Abundant Leaders with Tenji Moyana

I was recently interviewed by Charles Cormier on the CEO Wisdom Podcast. We discussed my career history, lessons I’ve learned from entrepreneurship and how I coach senior leaders to get results.

Topics discussed:

* My history in entrepreneurship as an interior designer and now as a coach and lessons I learned

* Struggling to market myself and fear of rejection limited my business’ growth

* The gift of being in flow and leveraging your most important skills

* The power of operational leverage for cash-lean entrepreneurs

* Running Kuva Performance differently to avoid burnout

* Our relationship with the past informs our experience of the present – how this shapes my coaching approach

Simbah Mutasa is a Managing Director in Investment Banking at Bank of America, South Africa. One of Simbah’s foundational values is enabling the growth and expansion of the community he’s in. This has shaped how he approaches leadership, invests in his teams and defines success. He shows us that it’s possible and rewarding to be a heart-led people-leader in demanding corporate environments without sacrificing the bottom line.

Topics discussed:

* Leadership as a responsibility to grow and empower your team

* Negotiating values conflicts and coming to peace with decisions you regret

* Almost dropping out of his master’s degree at the University of Cambridge, and how his grandfather changed his mind

* Balancing being a senior leader with being a present and supportive husband and father

I have spent my life searching for safety and security. I’ve looked for it in financial security, the approval of others, the prestige of my role, the value of my skillset, my ability to perform and deliver, on and on. Many of my clients have felt the same and it’s led all of us nowhere because the trick to safety, acceptance and belonging is that it lives within us. We will never find it in anything external to us, but it requires us to be brave enough to go within, to back ourselves, and to never be the ones who let us go. This sounds like a personal topic but it’s actually leadership topic because we have all seen the havoc that can be wreaked by insecure leaders and we just cannot afford to be them.

Topics discussed:

* What is safety and why are we so desperate for it?

* What happens to our lives and leadership when we put our safety in external sources

* The journey of going within – it all starts with accepting ourselves

* The abundance that becomes available to us when we become our source of safety.

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In the second Real Talk episode, I’m joined by my girls Alison Cohen and Rehema Kutua. We’re best friends from college with a standing monthly date to coach each other on our businesses and careers. It’s lonely at the top and entrepreneurs and leaders feel it significantly. Fewer people check in on you, offer you honest developmental feedback, invite you to informally socialise at work or feel comfortable creating space for you to be vulnerable.

Alison, Rehema and I wanted to avoid this so we created a structure that could hold us in safety where we could ask for help, share our struggles and support each other in a challenging, lonely role. Welcome to our career coaching circle. I hope you feel inspired to create one of your own.

Topics discussed:

* Why Rehema and Alison said YES to starting our coaching circle

* What we’ve each gotten out of it

* How the circle has helped us grow and heal in unexpected ways

* What’s helped our support group to be successful

* Advice for how you can start your own

Bringing our full selves to work and leveraging our uniqueness as a source of differentiation and competitive advantage is a game-changer for driving our performance, impact, and resonance as leaders. However, we aren’t always in spaces where we are able to fully be ourselves or our unique approach and way of leading isn’t celebrated? What then? How do we determine if we’re in the right company, role set-up, and team/relationship dynamic that supports us to thrive as our best selves? If we aren’t well enabled, what can we do about it? And if it’s time to move on, how do we avoid ending up in the same situation again?

Topics discussed:

* Four areas to look at to determine whether your company or role is the right place and set up for you

* A few questions to ask yourself to determine whether to stay or go

* How to exercise your agency to co-create an enabling environment without pulling the plug

* You need to believe it’s possible to thrive, with a bit of hard work, in order to change your experience at work

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Amira Elmissiry-Sulai is a lawyer, investor and development professional with unshakeable confidence in what she brings to the table as a senior leader. She knows her strengths, celebrates her ethnic and gender diversity and is deliberate about creating environments that support her and others to thrive. Stillness is a fundamental skill that helps her to return to herself and to be able to steer the ship during turbulent times.

Topics discussed:

* 3 things Amira knows she brings to the table

* Why we can’t afford to not find our voice

* The responsibility that comes with having a seat at the table

* How pregnancy catalysed her career

* How she turned around an environment that wasn’t supporting her talents

* The importance of being still during a crisis

We’ve been raised to believe that the harder we work, the more successful we’ll be, the more money we’ll make, the faster we’ll rise up the ranks – the more valuable we are. But is that still true? We’re squarely in the era of the knowledge and experiences economy, which means value is created not in terms of widgets produced but something more intangible. The game has changed and it’s inviting leaders to let go of a hustle productivity mentality, and start focusing on meaningful outcomes, experiences and value created.

Topics discussed:

* How hustle culture traps us in hyper-activity and makes us less impactful

* A better measure of productivity and how you can use it

* How to position yourself away from hyper-productivity roles and towards your zone of genius

* Trusting how you create value at your level

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This is the first conversation in the Real Talk series and my first visitor is Alinafe Thupa, a management consultant and my dear friend. Today we explore a belief we were both raised with that the best way to have a strong, stable career was to pick one company, work steadily up the ranks then retire as loyal employees. But neither of our careers have looked anything like this. We’ve had to break free from our parents’ expectations and fears to chart new paths for ourselves. We’re trusting our own decisions and following our true norths to create careers we’re both proud of and can sustain.

Topics discussed:

* What our non-linear paths have looked like - career pivots, intrapreneurship, entrepreneurship and portfolio careers

* Our parents’ legacy and the curse of colonisation and Apartheid

* How we’ve pivoted into new roles, sectors and functions successfully

* Finding our golden thread to build continuity in our stories

* What we’ve had to believe about safety in order to face our fears of changing jobs

* The litmus test we use to test if it’s time for a change

We’re suffering from a global burnout pandemic and I have not escaped it. I burned out 3 times before I realised that I was the root of the problem – what I believed about work, high-performance, myself and others was at the heart of the choices I was making in my career and the extent of ownership I was taking for my outcomes. Join me as I share the 5 things I have done progressively over the past 5 years to sustainably eliminate burnout from my story.   Topics discussed: * What is burnout and what form do you have? * My burnout story from J.P. Morgan to McKinsey * The problem is me - how I finally broke the cycle * The 5 steps I took to recover - and my major discovery about boundaries * The 2 mindset shifts we need to make if we want our changes to last

Episode correction: I took 5-6 weeks off work initially, not 5-6 months

This is my first expert interview and I’m joined by Ida Achiume Shiaka, a mental health consultant, coach and advocate, and the CEO of Mental Wealth. Many of us have experienced imposter syndrome, lack of confidence, and feeling the need to shape-shift in order to belong, succeed, and avoid rejection. But at what cost? Ida shares her personal story of struggling to fit in, her journey to finding herself again, and the impact of not being our authentic selves on our mental and physical health, and our emotional wellbeing.

Topics discussed:

* Ida’s story of trying to fit in and the heavy cost she paid

* Ida’s journey of returning to herself

* The impact of not being yourself on your mental health and ability to perform

* How to meet yourself and discover who you are and want to be

* What changes for you when you live as YOU

* How you can get support

We’ve spoken about the shadow of being too resilient (Episode 9) but what happens when we leave too soon? We can miss out on a chance to grow, to exercise our agency, rally support around us, and renew stagnant situations if we pull the plug too early. The balance we need to find as leaders is knowing when to press in because more is being demanded of us, and when to cut our losses and leave a bad situation. Let’s explore this delicate balance together so that we don’t forgo personal growth opportunities or fall victim to temporary discomfort that will pass.

Topics discussed:

* 3 types of situations you should never stay in

* Getting to the bottom of what’s really going on

* Taking ownership, manning up and exercising your agency

* How to know if you’re bypassing growth

* The tough lesson I’m learning about sticking with my business

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We are under the illusion that we can do anything, overcome anything, become anything. I believed I could. But we can’t. And life shows us this everyday but we often butt heads with this reality because it can make us feel weak, scared, uncertain of the future, and like our dreams are at risk. Yet, it is in accepting this reality that we can begin to be resourceful, mindful of how we spend our time and more likely to build products, teams and strategies that succeed and last because they proactively solve for reality and limitations.

Topics discussed:

* 10 gifts of accepting limitation, including stronger performance, greater peace, more confidence, more followership from others, and more (17:05)

* What I learned from being diagnosed with a chronic illness (7:24)

* Why it’s hard to let go of our hero complex

* The important reframe that helped me let go (49:00)

In the second Real Leaders conversation, I’m joined by Charmagne Mazhindu, the Regional Marketing Lead for Sub Saharan Africa at Amazon Web Services. We explore how our definitions of success change as we grow and evolve in our careers and how much of the safety that we seek in financial success and career progression should really be found in ourselves. Charmagne shares how much who we are from within shapes our sense of fulfilment in our careers, our ability to build followership how readily we can make bold moves for our businesses and ourselves. This rich conversation was the definition of soul food.

Topics discussed:

* Redefining success as we advance

* How to rebound from failure

* How we can feel safe and secure in an uncertain world

* The power of vulnerability to unlock self-acceptance and courageous leadership

* The self-care practices that support her to show up fully at work

Resilience is a virtue – in its highest expression it makes us adaptable, resourceful, scrappy and results-focussed. However, sometimes it can go too far by making us habituate to hardship and desensitise to suffering. We then fail to notice or respond when changes are needed to bring about more ease and flow so that we can perform better and deliver better experiences to our teams, clients and ourselves. In this episode we ask: Is your ability to “thug it out” working against you? If so, what can you do about it?   Topics discussed: * The impact protracted hardship has on our sense of agency and creativity * What ease looks like and how you can create more of it * A redefinition of resilience that gives us more, not less   --

In this first conversation in the Real Leaders guest series, I’m joined by Kundayi Munzara, co-founder and executive director of Sesfikile Capital, as we explore what it can look like to be guided by your strengths and what matters most to you. For Kundayi, a deep desire for freedom has shaped his career opportunities, the sale of his business, and how he leads his teams and makes decisions. Join me as we go under the hood in this illuminating interview.

Topics discussed:

* Liberation is one of his guiding values - how he solves for it

* 2 defining moments that shaped his career

* His competitive advantage

* How he’s built a rich network and how he sustains it and uses it as a safety net

* How he handles rejection

Feminine energy has a bad rep. So much of corporate culture and the patriarchy tell women and men that displaying “feminine” traits is soft. Yet these are the very traits that help us to nurture strong talent, collaborate, adapt to shifting trends, take risks, co-create answers that are more fit-for-purpose, and many more critical leadership skills. Our “softness” is actually critical to our ability to perform and lead well. How do we undo the damage so that we can integrate the gifts of this energy into our leadership toolkit?

Topics discussed:

* My story – can you relate?

* The gifts of feminine energy and cost of shunning it

* What makes it hard for both men and women to show up in this energy at work

* Empowering yourself to integrate your feminine energy

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When we’re in more junior roles, our value comes from our ability to deliver operationally i.e., technical execution and sharing highly specific content knowledge. But once we become senior managers and leaders, our value comes from our ability to enable value creation against the company’s strategic goals – this requires a different type of skill. It’s helpful to redefine what “expertise” means so that we upgrade our understanding of our own expertise and can bring it to bear so that we don't feel like imposters, undersell ourselves, or miss out on great opportunities.

Topics discussed:

* What expertise is and isn’t once you’re a leader

* The unspoken value of being a generalist

* How to build and run your team so that you don’t have to know all the detail

* The leadership mindsets that can help you break out of the technical skill and delivery rat race

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The biggest key to our success as leaders is our ability to continuously grow so that we can take on new challenges. We must stretch ourselves and lead in new ways – but how do we do this when the old us keeps showing up with their old behaviours, mindsets and limitations? If you’re feeling stuck in an old pattern of leadership despite all of your best efforts to evolve, it may be time to hack your subconscious mind – your growth superpower – and ask it for help.

Harness this proven behavioural science method to accelerate your growth.

Topics discussed:

* The big mistake we make when we try to change our behaviour

* The #1 question to ask yourself if you’re not getting results: Who do I need to be?

* Your subconscious is your growth superpower – learn how to use it

* 4 behavioural triggers to master in order to overcome your limitations

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We all have a style of influencing others that comes most naturally to us. This is how we exert our personal power in order to build support and drive results in our roles as leaders. I’ve observed 3 styles of influencing that we all fall into - which is yours? Do you embrace and trust your personal style – even if it looks different to what we’ve been taught is the “right way” to show power and have leadership impact? Is fear, imitation or self-editing getting in the way?

Topics discussed:

* What are the 3 influencing styles?

* What are their strengths and weaknesses?

* How do you learn to trust your style and experiment with it?

* What limits the impact of our attempts to influence?

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We move on constantly in our careers – to a new role, team, job, company, career path... Sometimes it goes well, but when it doesn’t it can leave us floundering in the new role, struggling to pick up momentum again and wondering if we made the right choice. Grief, acceptance and not throwing out the baby with the bath water can help us successfully navigate difficult transitions   Topics discussed: * Grief sabotages us later if we don’t let ourselves feel it * Move towards abundance instead of away from fear * How not to burn down the house   --

We believe that finding our purpose will make us happy so we chase it our whole lives. But what if we get there, and find that something is still missing? We can find lasting fulfilment, peace, and flow if we focus instead on living in continual alignment with what gives us meaning. Let’s explore what this could look like.   Topics discussed: * How societal expectations can set us up to be miserable * How focusing on purpose can limit us * The things we sacrifice in pursuit of purpose * What life could look like if we focused on meaning  

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Welcome to the Abundant Leaders Podcast with Tenji Moyana. Let’s explore what it means to lead and live abundantly – to have business impact you can be proud of, flow and authenticity in your leadership style, fulfilment in your career and life, and wholeness in your relationship with yourself.

Topics discussed:

* How this podcast will support you as a leader

* Who I am

* An empowering vision for abundant leadership

* Where you can find me and get support

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