David Fung on Leading Yourself First, Rebuilding Trust, and Why Beliefs Hold Leaders Back

In Episode 177 of Unpacked with Ron Harvey, host Ron Harvey of Global Core Strategies and Consulting sits down with David Fung — executive coach, founder of Coach Full Coaching, and 23-year veteran of the tech industry, including a leadership tenure at Salesforce. Based in Toronto, Canada, David now works with executives and teams navigating major transitions and chaos, helping them find clarity when the stakes are highest.

Ron and David dig into the real, often uncomfortable work that separates titled managers from trusted leaders. From the metaphor of playing soccer at the edge of a cliff to the belief systems that quietly steer behavior, this conversation gives leaders practical language and frameworks they can put to work immediately.

What you will hear in this episode:

• Why learning to lead yourself is the non-negotiable starting point for leading anyone else
• The "soccer at the edge of a cliff" metaphor for creating safety that fuels innovation
• How to lead with weakness instead of performing strength, and why it draws people to you
• A practical framework for diagnosing where and when trust was broken on a team
• Why the "how will we work together" conversation is the one most teams skip
• Lessons from Salesforce on running a metrics-driven culture without losing your humanity
• How clarity, cadence, and accountability prevent conflict-averse leadership
• Why beliefs — not skills — are what most often hold leaders back
• The four pillars of sustainable leadership: faith, family, friends, and meaningful work
• What the 1937 Harvard Study of Adult Development reveals about community and well-being
• A candid story about how David's biggest strength became the behavior burning out his team

This is a conversation for current and emerging leaders who want to grow without losing themselves in the process.

Connect with Ron
Just Make A Difference: Leading Under Pressure by Ron Harvey

“If you don’t have something to measure your growth, you won’t be self-aware or intentional about your growth.”

Learn more about Global Core Strategies

.
.
.
.
.
Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before implementing any suggestions or recommendations made in this podcast. The speakers and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by listeners based on the information presented in this podcast. The podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or services. The speakers and guests make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this podc...

Transcript

Welcome And What We Unpack

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Unpack Podcast with your host, Leadership Consultant, Ron Harvey of Global Core Strategies and Consulting. Ron believes that leadership is the fundamental driver towards making a difference. So now, to find out more of what it means to unpack leadership, here's your host, Ron Harvey.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Good morning, everyone. This is Ron Harvey with Unpack Leadership, a podcast. Super excited every time what we do as a company is professional development around leadership and people and conflict and all those people problems, those things that show up in every environment. That's the work we do. We love it. We're based out of Columbia, South Carolina, and didn't really come here. So you can always find us on LinkedIn and you can go to our webpage. You can find out everything about us. We host this podcast to have real conversations about real things that are happening. And so I'm really excited all the time that our guests show up. We don't have any prescripted questions. The one thing we promise on this podcast, we'll talk about leadership. How we get there, I'm not sure yet. Hang on with us, have fun with us. Don't leave yet. We promise you that we will give you something exciting and some good content and some tips that you could use if you're in a leadership seat. With that being said, I'm super excited to have another guest coming with us from Toronto.

From Corporate Scars To Coaching

SPEAKER_01 1:17

David, I'm going to invite you to the microphone and always invite my guests to introduce themselves however they wish.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

My name is David Fung. I am here in Toronto, Canada. It is a chilly day today. And um why I'm on here? Well, first of all, I spent 23 years in the tech industry the last decade or so in leadership. I have the scars from the corporate world, and I recently left it so that I can pursue full-time the best part about leadership, which is seeing people grow, seeing people have that aha moment, but also to share a lot of the missteps and the fall flat on my face moments with them so that they don't have to as well. And so with that, uh today I am uh an executive coach and working with leaders to help them uh during major transitions and chaos and bring calm during those times.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yeah, well, appreciate you, David. Man, I mean, a lot to unpack about your career and the journey and coming out of corporate and being an entrepreneur. And, you know, so I'll I'll dive right in. As you see from being in corporate, um being an entrepreneur, what are some of the similarities when it comes to leadership, regardless of where you find yourself at? Um, a lot of our guests on all different industries from all walks of life. What are some things you're finding pretty common across that um across those organizations around leadership?

Guardrails That Let People Thrive

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Yeah. So here's the one thing I'm happy to see in many more progressive organizations is that uh I think a lot of the answers you would get traditionally, Ron, would have been, oh, leadership is about uh, you know, creating an environment for people to thrive. That's still true. Absolutely. Okay, you need to do that. A metaphor I'd like to use is you know, my job as a leader is, you know what? I want to I want people to push themselves. So let's let's take the soccer game. Imagine we're playing soccer at the edge of a cliff. Now, if there were no guardrails around that cliff, people are not gonna play really hard. They're not gonna kick that ball too hard because you know what? They're gonna be afraid of falling off that cliff. That cliff is like you know, innovation, the unknown. But if I put guardrails, you know, a little fence around that cliff at the edge, people are gonna play. They're gonna run, they're gonna run hard because they know even if they run really fast towards the cliff, that guardrail is going to stop them from falling. That's my idea of leadership is that I gotta make sure that they're willing to run towards the cliff. Yes, right. But I put the guards rails in place so that they're willing to do that safely. So that is leadership as a metaphor. But now here's what I see in the more progressive organizations and where leadership needs to continue to evolve is if you're going to lead people, you need to learn to lead yourself first. Super cliche. But I can tell you, so many people don't do the self-work.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Let me unpack that for you, David. So let me let me unpack that though. Yeah, what does that look like? I mean, I hear it and people say it, but what are some examples that that we can say, how do I observe someone leading themselves well? What would I see?

SPEAKER_03 4:37

Yeah, it's it's first of all, it's a person who's leaning themselves first, right? Like, so you know, behind the scenes, what you won't see from me is um all the self-work I do, right? All the things I I question about my beliefs, my belief system, the questioning of my behavior, the questioning, et cetera, et cetera. And I don't mean ruminating, I don't mean like, you know, going into a rat hole and and and and and I mean like really examining, like, hey, is this belief true anymore? Okay. That is what you don't see. What you will see from me is that um because I am confident with myself and I've looked at my self-leadership, I am willing to lead with weakness. That's very counterintuitive. Some people call it vulnerability, some people saying it's humility. I like to catch people's attention and say, you know what, if you want to connect with people, lead with your weakness first. Talk about where you are weak, where you went wrong, and that will draw people to you as a leader. So as a dose of like self-leadership and what that means. And I can tell, like just in our conversation, a few conversations, Ron, I'm gonna go out, go out on a limb and say, you you probably done a lot of self-leadership, you know, uh introspection over the years, right, to get to where you are now, right? Um, because you you seem like you know, you're you at least seem like to me like a person's willing to like just put it out there. It's all good. I'm confident in myself. I'm confident in uh, you know, we talked about competition. It's like it's all good. You know, there is no competition, it's collaboration, it's partnership, right? It's that's confidence, and someone who's done that work, and I I can see that.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Yeah, I'll tell you, David, one of the things I practice all the time is I go first. Um, you know, I tell people like you said, the guardrail, I'm gonna be the one that played hard if you put the guardrails up. Um, I'm gonna kick the ball, I'm gonna run fast, I'm gonna make mistakes and say, hey, I didn't I didn't try that, it didn't work. Um, but but you may want to try it, but but pay attention to these pitfalls. Um, and I think for me, the the important part of what you're saying in leading first is I think leaders eat last, but they try they they model first. And do I does our audio match our videos? It's a phrase I would use. I've written a book and I tell people, does your audio match your video? We were talking in the green room about where your lips are are moving, like we're getting ready and making sure the recording's working right here. And and my lips were not catching up with the sound yet. How do you look like that in your organization? You're saying this, but you're doing this, and they do not a lot.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

And I think we're in our society. I'll let me unpack something else as you talk about leading yourself well.

Trust Starts With What You Control

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Trust is at an all-time low across our society in Germany. What what role do we play as leaders to help to help recover from that?

SPEAKER_03 7:39

So I am going to ask a question back because and it just came to me. That is the narrative I hear a lot. That is, and it's been repeated. Trust is at an all-time low. But I guess who do we trust right now? And and I would ask the question back, who do you trust right now, Ron?

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Yeah, for for me, I think it it depends. Um, I'll tell you there's some characteristics that I look for for who do I trust. And that is people that that the audio matches their video, they're they're transparent, they're gonna be vulnerable, they're gonna take some risks, and and I'll tell you that they're not perfect. If someone shows up like they got it all together all the time, I'm looking like, yeah, I'm a little bit apprehensive of saying because I don't feel like anybody gets it right all the time. So if someone always is perfect, I'm a little leery.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

Yeah, yeah. And and and I I asked this question, and and here's my opinion is that it let's flip the question. And this is what like positive psychology teaches you, right? Um, is that let's flip the question. What do you trust? Right? Here's who I trust. I trust, I trust my faith, I trust my family, I trust my good friends that I choose to have, and I trust in the work I do right now. Those are the things I trust. Now, I think what a lot of people might be saying when they say trust in society, I think they might be talking about the political climate that is prevalent, right? Um honestly, if you put your trust in government, you know, in a political figure and treat them like a deity, and I don't mean just now, I mean ever. Um, you're a fool, in my opinion. Um these individuals are there short term, even if they have the best of intentions, and I'm sure many of them do, um, they don't have enough time to make the impact that they would want to. So, my my my question back to people who say, you know, who are focused on the externals that are not in their control of trust. Well, what do you mean? Well, trust of this side and that side and the government. I'm like, well, should you ever trust that in the first place? That is probably the flakiest thing to trust ever, right? It's like trusting a you know a 30-year-old car that has like 300,000 miles on it. I wouldn't trust that either. Okay. But the things I do trust, it really comes back the faith I have, the family members I have, the friends I choose to have, and as well as the work that I do in service. Those are the things I like to trust.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Yeah, and thank

Repairing Trust With Clear Agreements

SPEAKER_01 10:21

you for sharing that. Let's let's do the little for people that are that are listening to us that they have those things that they trust, and we bring it to corporate America, or we bring it to work, or you bring it to projects. Like we're brought on as partners and organizations, if you will. How do we, you know, when we're working and we're brought in external and we begin to become an embedded partner? How do we get to the place of there are people in workforces that don't trust their boss, that don't trust their co-worker? Um, there's some people that don't even trust some of their family members because the thing that life happens, or that or they don't trust, you know, the institution of religion or faith, whatever if whatever people uh practice, um so not pushing either. But what do you tell those people that are struggling with trust in some things that that that we normally may trust or may not trust? How do you help them navigate that space? Not even government, let's pull politics out, just in general.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

Yeah, I I I think when you think about when you got to think about when trust was broken. Yes, right? And let's let's let's let's just you know take a simple example between you and your boss, yes, right? I am very sure most people who are listening here, their boss is probably a family person, you know, family man, family woman, a couple kids paying a mortgage, trying to get things done, probably had a crappy day, uh, didn't receive the training that they needed to become a good leader. Uh, and then Zoo as a subordinate, okay? You're you have a family, you got mortgage, you're looking for a new house, your dog just crapped all over their kitchen in the morning. Um, those are all elements ready to break trust between two people, right? And so what happens when these two people see each other in the office in the morning is um boss has some sensitive news to communicate, and they communicate it in a way that breaks trust, such as they just say, Hey, Ron, um we're gonna have to put more work on your plate and uh take it or leave it, move on because it's is expedient. So that's when trust is broken, right? That's when connection is broken. So that's where I would start is when was trust broken? Right? Where are the points when trusts were broken? And let's work backwards from there. I am very sure that neither individual, neither party intended to break trust, right? But it certainly that was the impact. So let's start there, right? Intentions are good, and then you move from there, right? Ron, is understanding okay, you understand where trust was broken, okay. Now understanding as a team how you're gonna move forward as a team so that you have these norms, these agreements, so that you can move together together as one unit, one partnership, one collaborative unit, right? How do you want me to communicate with you, Ron? What is uh what are we going to agree to moving forward? Do you want me to be blunt? Do you want me to how what is the best way to communicate with you? And that is something that many teams in corporate America, corporate Canada, corporate anywhere, right? They lack that um team dynamic is how will we work together? I I bet you many teams don't even discuss that. They talk about how I want to work. This is how I am an Abbas, but how will we work together? That is a discussion that needs to be on the table.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

So, yeah, I love that you're I love that you're unpacking that. Uh, you know, what came to mind is you're you're talking through that and how we'll work together. You know, um, we we have a daughter that's that's in college and she's you know moving into her second year and looking at getting an apartment with three other friends.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

And and it was just she's excited, she's fun, let's go do this. And I say, okay, baby, slow down for a second. I started asking questions of how we're gonna live together. Like, who's gonna be responsible for this and and what's this? And if someone moves out, and like she's like, I didn't think about say, well, if you want to keep your friends, you better ask these questions. Yeah, because if you don't ask these real world question issues will come up that you never ever talked about, and then your relationship is broken simply because you didn't talk about it, and so you can't manage expectations because you never talked about it. So, would you say that a part of of getting through this as far as how we're gonna work together is is of managing expectations up front so that way when it shows up, you can you can do it in a healthy way.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Yeah, yeah, and and this is not limited. So here's where I find that some of the most effective leaders I've had the privilege of managing as well as uh uh working for. Yes, is you see a lot of the things that make them effective in the workplace, like you know, how will we work together? What's the best way? They're also great partners in their personal lives. And you what I realized, like I was talking to this um one VP um on my podcast uh recently. She says, like she literally has a weekly, you know, because her and her husband are so darn busy in their corporate lives, they actually have a standing agreement to meet weekly to talk about the state of you know, state of the kids, state of the finances, and the state of how they're working with each other, right? Um, that's their agreement. Now it doesn't have to work for everyone, right? But that communication about uh what is the state of the union, right? And of our union, they bring that to the workplace. And I love working with these people, right? I love working with these people because they're so open in how they communicate, and hence I can be open in how I communicate. But it starts with not none of this fluffy stuff, and like, you know, be open and everything. You got to put it on the table, right? And you got to agree from it from the beginning. And so, especially for folks who are newly promoted uh to a new role, uh taking over a new business unit. That is one of the first conversations you need to have, not about the numbers, not about the quota, not about like, you know, who's doing what, where's the silos, blah, blah, blah. It's let's talk about how we will work together as a team, right? That is probably the number one thing to that sets you up for success moving forward.

Metrics Pressure Without Losing Humanity

SPEAKER_01 16:44

How did you not David? How did you, you know, think about your your younger days in corporate America when metrics mattered and results mattered and you know, productivity mattered? How did you navigate effectively for the leader that's in that position where you still gotta get stuff done? But you gotta, how did you create time to ask the questions about the person and build a relationship and see them as a human when there's pressure on you to meet the deadlines or get the results? How did you balance that?

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Yeah, I mean, I don't have to be younger, like literally, like you know, six months ago.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Now you need to be younger. Six months ago, Ron, I had to deal with this.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

Um, but in all seriousness, the last company I I worked with was tech, you know, large tech company, Fortune 500 in the Bay Area. Um by the way, I learned a lot. The company was Salesforce, right? And I I I'm blessed to have worked for Salesforce, right? Um no company's perfect, but good God, even on its worst day, it was still better than many any other company I've worked for in my in my uh career. And you want a metrics-driven company that brings business rigor, good god, they know how to run a business. They know, like you think you like I've met many people, Ron, who've joined that company and said, Oh, yeah, I've worked really hard at you know, IBM, Oracle, and all that stuff. When they join this company, they're like, Oh my god, I have not worked harder in my life. Yes. And what I'm trying to communicate that it is a very metrics-driven organization, it's good. Demands are weekly, if not daily, right? Um, and so how did I manage that? It was a lot of chaos, in you know, good and bad. That's what happens in a growing company. That clarity, right, of expectations, right? Communicated. I was just talking to a leader, coaching leader right before this. Was that clarity and expectations? You know, so for instance, I'll give you an example. Uh, beginning in last year, um, there were some new expectations on uh metrics, and we needed more rigor, right? That's one of the taxes you pay as a leader, right? Yes, and uh it is what it is. And I I community, you know, I worked with my team, my team of leaders, and and worked with them. Okay, you know, can we agree? This is how the cadence, the operating rhythm we're gonna work with, right? Do we agree with it? They agreed to do a weekly cadence, they didn't like it. I didn't like it. I made sure that this is leaning with weakness. I go, folks, I hate this too, but I this is what I foresee. If we get this operating cadence right, we could probably knock this off in like 10 minutes, not half an hour, right? And in fact, we probably don't need this call, you know, moving forward if we get this right, but we need the habit right now. They agreed to it and they started doing it on a weekly basis, you know, with all these metrics, the corporate tax that we had to pay. Um now, fast forward, there were some individuals who resisted, you know, for whatever reason. Um let's just say we had some, you know, first of all, nice conversations, like, hey, I notice this wasn't done, like we've agreed as a team, right? What's what's wrong? Blah blah blah, some excuse. Then you move on, and then you escalate, you know, that that that coaching, right? Eventually it came to a point where it's hey, look, um, we've talked about this two times already, right? This is unacceptable. If I have to talk about it a third time, our conversation is gonna be very different, right? What do you mean? It's like it's gonna be very different, it's gonna be a talking talking about your performance in this job, right? And so, you know, that so it's clarity as well, right? Clarity, accountability, but we started by agreeing as a team.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Yes. But thank you for sharing. Let's not pack. I mean, because what do you do? How did you help leaders um that almost the language that I use around it is is conflict adverse. They want to make sure everybody's always happy. Is that reality where everybody's always happy and there won't be conflict? Um, and and how do you help leaders navigate that that just don't want to do it, they're uncomfortable going to address real issues. Some people struggle there.

SPEAKER_03 21:06

Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, I'm I'm not uh the I was going to give you a fluffy answer, but let me tell you the reality answer. Yeah, reality answer is that when the resistance is higher than the need to change, right? The resistance to change is higher than the need to change. Um, these individuals need to fall flat on their face in order to make that change. This change that you're talking about is the need to uh hold people accountable, right? Like conflict averse, right? Hold accountability um to stand up for your team, uh, to stand up for yourself, right? But if you're a leader, standing up for yourself is also standing up for your team, right? And uh for those individuals, right? Um I was gonna give you a formula, but I I I say No matter how much coaching I've given to a lot of these individuals who are conflict adverse, it is it is about helping them understand what their belief is around conflict. Yes, right. Like when you are not speaking, you know, when Ron says this and you're not speaking up for your team, what are you believing about yourself?

unknown 22:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 22:17

What are you believing about your team? Because it is beliefs, right, that hold people back, but it's also beliefs that propel people forward. So sometimes those beliefs that are that might be holding you back now, or the beliefs that actually helped you move forward at one point might be holding you back now. And so it is helping these people understand what those beliefs are. That is the job of a coach. And the challenge that is it still serving them to this day. But that said, Ron, back to the falling flat in your face. Some people just need to fall flat in their face, smash them, and get a get a bloody nose. They're like, man, that didn't work. I'm like, mm-hmm. And now the problem's even worse. And by the way, we're talking about your performance now. And this is a different conversation now. And that's the bloody face that some people need. Um, you can see I've had some experiences.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

You know, my next

Feedback That Challenges Your Beliefs

SPEAKER_01 23:15

question, right, David? I like, okay, David. So so tell us, share, would you share with us a time where you had to go through that experience yourself to learn? Because leaders got to take risks. And I love that you said it is it's part of the taxes of leadership. When was when you had to go through this experiential learning of living through it and then recovering from it?

SPEAKER_03 23:34

Yeah. Um, so here's what worked for me and didn't serve me anymore as a leader. One of the things that worked for me as an individual contributor, even as a junior leader, was um very I was very creative. I am still very creative, but much more measured. But very creative. Um, I'm innovative. I make connections where a lot of people don't see the connections and have a ton, a crap load of ideas. Thomas Edison would be very proud of me, okay, if he was still alive. Okay, I would probably invent the net next light bulb for outer space uh with him. Um that does not serve your team when you have a new freaking idea every week. Just think about that. Oh, Ron, I have another idea. How about we launch a campaign to do this? How about how about and that created um a lack of clarity? It created a lot of guessing on the team. And you know, it's not and it created uh, dare I say, even a little bit of toxicity because it was where where's this boss? Is the boss changing his mind again? And that guessing on top of the workload is what burns people out. And so I love that.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

I love that you're saying that too. So for those of you that are listening, that's coming up every day. How about this? How about this? Every day coming in causes some some tension within your team, is what I'm hearing. Um, how did you recover from it? What did you do to slow that down without losing? Because what I do hear from people, what I they told me to show up as my authentic self. I won't lose me.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

Yep, yeah. So don't mistake in showing up as your authentic self. Uh, also, you know, if your authentic self, you're a stubborn ass. Doesn't mean you should you you show up as a stubborn ass. Okay. Um, authentic self is like, yes, bring yourself and your personality, but if you want to uh become a better leader and better person, you need to be have that humility and doing that inner work, right? Inner work, by the way, I am not a fluff person, right? I do believe in meditation, I do believe in prayer, but I don't do not believe in uh you know fluffy stuff. But you need to do that inner work and question your beliefs, right? And so, you know, you know, but just just back to that. Like you you need to bring your authentic self, but you gotta be willing to learn. And if the willingness to learn and willingness to change is not part of your authentic self, right? First of all, you need to quit as a leader today. Yeah, that's my opinion. Quit as a leader if that's not part of your authentic self, right? You need to learn and you need to be open to learning. So that said, I had one of my leaders who you know um I got to know very well, and she literally said to me one day, is like, Dave, you have a lot of ideas, but you're allowed to keep some of that to yourself for another day. And I go, and we had that conversation. I go, what do you mean by that? She's like, Dave, like you're you're burning people out by doing this. You're burning people out. I go, what what do you mean? I I thought these are great ideas. Like, they are, and it's too much. And and we had that, you know, that honest conversation, and I reflected on it. And here's where I led with weakness. I thought about it, um, and then I brought it back to the team. I I did say to them, like, hey, I didn't realize this, my behavior, this behavior of like coming up with ideas was doing this to you guys, was burning you out, and I'm sorry, right? But it's been brought to my attention. Um, can we agree that like I I'm gonna watch myself, but I'll need your help as well. I'm not delegating it to them, I'm taking responsibility. But um, I think I kept uh I think I did much better over the years after that.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Yes, thank you for sharing. I mean, how was it, you know, when that happens, what do you say to the leader that that made want to take it personal and want to defend that that's that feedback? How do you help them not take it personal and don't defend the feedback?

SPEAKER_03 27:40

Yeah. Um and when you say defend that feedback, it's mean they get defensive if you give it away.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Yeah, they get defensive where you say, hey, you know, these are great ideas, but you but you but it's too much.

SPEAKER_03 27:53

Yeah, yeah. And so I think the psychology behind that is that you know, when you get defensive, it's because you somehow identify your your like your your identity is linked to it. Like my my belief, I can tell you now, after some work, my belief around innovation was that that is how you distinguish yourself um as as a contributor in an organization with new ideas. It is, but you you it's taken to an extreme. That was the problem, right? That was my belief, and I had to challenge that. Um, and and that that's the thing, going back to the beliefs, right? It's like, hey, you know, I I see this is this feedback is landing in a way that's uncomfortable. Like what you know, what what are you believing? You know, like what what belief is it challenging right now? That's the thing I would ask um this leader. What beliefs are we challenging right now? Right. And what about this what about this uh behavior? What do you believe about it? Like I go back to the word belief a lot. It it all starts inside, you know, someone's behavior. So that's a start, and then that's the journey you take as a leader to coach them through that.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Yeah. Thanks, David.

Self Care Pillars And Closing Advice

SPEAKER_01 29:13

You know, as we look at time, I want to be able to get to something that's that's showing up a lot for leaders across the board because everybody's super busy. There's so much thrown at us, the world is moving faster, it's not gonna slow down. What what have you put into practice to ensure that you're doing well with self-care? What's working?

SPEAKER_03 29:32

Um there's there's four pillars. Uh there's four pillars I focus on. And I think I I alluded to that. What do I trust? Um I trust, you know, the the faith and philosophies I have. And uh, you know, I I'm not subscribed to any one faith. I read about you know many faiths, I subscribe to many philosophies as well, you know, everything from Christianity to Buddhism to Taoism. I read, I'm well read, and that is how I formed a lot of my faith around humanity and how to be as a human, right? Because I'm not the first human on this earth, right? Um that's one thing. Um, my family is an anchor, and that is continuous work, continuous time, but also where I get uh I'm anchored as a person and as a father, as a as a husband, that was that's what's anchored, anchors me. Um a lot of us in corporate America, um, we get so busy that we forget about our friends. And what you find out is that once you leave corporate America, that will tell you how how much how much you actually ignored your community, how you ignore friends. Friends are not just your high school friends, it's your community, it's your church, it's you know your pickleball buddies, whatever it might be. That's your friends. Those are the people that make up community, and that is one of the one of the top, that is the number one predictor of happiness, by the way. Harvard's a longitudinal Harvard study did since um started in 1937, still going on to this day, Ron. Right? That is on uh studying adult development. The number one predictor of health uh of healthy adults with good well-being and happiness is community. Think about that. That is that is hard science there that's been running for I can't do the math, 1937, whatever that math is, right? Um and then the thing is the last thing is the work we're doing. I I get it in corporate America, a lot of us are doing the work because we need to pay things, you know, pay our you know, pay our mortgage and everything. You might not feel like you're in service to something bigger, and that's okay. Let's not force it. Okay. Um, but you got to find something in your work, whether it's working in the community, volunteer, um, or eventually like what we're doing right now is go become an entrepreneur and find something that is meaningful to you when you're able to. Um, you got to find something that it gives you meaning um and service to the broader community. That's the work side of it, right? So those are the four things your faith, your family, your friends, and your work as a service.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Yes, I I love that just sharing it. I mean, especially when you say community, you know, what what came up, you know, as you were talking about the community piece of it is the word unity is embedded into that and and in and having those relationships and connections uh creates better health long term. You know, so I'm glad that you're sharing that. I because sometimes it's easy to get siloed as a leader, it's super easy to get siloed.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

Yep, it gets lonely if you choose. It gets lonely if you choose.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

So so David, as we wrap up, is there any last-minute advice um or things that you would like to drop? Say, hey, here are three pearls of wisdom, or in whatever that number is, what would you lead with the people that are listening to us that you've learned from your own journey that could be helpful to them?

SPEAKER_03 33:03

Yeah. Um, if you want to lead others, learn to lead yourself first. Build, you know, build the humility, challenge your beliefs, challenge, uh, you know, enact your discipline to challenge your beliefs, right? You need to start there if you want to be a great leader.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Yes, love it, love it. How do people locate you? If someone wants you to come on a podcast, um, how do they locate you? And then can you tell a little bit about the work that you do? So if someone's interested in your services, um what would what would you share with them about what you do?

SPEAKER_03 33:36

Yeah, yep. I I uh first of all, I I run my own podcast. It's a leadership podcast called Coachful Coaching. So that's my company name, Coachful Coaching. It is a leadership podcast. I've had everyone from ex-Olympians to uh you know people featured on Forbes as well as TED speakers, um, talking about leadership and what that means in life as well as in work. Um, my work right now, as you know, I've spent 23 years as an operator in corporate America leading leading large teams. And now I'm taking a lot of that and helping uh helping organizations and their leaders in uh unpacking in many of the, you know, just like your podcast team, but unpacking when there is especially chaos and transitions happening in their in their world, it's unpacking that so that we can bring calm back to their teams and to their organization. So I work, I do that by uh um doing one-on-one executive coaching. So uh I do that right now, as well as team coaching uh with these individuals, uh with these teams as well.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Yes, yes. What's what's the best way to find you?

SPEAKER_03 34:44

Um uh LinkedIn, uh I'll you know, hopefully it'll be in your show notes. You can find me on LinkedIn, um David Fung. Uh, you'll see me there, as well as uh coachfulcoaching.com. Um, but you can also search for the Coachful Coaching Leadership Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or anywhere you stream your podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

Yes, yes, thank you, thank you, thank you, David. I mean, uh for unpacking so much and having conversations, you know, with our audience that's real. Um, and I love that you say, hey, I was gonna give you a pleffy answer, but let me let me just be transparent. Here's what I did. Um, and for those of you that are with us that follow us and um and um spent some time with David and I this morning, thank you. Um, continue to share the link, uh, continue to join us. We release a different episode every single week um to share things behind the scenes, fully transparent in the green room. Um so follow us, you know, Ron Harvey. You can find us at uh Global Course Strategies and Consulting. You can find us on anything that you can find a podcast on, you'll find us there as well. Um, we host a major leadership conference every year um for professional development. You know, feel free to if you ever want to come to Columbia, South Carolina, plan for the first Friday of October every year. We're hosting a conference, all strictly for professional development. Um, and then you can find us on LinkedIn. And if you know someone or you're interested in being on a podcast, just go to our webpage. You'll see an opportunity to see what we're doing, you'll see some of the all the episodes on our webpage as well. And if you think you can add value to leadership development, the conversations that help leaders, that's strictly our audience, that's where we spend all of our time because our model is people always matter. We will always live by that and make sure that we take care of people. So um, thank you for joining us. Please share with anybody else. Um, the best way to find both of us is on LinkedIn if you're interested in finding or talking or having another conversation with us. And until next time, David and I are going to sign off and tell you thank you for joining Unpack with Ron Harvey.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpack Podcast with leadership consultant Ron Harvey. Remember to join us every Monday as Ron Unpacks Sound Advice, providing real answers for real leadership challenges. Until next time, remember to add value and make a difference where you are for the people you serve. Because people always matter.