996: What Will You Be Known For (That AI Can’t Replace) | Leadership Strategies

You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you may not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates national average 12 month savings of $946 by new customers who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary. Welcome to Shameless Leadership. I'm your host Sarah Dean. This show is for women, transgender people, non binary folks, as well as allies who are committed to advancing their leadership while also advancing the leadership of those around them. In each episode we will offer practical tips, leadership strategies and inspiring stories to help you become a more confident, compassionate and inclusive leader. The truth is, you were born to lead. What might happen for you if you were to wholeheartedly embrace that part of yourself. So let's start now, together. Hello Shameless Leaders. I'm so excited to be here and I have to warn you, my software that I use for recording, I think change the settings and now instead of having a record button, it has a button that says go live. And in my mind going live means like going live on like Instagram or Facebook where like just random people from the public can pop in and see you at any time. So I'm recording, I think also very tentatively because is this suddenly gonna just be like people coming in from the public and watching this as I'm recording? I'm so confused. This is why I don't like updates. I don't like updating my phone, my computer. I don't like powering off and back on because buttons might change. I feel very out of my element right now, so. So thanks for bearing with me. Hopefully we make it through together. I'm delighted to be here today and I'm excited about what we're going to be talking about. I love talking about legacy and identity and building our own personal brands, whether it's in relationship to how we interact with the world in any capacity or how we interact in our workplaces because we do have personal brands in our professional environments. And so today we're going to be talking what you want to be known for, but really specifically in the context of what do you want to be known for that Makes you irreplaceable or indispensable or always needed somewhere. This is what AI can't take from you. This is what AI can't replace. And this is just so much of what I've been talking about lately with clients of mine as they are looking at different career options and as they're looking at adapting and having to be, you know, creative and nimble in their current roles and as the world is just changing at such a fast, fast pace. I also have to say that as I've been talking about this and have been in so many conversations recently with clients who are having to be creative and nimble and thoughtful about how they are continuing to show up and serve and be high value leaders in their industry, I feel myself having to embrace, embrace technology in a way that I haven't in the past. And so I think in the past kind of like change. I used to always say, oh, I'm just not good at change. I don't like adapting. And I've had to really flip that for myself and identify like, okay, maybe I don't love it, but I'm actually really good at it. Cause I've had to do it a lot. And I'm starting to feel like this about technology a little bit where I'm like, hmm, I've kind of embraced my whole life like, oh, I'm just not good at technology. Which I think is true for a lot of people and maybe a lot of women specifically. And I'm finding that I'm actually not horrible at technology in spite of my major confusion over what's happening with my recording today. But I'm actually pretty good. Like I figure out technology all the time and I have to self teach myself technology all the time. And you probably do too. And I started thinking like, who am I helping by leaning into this narrative that oh, I'm just so bad at technology. So when we think about technology and AI and things changing really quickly, like let's just start to be careful about of the messages we give ourselves, right? Because the reality is is we're probably better at technology than we think we are, which makes us better at being able to be more future proof in our careers and more kind of AI proof because we understand what's happening and we understand what we can do to meet this moment. So that's what we're gonna be talking about today. We've been talking a lot about thought leadership in the last episode, last week on social media and emails. If you get my emails in my newslet and and over the last couple months, actually, as I've been leading multiple trainings on thought leadership. And what I think is really interesting and fun right now is the opportunity that we have to double down on ourselves. And I think that we can get really caught up in how the world is shifting in ways that feel so fast and so overwhelming and so confusing in many instances. But when we get so caught up in all that, we sometimes miss the opportunity to see where we have a massive opportunity to double down on ourselves and on the things that we're really great at and the things that make us really unique. And that's my invitation for you today, is to really think through, what do you want to be known for? And how can you double, triple, quadruple down on that in a way that is highly visible, that makes you irreplaceable and indispensable, where people understand what unique value you bring to the world, to your role, to your team team, to your industry, so that they see the need to keep you there, or if they can't keep you there, someone else sees the need to snatch you up right away. Because you are known for certain things and that are high value in a way that people know that they need you. They want you on their team, they want you in their world. When we look at AI and we recognize AI can generate content and summarize content, and it can answer all these questions that vulnerable and insecure and unsure. And we have to also look at, okay, so what do I have that AI doesn't have? What do I have that the future doesn't need? More information? The future needs more you, because there's only one you, Right? Like, you literally are not replaceable. You can't clone yourself. So how do you then think through how you show up in the world in a way that makes the one you, that is you. Again, irreplaceable, indispensable, and really high value wherever you want to go. So, starting to think through what do you want to be known for? And not just in terms of, I want to be known for fulfilling a certain role or having a certain title, but what do you want to be known for that is more layered and nuanced? And where do you want people to kind of see, like, the formula that makes up you? And we'll talk a little bit more about the formula in a minute, but where do you want people to see or how do you want people to see this formula that makes up you in a way, way that helps people really see who you are and how Will you let yourself be seen, which can feel vulnerable, but be seen in a way that people identify like, we need you. When we're thinking this through, it's easy to start to think through some of our qualities or some of our attributes and maybe some of the things that other people say about us. So we might think, oh, I'm. I'm really reliable, or I'm empathetic, or I'm hardworking, or I'm really disciplined or determined or helpful or competent or what have you. Right. We can think through attributes and values and things that we've had people say about us over the years, the things that are said about us in our. In our reviews, which are all great things, but we want to be thinking even more layered and nuanced and specific than that, to think through. What do people come to us for? What are the problems that we solve in unique ways? What are the problems that other people recognize that we are exceptionally skilled at solving? We want to start asking ourselves some really specific questions that help us understand how we do things differently and then how we can lean into that, double down on that, and market that as the thing that we are known for that no one else can do, quite the way we do. A great book on this is called the Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. And in that book, and get in the Big Leap, Gay Hendricks talks about zone of genius. And he talks about zone of genius being the things that you do that other people in the world might be able to do, but they don't do them quite the way that you do. So, for example, someone else, you know, I could get on a stage and give a keynote on building confidence, building confident communication skills. Another person could get on the stage and give the same keynote. We could even be working from the exact same script. But I know that I could deliver that keynote in a way that would move that room in a way that no one else could. Because my zone of genius is being able to take a piece of content and use emotion to pull people in, to use storytelling to elicit laughter, to, you know, bring people to the brink of tears, to help people see themselves in a story, to help people see themselves as heroes or to see themselves as inspired to action by something that I have to share. So that makes me non competitive with other people doing the exact same thing. And so how do you start to see how you are non competitive with other people around you and with AI in ways that really position you as someone who uniquely delivers in whatever it is you want to be delivering, who uniquely stands in that zone of genius. So again, asking yourself some really specific questions, such as, what are patterns and connections that I see that other people miss? What are the kinds of problems that I love solving, that I am really good at solving, that I have unique solutions for? What are some of the lessons that I've learned through my lived experiences that other people that you can't find in a textbook or through other people because they haven't had the same combination of knowledge, education, experience, cultural perspective that you've had? What are some of the assumptions or biases in your industry or beyond that you frequently challenge? Where do you push the envelope? Where do you, like, push things. Things to a different edge? Where do you. And how do you challenge the status quo? What are conversations that energize you so much that you lose track of time? This is a really fun question because when you can start to recognize, like, if I could talk about something all day, every day and never get bored and would not even care if I got paid for it, what would those things be? What would that one thing be? Maybe the older I get, the more things I have on my list, by the way, on this particular question. So it used to be like I had, you know, two or three things on this list of, like, I could, you know, geek out all day long about these certain things. And that list has grown for me over life experience, through parenting, through becoming 50 years old, through, you know, being deep into middle age at this point. So what are those things that you could. That energize you, that you could talk about all day, every day, that they just light you up? You have so much to say. You have a unique perspective. You have opinions, you probably have lived experiences and stories that go along with it. That's all part of your thought leadership, right? And then what is the impact that you want to leave on the people around you? What is the impact that you want your leadership to press upon others? What's the influence that you want to have? When you start asking yourself all those questions, you start to be able to understand and see the thought leadership that you want to be building from. And so this isn't about necessarily, you know, content creation or personal branding. It's really about who you are. And then how do you position who you are? And so thinking through how you position that in a way that's unique to you, that AI can't copy. So when we think about this in really specific layers, we can recognize that AI can't copy your experiences. So when we think about your experience unique in terms of the mistakes that you've made, the lessons that you've learned, the challenges that you've navigated, and how does that impact what you want to be known for? This episode is supported by Monarch. I love using the Monarch app to get my summer spending all situated and I've been able to do that in advance this year by using Monarch. So Monarch is a personal finance app that tracks everything, accounts, investments, savings goals and spending. And you can get your first year of Monarch Core for half off, just 50 with the promo code Shameless. What I love about using Monarch is that when you know that you have money that you want to spend somewhere on something, whether it's, you know, a month down the road, a few months down the road, Monarch can let you start to save money for that and then see how that money is growing over time. So I've been able to use that in advance of this summer, where we have summer vacation that we want to be financially planning for, where my son has extra expenses this summer because this kid just gets older and wants to do all these cool and fun things which by the way, costs so much money. And nobody warned me, nobody warned me about parent budgeting for like everything that these kids want to do all the time. So I'm loving using Monarch for budgeting in advance as I see these things coming down the pipeline. I'm already starting to look at budgeting for class activities he's doing at the end of next year for a class trip. And Monarch has been so helpful in that. I also love Monarch's AI tools, which help me look week to week where spending is happening. They help me see spikes in spending before things get out of control. If I'm being a little indulgent in certain areas, it's been really, really helpful just for tracking money and seeing where money is going on a regular, weekly, monthly or even longer term basis. So I want you to check out Monarch for yourself. Go ahead and go over to monarch.com and you're going to use the code shamelessonarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just $50. That's, that's 50% off your first year@monarch.com with the promo code Shameless. Your call has been forwarded to voicemail. Hi, this is Zoe Deutsch and Nick Robinson. Our brand new movie Voicemails for Isabel is all about those little moments that feel like the universe is looking out, feeling homesick. Then your sister calls, hearing that perfect song exactly when you need it. Please stay. Sometimes life rigs things in our favor like learning about your new favorite rom com voicemails for Isabel now playing only on Netflix. Fourth of July savings are happening now at the Home Depot with select appliances starting at $398 plus get free delivery on appliance purchases of $398 or more. No membership required. Upgrade your kitchen with a modern and sleek GE Profile refrigerator featuring hands free autofill for the perfect pour every time and make laundry day easier with 2 in 1 washer dryer combo innovation that completes laundry in about 90 minutes. Shop Top brand appliances now at the Home Depot offer valid June 17th July at the US only C store online for details if I am clear on what I want to be known for, then there's certain mistakes that I can use as examples to help other people. There are certain lessons that I've learned that are unique to me. There's certain challenges that I've navigated that are going to impact how I talk about the thing I want to be known for. Your judgment is the other thing that's going to matter here. So knowing what matters to you, understanding context and nuance, making decisions and ambu ambiguity. So being able to figure out, be decisive, see how things fit together, go together in a way that maybe other people don't see. Understanding your values, how you define success, what you prioritize, what you're willing to fight for. This is also going to be really important as you start recognizing what you want to be known for and what you want, how you want people to remember you, how you want to stand out. Your perspective. So your perspective is the patterns that you see, the connections that you make, how you connect your stories with your lived experiences in a way that's unique to unique to your perspective and your unique point of view. This is the lens through which you see the world. You can start to realize you're doing this when you find yourself in common everyday experiences and finding the lessons in them and thinking like oh, I can show this in a meeting. And so this is something that happens with me a lot where I'm like out skiing or or doing something hard. I actually I was playing pickleball recently. I'm pretty bad at pickleball, but I love it. I think it's so fun and I was thinking like oh, this makes me want to do a whole episode on having fun doing things you're really bad at. And so it's recognizing that anyone can play pickleball, anyone can be really bad at pickleball. That does not make me unique or Special. But can anyone or does anyone talk about the value of doing things that you're bad at and having a ton of fun doing those things, especially if you are a high performing type, a high achiever kind of personality? Now, there's some layers of nuance, right? Like I want to be known as the person who decided to be bad at some things after trying to only be really good at things for 50 years. So to me, that's compelling, right? That's my unique lens. So when you start finding yourself in everyday situations and you're like, ooh, I see a connection here, or I see a story, or I see something that might be helpful to someone else in an everyday situation that might not really seem that unique, like a random game of pickleball, then we can start to recognize, oh, I'm starting to think. I'm starting to think more along the lines a thought leader or along the lines of building a leadership legacy where people will want me in the room with them because I can't be replaced because of the way I'm able to connect these dots with this. Then we can start to look at a really specific formula. And so if you're coming to my thought leadership workshop that I'm leading on June 24, which anyone can sign up for, it's totally free, it's virtual. June 24, 9am Pacific, 12pm Eastern. You go to sarahdean.com future I'll be talking about how to use thought leadership in some really specific ways. So the specific workshop is called the Future Proof Leader, why your thought leadership matters significantly more in the age of AI. And I'm going to be talking about this formula and I want you to write this down because I think this formula is really, really important. And, and I also got into a little bit of an argument with AI over this formula the other day, so bear with me here. I wanted to put together a formula that could help my clients understand what are the layers that you need to be able to put together in a formulaic way to be able to understand how you think in a unique way in order to stand out, in order to be known for something specific and unique to you. So I went to chat and I was like, here's what I'm thinking. I think these components are knowledge times experience, like your own unique experience and lived experiences, times unique perspective or point of view. I think those are the pieces that are really important here. And chat was like, yeah, you're off to a good start. And we would also add in communication. And I get it. Because if you're leveraging your thought leadership, presumably you are sharing it with other people via some form of communication, whether that's like writing about it in a book or on a blog or in an article or on LinkedIn, or talking about it on a stage or on a podcast, or, you know, talking about it in a team meeting or within your organization or within an industry event. So the communication part is important, but I also think it's really important that you recognize that your capacity for thought leadership is not dependent on the communication piece. Your capacity for thought leadership exists without that communication piece. I'm going to add some more nuance here, so stay with me. So your capacity for thought leadership requires knowledge times, experience times, your unique perspective, point of view. The communication part is where you then make it active and actually, like, put your thought leadership out out there into the world. But it's the only requirements are your knowledge, your unique experience or lived experience, your unique point of view. And that formula for everyone's gonna look totally different, right? Like what you get when you put those pieces together, everyone's gonna output something different. That formula exists within everyone. Whether or not you choose to bring it to light and make it highly visible is up to you. And that's the communication piece. So your ability to be a thought leader is innate. It's there. That capacity exists within you. If you want to leverage that strategically, especially if you are wanting to be seen in a certain way, if you're wanting to add value in a certain way, if you are wanting to be known for something specific, that communication piece will then become important, if not imperative, and obviously, like, very significant. So we want to be thinking through then what does that all look like when we put the pieces together? And how will you choose to be seen? And now I want to talk about the back end of this, which I think is really important, and maybe where things get a little sticky, a little tricky. When we think about being seen, when we think about putting these pieces together, when we think about, oh, but it's just a formula, and I can plug in the pieces. It makes it sound really simple and clean and easy, right? But it's not simple and clean and easy because we're attached to this stuff, because it's our personal stuff. So when we look at these components of knowledge and experiences and our unique perspectives, those can be deeply, deeply personal. So then our thought leadership becomes really vulnerable. And for some of us, that can feel okay. For some of us, we have more comfort with that, and that can depend on our personality type. It can depend on the environment that we're in, where you know, how comfortable or safe we feel, how acceptable it is to be, you know, more visible with your ideas and your opinions and your, and like sharing your own perspective. But it can be really, really vulnerable and it can be really uncomfortable. And so I want you to be thinking about how do you want to choose to be seen and where do you have the potential that's maybe being left on the table? Where do you have a propensity to play small in this way? Where do you limit your visibility and then what does that do to you? Where does that hold you back in different arenas? Your thought leadership, your ability to be seen, your opportunities to double down on yourself and be known for certain things, that's all gonna require some vulnerability for sure. And so starting to think through and get really honest with yourself about how you wanna manage that and how you wanna step into that vulnerability and the places and spaces where that feels appropriate and okay to start, that's gonna be really important for you to consider. You might start to feel a fear of judgment, a fear of like seeming self promotional, maybe a fear of criticism or not even criticism, just like a fear of people having opinions of you, whether or not they're criticisms. Like just being open to other people's opinions can be so scary feeling. I want to challenge you to think through on the other side of this. You're already being seen, you're already being judged every day. I always talk about when I am leading trainings on building a leadership brand identity, which I think every leader needs to be doing, because you're already doing it, whether you know it or not. So this ties right into what we're saying right now, that when you're le. When you're building a leadership brand identity, you're. You've been doing that for years already. Whether you're doing it intentionally and consciously and strategically or not, you've been building that brand. So if you're a leader who's like, oh, I want to be really thoughtful and intentional to lead by these certain values and always uphold certain values and make sure that, you know, I'm always like acting in integrity and upholding respect and treating people with human dignity, great. And if that's what you've been doing, hopefully that's what other people notice and see and people are going to notice that in you if that's what you innately do or not. And if you have not been intentionally building a brand, maybe you've been doing those things, same things already. And Maybe you haven't. If you're not intentionally building a brand and you're, like, sometimes in integrity, but sometimes not, like, people are noticing that too. So you're building the brand whether or not you choose to do it intentionally, whether or not you see, taken the opportunity to, like, be really strategic about it. And it would be the same thing with thought leadership and deciding to, you know, let yourself be seen and be vulnerable around that. People already see you in a certain way, so you're already being seen. How do you want to take responsibility and be accountable to being seen in a specific, thoughtful, intentional, strategic way? So now the question becomes, how am I going to be seen intentionally? And what do I want to do with that responsibility? How do I want to double down on myself knowing that I'm going to be seen intentionally, knowing that I want to be known for something specific? Now, it changes the game. But you've already been in the game. Maybe you just didn't realize it. People's perceptions were already there. You just weren't maybe always thinking about what other people's perceptions were. So sometimes we get so stuck on our own heads about what other people are thinking, but people were already thinking about us before we started thinking about whether they were thinking about us. And people are thinking about you so much less than you think they are. So whenever we change anything or decide, like, we want to be visible in a new way or talk about something new or, you know, share ourselves in a new way, we think that, like, everyone in the world is going to notice and never stop noticing. The reality is, people will notice for maybe 1.2 seconds, and then something else will happen in their day, and they will notice something else. Else. We are so busy, and we are so inundated with stimulus and input that people are not noticing very much for very long. And sometimes they're not noticing at all. But we, because we're so ego. Egocentric, are thinking, oh, my gosh, like, they're. They're gonna see this new thing about me, and it's like, oh, they're gonna think about all day, and they're gonna tell everyone. And it's like, the reality is, no, they're not. They're busy. They're busy thinking about themselves. They're busy thinking about the new thing that's right in front of their face 30 seconds after the thing you put in front of their face. So getting over ourselves a little bit to recognize the importance of being visible strategically, because we're already visible in certain ways and then deciding how we want to be responsible for that. That visibility, your visibility is happening regardless. And so this is your opportunity to be more intentional about it. By thinking through. How am I going to use this equation, this knowledge plus experience plus perspective plus communication, to be visible and strategic in the ways that I want to be seen, in the ways that I want to show up, and in terms of what I want to be known in order to be irreplaceable and indispensable and needed and wanted and desired in the rooms that I want to be in. When we think about bringing this all together, we're thinking then about legacy and future proofing. We're thinking about how we are not waiting until a retirement party to define our legacy, but how we're building legacy intentionally, every day, in every conversation and every meeting and every idea, in every interaction where we have that opportunity for influence. By knowing what we stand for, by adding value, where we can add value. By understanding what ideas of yours the world needs more of, by understanding what needs to be challenged in ways that people aren't challenging it. By seeing gaps and holes and identifying these are the gaps in the holes that I see and that the world needs help on, help with. And here's where I have solutions or unique ideas around this. It's exponentially easier to make yourself irreplaceable and indispensable and needed in more places when you know what it is you stand for, where you can add value and what the world needs more of from you. So taking some time to think that through, taking some time to identify what those things are and how you're intentionally building that out for yourself. As I have so many clients navigating career transitions, whether they are by choice deciding to make a pivot or by chance they've been laid off or something has happened where they are having to make a pivot, they're thinking this through. And I have to say, it's been so interesting and heartwarming to see so many of the women leaders I work with who've had really vulnerable times where change has been thrust upon them in the last six to 12 months or so. And they've had moments of feeling like I can't control any of it and I don't know where I'm going to land. And this feels so scary and overwhelming and like there's no good options. And to move from that in the matter sometimes of a few weeks to a place of, oh, my gosh, I have so much to offer the world. There are so many possibilities for me. I can find options for myself in multiple industries and multiple roles and titles in multiple cities and states if I need to. The possibilities are endless. And I'm just getting started. And now that I have a sense of what I know and how I can use it in lots of different ways in the world now, I'm unstoppable. And no one can take that from me. AI can't take that, A boss can't take that. So maybe a role can be taken, but that doesn't take away who I am and what I have to offer the world and where I might be able to plug that in in an infinite number of ways to make meaning, to make money, to be of service to the world, to support my family, to, you know, provide security. I'm telling you, this is what I've done over and over again for 23 years as a business owner. But watching my clients learn how to do this in a corporate setting and in a more tradition work setting has been really eye opening. And it's so amazing to see how they start to see themselves as unstoppable oftentimes when the world or the industry is telling them differently and then benefiting from them feeling really scared. So I love that my clients right now, they're not feeling scared, they're feeling excited, they're feeling optimistic, they're feeling very powerful from situations that, that for moments, for many of them felt powerless. And that feels really, really good. So if you're needing support around any of this, if anything was kind of triggered and light bulbs going off in your head today, please join me on June 24th for my workshop, the Future Proof Leader. Why youy Thought Leadership Matters Significantly More in the Age of AI. We're gonna be talking about how to uncover your leadership strengths that technology can't replace. We're gonna be talking about really specific strategies in thought leadership. There's six strategies we're gonna talk about and six, six strategic skills that you need in thought leadership. We're going to be talking about a very specific thought leadership framework that you can build out. A thought leadership framework that you could literally like within an hour or so take to another job if you needed to take to building your own consultancy and building your own business, writing a book. I mean, I've had so many of my, my clients across multiple arenas do this in recent months and it's just like so exciting to see what they've come up with and how they've been able to quickly build a foundation that they can have with them across the rest of their career. So join me on June 24th. That's over@Sarah Dean.com future Share this Episode out with those who are feeling vulnerable, raw, worried, scared, uncomfortable Right now. We have a lot to be working for and working toward. The possibilities are endless. As long as we continue to double down on ourselves, we are not replaceable. We are not indispensable. We need to keep doubling down on ourselves. So how can we do that? In a way, I think I said we're not indispensable. We are not dispensable. We are irreplaceable. We are indispensable and we need to be acting as such so that other people see us as such. So I hope to see you on June 24th. Thank you for being here. Share this episode out and I will be back with you next week. And until then, know that I'm in this with you always. Oh and look, I did this whole thing with my new recording button that apparently just says Go live now instead of record. And no, as far as I know, no strangers from the Internet jumped in here to watch my recording. So I think I figured out the new buttons on my software. So yeah, it feels like a win for me. Look at me beating technology. See you next week everyone. Thank you so much for being here and allowing me to spend time in your ear today. I take that responsibility very seriously. If you're interested in learning learning more about my speaking training and executive coaching services, you can go to saradean.com that's S A R-A-E A N.com if you have follow up questions or comments about this episode, please come join me on LinkedIn@saradean.com LinkedIn there's nothing I love more than a listener dropping into my DMs. Thank you for taking the time to show up for yourself today. I see you, I hear you and I am holding space space for you today and every single day. This is a Monday.com ad. The same Monday.com helping people worldwide getting work done faster and better. The same Monday.com designed for every team and every industry. The same Monday.com with built in AI scaling your work from day one. The same Monday.com that your team will actually love using the same Monday.com with an easy and intuitive setup. Go to Monday.com and try it for free. Yes the same Monday.com.