career path?) then they’ll never be a good leader. So here’s the soundbite: As you move ahead in your career and skill-building, Keep the ladder down for those coming up behind you.

Keep the ladder down. 

In my career, I’ve had many peers and leaders help me navigate the path. I’m happy to now pay that forward for the colleagues earlier in their careers. I’m glad to help friends who need my word-nerd skills to help write a letter or proofread a resume. I used to be able to mentor young people, but that volunteer position is no longer a thing. So I says to myself, “Self, how can I keep the ladder down for new-to-media people”. My Lent incubator suggested signal boosting a new podcaster or blogger. And it just so happens that I know a lovely young lady who has just started a new podcast.

Miss Hannah and her friend Vix are two university students who have a podcast called Locked in our Room. It is irreverent and fun and definitely NSFW. Everything the Sweary Parent Chronicles is looking for from our media. They’ve got two episodes in the can, and I’m hooked. Find yourself a headset or a pair of airpods, and settle in for some top-shelf sass.

This Lent, may I pay forward the kindnesses extended to me in my lifetime. And may I never stop looking for more ways to keep the ladder down.

Extra Credit:

Leave the Door Open and the Ladder Down

I’ve created landing pages for the last 2 years of Lent Project. You can access them from the Reflections Projects option in the menu bar. Happy reading, friends!