#26: Michele Stowe: A Leadership Development Junkie talks about Developing Leadership Superpowers

05/26/21 • 94 min

Michele Stowe has a thing or two to say about leading change. She also has a thing or two to say about a lot of the most joyous – and least fun – parts of corporate life.

From the title of the podcast, it’s probably no surprise to you that Michele Stowe is also a self-described comic book nerd. In our conversation, she tells us about how and why she decided to leverage a comic book tool in her coaching repertoire. It’s the kind of thing that makes you tap your forehead and ask “Why didn’t I think of that?”

If you have ever been through a corporate downsizing, whether on the receiving or “giving” end of it, her story about an early experience will hit home. Memories of several of my experiences came flooding back as she described her role, which happened very early in her career. I could just picture 22-year-old Michele wearing her only business suit telling bankers twice her age the reason their badge failed to operate that morning. The story shaped her in very important and useful ways, as we hear in this conversation.

This podcast is like a master class in leadership development and change management – and in taking risks. One of my favorite quotes was this:

“I can...try some experiments, fail, learn and try again, I can emerge to be someone completely different, I can emerge to be that someone that I was meant to be, or at least that I was meant to be for now.”

Michele has also learned a LOT about true motivation and purpose from working in Mercy Housing, led for many years by Sr. Lillian Murphy, one of my favorite people ever. You can hear Michele a talk titled “Annie Get Your Nun”.

Here’s what Michele has to say about herself:

For over 20 years, Michele Stowe has been guiding individuals, teams, and leaders of a wide range of organizations to create authentic, equitable, and fulfilling change, producing real, sustainable proven results.
Born in the US and raised in Germany, where she also lived and worked for many years, Michele graduated from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and earned her Master's Degree in Organizational Psychology at Columbia University. Following an executive career at Fortune 100 companies that spanned almost two decades, in industries ranging from real estate to pharmaceuticals, she executed a professional pivot into the nonprofit sector, and became Chief Operating Officer of Mercy Housing.
A self-described "leadership development junkie," her diverse experience in the for-profit sector - opportunities to leverage her multinational background - helped stoke her professional philosophy, but it was her time at Mercy Housing where it caught fire. One of many achievements, Michele created a comprehensive talent management program for the company's leaders that structured everything from onboarding to succession planning, all wrapped around the organization's core values.

Five years ago, Michele brought her vast array of knowledge and experience to bear and founded SkyRocket LLC, a coaching and consulting service that leads clients through a dynamic and thought-provoking process. Drawing from her own C-Suite experience and incorporating research-based approaches that foster creativity and self-discovery, Michele is able to tap into the client's own resourcefulness to help them align and clarify goals, elicit solutions, and hold them responsible and accountable. Certified by the International Coaching Federation, Michele is also a Hogan Assessment practitioner and a highly sought-after speaker, offering these services to any size audience or venue through SkyRocket.

Michele Stowe has a thing or two to say about leading change. She also has a thing or two to say about a lot of the most joyous – and least fun – parts of corporate life.

This podcast is like a master class in leadership development and change management – and in taking risks. One of my favorite quotes was this:

Here’s what Michele has to say about herself:

Previous Episode

#25 Michael Cohen: Working in Balance with the Cycles of Life

Michael Cohen woke up to the possibilities of acupuncture when he was told he might not run again after a knee injury. His experience was so profound that he decided to dive deeply into acupuncture and Eastern medicine to learn what this different healing modality is all about. In his journey, he discovered that acupuncture is much more than a way to heal; it can also help enhance athletic performance. This conversation opened my eyes to some nuanced ways of thinking about energy, balance and harmony.

Next Episode

#27 Vernon Roberts: Creating Authentic Communication in a Virtual Conversation

When the shutdowns started happening last year, we all had to take our “engagement game” up to another level. Suddenly, our meetings became virtual. Once we mastered the “unmute” and “turn on video” buttons, we had to also master keeping people engaged without the benefit of being in the same room. We could no longer read body language...or yawns.

Vernon Roberts started mastering virtual engagement before it was cool. He and I worked together in the 90’s, teaching accounting, banking, loan approvals and other dry topics. In that environment, Vernon brought life to the classroom. When he formed Evoke Virtual in 2003, he was ahead of his time.

As it often does, this conversation took many interesting turns; not surprisingly, it was engaging start to finish. He has so many tips and tricks, from setting context, using open ended questions, understanding our own interests in a conversation, to hearing what really matters to those we are talking to.

Vernon Roberts is an author, master instructor, coach and speaker. Vernon creates a positive learning environment and provides masterful coaching that allows participants to achieve rapid and permanent growth in their skills as communicators and presenters. Vernon coaches and consults face-to-face and virtually in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Co-author of The Gift of Success and Happiness (Skyhorse Publishing, 2011), Vernon challenges readers to transform their lives by utilizing dynamic business process principles. He has also published in T+D magazine and client newsletters and delivered seminars on work-life balance to audiences in such institutions as the Wake Forest University Schools of Business. Vernon holds a B.A. in Economics/Business Administration from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) and an M.B.A. from Loyola University’s Sellinger School of Business and Management in Baltimore, Maryland.

Creative Spirits Unleashed - #26: Michele Stowe: A Leadership Development Junkie talks about Developing Leadership Superpowers

Transcript

Intro00:00:02.908

Welcome to creative spirits unleashed where we talk about the dilemmas of balancing work and life. And now, here's your host, Lynn Carnes.

Lynn00:00:19.980

Welcome to the creative spirits unleash podcast. I'm Lynn karns your host. For this episode I'm speaking with Michelle Stowe of skyrocket coaching. This conversation with so many really cool places. We started actually with talking about superpowers and how Michelle