This week I talk with Suzan Abdurrahman about thinking outside the box, being curious, coaching leadership, and having the courage to speak up.
We also get into a discussion about the value of mentorship.
Suzan has so much great experience and advice to share.
Contact Suzan
LinkedIn: @sawad
About Suzan
Suzan Abdurrahman is the IT Director of the Project Management Office at White Cap.
She was born to remove barriers, share knowledge, and support all primarily underdogs. She says she accidentally fell into IT and subsequently project management but in retrospect it’s where she belonged this whole time.
Suzan kicks ass in solving business problems and leading teams which results in businesses kicking ass in their market area.
She has a passion for exceeding customer expectations, team building, mentoring, and delivering creative out of the box solutions.
Suzan’s certifications include: ITIL, Project Management Professional (PMP), Scrum Fundamental Certification, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, CIW Webmaster, Microsoft Certified Professional, and Network Security.
Fun facts about Suzan are she was the first female president of a 25 year old nonprofit organization, she served as a book editor, hosted royal members from Jordan and Egypt, and started career as daycare worker.
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE PODCAST
Underwater basket weaving
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Caldoni
Her HypeSquad with Bosstrack Podcast
Coaching Real Leaders Podcast
White Flag by Dido
Alexa skill – Song Quiz
Mohammad Asaf
On Sneakers
SHOW NOTES
[02:17] Suzan Abdurrahman introduces herself
[04:11] Single parenting and the benefit of community
[04:28] Breaking out of your comfort zone by doing something new
[05:19] The value of thinking outside the box
[08:23] Teaching people to think creatively
[10:13] Hiring people who are solutions oriented
[11:50] Activities you can expose yourself to in order to think creatively
[14:11] Handling resistance when coming up with a new idea
[16:33] Being assertive in getting your point across without being aggressive
[17:48] How to interject yourself into a meeting when you have something to say
[20:20] How to balance corporate structure with thinking outside the box
[25:45] Having your ideas taken seriously as a minority woman leader
[28:16] Recognizing the benefits of taking on a coaching leadership style
[30:25] What coaching leadership is
[34:08] How to ease into changes at work
[35:30] How tiny changes can build up to massive change over time
[38:10] The value of having a mentor
[39:14] The qualities that very great mentor should have
[41:10] What Suzan looks for when she’s asked to be a mentor
[44:03] Resources Suzan went to in the absence of having a mentor
[45:33] The book and podcasts Suzan recommends you check out
[47:08] The morning routine that Suzan starts her day with
[49:06] The songs that give Suzan an energy or confidence boost when she needs it
[52:54] The one thing <$100 that has made a difference in Suzan’s life
[54:38] Suzan’s words of inspiration for everyone
[54:56] The best way to contact Suzan
QUOTES FROM THE SHOW
I think there’s a lot of value in thinking outside of the box. Coming up with outside of box ideas, it’s not only beneficial to the company’s ROI, but an individual’s ROI, your self confidence grows.
One of my go to strategies is I encourage my team and even those that I coach to be comfortable and asking questions and inspired to learn.
So the strategy I teach my team and encourage them is just to look around and ask the why and the what if questions.
And when I’m in these meetings, and I’m sure a lot of women can attest to this, that, you know, you get a lot of mansplaining and not being allowed to interject. And all I want to do is scream. I know more than you, buddy. Let me speak, but I stay calm and professional. Because I want to keep my job, right?
And when I’m in these meetings, and I’m sure a lot of women can attest to this, that, you know, you get a lot of mansplaining and not being allowed to interject. And all I want to do is scream. I know more than you, buddy. Let me speak, but I stay calm and professional. Because I want to keep my job, right?
But assertive and eventually I interject, right? And the next thing that happens, it’s always the same. The shock look on their faces, right? And it never gets old to me. I love it till today. But that’s how I handle resistance to my ideas. I show my true value at the onset, so that whether they’re conventional or unconventional, they become sought after.
I definitely think it’s harder for minority women. I tell my fellow minority women to not shy away from showing their worth and speaking up, to believe in themselves and their ability to have that self confidence. I tell them what I used to tell myself and I still tell myself, right? That it’s not, when you speak up, it’s not about being right. You know, proof and point is we’re sitting in these meetings and the men in the non minority women in the room aren’t always right, but they don’t hesitate in speaking up and sharing their ideas.
And when I’m in these meetings, and I’m sure a lot of women can attest to this, that, you know, you get a lot of mansplaining and not being allowed to interject. And all I want to do is scream. I know more than you, buddy. Let me speak, but I stay calm and professional. Because I want to keep my job, right?
But assertive and eventually I interject, right? And the next thing that happens, it’s always the same. The shock look on their faces, right? And it never gets old to me. I love it till today. But that’s how I handle resistance to my ideas. I show my true value at the onset, so that whether they’re conventional or unconventional, they become sought after.
I definitely think it’s harder for minority women. I tell my fellow minority women to not shy away from showing their worth and speaking up, to believe in themselves and their ability to have that self confidence.
I tell them what I used to tell myself and I still tell myself, right? That it’s not, when you speak up, it’s not about being right. You know, proof and point is we’re sitting in these meetings and the men in the non minority women in the room aren’t always right, but they don’t hesitate in speaking up and sharing their ideas.
Plus, we kind of talked about this, I hated micromanaging, it’s draining, right? So when I finally woke up, and I started coaching and being a true leader, I saw so much happen. The people flourished and then they helped me to flourish personally and professionally.
I, I would just do little steps. That I think eventually just became a habit. And so I don’t think it shocked anybody eventually, cause it was just a little bit, little bit, little bit, little bit.
I think that there’s a great value in somebody having a mentor, unfortunately, I didn’t have a mentor, right, or a coach, and I saw the toll that took on that, you know, was placed on me because I had to self teach myself. And, sometimes I get sad because I think about if I had that coach or mentor, could I have been further along in my career?
Be open to new experiences. Never say that’s not my job. Learn, learn, learn. And when you ever whenever you have a chance, give back.
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