Carol:
Welcome back to The People-Forward Leadership™ Podcast. Some leaders inherit a steady system, but my guest today stepped into the top job at a transit agency just as her region voted to reinvent how it moves. Monica Tellez-Fowler is president and CEO of COTA, the Central Ohio Transit Authority, the public transit agency serving Columbus and the Central Ohio region. She came up through accounting and treasury and built her career in transit finance and operations.
She served as CFO of Trinity Metro in Fort Worth, where she led the federal grant process for TEXRail, a billion-dollar commuter rail. She then served as deputy CEO and treasurer at C-TRAN right here where we host the podcast in Vancouver, Washington, where she represented the agency on the Interstate 5 bridge replacement across the Columbia River. Then she joined COTA as chief operating officer in March 2023, became deputy CEO two months later, and was named president and CEO in 2024 by a unanimous board vote. Monica, thank you so much for being here and for being on the show and coming to the podcast.
Monica:
No, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Carol:
Yeah. So one of the things I'd love to do is to start by understanding your journey. Right? What brought you into transit? How did you go from finance to being the CEO of a transit agency, and just hearing about your leadership journey, and if there's any moment or experience that really, from your perception, shaped how you lead today?
Monica:
Yeah. I mean, I think the big piece is I enjoy learning from people and then translating those lessons into how I show up for others. So I don't think I ever was initially looking for that leadership position specifically or to be a CEO of a transit agency, but what I realized along the way is leadership doesn't come from a title or from just one moment. It really comes from paying attention to people, whether that be the leaders who have challenged me, supervisors who pushed beyond my comfort zone, just the examples that teach you what you want to repeat in your future.
What really pulled me into this work is that transportation is deeply human by nature. It's really how I got a chance as the opportunity in general to education. So, for reference, I'm the first in my family to have received a college degree and went on to get a master's, and that just was not something that was in my future. But as a teenager, I had a vice principal who really kind of, "Hey, what are you doing? You're so smart. You need to do something." I ended up having to go to a different school, but I used the bus. Right?
Carol:
Mm-hmm.
Monica:
So as I was doing accounting and finance, I ended up at a transit agency in the accounting and treasury field, but that human connection clicked immediately and my why immediately revealed itself. So for me, I'm here at COTA. Our work is about helping people, whether that's get to school, get to work, healthcare, all of the different things. The mission requires both the operational discipline and people-first mindset. You can't leave transit from just data or just looking at your screen. You have to understand the people doing the work and the people who depend on the service.
Carol:
I love that. You said so many amazing things in that. First of all, I love that you said transportation is deeply human. I think that is such a great statement, because, like you said, you're helping people, whether it's getting to work or to the doctor or things of that nature that fundamentally is deeply human, and that I also love that you said that leadership doesn't come from a title or just, I think you said, from a moment, but from the lessons that you learn.
Monica:
Yes. Yeah.
Carol:
Yeah.
Monica:
Absolutely.
Carol:
I love that. I think that is so powerful, because it's the accumulation of the things that you pick up along the way or just observing people and watching people, I think you said too, just looking at the people around you and translating those into lessons for others. I just love those.
Monica:
Absolutely.
Carol:
Yeah.
Monica:
Yeah. And sometimes you're going through it and you don't truly acknowledge or recognize that there's growth happening in those moments. And a lot of times, you can reflect back on it, whether months or years later, and you're like, "That actually had such a huge impact in the way now I approach this type of situation."
Carol:
Yeah. Yeah. I love that you said that, that you don't often recognize that growth is happening in the moment, and I think that's so true. One of the key principles of our People-Forward Leadership framework, the very first one is leader awareness, and it really is about this self-reflective process of always having this kind of reiterative process of self-examination, getting feedback and examining self and, as a leader, seeing what I'm doing well, where I need to grow, putting that back out there, and then getting that feedback.
So that kind of loop that happens and engages with that, which I think is really important. And you have led in Texas and in the Pacific Northwest, and now in the Midwest, and you've been a CEO for two years now. So as you are reflecting on your leadership in terms of the things that you shared, I'm just curious, as you reflect back, what have you learned about yourself as a leader that has changed over the years from maybe when you first showed up as a leader?
Monica:
Yeah. Well, I think one of the things I learned, and it was a good lesson for me to learn, was there's value in vulnerability, and I don't mean oversharing or just being an open book. I mean, just in being willing to say, "That's something I'm working on," or "This is somewhere I need help," because I think when a leader acknowledges that, it makes the workplace more human, and it makes it more approachable. So it gives other people permission to grow, basically.
If I can say, "I'm still developing in this area," or "This is not my strong suit," then someone else can say, "Hey, here's where I need support." And they don't feel like that's a weakness, and that is usually a struggle for people, particularly someone looking to build those leadership skills. You think you have to always say or act like, "I know everything. I have all the answers. This is not too much for me." But sometimes it is, and sometimes we have to be okay with allowing those people around us to see it, because if we can't be vulnerable in that space, then they are not going to feel safe in sharing what they need from us.
Carol:
Yeah. I totally agree with that, and I've heard from other people, just over the years of working with leaders, people feeling like they're not ready to step into leadership. And when I ask why, they think they don't know enough or they haven't had enough experience, and I'm wondering, to your point, is it because their leader has given the perception that they know everything and that they have arrived and are not showing that level of vulnerability to know that it's always a learning process?
You don't arrive. You just take a title, but you're constantly growing and learning in that role. And I love having value in that vulnerability to just admitting when you don't know and growing and learning with your team. Yeah.
Monica:
Yeah.
Carol:
It does open the door. So I see vulnerability as one of your values. You walked into COTA as CEO in 2023 and very quickly found yourself at the bargaining table with a possible work stoppage in the background, and you're new to the organization, new to the workforce in the region. And I'm curious, not only, how did you manage that process? What was your thinking coming in there as a leader that I'm sure would be helpful to other leaders listening to know about that? But also, when the pressure is high and the stakes are real, what keeps you grounded in your values so that you're not reacting in the moment or feeling overwhelmed by the moment?
Monica:
Yeah. And I think for everyone, it's got to be different things, but my anchor, what really holds me down is my family, and I mean that in a very broad sense. Right? I define that very broadly. It's not just my biological family, but it's also my circle of friends that I've built over time, trusted colleagues that I'll pick up the phone and, "This is what I'm dealing with." And sometimes it's a, "I just need to vent." And sometimes it's a, "I need some help here."
But it's those people I've built around me in that trusted circle. Right? Those are people that really keep me grounded, keep me humble. They help me push through self-doubt or remind me of who I am as a person outside of the title. Right? We get so trapped in that title. But the other thing that really anchors me is going back to the mission.
So when the work gets complicated, and for a lot of us, that is just a normal course of what we're going to go through. It will get complicated at some time. I need to understand what I'm trying to achieve. So I will work to get closer to the people we serve and the people doing the work so that I can understand what we are really here for, what are we trying to accomplish? So sometimes that means I spend time out in the garage or I spend time talking to operators, riding the bus, or being in the community, whatever the case is. But those are the moments that remind me what this work is really about.
Carol:
Yeah.
Monica:
What are we really doing here? And I think I really took that into coming into a space where, you're right, I came in, and within months, it's like, one, first, "Congratulations. You're the deputy CEO after two months." And then now you're also responsible for this contract negotiation, which is not necessarily an easy thing, but going into a contract negotiation on top of, next year, we need to go out for a levy. So this needs to be a positive thing. We need to not just be able to retain and have the support of our workforce, but we need to be an employer of choice next year, because as we pass that levy, we're going to have to grow our frontline employee base. Right?
So that was really something that, for me, it was fairly easy. And I spent a lot of days in the room negotiations, but I also spent a lot of time talking to people, like, "Help me understand what's going on here. What are the challenges? What are your schedules like? Let's go through this. Where are your pain points?" And I think that made me a different person when I sat at those negotiating tables, because I was able to come at it from the perspective of, "What are we really trying to accomplish here?" Right?
And one of the things is, is we know we can't do any of the work we do without our frontline employees. That is what makes us move the community. And so, building the relationship where there's a trusted partnership where they recognize that I do see the value that they bring to the organization and that I want to sit down and I want to not only say I recognize it, but do something about it and put that in writing.
Carol:
Yeah. I really like that. Now, I want to go more... I love the concept of getting closer to the people, listening to them, knowing that it's that front line that are the people that are out there that you want to understand what can you do and the resources you can provide, and I know you and TWU Local 208 reached a contract, with 84% members voting for it, and that kind of number reflects trust built over time, to your point, the work that you've been doing and having those conversations and listening and building that connection. And it's hard to do that when people want different things, or you want to give, but you have a limit and on and on and on.
Monica:
Right.
Carol:
So as you continue to build trust across functions and personalities and priorities, what are some of the other things that you do so that people can actually stay true to the mission, as you talked about, being grounded in the mission and moving people in the same direction forward?
Monica:
Yeah. I think part of it is exactly that, really making myself available. I talked about being approachable, having an approachable environment within the organization in general. I think that's something that is wildly important, and one of the things is, is I will never ever come into the building without first having stopped to talk to frontline employees. It's just not something that... I purposely take a path where I will run into the most number of employees possible.
And when I can't do that, I'm riding the system. I'm on the bus so that I can kind of see how are things functioning. I will go to the transit centers themselves, because I think that's an important thing. Sometimes I just hang out in some of the areas where I know that our operators make the most changes, their shift changes, just because I know I'm going to catch people who are waiting for their next bus and the people who are coming off that bus, and I can catch them and talk to them in that space. But I think even internally with the admin, I think that's an important thing as well. So we have a couple of things we do internally here, and we do what I call or we call Mingle with Monica.
Carol:
Oh, that's nice.
Monica:
It's basically a town hall meeting. Right? And so, just kind of get together. We post up for three to four hours at a time at our different garages, our different transit centers, and we advertise that internally so that all of our employees, admin, frontline employees, doesn't matter, they all know I'm going to be there from this hour to this hour.
And it's not a meetings format. It's not anything. It's a, "Come and talk to me." And a lot of our other leadership team will come and they'll be available so that if something does come up, whether it's, "Hey, I'm having this problem with my benefits. Oh, by the way, our chief of HR is here. Have you met our chief of HR?" Like, "No, I haven't." "Come over here. I want to introduce you."
And then there's that rapport built so that we also are building that trust with the rest of the leadership team, because it's great to have a CEO who's approachable. It needs to be the entire leadership team, and it's something that we work on as a team together.
Carol:
Yeah. That's really interesting. I love that point about it's one thing to have the CEO have an open door, but really incorporating that within your leadership team. What are some of the ways that you have been able to do that with your leadership team? Because not everyone may want to mingle with everybody.
Monica:
Yeah. Certainly.
Carol:
And some roles feel maybe more isolated than they do. Right? You have finance who may not deal as much when you have operations who are right there engage with everybody all the time. So when it's Mingle with Monica, are your leadership team there with you, or are there other ways in which you really help to foster that opportunity to supporting your leadership to be with the people?
Monica:
Yeah. So one of the things we do is, so we also have what we call The Loop, and The Loop shares out stories and, "This is what this department does. This is who..." Let's talk about finance. Right? And you also deal with, there's personalities that are different in terms of how they want to interact. Right? But if you can put this out there and say, "Look, this is who works in finance." So then there's not this, "I don't know who that guy is." Right?
And as we continue to grow, that can easily become a problem. So that Loop really helps in that. The Mingle with Monica, my leadership team does a good job of trying to show up to the different things. I think they all have said at one point or another, "Do you need a break?" because I tend to just-
Carol:
Oh, that's great.
Monica:
I do them all, and I'm always there, and I'm like, "Nope. I'm good, I'm good, I'm good," because I'm just enjoying myself. They know I'm kind of that personable type of individual.
Carol:
Yeah.
Monica:
But for everyone else, it's not the same thing. But if I can help introduce and connect people and say, "Oh, good question about vehicles. Did you know that in engineering, we're doing this?" And people are like, "Oh, I didn't know that," and I'll then tee somebody up. And when they're talking about something they know and they're passionate about, because they're working on it every day, that tends to break down that barrier about how uncomfortable they are with mingling with someone. Right?
Carol:
Yeah.
Monica:
So those are the kinds of things we try to do to try to help individuals bridge that gap in terms of how comfortable or uncomfortable they may be with, just in general, interacting.
Carol:
I think that's great, because it also works to prevent silos and people just operating with their blinders on in their own areas. And when you're sharing who's who and who's doing what and people are relieving you from all the time that you spend, it allows people to hear what's going on and to hear the heartbeat, and to take a pulse of what's happening throughout the organization, that then they can share with each other and inform with each other about, and really share the understanding of what's happening within the organization. Yeah. I think that's fantastic.
Monica:
Absolutely. It also builds trust amongst the teams. Right?
Carol:
For sure.
Monica:
I think the team wants to know that I have people who are supporting me who actually know what they're doing. My priorities are being considered. What's happening on the street is a priority to them. They're informed. They are willing to listen. So building that trust is also important, because what you don't ever want to see is, you talked about the silos, and the silo is one thing, but when you start to see that break between management and front line or admin and front line, that is a dangerous place to be.
Carol:
Yeah.
Monica:
And so, it kind of helps alleviate that when you're building that trust and forcing people to share with them this thing you're doing to try to make their job easier.
Carol:
Yeah. Yeah. And it levels up their knowledge, their experience, and everything-
Monica:
Absolutely.
Carol:
... when they have that opportunity, and really build what I call empowered ecosystems, where people are really working together, solving problems, and with greater, deeper understanding and thought process and commitment toward it, which I think is definitely fostered by doing that type of work.
Monica:
Yeah.
Carol:
One of the things I'm curious about too is that you've been in finance, and I know sometimes it could be a challenge of weighing what's right for people against what the business needs. Right? So I'm curious if there's been a hard call that you've had to make, and how did you decide about that balance, and how did you make the call around it?
I mean, I think of extending family leave, a negotiated family leave to all of your employees and to part-time, which was fantastic to be able to do, but how do you balance that? Because I know sometimes people struggle with, "Well, we have to first focus on the business at sacrifice of the people." And that could really be a balance, a hard balance, I think, in people's minds of trying to walk that line of, how do we still support our people even when we have to make the hard call sometimes? And so, I'm just curious how you navigate that.
Monica:
Yeah. I think for me, and I kind of talked about this, it's such a great question, by the way, such a great question, but-
Carol:
Thank you.
Monica:
... I think I kind of talked about the human side of what we do, and I really believe, I honestly, truly believe that you have to... For me at least, I go back to that every single time. And I think one of the things we were really struggling with when I first came on board in 2023 was not only recruitment, but retention, and it seems...
At face value, simple enough, we did increase our pay, and it seems at face value that that may be part of it, but people love working at COTA now, and we are an employer of choice for different reasons than that. You talked about our family leave policy. That's certainly one of the things. We also have other great benefits, including tuition reimbursement. We have a plan that helps pay back... We contribute to a portion of paying back student loans for some people.
Carol:
Wow.
Monica:
We have multiple programs about this. And yes, the financial implication is there, but when you have teams that are willing and want to work for you, that is huge and important, because you think about the time and effort you spend in any kind of attrition in general. That can easily become a challenge, and it is quite expensive in its own.
But, I mean, I think there's even other things that I think about. We talk about, for me, how we push decision-making down and try to make it very intentional in everything we do. So I'm one person, and yes, I have my opinions about the people first, but it's easy enough for one person to make those decisions. This is really about, "Let's have the other voices at the table so that it's not one person making these decisions." But you get to hear, again, that listening piece is really important.
So if I can have honest, open conversations with people early and understand what are we trying to solve and what are the different tools in our toolbox that we can use to solve those issues, then we can come up with something that is maybe as robust as possible and ultimately ends up getting us a win. So I don't think the financial piece is just a simple financial piece. Again, I said this, you can't make decisions based on data alone. That's the same thing for a spreadsheet, because how do you quantify the attrition rate?
How do you quantify the training it takes? How do you quantify the staff that it takes to train those individuals? How do you quantify having somebody with years of experience who you know you can trust? We just had one of the worst snowstorms in a long time here in Central Ohio, at a Level 3, and we had bus operators show up, and it was in the news here, and people were like, "The only vehicles we saw on the road were COTA vehicles."
Carol:
Wow.
Monica:
And when I was talking to operators, like, "Thank you so much for showing up," it's like, "This is what we do. We got to get people where they got to go. This is what we do." But that's a lot of them being here, and they're accustomed to it. They know this is what we do. They're bought into the mission. And so, it warms your heart to know that they also understand that there's a human part to what we do at the end of it. So we are just doing the same thing to them and treating them as humans, and they're able then to pass it along.
Carol:
Yeah. Yeah. That was so good, and I think so often the thought is, "To retain is going to be too expensive," or "We don't have the money," or "We don't have this or that." But what you said is that when you invest in your people by being an employer of choice, by creating a culture that's driven by the mission, by listening to people and meeting their needs and engaging with them and understanding what they need to be satisfied and engaged and loving what they do, and to work where they're working, to be an employer of choice makes such a big difference, is what we say that when people thrive, organizational success is inevitable.
And so, leaning into the people actually is a business need and can sometimes be the greatest lever over financial, and I'm not saying, "People would love a raise, but if they don't like where they work, you can't give them enough money to stay."
Monica:
That's exactly right.
Carol:
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I love that your focus is really vested in making sure that your people are committed, supported, and loving what they do, and everything else becomes really icing on the cake from that point. Yeah.
Monica:
Yeah. Yeah.
Carol:
So congratulations on that.
Monica:
Thank you.
Carol:
I think that's amazing. I love that your people saw that, with you all the only ones in the snowstorm out there and really being committed to being out there.
Monica:
Yeah.
Carol:
I think that's awesome.
Monica:
It was a nice thing to see in the newspaper.
Carol:
Yeah. Yeah. And the other thing too that that reminds me of is that to hear your bus driver say, "No, we have to be here to be a resource for the people."
Monica:
Yeah.
Carol:
It shows that everyone at every level understands, to your point, that transportation is deeply human, that it's not just a job, but it's a purpose, and it's a commitment to it, and everyone sees where their role impacts that. That's really powerful. Yeah.
Monica:
Yeah. So we have operator graduations, and I think one of the things that we do is, one, we actually celebrate their graduations with the ceremony, but we also are given an opportunity to share some words with them, and there's some great words shared by the union leadership, by operations leadership, by training, and I am always given an opportunity to chat with the graduating classes. And that's one of the things I always go back to, is I have a why for what I do every day, and that's what brings me back every day passionate and committed to what I'm doing. And while you may not have the same why, I do want you to understand what's behind this.
And so, I always share a story with them about the human part of what we do and remind them that regardless of the job is a difficult job and we can all acknowledge that and we recognize it, but I don't want them to get caught up in a bad day or someone yelled at them and walk away from, because ultimately, what they're doing is they're connecting that individual to education where they can change their life, connecting someone to a job that they need, because they're supporting a family, getting to the healthcare they need that they wouldn't be able to do any other way. Right?
So just reminding them that there are people behind what we do. We all have bad days regardless of the positions we're in, but ultimately, it's like remember what we're all doing here, and that is trying to move the people in our region forward.
Carol:
Yeah. Yeah. You talked about trust and vulnerability and active listening and your Mingle with Monica moments where people can just come and share with you. And as you think about those things and others, I'm just curious, how would you define what psychological safety looks like at COTA and how that's working? And would you say part also of having that psychological safety there is the thing that really has supported you being that employer of choice and things of that nature?
Monica:
Yes. Certainly. So for me, I think psychological safety means people can raise concerns. They can ask questions, offer ideas, and acknowledge mistakes without immediately fearing that there's going to be negative consequences. Right? In practice, it's not a slogan. It's like we actually have to live that. So it's the behavior of a leader when someone tells you something you may not want to hear is what is going to create that environment, whether or not someone feels safe in that.
So we are still building that culture here. I'll acknowledge that. It's a large organization, especially with many frontline employees and a long history. It takes time for people to believe it is safe to speak up. So we are still working through that. That was something that I was tasked with shortly after coming in, and we have started to see the needle move, but it's certainly not where I'm hoping we end up. But the work is for us to keep showing up.
Carol:
Yeah.
Monica:
And through our actions, speaking up leads to listening, problem-solving, and improvement. So not any type of retaliation or dismissal. We just have to keep showing up and demonstrating to people that it's a safe area. That coupled with, I shared with you, I allow myself to be vulnerable so that people recognize that I am human too. So it is okay for you to be human in this space.
Carol:
Yeah. Yeah.
Monica:
Yeah. I think culture changes, and that is a culture change for us, is one of the tougher things and takes time.
Carol:
Yeah.
Monica:
So we're just going to keep working at that and keep showing up in that way.
Carol:
That's great. Yeah. I always tell people, culture change takes time. It's the long game. It is not the short one, and it's the constant showing up, the consistency that your people are seeing that they start to begin to depend on to shift whatever narrative that's been in their mind around what's possible, that maybe in the past, before you got there, it wasn't quite like that, or at least the belief that it wasn't there.
But over time, the consistency of showing up, the consistency of vulnerability, the consistency of listening, it does take time, and I know sometimes some leaders can get frustrated when they say, "No, we're going to be different." And their people aren't like, "Okay. We believe you." It's like, "Well..." And even when people see the change, it still takes a moment for it to really process as, "Is this going to be real? Is this something I could depend on?" And it really takes the patience and that long-game thinking from a leader for it to really shift within that culture.
Monica:
That's right, and the smallest thing can set them back into-
Carol:
Exactly.
Monica:
... like, "Oh, they shared something." And if you outwardly demonstrate some displeasure with that in a way that scares them, you've now reiterated to that person that it is, in fact, not safe. So I will say, I have actually had a bad reaction to something, and I recognize, "Okay. That was not good, because now that person is never going to come to me again." And I've had to go back and sit with that individual, say, "Can we talk through this? Because I responded in this way, and I should not have. I'm disappointed in myself. It's something I will work on. I want to make sure that you feel like you can come talk to me."
So even though I'm not happy with that, but I want to talk about, "What are we learning from this? How do we do better?" I want to make sure that there's still accountability, of course, because that's a separate thing. Accountability still has to be somewhere, but I also want to make sure that people are okay with taking that accountability. They were not afraid to say, "Yes, I made a mistake." And they don't have to look for someone to blame or hide problems or wait too long before they raise the issue and it's something way worse at that point.
Carol:
Yeah.
Monica:
And so, some of that also requires some self-awareness and recognizing that we're human as well and we are going to make mistakes. And so, I have actually caught myself and had to go back and say, "I'm sorry that that was my reaction. This is how I would like to address that."
Carol:
That's great. That's what I call emotional adulthood.
Monica:
Some days, right? Some days.
Carol:
I want to talk a little bit about AI. I know COTA's current labor contract includes job security for union employees as COTA brings in new technologies and service innovations, and Link US is modernizing the whole system from rapid transit lanes to how riders are even paid. So I'm curious, as AI reshapes how your teams may be thinking about working in the future, how are you keeping people and not just the technology at the center of your decisions?
Monica:
Yeah. That's a great question. So we did intentionally work on an AI policy on how we were going to manage this, how it was going to be used, and very intentionally baby-stepping into this. We surrounded those policies, embedded them into our technology policies so that all of this could be managed in one space. We're using them in different places in terms of the technology on our buses. We're using them in terms of the technology with regard to security, procurement, those types of things.
But the big push is, when we use them, we are looking to, "How do they allow us to do more or find efficiencies to get better versus this allows us to have less people?" because the fact of the matter is, the more data we have, the more technology. We all know that the push on us is to do more every day, all the time. There is just more, more, more. It is never-ending, whether that be process more data, read more...
When you put out a solicitation now, the number of responses you get is astronomical, and that is just simply because more people have access to AI, and they can quickly throw that in there and get a response written in no time. They submit that. So we have to have some way to manage that, and AI is one of those answers. How do we read all of these things? Right?
Carol:
Yeah.
Monica:
And you use AI to, like, "Okay. Well, these are all AI-written. These are all..." And you can quickly pull those out, then we can focus on the real responses versus just that. As far as vehicles, that's actually written into our contract where we would not add any technology without working with our union, and the idea there is really helping them and us understand what is best for the operator, because I think... I mean, I don't know how old your car is, but even some of the new vehicles, there are so many dashboards on, one, just in general, your dashboard.
But then on your window, your windshield, there's different data points on there. Right? And as those show up, we're getting more and more... Well, think about that for a bus operator, and they've got all of the farebox stuff. They've got safety things. And some of the mirrors now, those technologies are on there. One is, is it the right time to add that? What would that entail? What would the training take to install those?
Is that actually helpful? Is it more distracting than helpful? Understanding all of those pieces is a big part of how we would use AI. And even though it may be beneficial in, let's say, enforcement in terms of dedicated guideways, that may be great, but if it's distracting to the operator and then our accident numbers are up, our safety numbers are up, that's not going to be helpful to anyone, because ultimately, what we're trying to accomplish is to put out a safe, reliable service.
Carol:
Yeah. Yeah. Have people been excited about AI coming in and what it could do as a way that allows you to do more and do better, not replacing them, but really augmenting and supporting them, or are they still a little kind of worried, a little side-eyeing AI?
Monica:
No. I think there's a lot of people who are excited about that. I think they're more like, "Let's get this rolling," because there's so many different softwares out there that allow people to go out there and test it and play with it, and that's great. But in the workplace, we have to manage that and ensure that it's being done in a way that is helpful to us, that we are not putting information out there that is making us vulnerable or putting us at risk. And so, if anything, we're probably slow-rolling it a little more than people would like, but I think they understand that from the cybersecurity perspective of-
Carol:
Of course.
Monica:
... trying to make sure that we're managing things and approaching this in a more strategic way rather than just, "Let's just let it rip."
Carol:
Yeah. And definitely in this day and age, I think slow and steady is the better way to approach AI today than fast and not thinking about it. So, Monica, my final question for you is, if you could leave leaders with just one shift, one practice, or one mindset to be more people-forward based on your years of experience and knowledge, what would that be?
Monica:
I would say meet people where they are, and try to respond with empathy instead of judgment. That doesn't mean you have to avoid hard decisions. It means just take the time to understand where someone is coming from before you form an opinion or make an assumption of something. Right?
Sometimes people feel unsupported because they don't understand the rationale behind a decision or because no one took the time to listen to their perspective. I think people-forward leadership starts with listening. So when people believe you're truly listening, they're more willing to engage, more willing to trust, and more willing to step forward the next time something comes up.
Carol:
Yeah. Well, there's no better way to end this episode than that. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. You're building the future of a region, and then you're doing it by taking care of the people who run it, which is such an amazing example of leadership. So thank you for sharing your insight-
Monica:
Thank you.
Carol:
... and being here.
Monica:
Thank you.
Carol:
Awesome.
Monica:
Had a great time.
Carol:
Thank you. Yes. It's what people-forward leadership at scale, as we talked about, should look like, and I'm grateful that you shared it. And thank you, everyone, for tuning in and listening. If this conversation gave you something to think about, share it with a leader who needs to hear it. And to learn more on how we can help leaders and organizations grow, you can visit us at thriveaxisgroup.com or email us at hello@thriveaxisgroup.com. Until next time, keep leading people forward, and we'll see you soon.
