Leanne Jamieson's Intro

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Today on the servant leadership podcast, we hear from Leanne Jameson, the executive director at Prestonwood

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Pregnancy Center. Leanne is an inspiring leader who has grown Prestonwood to be one of the largest pregnancy centers in

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the United States. Her dedication to servant leadership shines through in her unwavering commitment to empowering

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women, cultivating a culture of compassion, and ensuring that everyone who comes through the cent's doors feels

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valued and respected. Today, Leanne will share her valuable insights on servant leadership and how it can be effectively

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applied in nonprofits to drive meaningful change and create a lasting impact. Leanne, thank you for being

Welcome Leanne Jamieson

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here. This is awesome. Give me a little bit about your journey, how you got here, how you're doing all this

Leanne's Career Journey

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Prestonwood stuff and what led to it. Well, that is actually a bit probably

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more complex of a question you want an answer to, but uh yeah, I've been in

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ministry uh in different capacities for the last couple of decades and really

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everything I've always ever done has really culminated in this role that I now have as an executive director at the

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pregnancy center and just really maybe out of obedience to what I believe is

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the call on my life if that's how I've ended up here and love love what I get

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to do. Wow. So, what were some of those stepping stones that got you here? We've

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got time. Okay. You have time. Okay. All right then. Well, about 10 years ago, my

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husband and I had made an moved to Dallas, Texas, and I had been on staff

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at a large church in Houston. At that point, I was working in HR doing

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leadership and development. And um we ended up at a church which unbeknownst

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to my husband and I, they had been praying, Lord, even if you have to move her, we need a new women's ministry

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director. And we showed up there, met the lead pastor, and I remember him

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looking at my husband and I and asking where we'd come from. And then he looked directly at me and said, you know,

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because he asked what church we had been at in Houston. And I told him and he had asked, were you very involved at that

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church? And I remember thinking, you know, how much do I share? And just saying, well, actually, I was

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on staff. And he didn't react. I didn't know that they were looking for a women's ministry director at that point

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and had been for six months. I just, you know, just he moved on and um then

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through a series of meetings and lunches and uh in fact one lunch I remember

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going to uh out with him and another woman on staff and I thought it was

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because they had heard that I spoke. I was I was a women's speaker at that time as well and I had thought maybe that's

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what they had heard about me. And so we've gone out for this lunch and I remember leaving calling my husband and saying that was the strangest lunch I've

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ever had. And he said why? And I said I mean it felt like a job interview. And so they were trying to figure out who I

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was. And then you know that next phone call was um would you consider coming on

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staff? And at that point, I really felt like I was where I was supposed to be in

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this role I had. And and I was doing leadership and development of executives

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and future leaders of this large company. And I was loving it and it was challenging. Uh but I right after they

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had asked me to come on staff, I went walked into the office one morning. It was really early. I had um flown into

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Houston. That's where the head office was. and my boss was waiting for me and she was not an early person. I was, she

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wasn't. And so that was unusual and she asked me to come into her office and talk to her. And she was so excited

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because she was like, "We are changing your job. This is going to be an awesome opportunity. You're going to implement

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this new learning management system all over North and South America. You're going to get to travel and you're going

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to get to go to Europe." and and it was just like she thought she was giving me the greatest thing that she could give

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an her staff member. And I remember just thinking, oh my gosh, like systems

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implementation was not I'm a people person. Like I don't know if you've gotten that already, but people not

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necessarily systems um and sitting behind a computer and trying to train

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other people on this whole and then the whole implementation and all that. It

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was just and traveling not for vacation was just like oh I just couldn't and so

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I felt like okay maybe I need to pursue this other opportunity. So went on staff

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and um and very within a year the pregnancy center which was an integrated

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auxiliary ministry of Prestonwood Baptist Church where I went on staff uh their director passed away. And so they

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had asked me to consider coming into this role. And so I did again really

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like I said out of obedience and discovered everything I've ever done,

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everything I've ever learned and experience in my both my personal and work life really God is using to come

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into play at this very moment and using those gifts and those skills um to get

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to do what I think is uh an incredible role. I get to help people in crisis and

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share truth with love and grace and it's the best. So when you were in the

Initial Vision and Transition at Prestonwood

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process of starting that uh that journey to come on board, what was the vision for you? What captivated your heart and

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where did you think it was going to go? Certainly not where we have been in the last eight years. It has been an

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incredible ride. We um I think at the time initially because the previous

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leader of the organization had passed away suddenly there wasn't really a lot of transition that you might expect for

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a leader of an like from one leadership point to another. You expect that there's going to be some transition and

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preparation but in this particular case there wasn't. And so, you know, those early days of my starting, I tell people

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all the time, it was like someone gave me a box of puzzle pieces and but I was

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missing the big picture. And so, I would just take out a puzzle piece and look at it and be like, well, I have building

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insurance. What do we do? You know, and start to learn and discover. And um, you

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know, I just immersed myself in the ministry. And I mean it didn't matter if

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it was front desk or being a client advocate or sitting with the donor

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development. I did it all. There wasn't a role except um medical for lots of

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reasons uh that I did not experience or put my foot into to try to understand the ministry. So I started from the

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ground up at the same time trying to work through this lack of transition. And um in that I I believe I just got a

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you know this kind of clear vision of where we needed to go. I had not been in

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this area of ministry before. So I had come with no preconceived notions and um

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just really saw things that I just didn't understand from my past experience. So I think my role as

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women's ministry director or in leadership development or you know all

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marketing in the past all of that came into play and I would just ask questions and start to sort of question why we

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were doing and where did we want to go what was the why behind the ministry. Yeah. And try to figure out okay what if

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we understand what the why is and the whole team understands what the why is what is it that we need to do to

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accomplish that why. H. So, from a function standpoint, what does the day-to-day look like for for

The Process at Prestonwood Pregnancy Center

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Prestonwood? What's the process of how people come in to Preston Pregnancy Center? What's the process for how

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they're served throughout it? Give the audience a little bit of that background. That's a great question.

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Well, I mean, obviously the majority of the people that are seeking our services

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are in crisis, right? And so, the first thing they're going to do is often reach

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out to us through um phone, chat, text. You know, they've often found us through

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an internet search and they just know that they are in what is seemingly to

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them a hopeless situation and they just want to find some hope, some options, some clear answers to where they find

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themselves. So, they'll reach out to us. We bring them in. We don't believe in having anyone wait who's in crisis. So,

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they're going to immediately be able to either walk in or make an appointment to come to one of our centers. They're

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going to have a pregnancy test. We're going to confirm that they're pregnant and they're going to get some really

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solid guidance. I think there's a lot of uh

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misinformation about what pregnancy centers do in this nation right now. I

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think there's a lot of thought that we are not truthful or that we're not um

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being upfront, but that I mean I can speak to Preston Pregnancy Center that's not the case. They're going to get

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truth. uh we really believe that you know given truth and given resources and

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just compassion that that woman is going to make the healthiest and best choice and

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decision for herself. Um I would also say that when she walks through our centered

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doors I think there's also a misconception out there that pregnancy

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centers are just concerned about her unborn child. And I will tell you that

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she's our first appointment that when she walks into our center, we are as concerned and care so much about her. We

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want to know what were her hopes, her dreams, what are her struggles, what brought her into our center today. What

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makes her feel, what's her situation that makes her feel like abortion is her best and only option? M yeah I have

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talked with people from lots of different backgrounds and I tell I try to explain to them when you sit with a

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woman who is contemplating abortion you ask her what are the

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reasons that you are seeking an abortion at this point you'll of she often will

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hear I mean across the board almost all the time we hear finances we'll hear

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relationship issues we'll hear about certain like life circumstances. And the interesting thing

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is that abortion doesn't take that off the table. All of those are still in her

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life whether she has an abortion or not. And so if we love and care for her, we need to address those and help her work

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through them because they're struggles in her life. We care about her. And so I

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think, you know, we're going to work with her on those issues. We're going to want to seek out and find out what's

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going on in her life and help her through that. And then we're going to she is pregnant. She's going to have a

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same day sonogram. She might have some blood work done depending on her

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circumstances. She might have STD testing and treatment depending again on her circumstances, but she's going to

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have an opportunity to go into that sonogram room with a trained uh nurse

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and that nurse is going to help her walk through her options from a medical

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standpoint. And then we're going to continue to keep in touch with her. We're going to continue to reach out to her as she

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works through what is the decision that she wants to make about that pregnancy. We're going to also provide needed

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resources. So, if she needs food, if she needs housing, if she needs uh clothing

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for existing children or she's parenting that child and she needs it for that future child, she needs cribs, diapers,

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wipes, formula, you name it. We have a family resource center that she can

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access. We have classes and ongoing support. We have licensed professional counselors on staff. We really there are

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there to meet her needs holistically. You know, I would say through how we love on our client. I

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know that 86% of our clients choose to go through with that pregnancy and

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either parent or um a very small percentage would place her adoption. Uh

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but regardless when she leaves our center uh she knows that she is loved

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and that we are there for her. It's our belief that abortion is not the best

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option for her. But we also believe that God is the heart changer, not man.

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Right. So, you'll walk through the whole pregnancy process with these women. Yes.

Care Provided After The Pregnancy

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And even after the pregnancy, after after birth, if they've chosen to continue through um having the baby,

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you'll walk with them after through the resource center and other stuff. Yeah. CL. Yes. what you tell us more about the

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after side of things. You know, I think let me just tell you uh just recently we

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have a client who has walked through some really hard stuff and this she's uh

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walked through a pregnancy before with us and she came back um when she found herself in another pregnancy. And it's

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fascinating because uh you know I've had parts to do with her story but you know

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not to the same degree as even some of the other staff. And when she shows up, one of the front desk staff will come

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get me and tell me that she's here. And you know, just to get to hug on her and love her and hug her neck and you know,

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recently she just gave birth to her second child and I got invited to be at the hospital which was um fun. But I was

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sitting with her and I just remember thinking like this is so fascinating

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because in my world in my life experience it feels like I'm just a bit

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player in her life. M in her world my the love and acceptance she has

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found at the pregnancy center has been life-changing for her and she sees us as

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family and I like that listen that is there's nothing like getting to

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sit with someone and they are trusting you with some of the darkest and hardest

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periods of their life and and that you just get a glimpse to watch God work in their

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life and to just be able to be on the sidelines cheering her on and to have

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her want to come back and just spend time with us because of her experience. Like that's rewarding. That's a good day

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at the office. Yeah. So, out of out of your whole team, some people are getting those life-changing experiences where

Motivation For The Prestonwood Team

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they're actually interacting with people. other people are probably behind the scenes doing stuff and they'll never, I would assume, never maybe even

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talk to some of the women that are being helped. How are people motivated to be involved in this space? Because it's

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it's a controversial space. What draws people into wanting to work in this space?

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You know, I think there's not a staff person that doesn't walk through our

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door or a potential staff person that doesn't walk through our doors um who

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doesn't just want to see and make a difference especially in the lives of women and families in our country.

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uh they come because they maybe have experienced abortion in their own life

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or they know someone who's experienced abortion or they were adopted or um they

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just love God's people and want to make a difference. uh you know I would say

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your question as to how do you be motivated in a controversial area such as the pregnancy center you know I

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really think we you know let's speak let me step to that idea that we're controversial because we have become

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controversial it's fascinating a lot of the controversy is not based in truth

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that's frustrating when you're a leader to see this sort of swirling of untruth

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around what you do or how you operate out there. Um because we do have true

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medical people that care about the women and men that find themselves in our

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center. Uh doctors and nurses, uh registered diagnostic medical

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synographers, medical assistants, uh they're all very much called to be here.

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Um so how do we motivate? I think, you know, for me, I go back to that question

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why and why we're doing what we do. And the truth is I am about a woman knowing

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that she has another option and uh that there is no quick fix to our struggles.

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You know, I've had young women sit with me and say, "I just, you know, I just

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didn't want my life to change." And you know, my counsel to her is often, okay, but

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the moment you had a positive pregnancy chest, your life changed, right? Let's

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now navigate that looks like because that you there there's no way to step

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back in time and redo this. So, this is the truth that we find ourselves in. And

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let's look at your options. Let's look at the con, the pros and the cons to

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each of those options, and let's talk about your struggles, your dreams, your

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needs, and let's figure out, you figure out like, let's make a plan. And it's

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interesting how often a lot of the young people that come to us just haven't just stopped and

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just taken a breath. like just take a breath before you rush into any decision

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because the truth is when we rush into a decision. We call that reacting. And in

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my experience is I'm going to be an older woman. None of my great decisions

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have been made through reaction, but often through response. And that response sometimes it's just a breath.

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It's just a moment. It's just someone saying, "Have you thought about the possibility?" Or have you thought about

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empower like empowering them that you if you have an even an inkling that you are

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to have this child my I you can do this and by the way we're here to help you do

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this and um you know I think that for so many of our clients it's all they need

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it you know I I know you probably can't get into specifics of individual people But

Typical Client Profile

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who are the types of women you're helping? You know, what is the what is the a is there an average life, you

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know, in terms of who you help or is it all kinds of walks of life or what does that look like? Yeah. Yeah. I I get

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asked that question a lot, Chris, like what does a typical client look like? And I always say there's no typical

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client because they each come with different life experience, different

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backgrounds, different support systems, lack of support systems. Um, but if we

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were to talk statistically, the uh average age of a client is between 19 and 26. She's often

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single, although we serve married couples as well. Like like I said, there's not a background and demographic

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situation that we don't serve. Um but the average is probably a single woman

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college age that has um a life plan in

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her mind and this pregnancy was not a part of it. Um so yeah all all different

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types. So you're in the process of leading arguably one of the most successful

Dealing With Crisis and Chaos

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centers in the country. Um there is a ton of crisis both you

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talked about crisis from the women's standpoint who desperately need your services but also there's crisis just

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across the country with uh what we talked about was maybe uh has been has

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become controversial. How do you deal with crisis more at the organizational

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level and the national level? How do you deal with navigating sticky waters?

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from what you can share. Yeah. Uh well, I mean obviously my personal faith and

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just you know prayer and trust and just that moment every morning before I come

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to work of just you know um praying for the people that uh work alongside me or

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serve with us or support us and our clients. Uh, you know, I think whether

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you're a person of faith or not, just having that moment of reflection and

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anticipation is really important. Quiet, margin. Yeah, I always say the best

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leadership happens when we have margin in our lives.

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uh to just reflect and be able to uh think about, you know, the days prior

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and the day ahead and the weeks and months ahead. You know, all of that happens when there's some breathing room

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for yourself. Um leading in chaotic times, I think I could write a book on

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it based on this last year. I I would say there's been a lot of distraction and I think as a leader when

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there's a lot of chaos and distraction around you have to really first as the

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leader keep your focus on the calling of the organization that you're leading.

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Why are you there? Why do you exist? What is it that is your purpose and your

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mission? and the noise around you. Uh sometimes it doesn't matter. It's it's

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it purely is to distract you from that core mission of that organization. And

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that's often where I think when I see a lot of leaders struggle, it's when they've started to put an ear and a

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focus on that which they shouldn't. Um it's not that you don't listen to your critics. I think that you can learn from

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critics whether that criticism based to truth or not. I think reflection as a

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leader, teachability is the key to being successful as well. So, you know, being

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able to also take that quiet time and reflect on what the critics are saying and doing a selfch check is really going

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to keep you on the right road for sure. But I think you know your staff when

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chaos is hitting they whether a leader realizes it or not they are looking I I

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mean I often will say I in a lot of ways set the temperature in the office and

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you know I there is with every leader the obligation of influence and you know

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if I can't be healthy and right I have no business doing that to my staff.

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they are. I steward them and their calling at the center. I'm responsible

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to see them grow and to be in a healthy spot. But that has to start inward first. Right. On the on the servant

Servant Leadership Focus

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leadership side, like you're talking about leading an organization, when you think of servant leadership and your

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role and how you interact with your team, how do you see servant leadership playing out with you and the team and

24:23
different people on your team? You know, when I think about servant

24:28
leadership, I I think about people who have gone before me. I mean, I was very blessed in my career to have you. I

24:37
think about one of my first bosses, and I remember she had a really leadership impactful position at

24:45
the church we were serving at, and she knew everybody. M she knew the

24:52
little older woman that her job was to just clean the pews in the church. Like

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she came in and she would polish and clean and she would stop. She knew their lives, their stories. She connected. She

25:05
saw them. And I remember thinking like she just she had such a heart and it

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wasn't a position of like I am in authority and you are not. It really was

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in my place of authority. I'm my job is to make sure that you know you've been seen and I like that impacted me very

25:24
early on and I so I think you know servant leadership is knowing that

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people feel seen that doesn't mean that I necessarily know the ins and out of

25:38
everything they're working on or what they're contributing at the very moment it's hard you know we're now an

25:43
organization of about 46 staff I don't know what everyone is working on at every moment Right. I would love to, but

25:52
I hope they feel seen. And I I also they know when my door is open that my door

25:58
is truly open. That there there is not a person that cannot walk in and plop themselves in that chair and tell me

26:04
about what's going on in their life. Um, so for me, servant leadership is that my

26:11
staff know I have their back and that they're seen and that hopefully I'm their biggest champion and the believer

26:18
in their calling here and that they can have tough honest moments with me when

26:23
they're struggling and know that I'm going to tell them the truth.

26:28
I'm going to do it with love and grace, but I'm gonna I'm gonna try to set them back on that right course when they need

26:34
it. On the servant leadership side of things, as you think through all the

Key Leadership Traits

26:39
various leadership aspects that you see in day-to-day from uh people on your team, from your team, you you bump into

26:46
a lot of key leaders all around. What are some of the leadership traits that

26:51
you think are really important that you think other people should be aware of when it comes to growing their

26:57
leadership skills? That's a really good question. You know when I think about leaders that I have

27:05
admired inspiring, I think leaders

27:11
who can communicate the uh the direction clearly

27:18
that they believe the organization is to go. Yeah. I once one time I was thinking

27:25
about what is the difference between a leader and a manager because we use those sometimes we use it

27:30
interchangeably like there's leaders or managers a people and but I was like is

27:36
there a difference and I thought okay you know a good leader should be trying to catch up with their people like once

27:42
they've cast that vision the team is going so hard after that vision that that leader looks up and thinks like

27:49
what that and and they're doing it better than that leader could even have hoped or dreamed for. A manager is

27:57
hauling the people that they're supposed to be, you know, managing and directing

28:03
along with them. So, the idea of a leader being behind encouraging and empowering and the manager being in

28:09
front kind of pulling along. And so, um,

28:14
like I think about the people I've admired. They've been really able to just inspire, set vision, encourage, and

28:22
allow people to to just go for it. Yeah. I've I'll

28:28
say to my staff cuz, you know, you get the odd person, and I can speak to this cuz I am. I like call call myself a

28:35
recovering perfectionist. I have not slipped back into it really easily.

28:41
But you know, we sometimes those type A driven perfectionist personalities are

28:48
terrified of failing. It's hard to be innovative and not fail

28:53
every once in a while. And and one of the values we have at Preston Pregnancy is innovation. And I'll say to them, I

29:01
don't fear failure. I don't want you to feel fail failure. Failure is an okay

29:07
thing if you're growing and you're innovating and you're stepping out and you're, you know, trusting the vision

29:13
and you're going for it. Uh failure is different than repetitive mistakes,

29:18
right? Like we'll deal with repetitive mistakes, but failure we're just going to learn from. We're going to chalk that

29:24
up as a win at Presto because we tried something new. Yeah, it didn't work out, but you know, at least we tried

29:31
something new, right? Wow. When when people look at this from the

Misconceptions About A Pregnancy Center

29:36
outside, they're probably looking at your industry and thinking this is one of the craziest industries out of all

29:42
the industries, you know, cuz you kind of mix you have a mix between healthcare, counseling,

29:48
uh social services. Social services, just general like almost uh retail where

29:54
you're helping provide products for people who need them. I mean, you you span so many areas. Lactation

30:00
consulting. Yes. So many car seats. Yeah. How what is something that you

30:05
think people from the outside might misconceive about this industry that

30:10
would be useful to hear your opinion on or is there anything? You know, I I

30:17
guess what I would love for people to understand whether they consider

30:23
themselves pro-life or pro-choice, the misconception is that a

30:31
pregnancy center that we have one agenda and that

30:36
is to stop abortion.

30:43
I I would love to see there no longer be abortion in our nation. Flat out would

30:49
like to see abortion end. But that's not my sole

30:56
motivation. I see around us people struggling every day. never saw it more

31:02
than when the pandemic hit and people were reaching out to us

31:09
because they were in a job that was paying hourly and they were having to

31:15
decide between buying food or buying diapers and they reached out to us and

31:22
we were able to answer both of those needs. You know, I think I think if people could understand that we're part

31:29
of the solution, we're not part of the problem. that we believe that those that

31:39
come to us are intelligent and capable of making their own decision and that we

31:45
are here to provide that w the information that they need, the

31:52
resources that they might lack, um the hope that they require that

32:00
that's what we're there for. Mhm. I you know I think it it's been interesting

32:05
cuz over the last year when we've had you know maybe the odd protester outside our

32:11
center I you know I've driven in thought I wonder if you could come in and you

32:17
saw what we were doing and you didn't know what we were you didn't have a label put on us but you found yourself

32:24
in uh you know just as a fly on the wall watching a client go from the front to

32:30
finding out if they're pregnant to the resources and the help we offer, the licensed professional counselors that

32:36
they have access to, the social workers, the the myriad of just we're just here

32:41
to also help connect you to navigate the situation you're

32:48
in. I just wonder if if you took the label away and you put that person out

32:54
there if they wouldn't be look around and say, "Man, this is incredible. This

32:59
is do these people are doing some really incredible work. I wish that the that um

33:07
that we weren't politicized and that what we could be seen is the resource that we are to the

33:14
community. There are not a lot of agencies out there that without we do

33:20
not take a dime. We do not take money from the government. We do not take money

33:26
from our clients. we are supported by donors that want to make a difference

33:33
and that we are just purely here. We're just giving it away and there's, you know, there's not a lot of places that

33:40
you can go that will say, "Okay, what is it that you need? Let's work on this. Let's equip you to do whatever you hope

33:48
or dream to do. Let's let's let's take this one step at a time. Let's figure it

33:53
out." Like you said, it's social services, it's medical, it's, you know,

33:58
resource management, it's connecting to other ministries and nonprofits out

34:03
there so that we can address the issues that are in our backyards. They're my neighbors. They're your neighbors.

34:10
They're your, you know, your kids families that they're going to

34:16
school with. it. Someone has to be there with an open

34:21
door policy saying, "Come on in. Let's figure out this situation that you're in and navigate it." I I think that if the

34:29
majority who are criticizing what pregnancy centers do could just walk in one day

34:36
and actually see what's taking place, you know, there's bad actors on both sides of this equation for sure. But

34:43
those of us called to the Preston Pregnancy Center, this is not a political issue for us. We just care. We

34:50
care about the people and we care about their struggles and it breaks our heart

34:55
and we just want to make a difference. That's why all of us came in. It's why my staff, even if they're behind the

35:02
scenes and they're answering the phone or they're helping with donor development, why their why for every day

35:07
is they know even though they're not directly with that client, they're making a difference.

35:12
So there's there's going to be tens of thousands of people that listen to this and might be moved by just never having

Recommendations For Getting Involved

35:21
heard about this topic from this lens. How do people get involved in making a

35:27
difference in women's lives regardless of how they feel about where where this

35:34
lands politically? Yeah. What do you recommend? I mean, in the United States of America,

35:40
[Music] we, you know, we're the land of the free. Like, yeah, I'm I'm a fairly new

35:48
American. Moved here in 2001. And, you know, what I love about

35:54
America is that there is a sense that we

36:00
care for our neighbor. M. And so I would say, you know, don't let people become

36:05
part of the landscape of your life. See them, care about them, care about the

36:10
the needs, care about the young people in your your kids' lives, and find out

36:16
what's going on. And um and you know I think some somewhat stop the judgment

36:23
and the noise and just understand that we're in a time in our culture

36:30
where things are hard. Families are struggling. I guess you know I get to see that you have to be careful when you

36:37
work in an area where you're always dealing with trauma or crisis. It's easy to start to put that lens on and believe

36:43
that you know everyone is in trauma or crisis. But

36:48
from what we see, we see a lot of struggle in the American family. I think it's going to be a tough year

36:54
financially. And I think now is a time for us to get back to some of those old

36:59
school values of caring for your neighbor and um and uh you know,

37:07
stop just stop the divide at this point. I really appreciate that. That's that's

10-Rapid-Fire Questions

37:14
awesome. One one thing before we totally wrap up. Okay, this has become tradition. I've got Okay, 10 rapid fire

37:20
questions. Okay, um just first thing that comes to your mind uh when I when I ask each of these. Who's the first

37:27
person you think of when I say servant leadership? My son. Love it. Five words

37:34
that most describe yourself. Uh tenacious,

37:40
driven, softhearted. Is that two? That counts as one. That can be one.

37:48
Um I think people would say winsome. Okay. And uh my husband would say

37:54
stubborn. I love that. I'm okay with that.

38:00
Uh favorite author or book? Oh gosh, I love to read. So, this was a this is a

38:07
hard one because I think sometimes it's whatever's new and on the bestseller

38:12
list, too. I love leadership books. Love John Maxwell. Love it. And his

38:17
leadership books. So, John Maxwell John Max John Maxwell.

38:24
That's great. Reach on out. I've got a book for you to sign. Favorite movie?

38:31
That's another good one. Oh gosh. I mean, I love anything

38:38
that gets the heart. So, I don't know. I'm also a big Star

38:44
Wars fan. Is that surprising? Okay. I mean, based on what you just said, that's surprising. I know. But actually,

38:50
it just I felt like I need to be honest. I'm kind of a Star Wars fan. That's great. Okay. the new ones, the old ones,

38:56
the I mean, I like them all, but you know, because when I was a probably I think it was junior high when the first

39:02
one came out. So, I mean, there had been nothing like it in the movies when that first Star Wars came out. So, love it.

39:09
Favorite food? I mean, I'm in Texas, Mexican. Great. Favorite thing to do in your free

39:16
time? Uh, I mean, I've I'm a new grandma, so I've picked back up sewing for my

39:22
grandchild's sewing. Love it. Surprising fact about you.

39:28
[Music] Uh let's see. Surprising fact. I guess

39:35
that uh I was born and raised in Canada,

39:41
but I became an American on January 13th, 2015. I don't know if that's

39:47
surprising. Yeah. But I try to talk like a Texan, y'all. So, I feel like if I, you know, I don't

39:54
think people would have known that you were born in Canada. No way. Okay, maybe now. Yeah, you can turn it on like that.

40:00
No, I had to. Where? Favorite place you've been? Italy. Oh my gosh, I love

40:06
Italy. Favorite place or where would you want to go if you could go anywhere? Israel. Yeah. Do you notice how fast

40:12
that was? That's on my bucket list. Israel. Okay. And last question is the

40:17
best advice you've ever gotten. Oh gosh, I've had a lot of advice.

40:25
Um, I think when I was being asked to step into my first leadership role, uh,

40:31
the person before me is said to me that, Leanne, everybody has

40:37
capacity. And, uh, I'm I could I'm fairly high capacity, hydro like high

40:42
energy. I don't sit still real well. um without having two other things on the go at the same time. And she said if uh

40:51
when you lead, you have to understand that everybody has a different cap like different levels of capacity and you've

40:58
got to be okay with um people that have a different capacity than you do. And I

41:04
think that's been really helpful to know that you know there are people that uh

41:09
are not built like just that I guess the lesson is not everyone should look like the person beside them like that it

41:16
takes all of us that's you know that looks an organization is stronger with

41:21
different types of people in it than when there's a whole bunch of the same. So to be okay with that that's good

41:28
advice. That's really good advice. Well thank you for being on the podcast. We super appreciate you. Thanks for I

Closing

41:35
appreciate you, Chris. I know people will love listening to this. I hope so. Thank you for listening to this episode

41:41
of the Servant Leadership Podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard, please give it a thumbs up and leave a comment

41:47
below. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell to never miss an

41:53
update. Be sure to check out the servantleershippodcast.org for more updates and additional bonus content.