Leadership Tea
On Leadership Tea, we talk about what it takes to reach the executive level, and how to thrive when you get there. Powerful leaders share their journeys, insights, and triumphs in conversations with hosts Shelby Smith-Wilson and Belinda Jackson Farrier.
Join us every other Wednesday to be inspired by the unvarnished stories of amazing executives who know what it's like to be "the only" at the table and who have succeeded regardless. They have proven leadership experience in their respective fields, from international affairs to the private sector to academia, and want to help others create their own success stories.
Leadership Tea
Bonus Episode: Government Shutdown, Part II - Shutdown, But Not Shut Out
Shelby and Belinda discuss our personal experiences and emotional journey during the ongoing government shutdown. We share how the shutdown is affecting our households, businesses, and mental health. We talk about the importance of mental resilience and practical steps to cope with financial and emotional stress during uncertain times.
We also introduce the Leadership Lounge, our new initiative created to build a supportive community for personal and professional growth.
JOIN THE LEADERSHIP LOUNGE
Looking to build your leadership community? Join our exclusive membership area for leadership resources and deeper, unconstrained conversations. You'll get a monthly bonus episode of the Leadership Tea Podcast, group coaching sessions for Lounge members, and quarterly Q&A episodes with Shelby and Belinda.
Learn more and join at https://www.stirringsuccess.com/leadershiplounge
00:00 Introduction to the Leadership Tea Podcast
00:21 Impact of the Government Shutdown
02:00 Personal Reflections and Financial Concerns
08:46 Coping Strategies and Community Support
17:08 Leadership Lounge and Community Building
20:56 Final Thoughts
We publish new episodes every other Wednesday.
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Learn more about us at stirringsuccess.com
Welcome to the Leadership Tea Podcast, where we help you think about what it takes to get to the executive level, and then we help you to understand what you need to do to thrive once you get there. You are tuning in for our second uh shutdown bonus episode. We are kind of chronicling our feelings and thoughts and experiences during this government shutdown period. We know that many of our listeners are directly impacted by the shutdown. And we ourselves are also directly impacted by the shutdown, not just by virtue of where we live, but it's affecting our households, which are still linked in many ways to the federal government. So I think that we just want to start today by talking a little bit how we're feeling right now and how this is impacting our ability to navigate right now through the complexity of building our businesses, supporting our families, and many of the other things that we do. Shelby, you feel like that's uh an accurate description or where are we at?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, it's we're we're entering week two of the shutdown. And, you know, if you didn't think it was a thing before, I think people are really starting to feel it now. Not necessarily the people who are directly affected, but people who are on the periphery and beginning to feel the second order effects, um, especially now that I guess a couple of days ago there was an announcement that more people would be laid off, well, not just laid off, but riffed from additional government agencies. And it's just, it's it's a tough time. Like this past week, um it was more up and down for me than than usual. I think just watching people go through what they're going through, um, and dealing with it in my in my own household, um, beginning to have second thoughts like when I go out to get a coffee or when I go out to get a tea, it's like, okay, should I really be doing this? And then part of me is like, well, goodness, like I can't, I can't afford a tea. Like, I just want to get a cup of tea. That's not, you know, going to some fancy clothing store and buying, you know, items that I know that I can't afford. But like, I'm beginning to have second thoughts about buying a latte. And it just sent me honestly to a dark place because it's like, what is happening? Like for real, what is happening to our society, to our economy? You know, I began just kind of going down this mental downward spiral of like, how did this happen to me? Like, what could I have done differently? Are there other decisions that I need to be making for the financial welfare of my family? And then again, thinking about other people who are going through the same thing. I read something very disturbing in one of the mini chat groups that I'm in where some people were talking about the risk of some individuals who left one agency um as a result of being riffed, only to now be at risk of being riffed from another agency. It's just like, wow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. I think I feel really similar. I have really started to think twice about small purchases. I think that for me, the headlines certainly send me an ups and downs. So for me, it was this week the headlines that if you know, federal employees might not be paid for the time that they worked. Yeah was like that gave me like pause, like, are we really doing that? And but then the people will be fired stuff that shook me up. And over this weekend, I have been talking to people who were in fact fired on Friday night. People who we actually kind of need. Like um, and and just like how how would I be going back to that, you've heard me say sometimes on the show and sometimes in some of my posts that idea of what happens when the ball comes to me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I've been playing that out in my head, like, okay, well, what happens if that happens in my household? And that is really a heavy, you know, like that's like the balls you choose at the gym. You know, so like that's not a volleyball, that's that's a weight. It's a real thing, yes.
SPEAKER_01:You know, and you can't just stand there and act like it's not coming right at you.
SPEAKER_00:And it's like, you're right. You you're like, I did everything I was supposed to do, right? Like, I went to school, I got good grades, I got a job, I was like good and appropriate at the job. My, you know, my husband got a job, he he went to school, he did all the things, right? We haven't, we're not irresponsible people. We, you know, did the American dream stuff. I have a dog, I got a house, like it's a house I can afford. It's not too splashy and fancy. And I am like, you know, I drive just like a regular, you know, like a car, like I call it the official car of Northern Virginia. Like everybody's got some kind of Honda or Nissan or Toyota, yeah, pretty much. Um it's like I I didn't do anything crazy in life. So why am I in this situation? Yeah, how do we get here? And then, you know, I'm chronically online, and I I don't know. I know the easy answer is to say, well, you should just be online less. I actually don't feel safe not being online less. Like, I want to know what's happening. So it's like I have to find a balance, I'll work on that. But I'm chronically online, and that is not helping because it's not just the negative, negative, negatives that are coming at me. It is the I can see like there's been just a marked just a marked, marked, marked, marked increase in fake information hitting my feeds. Like, I don't know how to tell you, there's just been a spike in the last two weeks, and I find that to be disturbing.
SPEAKER_01:It is disturbing. I'm I'm not as deep in the interwebs as you. I rely on you to do that so that I don't have to. I'm picking up on your slogan. But I have noticed, you know, as I'm applying for jobs and looking for opportunities on LinkedIn, I'm getting spammed on LinkedIn. It's just like, what is happening? Like so many fraudulent dummy companies reaching out to me about, hey, we saw your profile and we'd like to talk to you about blah blah de blah. And so then I go and do my, you know, investigative research because I'm not I'm not gullible. And, you know, if anything, the State Department has taught me to check my facts and you know, make sure that you, you know, dig deep into whatever source of information um you're dealing with to make sure that they're legit. And a lot of these places, a lot of these people are not legit. And it's just like, what is happening? What in God's name is happening to society? And so that that also just kind of ticked me off. And like you said, other people are beginning to to reach out um to me as well, people who have not necessarily been laid off yet, but are just operating in fear, operating in environments where they're constantly looking over their shoulders. They don't know what to say or do because they feel vulnerable. Um, and it's just not it's not a good place, not a good place to be, frankly.
SPEAKER_00:Right. So I guess that's a a good space to to say, like earlier this week, like say Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I was just I was in the dark place. Just feeling like, how can how can I do anything in this environment? How can I build a business? How can I decide what my next moves are? How can I just how can there's I just don't feel stable, right? Um, but then you and I went to an event. Yeah, it's not that the event was magical. Oh, it was nice, it was a great event, it's great event, but I was like, I need to get out of my house. I mean, this kind of goes to this, you and I are always talking about build community and get out and be with your village, and uh this wasn't even our village. We did not know these people, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01:Like at all at one point, I was like, okay, what is it that Belinda just signed us up for? But you know, I trust you. I went along with it, and as usual, it was all good.
SPEAKER_00:It was fine. I I also was in the first few minutes like, I do I feel like this today? Like, let's just let's just go. Let's just let's do it. Let's talk to people.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But and it turned out to be great. It it did.
SPEAKER_01:It really did.
SPEAKER_00:But it was just a reminder that, like, okay, I have to get out of to get out of my house. Mm-hmm. Right? I just I just have to get out out of my house and and do stuff. You want you know, I went on to have a great day.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Then the next day, which was Friday, I was also out of the house. I can't remember. Oh, you and I met up again. Then I had a bunch of stuff, saw some friends, went on a walk in the park. Like, because now I'm looking for free fun. So, right, I had some friends like Vince and I have been researching happy hours.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm in college again, like for real. Okay. Like, what time we got to get there before happy hour ends so we can get, you know, dinner and some drinks. Okay, let's do this.
SPEAKER_00:So I was like, let's go for a walk, right? And we had a wonderful time, made a lovely walk. Um, we had a great chat. Um I feel like we actually had a better chat than we would have sitting around in a restaurant.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And um I felt a lot better. Um, and so I I just think that, and then and then Saturday I just had a day of rest. My whole family, we all just needed a day of rest. You know, we're all feeling pressures in different ways. Yeah, and so I just think that like resting, but not resting and staying stationary to the point of allowing yourself to kind of go into a dark space, getting out, touching some grass, literally, getting some fresh air. These were critical for me. And it even changed the way in which, again, because I'm chronically online, I began to consume media.
SPEAKER_01:Interesting.
SPEAKER_00:Into the week, I was like, goodbye, dark side of the internet. I'm looking for things that are gonna inspire me, things that are gonna teach me, things that are gonna push me. Um, and that's kind of where I've been the last couple of days. So as we go into this third week of the shutdown, is it three or two? Three or is it four? No, we're past 10 days. Okay, yeah. Three, four, I think it's three. We're going into week, it's all running together. It's too long. Right. Like one one day was too long, right? Right, seriously. Um as we go into this third week, I just am gonna experiment with getting out. Even if it means going to the library, even if it means going out to free public spaces, right? Community centers, libraries, parks. Um, it's fall, it's it's chilly. It's nice to walk around with a nice warm drink and look at the leaves. And we live near so many beautiful parks.
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, I co-sign on that. I actually, you know, to your point of getting out and doing things and especially doing things that are free. I went to a book signing event yesterday. It was incredible. I got a chance to see my favorite professor from Duke. He just wrote a book. I took my son. At first, you know, I had I had asked Christian yesterday morning. I'm like, do you want to come with me to a book signing? And at first, he kind of, you know, he gave me a look. But you know, Belinda, sometimes our kids know when we need them. And he looked at me again and he was like, you know what, mom, I'll I'll go. And I was like, oh, okay. I had to like, you know, keep myself together and not not break down and fall apart in front of him. But it was nice. We had a nice mother-son um afternoon at Politics and Pros uh in Washington. And it just reminded me, um, you know, being with him and everything that we've been talking about tonight on this episode reminds me of a quote that every storm runs out of rain. And right now we need to figure out how are we gonna walk through the storm. The storm may last a little bit longer than any of us would like, but you know, we need to get our umbrellas, we need to get our rain boots, we need to get our raincoats, we need to make sure that we are ready, you know, to walk through the storm and endure it. But then know that eventually everything has an ending. And we just need to, you know, hang in there, buckle up, and be ready, you know, go out into the storm prepare. You know, you don't walk out into a rainstorm with no umbrella or no no sort of you know covering uh to keep yourself from getting wet. And I think I'm I'm just using that as a metaphor for life right now. Like, how am I going to endure this storm? Yeah, that's that's kind of where I am.
SPEAKER_00:And I mean, this is a it's a it's a boot camp for it, but it's also just like I'm just trying to really work on my mind side. I'm sorry, the dog is over me sitting here. Okay, she's ready for me to move. But um just I have to stay hopeful, and so and I have to stay pragmatic. So, how am I gonna do that? And I don't have the answer for yet. Um this was what I'm gonna try to do. So I wish I had some magic thing to say that as we go into this next week, like this is what we're gonna do. It's gonna be great. It's gonna, we're gonna make it like no, it's super scary right now. Like, people might not get paid.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, people might lose their jobs, people have lost their jobs.
SPEAKER_01:People might not be able to pay their mortgage and their other bills on time, like it's real. It's it's not.
SPEAKER_00:Um so I I don't I don't have uh uh uh something to say like just just smile and it's gonna be all better, or just like you know, listen to your favorite playlist, or like, no, that's not gonna be the bills. Yeah, it's not. Um all I can say is try to create some moments where you can just clear your mind because you you can't figure out the solutions when you're overwhelmed. Um, and I don't know what that looks like for everybody. It's something different for all of us, but um and we can't go through it alone. I mean, I know we say that all the time, but you really you just cannot.
SPEAKER_01:You can't, you have to check on people. Um, and hopefully people are checking on you. And as we've said repeatedly, community is clutch. This is a good segue into the leadership lounge. I'm so glad that we are on the verge of launching this. Well, not on the verge, we have launched it. You can go to our website right now, uh storringsuccess.com, and look for the leadership lounge tab to find out more information. But in terms of launching it officially, we hope to have our first gathering. Have we decided? It's in the next week.
SPEAKER_00:To be honest, given that we have repose coming up and we want to make sure that like we deliver that, I would say post-reposed. So we're probably looking at the end of October um to have the first group coaching session, but um, we are gonna have to at some point kind of lock in um October enrollments. And so I think what's really important for for everybody to know is that this is our effort to build that community that we always talk about. Um that we understand the hardships that everyone's under. And so, look, group coaching from the two of us should not be five dollars a month. Like, let's be honest. We but we were like, you know what? Like, we find ourselves pausing at the thought of buying a latte, yeah. So we actually priced it under a latte, right? I just bought a latte a little while ago, it was$6.97.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Mine is like$7.15. I know exactly how much it is because I am budgeting these days.
SPEAKER_00:But it's like it's actually cheaper than the latte that I got a little while ago. Yeah. Um, but that's how committed we are to like we hear not across industries, across regions, across countries, everybody's a little nervous, everybody's struggling right now, and so we are trying to meet the moment, even though it is not gonna make us rich, right? It's probably not five dollars, ain't gonna pay my mortgage. No, but it feels like the right thing to do, and so and then the other thing is we're cognizant of the idea that okay, well, I go to this group coaching thing, who's there? I don't know, like what's going on? Like, what are they gonna do? We are screening people. So when you cite say that you're interested, we're gonna send you an enrollment form. It's got two questions. We're screening every single form before we give you the link to um to our our subsect to begin to pay and then come in.
SPEAKER_01:That's right, because we're being intentional and we want to make sure that you are being intentional too.
SPEAKER_00:So that's the value, that's the why. That is, you know, what we're trying to do. So, you know, I don't think we want to keep you much longer, but we just do want to say, you know, we want to be there for everybody in this moment.
SPEAKER_01:We do, we do, and then one minor correction. I think it is technically, sorry, I this is the perfectionist coming out of me. Technically, we're entering week two because the shutdown started October 1st. Today is the 12th. You're right. Yeah. I love it. Let's go.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Week two. Not that we really wanted to be week two. I mean, we want it to be over sooner than later, but anyway.
SPEAKER_00:Over. Yeah. Over. You're correct. So it's a it's too long.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. One day is too long, one day is too much. But we hope you all are hanging in there. We hope that, you know, at some point we will look back on this moment in time. And, you know, Belinda and I thought that it would just be useful to chronicle where we are, what we're trying to do. We at least are trying to have a positive impact. Despite, you know, our own personal challenges through everything that's happening right now. We are still committed to helping one another. We are still committed to bringing light to a dark situation. And we hope that we hope that you find this content useful and helpful. And we appreciate you being here with us. And we look forward to to chatting with you again soon.
