Good evening everyone and welcome to the Finding Gravitas podcast launch event
I’m Jan, your podcast host most of you know my background, I’m that rebellious farmer’s daughter from Wales……………. who came to the US at 23 years of age, worked my way up through the Automotive industry culminating in my last Corporate role as VP Global Supply Chain for a Tier 1 supplier and joining the ranks of the top 100 leading women in the auto industry. All sound so great doesn’t it yet
Something wasn’t quite right, I was trying to fit a mold, the mold of a corp VP and over the years I became really good at assimilating into different corporate cultures, fitting into someone else’s idea of what I should be and eventually I had this feeling that I was not completely aligned with my purpose or fulfilling my real mission in life,
So in late 2018 I broke that mold and left my corp job to launch Gravitas Detroit, a company committed to creating the leaders of the future. I finally gave myself permission to be myself. I realized long ago that I love leadership, study it, talk about it, practice it, help others become better leaders and overall make work-life more enjoyable. I didn’t realize it at the time but I was talking about authentic leadership and now I find myself on a quest to seek out other authentic leaders and provide a platform for them to talk openly about what they do to practice authentic leadership, talking about vision, purpose, trust, transparency, vulnerability, servant leadership, fear, and innovation.
My hope is that By hearing these stories and experiences, you will find behaviors and practices to strengthen and embrace your authentic leadership style and attain your Gravitas.
So why, why is this so important? and why now
Our beloved auto industry has a reputation for being harsh, aggressive, testosterone-filled environment operating with the positional power model of I’ll tell you what to do, repelling people and not drawing them in. We are seeing a shift as the Silicon Valley culture enters into our world and we have to be more open to this, open our hearts and minds to other cultures and other industries which is why the podcast guests range from auto to electronics to banking to marketing and beyond. Leadership is leadership no matter what the product or service, it’s all about people. All of this to fully explore authentic leadership and join the quest for Gravitas. The ultimate hallmark of authentic leadership
The time to do this is NOW
The quest for Gravitas is real, we are in a period of digital transformation, AI advancing at an alarming rate taking over the more mundane tasks and humans are shifting into a more creative cognitive space, Mercer describes this period as the human age. This transformation will require a very different kind of leader, they will be faced will all of this plus the need to address the skills gap, attract and retain people, develop cognitive diversity, advance the innovation agenda, embrace speed and agility like never before and unleash all of this human potential.
We won’t have time to play games in the boardroom and deal with this positional power model, it is the truly authentic leader that will rise to this challenge.
The guests on the podcast are indeed authentic leaders and you’ll learn why during each episode and so now is the time to reveal who’s in the chair?
I’d like to thank you all for being here tonight and supporting the mission, in particular there are 2 organizations out there who have supported me in my corp role, through the transition and now in my new role, that is first and foremost Automotive News and also OESA Ginger and Keiyania, you’ve been with me every step of the way – Thank you and now on a more personal level, that voice you heard on the intro is Dietrich Bonawitz , my partner in life, bass player, Luthier, beekeeper, podcast production director and audio quality zealot.
And of course, the young woman who when faced with the reality of her mother’s income going to zero overnight said Mum it's ok, we’ll eat Ramen noodles if we have to, my daughter Gwen.
If you’re ready to join me on the quest for gravitas say yes – YES!
Learn more by visiting us online: https://www.gravitasdetroit.com/
Follow us on Social Media:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GravitasDetroit/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GravitasDetroit
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gravitasdetroit/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jangriffiths/
