Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Strickland.
Hi Justin, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I love leadership, and I have always had opportunities to lead and grow as a leader. From my time being captain of my basketball team at the YMCA to starting clubs in high school and college, my story is filled with the ups and downs of leadership. I have served under excellent leaders who lead with grace, courage, and self-awareness, and I have been bogged down by leaders who are underwhelming. These experiences led me to become passionate about the theory of leadership and how leadership development can impact communities around the world. The different ways that we lead ourselves, our families, and our communities have a lasting impact on the world we live in and the future for generations to come. Knowing the long-lasting implications of positive or negative leadership has set me on a journey to train as many leaders as I can, so that they will have the tools they need to change the world for the better. Now I am a leadership development specialist performing workshops, masterclasses, keynotes, online courses, hosting podcasts, and having every conversation I can about the way positive leadership can be the difference in the lives of so many people around the world.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One of the biggest struggles in developing my own leadership development style and journey is unlearning the material and style of leadership that is taught. Leadership development has been traditionally taught in an action-based model where we dissect the actions of leaders throughout history in an attempt to recreate those actions. This leadership development style isn’t conducive for modern leaders. So much of the actions of leaders is predicated on circumstance, environment, and context. What is much more useful for leaders today is to uncover how leaders think and the perspective that shaped their actions. Formulating these different perspectives required pages of reading and hours of time to develop ones that are helpful for the leaders of today and, more importantly, tomorrow.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I love to create! My podcast The Ladder has been one of the most fun projects that I have worked on. I got into podcasting early (in 2017) because I love to talk, and I could see the potential for the genre. That being said, my other tries weren’t consistent because I was trying to do everything. I was doing the talking, the filming, the editing, and the marketing. This wasn’t a sustainable model for me, and I realized if I wanted to take podcasting seriously, I needed help. Enters Nate Collins, an amazing videographer with an eye for editing and graphics. Collaborating with Nate on the podcast has been a truly incredible experience as we get to create conversations about leadership weekly. The Ladder is a space where I get to talk about how leadership impacts all the different aspects of our lives. I have a chance to bring guests on the show to talk about how leadership is needed in spaces like education, athletics, film, social media, mental health, and more. I have been releasing my podcast for two years and am nearing 100 episodes. I am super excited about reaching that milestone and keeping it going!
What were you like growing up?
I was a curious kid who loved sports. I enjoyed hanging out with friends and experiencing different things. I was a teacher’s kid who loved to read, be at school, and be outside. I feel like I grew up in the generation that got the best of both worlds; we were outside playing with friends and we had video games and cable tv when we came inside with our families. What a time to be alive!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thinkchangeform.com
- Instagram: @justinstricklandkc
- Facebook: @justinstricklandkc
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinstrickland/
- Youtube: justinstricklandkc
