Episode 127 - Gratitude with Dr. Patrick Jinks

[00:00:06] Speaker A: Welcome to the Leadership window podcast with Dr. Patrick Jenks. Each week through a social sector lens, Patrick interviews leaders and experts and puts us in touch with trends and tips for leading effectively. Patrick is a board certified executive coach, a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, a best selling author, award winning photographer and a professional speaker. And now, here's Dr. Patrick Jinks. [00:00:30] Speaker B: Hello everyone. This is episode 127. Welcome along. It has been a little while since we actually did an episode. Sorry about that. We've been absent. So for those of you that are loyal listeners who have been just craving another episode, here it is. Albeit this one will be a short one. We all know what week this is. It's Thanksgiving week. And recently during a team coaching session, one of our team leaders, a coachee of mine, reminded her team and me how powerful gratitude is. And it struck a chord with me because I firmly believe in the power of gratitude. It is, I mean, it's actually a force. It's more than just a thing. It's actually a force. It adds value. It, it infuses energy. I think it's, I think it spurs more abundance. I think it's just, it's all kinds of things. It's a, it's an, a stress reliever. It is a space where hope is created. It, there's just, it's just so many things. And you know, I, my goal, my hope is that I am taking time out for gratitude more than just Thanksgiving week this time when we carve out and say, hey, let's all be thankful for things. I'm just incredibly thankful for so many things. And I thought I would take a short few minutes on this episode this week to just express some of that gratitude. And some of it is that I want to express it. And I just happen to have a platform where I can do it publicly and let a lot of people sort of hear and appreciate my appreciation for things. But I also hope that this inspires you to pause and think about those things. Those, particularly those people in your life who deserve your gratitude, who have added value and are continuing to add value to your life and add meaning to your life and add fulfillment and joy and love and peace and challenge to your life. And so I hope that my little list of, I don't know, seven or eight things inspires you to think about what is your list? Some of you, if you're like me, you know, we've got this, we've had a family tradition here and there. It hasn't been consistently practiced every year, but you know, you go around the table, and everyone says one thing that they're thankful for, or we've actually done that in some of our team leadership meetings as well. I just. Yeah, let's just do that. I think there's a time when you just pause and you call it out and you say thank you. And this also reminds me that there are so many people in my life that I really need to pick up the phone or send a card or just tell them in person how much I really do appreciate what they mean to me and the value that they add to my life. So I'm going to start by thanking you, our listeners. You know, we've had as many as 3,000 plus listeners in a single week, and we don't even air every week. But this show has gotten a ton of traction since we began it, I don't know, three years or so ago. And we continuously and consistently rank in the top 10 of feed spots, global podcast rankings for shows in our genre. And that is not really just because we've had great episodes and I think we have, but it's because you continue to come and listen. And those of you that have rated this show on Apple, please do that. By the way, if you're listening on Apple, please rate the show. But some of you listen on Spotify, some of you have listened on Amazon, some just go to our website and listen directly on the site. However you're doing it, you're making this show work. And because of your listening, you are exposing this show to others and the listenership is growing. And so the show is able to add value to more people. And so I just want to thank you, those of you that tune in, if this is your first time tuning in. Thanks for joining us. If you are a regular listener and every time a new episode pops up on your podcast platform and you go and listen to it, I've had people tell me, yes, I love to listen to you on my commute or at the gym or on my walk. And I just really appreciate that. The fact that you would carve out time and listen to our show, you know, everybody has a platform these days. We have social media and we have. Running a podcast is really not that hard. You just, you just do it. But it's the listeners that make the difference. And I just want to thank you for that. Related. I want to also thank our many guests over the last three years. Some of them are friends and colleagues that I just know would be tremendous assets to the show. These are practitioners in the, in the nonprofit sector. These are Leadership, coaches, so many different kinds of people. We've had thought leaders in their own field who have reached out to us to be on the show and they have shared some very unique expertise. From fundraising to leader onboarding, scarcity versus sufficiency and abundance, succession planning, finance, capital projects, leadership stress and burnout, and so many more things. We've just had a tremendous amount of incredible content that our guests have added to this show. I do a solo episode like this every once in a while. Probably not even half of our episodes are just me. Sometimes I like to take privilege and say, this is my platform, I've got some things I want to say and I'll just share them. But mostly the content of this show is, has come from people who have carved out, you know, an hour or so and really given, I think so many of our episodes have given content that people would pay for. You know, we could charge for much of the content that we've put on this show and people would find it of great value. So thank you to all the guests who have been so generous with your time, your talent, your expertise and just you're sharing your gift with the world. You know, these aren't any in any particular order, but we all have so many family and friends that we can be grateful for and should be grateful for. I lost a few this year, family and friends, and as many of you did, we had a string of some shocking and traumatic losses this year, particularly in the second half of the year. And as difficult as they were and are, they serve as a reminder that we can't take anything or anyone for granted. We can't take our own longevity for granted, starting with tomorrow. And we can't take for granted that those that we love and care about will always be here and will always be accessible to us. To say thank you, to say I love you, to say how can I help you? I have an amazing, loving and supporting wife of 35 years whose energy is infectious to everyone she meets. I have two talented and huge hearted adult children who are never hesitate to step up and help someone who contribute value in the world with their unique talents. And I can't be more grateful for our five year old grandson, Jude, who revitalizes us old folks continuously, gives us new meaning, new significance, new value, new life. I have two sisters that I treasure beyond words. I've already lost three of my siblings in my lifetime. The two that remain just mean more to me than I can tell you. And while one has moved a bit further away than she already was, she's safe and sound. She's accessible, and she means the world to me. While she's moved away, another sister has moved from the other side of the country to the other side of our neighborhood. So we are relishing our time with her and her husband just this past year. New development. So, just so thankful for family and the. You know, we spent time last night with a nephew and his new wife and just that I haven't seen in. None of us have seen in many years. And you just have to really treasure those moments. I also spoke on the phone with Denise that I hadn't talked to in so many years. And I don't know, I just. It filled my heart with gratitude and joy to be able to do that. Don't hesitate to say thank you. I love you. I'm here. You mean something to me. How can I help you? Whatever it is, boy, touching friends and family intentionally throughout our lifetimes is just so important. I'm grateful. I'm grateful for my health. It's not perfect, and most of that's my own fault. You know, I could stand to lose a few more pounds. I could stand to get my blood sugar and a little bit of check, and I could stand to build some muscle a little bit more with more exercise and those kinds of things. But all in all, I'm really in great health. I feel amazing, and I feel so fortunate to be in good health and to be able to actively live a fulfilling life. And I know that so many people are not. They're struggling, and many are living a lifelong struggle with health and physical impairments and so many different things. We just can't take those of us that are healthy and fit and strong and, you know, enjoying our lives. We cannot take that for granted. At any moment, that could go away. And I'm just. I'm grateful for that. I am grateful for so many mentors and supporters of mine through the years. There are far too many to start naming. There really are. If I start, I'll leave people out and, you know, you know how that goes. There are just countless individuals. I think back to the teachers that I had and professors and bosses and co workers and, you know, friends and just people who have served me in so many ways. Wise elders who have gone before me and shared their wisdom with me and their support of me. People who have been willing to challenge me and say the things maybe that might not be fun to hear, but that they knew I needed to hear in order to help me grow. Just incredibly grateful for them. I can think of Their names right now, many of them. But again, I'm not going to start naming. I'm thankful for our clients at the leader's perspective. So thankful that you give us meaning. You're literally why we exist and you're why we are able to continue to exist. This year alone, I went back and looked. This year alone, we have served 25 different organizational clients and we've served over. I have personally served over 40 individual leaders in one on one coaching engagements throughout the year. 25 organizational clients, over 40 one on one leadership coaches. And not all of these are nonprofit clients, but most of them are. And we're especially grateful for the value you're bringing to communities all over the world. We know that most of the listeners to this show are in the social sector. Not all, but most are. And I just. The work that you're doing on a daily basis in the communities, too many people just don't even know about it, let alone express gratitude for you. We always say this. You're overworked, you're underpaid, you're underseen, underappreciated. And even, even if you are appreciated and recognized and compensated, you know, well, it's not enough because you are in the most difficult trenches of the social fabric of our community, our communities all across this country, all over the world. And it's just, it's immeasurable and there's no way we could thank you enough for it. So for those organizations and leaders who have entrusted your development to us to even a small degree, we are honored and humbled by that opportunity to be able to do that. We are not experts in any of the things that you all are working on, but we are dedicated to serving as thought partners with you and supporters. If we can help you, as we always say, bring, you know, get more clarity on your work, simplify the complex, align the parts, inspire your teams, then we feel incredibly honored to get to do that. So for this year alone, again, 25 clients, 45 individual one on one coaches. And then if I go back to all the previous years that we've been doing this work, serving hundreds, hundreds of organizations and probably thousands of leaders, we wouldn't be here without you. Our communities would be in much worse shape without you. And I'm so grateful for that, you know, which leads me to a little broader perspective on my gratitude for the work. Just the honor to get to do what I do. You know, when you, when you work a job that you absolutely love, I think it's fairly rare. Maybe I'm Wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But I think it's fairly rare for those individuals that really just love the work you're doing. You would rather work than not work because of what you're doing and what you get to do. I always quote Priya Parker, the podcaster and author who talks about gatherings and the importance of gathering. And she was talking about how she got to come to do what she does. I think it was her mother that told her, priya, find something you're really good at and then find a place in the world that needs that and you connect those two things and you'll be fulfilled for the rest of your life. And I probably slaughtered it. She says it much better. But I get it. I can relate to it. It means the world to me to take whatever gift I have. I got a few that I think are adding value to the world. But when you trust me with that gift and you engage it and give it an opportunity to do something meaningful, boy, my heart just is full of gratitude for that. I launched this business in 2007 when we were in Virginia. I launched it as it was originally called the Jinx Perspective Group. And we were doing different things. I was doing some strategy and leadership coaching, but my son, even at the age of 14, was joining us. He was developing websites for us. And then we had a. I was doing some professional photography as well. Some pretty extensive professional photography, actually. That has just been of tremendous value to me in my life. But this was while I was still working part time. I mean, I was working in the business part time because I was working full time as a local United Way executive. And we took the leap and went full time in 20, I would say 2015, because we took on a one year client. But that kind of became. I kind of don't count that because of the nature of it. But in 2016, we took the full leap and cut the cord and went full time in the business. And the business has grown every year since. We're serving organizations and leaders from Phoenix to D.C. and from Miami to right here in Columbia, South Carolina, and certainly all over the state of my home state of South Carolina. And it's just the ability to get to do that. I realize how rare and how precious that is. And I've often said, I try to say it often, if it ever went away, if business dried up and I didn't book another client and I had to go back maybe and work, you know, in some leadership role or whatever in the nonprofit sector or try to launch a photography business full time or do something like that. If this coaching work and business that we have today were to dry up and go away, I would still forever be thankful that I got to do it for whatever period of time I'm given to do it. I just want everyone to know I consider it an amazing honor. I'm about to wrap this episode up, but I'm going to add a little bonus group. This is, I will tell you full disclosure, this is a little bit of self serving content right now because I'm going to both be grateful and promote something to you and that is I'm grateful for our OLCT students. If you're not familiar with what that is, OLCT is our organizational leadership coaching training. We have an online course that is an approved 30 hour course with the center for Credentialing and Education for those coaches that are looking to become board certified as I am. And so we developed and launched our own course and we have now certified three leadership coaches. It's a brand new course and we really haven't even started marketing it much yet. We talk about it some on the show and we have it on our website, but we haven't really aggressively marketed to people that don't know us. We've got a number of students in the middle of the program right now. We've now certified three leadership coaches. One. And this is the important part. One who is joining our team at the Leader's Perspective as an adjunct coach and that is Monroe Free, who some of you listening to this show probably know. Munro is a 40 year nonprofit leader, most recently having transformed the work at Habitat for Humanity in Greenville, South Carolina who is leaving his post at the end of the year and sort of semi retiring and leaving Habitat for Humanity to the next leader and the next generation. And he will be joining our team as an adjunct coach. In fact, he has already joined our team team as an adjunct coach having achieved his leadership coaching certification and he's now moving into a coaching role that will enable him to continue serving much like I did when I launched the business. So you can learn more about Monroe on our website, just go to theleadersperspective.com and check out our team on the menu. And then if you are interested in becoming a leadership coach, a certified leadership coach, look us up on theleadersperspective.com OLCT for information on how you can do that. Whether you're wanting to be in a coaching business or you're a leader who just wants to apply a coaching tool to your leadership within your organization that's, that's really what that's about. But back to the gratitude part. I'm really thankful for our students again, for trusting us and for helping us because we're at a point in the business where we need help and for Monroe to be joining the team now, along with Tim Ervalena, our content manager, Clayton, and our advisory board, for whom I'm also very grateful. Go to our website and look at our team and you'll see advisory board. It's a volunteer group who helps me think about strategy and helps me vet some of the products and services and approaches to our work. So I'm very grateful for them and I'm really going to kind of leave it there. That's going to be it for this week. We are headed to Georgia in a couple of hours to spend some time with some close friends and celebrate one of their birthdays. His 70th, as a matter of fact. And so, again, in the spirit of gratitude, I'm grateful that we get to do that. I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving week and we will see you here next time. Lead on.