349: Michele Sullivan: Looking Up, Turning Obstacles into Advantages

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How do you lean in and step up as a leader in spite of challenges?

Michele Sullivan

Michele L. Sullivan is the author of Looking Up, a HarperCollins published book. With a unique and interesting perspective on life and business, Michele is a motivational speaker and strategic business advisor who has changed the course of millions of lives.

Michele was born with a very rare type of dwarfism. In spite of being looked down upon by others, she learned to look up and lead with an elevated view of others. It’s a philosophy that landed her at the helm of one of the world’s most prominent philanthropy organizations.

During her 30-year career at Caterpillar Inc., Michele held various globally influential leadership positions including director of corporate social innovation and president of the Caterpillar Foundation.

She was named by Inside Philanthropy as one of the 50 most powerful women in philanthropy and also served as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. She was recognized as an AACSB 2018 Influential Leader (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). Michele is a member of the ONE board of directors and past chair of the Greater Peoria Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Advisory Board.

What We Discuss With In This Episode

The power of leaning in
The conversation around political correctness
The 3 pillars of the Caterpillar Foundation
Michele’s current involvement at a grassroots level
Michele’s experience meeting Bono
Using your platform to lift people up
Michele’s thoughts on leadership, inclusion, and diversity
The challenges of being a leader

Transcript Highlights

The Power of Leaning In

If you give people a chance and they take the chance to get to know you, it’s really hard to make fun of someone when you know them because you really start to care about the person.

We all need help with different things so don’t be afraid to ask for help. Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. Especially at this time of the pandemic, lean in and help people. Allow other people to lean in and help you and it really makes the world a better place. So it works both ways.

Opening yourself up is a risk. Anytime you walk up to somebody and start talking, there’s a risk they’re going to tell you to just move along and that’s okay. What’s the worst thing that can happen? So don’t hesitate to make the first move and do it in a variety of ways. Otherwise, a lot of people aren’t going to make the first move.

The Conversation Around Political Correctness

Stepping up is mutual and it’s a collaboration. And the political party should not make any difference to you because there are a lot of other issues today. It’s not about one party over another because you need both. Both are broken yet both have value. It’s more about having a social impact.

Thoughts on Leadership

You have to have emotional intelligence because as a leader, you have to get to know the people and read them. Understand what makes them motivated because everybody’s so different.

Go for diverse teams, not just in terms of gender but also in terms of nationality and other backgrounds. When people go through things, it really changes you. So you want people who have been through different types of challenges – good and bad. And you have to recognize what their triggers are, what really motivates them, or demotivates them. Because money doesn’t motivate as many people as you think.

Be a collaborator. Surround yourself with people who know the subject and the different subject matters that you cover. Hire people in a collaborative way, where you bring all the thoughts together and come up with the right solutions and move forward.

Thoughts on Inclusion and Diversity

It takes a lot of work because you don’t know what you don’t know. Someone may feel excluded and you don’t even know it because we’re all busy at work and you’re going 100 miles an hour. So slow down and really make an effort to figure out if a person is being excluded or not.

If you’re not feeling included, you also have to speak up. Because you can’t just sit there and wallow in self-pity.

Professionally, you have to make an effort to give opportunities across the board. If something doesn’t work, find another opportunity. Just because this one didn’t work doesn’t mean it’s not going to work the next time. Don’t give up.

As a leader, you have to make the effort to really watch and sense what’s going on outside your office. Because even as a leader, you can feel excluded. As leaders, you also have to include other leaders.

Focus on the team. Sometimes, leaders are busy moving up the ladder so they tend to miss other things when that becomes their sole focus. If the team succeeds, you will succeed as well. And everything will happen from there.

When you bring the diversity of thought to a project, you come up with ideas that you would never have come up with on your own. Growing companies that are achieving hyper-growth have diversity, which gives them the edge in their market.

Episode Resources

Book: Looking Up
TED Talk: Asking For Help Is A Strength, Not A Weakness

Connect With Michele Sullivan

Website: www.michelelsullivan.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Michele-L-Sullivan-Looking-UP-385745471985840
Instagram: www.instagram.com/followmichelel
Twitter: twitter.com/FollowMicheleL

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