We can get so caught up in how we are seen that we miss opportunities to course correct and expand our views on the world around us. 

And admitting you made a mistake or that you changed your mind can feel like jumping into shark infested waters. 

The process of expanding our views and self-correction involves connecting meaningfully with other’s experiences and needs so we can see the world outside of our own experience.

Sometimes we take in important new data that activates protective behaviors like defensiveness and control while navigating feeling disoriented and uncertain. 

How we move through these moments rarely looks or feels graceful. Especially because parts of us still resist the discomfort that leaves us feeling out of sorts. 

But when you commit to growing as a leader and as a human your work is more than an intellectual and tidy process.

And it requires deepening relationships with others so you can truly understand from your heart the needs and perspectives of others. 

Today’s guests were willing to share hard and vulnerable stories from their lives and perspectives and what started as a conversation in DMs expanded into this roundtable discussion.

Cha Barefield is a powerful speaker, and the host and creator of “The Cha Show”. Cha sees the extraordinary in the ordinary and causes us to see the same. She believes that when you speak about things that matter to you, you will invariably speak about things that matter to everyone. The world needs what Cha seeks to amplify, now more than ever. 

Joon Park shares his incredible typewriter skills and inspiring ‘Typewriter Therapy’ on Instagram and he is also a Hospital Chaplain, Chaplain for the Homeless, 6th degree black belt, ex-atheist, skeptic, son to immigrants, and Korean-American who loves Jesus. He is also the author of The Voices We Carry: Finding Your One True Voice in a World of Clamor and Noise.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How the narrative of “reluctant leadership” has been tied to race and gender for both Cha and Joon
• Why we need to broaden our narratives, whose stories we value, and whose stories we center
• The difficult and exhausting trade-offs of navigating visible leadership as people of color
• How expanding the narrative and acknowledging their history helps Joon and Cha stand in their power
• The fundamental difference between comfort and safety

Learn more about Cha Barefield:

• The Cha Show
• Instagram: @ChaBare

Learn more about Joon Park:

• Instagram: @JSPark3000
• Twitter: @JSParkBlog
• The Voices We Carry: Finding Your One True Voice in a World of Clamor and Noise

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• Native Speaker, Chang-Rae Lee
• The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change, Michelle Mijung Kim
• Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
• The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, Ken Liu
• Exhalation,Ted Chiang
• Stories of Your Life and Others,Ted Chiang
• The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
• Shoutin’ in the Fire: An American Epistle, Danté Stewart
• God Is a Black Woman, Christena Cleveland
• Encanto Soundtrack
• Sarah Kang
• Wyn Starks
• “Tambourine,” Eve
• Yellowstone
• Squid Game
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED Talk