Global Transformational Leadership (GTL)
Shelli Brunswick
Chief Operating Officer and Forbes Technology Council ContributorGlobal Transformational Leadership: A Revolutionary Approach to Leadership
Hello, I'm Shelley Brunswick, the Chief Operating Officer at Space Foundation, the G 100 global chair for the Space Technology and Aviation Wing, and a Forbes Technology Council contributor. My mission today is to share insights on global transformational leadership, a revolutionary leadership style that I've developed over my 25-year career in the space industry.
My Journey
The journey that led me to develop this groundbreaking leadership style has been quite an adventure. Let me share a bit about my background and how I hope to inspire and motivate you to join me in this endeavor.
Chapter 1: Early Career
My journey commenced when I enlisted in the US Air Force right out of high school. Motivated by a thirst for world experience, lack of funds for college, and uncertainty about what I wanted to major in, I took this bold step. Stationed in locations such as Turkey and Germany, this experience allowed me to familiarize myself with various cultures, customs, and languages. More significantly, it gave me the chance to recognize and seize opportunities - one of which let me attend school at night, using tuition assistance to complete my college education.
Chapter 2: Becoming a Space Acquisition Officer
My academic achievements opened an avenue for the next chapter of my journey - becoming a space acquisition officer, a space program manager, which initiated my 25-year career in the space industry. This new role introduced me to diverse programs and people from different backgrounds, extending my experience and understanding of the industry.
Chapter 3: Joining the Space Foundation
Upon retiring from the Air Force, I took the opportunity to join the Space Foundation as the chief operating officer. It has been another remarkable journey, teaching me how leadership has evolved over the last 25 years, and that leadership potential exists within us all.
Now, let's delve into the concept of global transformational leadership.
Global Transformational Leadership Explained
Global Transformational Leadership (GTL) is a leadership style that transcends borders, encourages empowerment, and showcases three key traits in its leaders: Inspirational, Authentic, and Grateful.
- Inspirational Leaders: They motivate others with their vision and passion. They champion kindness, mindfulness, and are not afraid to fail, as long as they can learn and grow from it.
- Authentic Leaders: Authentic leaders build trust and respect with integrity. Moreover, they mobilize people through excellent communication skills and passion for positive change
- Grateful Leaders: Grateful leaders are servant leaders. They lead with humility, drive, respect, and gratitude. They understand the importance of gratitude in personal and professional growth and in building stronger relationships.
Gearing Up for Leadership Success
To become successful leaders, I recommend following an Interstellar Guide to Success, a 5-step plan: Awareness, Access, Training, Connecting, and Mentoring.
- Awareness: Learn about opportunities available to you and how to take advantage of them.
- Access: Identify and utilize resources around you to kickstart your journey.
- Training: Equip yourself with the necessary skills, whether it's through formal education or informal learning routes.
- Connecting: Forge relationships and connections with like-minded individuals and organizations.
- Mentoring: Seek out mentors to guide you and become one, to help others in their journey.
I firmly believe that these guidelines can give you insights on how to become a Global Transformational Leader and achieve success in your endeavors.
I'm Shelley Brunswick, and I look forward to meeting you, fellow explorers, around the galaxy!
Video Transcription
Well, hello. And I wanna thank you all for joining me today. I'm Shelley Brunswick. I'm the Chief Operating Officer at Space Foundation, as well as the G 100 global chair for the Space Technology and Aviation Wing and a Forbes Technology Council contributor.What I wanna share with you today is global transformational leadership. A new form of leadership. I've created over my 25 year career in the space industry. Now, first, I wanna share with you a little bit about my journey. So, you know, where I've been and where I'm planning to go and how I'd like all of you to join me. So, the first chapter was when I enlisted in the US Air Force right out of high school because I wanted to see the world and I didn't have college money and I didn't know what I wanted to major in. So what I did was I enlisted in the Air Force and I got to get stationed in Turkey and Germany and learn different cultures and customs and languages as well as earned college money. But even more important than that is I took advantage of opportunities and some of those opportunities allowed me to go to school at night, uh using tuition assistance to complete my college education.
And what that did was allow me to start my next chapter of my journey because I applied and was eventually selected to become an officer in the Air Force, but not just a personnel officer and another type of, of officer, but a space acquisition officer, a space program manager.
And that started my 25 year career in the space industry. And it was amazing. I worked on programs that were ground stations and launch vehicles and satellites. And I got to meet people from diversity of backgrounds and experiences and teams from logisticians to financial managers, engineers and more.
And then when I went to retire from the Air Force, I then started the third chapter of my journey. And that's working at Space Foundation as the chief operating officer. And it's been an amazing journey. But what I've learned is how leadership has changed over the last 25 years and that you can be a leader no matter where you are in your journey. And so what I wanna share with you is this new form of leadership called global transformational leadership. Now, what I'm gonna do is let you know I have the chat open. So you're welcome to ask questions if you have any questions or you can follow me and join me on linkedin. And I'm gonna go ahead and share my slides with you and we're gonna kinda walk through, what is this global transformational leadership? And how can you be a global transformational leader out of this world empowerment skills? So when I look at being a GTL, you're a global transformational leader because you're inspirational, you're authentic and you have gratitude and we can see those role models everywhere. Let's start with being inspirational right now today, that is one of the most important qualities of a leader to inspire others.
And my good friend, Doctor Timothy Motte, the President of Colorado State University Pueblo taught me this and we can see many of those inspirational leaders around the world. Malala Nelson Mandela are just two examples of inspirational leaders who are creating change. The inspirational leader I wanna share with you is Machiko Gozen. She's 1/13 generation samurai woman warrior and I met her and she shared with me her story and how pp her purpose is to empower women. So when I interviewed her, she shared some of those skills she thought were important to be an inspirational leader. One of them, and one of the most important is to inspire kindness and mindfulness. As a matter of fact, she said kindness is the biggest source of strength that somebody who can be kind no matter what kind of day they're having or how they're being treated, demonstrates their strength and that we also need to vaccinate ourselves against fear. Sometimes fear can stop us from accomplishing amazing things. But when we're not afraid to fail, one, we accomplish great things. We also create empathy and collaboration. And by not being afraid to f having failure, it gives us speed because speed is important. When we look at saving resources and budgets and creating the change we want many times, we look at, we have a 95% solution, but we want 100% solution and that 100% solution could take three more months, three more years or 30 more years to get to.
Sometimes you have to say I have a good enough solution. Let's try it. And if I fail, I'll pivot and learn something from it. That's the most important thing. Failure is OK. As long as you learn from it. Now, Machiko also studies the practice of Wabi Sabi, the Japanese worldview of finding beauty and imperfections. Again, it's OK to not be perfect or have a perfect solution. Now, I would be remiss if I didn't share an amazing space leader with you. That's also inspirational Kay Wang, who is the co-founder at the Carmen project and the CEO at Disrupt Space and an Oxford Fellow. She believes that having the willingness to communicate even with people, we may disagree and try to solve problems with them because ultimately, that is what a leader does. They look at problems, they try to find solutions and implement those solutions. And that comes up with her other concern is that being a leader is about being action driven. You know, many times leaders may have great ideas or visions, but they don't implement them or create the change in the world. So it's important to be that inspirational leader that can cast the vision, but also bring people along by communicating and helping to create the program management milestones and inch stones that get us to that vision, that leader can see the next mountain top and they can tell you how we're gonna get there.
So some of those skills that a inspirational leader will have are casting the vision, communicating that vision, having a positive attitude because yes, there will be setbacks, things may not go according to plan, but we will flex and adjust and re come at that problem again that those leaders are passionate and they wanna bring everybody with them and we're gonna leave inspirational leadership with the amazing Steve Jobs who highlighted that people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are just the people who can do that.
So let's now look at that next trait of being a global transformational leader and that's being authentic, you know, authentic people are leaders because it's in their DNA, it's who they are. No matter where they go, they are talking about the things they're passionate about, they're inspiring others to follow them. You know, when you hear them speak that what they're saying is their truth and it doesn't matter where they are or who they're speaking to you, connect with them because they're an authentic leader. Now, here's a few examples of some authentic leaders. We know, we obviously know our great leader here at Women Tech Network, Anna, we also know Greta who started a climate change movement as a young girl. So again, these are authentic leaders. We can think about Jane Goodall who has inspired her authenticity to save the planet, to save species and Melinda Gates. But the authentic leader I'd like to highlight is Linda Mathis. Now I interviewed Linda and she is the former CEO of the American Red Cross in Washington DC and her authenticity related to mobilizing people. And that required having passion, that authenticity and excellent communication skills. And she highlighted that those authentic leaders, they like turning difficult situations around.
So they're passionate to look for challenges and lean into them and bring people with them into those challenges. Because after all that is what a leader does or an entrepreneur, they look at challenges problems, they look for solutions and how to implement those solutions by bringing the right team together to solve those challenges. And again, I wanna highlight another amazing space leader, Gabriella Gr, the founder of the Brain Spark Sparker App. Now she's from New Zealand. So we'll call her a Kiwi and she said Kiwis, their authenticity is related to integrity because integrity builds trust, you know, when you meet somebody and they share their truth with you. And you know, they're authentic and they're genuine and they're passionate and they're truthful that builds trust and respect and camaraderie. So some of those skills we look at when we think about authentic leadership is again building that trust, reliability and relatability, integrity, transparency.
And that what they're saying is in their DNA. When I was in the Air Force, we had a motto too. It was integrity first service before self and excellence in all. We do integrity first that you say what you're gonna do and people know that you'll do what you say if you'd like to learn more about authentic leadership. I authored an amazing paper with my good friend Peter Hugh navigating complexity through authentic leadership. It was just published in the Bead Society Spring Review and I've put the uh article link up there so you can take a quick picture or look at Googling it the March issue. And it's about this new leadership style change is the way we look at traditional command and control structures in favor of questions and open dialogue. And we kind of part ways with authentic leadership with Howard Schultz from Starbucks. He says you have to be authentic, you have to be true and you have to believe in your heart that this is going to work. And now as we look at that third trait of being a global transformational leadership and that is gratitude, being grateful. One of the most amazing leaders I ever worked for was Major General L Flowers, the longest serving airman in the United States Air Force history. And after he retired, he came out with an amazing book called Reflections Of a Servant leader.
Now, in that book, are some great insights about his journey and leadership style. But also he covers some things called Flower Iss that he came up with. And one of those that I'm gonna share with you today is leading with heart. And that's what a grateful leader who demonstrates gratitude has. They're humble, they have humility, their enthusiasm and passionate, they have attitude and that's the right attitude, a positive attitude, they show respect for their team and they build that trust so that flower is again, is leading with heart.
Now we can see those amazing grateful leaders around the world. And one of the leaders I interviewed is Doctor Harbin Aurora Ray, who is the founder of the G 100 the G 100 is about creating gender equality by 2030. And she identifies that power of gratitude that it is essential for personal and professional growth. That it is the key to happiness, success and inner peace and that it builds stronger relationships. And she believes you should have a gratitude journal called the Thank You Power Journal every day.
You should think about what are you grateful for? You know, even on the worst days, there are great things to be thankful for the home you live in, your family, your loved ones, uh all the others who have helped you in journey, you know, I am where I am today because of the thousands of people that have helped me in my journey.
So even on a bad day, I am grateful because without them, I wouldn't be here and tomorrow I'm gonna get up and do the best I can to continue to move the agenda forward and be positive and solve the challenges and the problems we see. So Doctor Harbin Aurora Ray, the founder of the G 100. Again, I would like to highlight an amazing space leader and that would be Doctor Catherine Nimbi. Now in this picture, she is holding the 2020 African Food Prize Award, but it's more important than just her receiving an award. Now, this award was for, for her using space technology satellite observation data to help farmers in Africa better their agricultural yields, increase agricultural, using that space technology and innovation to help people in Africa. But it's more in this statement I highlight here when I interviewed her about her gratitude. She said my goal of studying abroad was to learn as much as possible and then bring it back and apply it to challenges across Africa. Her goal was to help others and that is ultimately what being a grateful leader is being a servant leader, serving others before we serve ourselves. And again, as part of that air force creed. I learn integrity first and service before self.
So what are some of those skills that relate to being a grateful leader while recognizing and appreciating others? None of us get to where we are without others and none of us can accomplish the herculean goals we have without an amazing team. We also have humility because it's not about us. It's about others being that servant leader, having empathy and empowering others and having emotional intelligence. And we can see those grateful leaders everywhere from Oprah Winfrey, the Indra nui, the former CEO of Pepsi. So again, as I highlight that inspirational, authentic and grateful leader, we have some amazing role models and you've heard many of them today give their presentations. Now I'm gonna go ahead and end the slide show and see if we have any questions in the chat. I'm happy to answer questions for anyone or again, you can follow me on linkedin at Shelley Brunswick and I'm happy to answer your questions there. Now, if you follow me on linkedin, you'll see that I post things about leadership entrepreneurship, innovation, space, sustainable development goals, empowerment.
I also like to post jobs and intern opportunities so that others can find their path no matter where it is. So I'm looking in the chat to see if anyone has any questions and what we can do is if you don't have any questions, I'm gonna give you a quick update on how you can accomplish your goals through an interstellar guide to success. And that interstellar guide to success has five main steps. They are awareness, access, training, connecting and mentoring. So that first step is about awareness, being aware that there are opportunities for you and you need to seek out those opportunities and take advantage of them.
So I shared one of those in that early chapter of my journey. When I told you, I enlisted initially in the US Air Force and I went to school at night and I took advantage of tuition assistance which helped me pay for college education. So I didn't incur any debt that was taking advantage of an opportunity. So awareness helps you to learn about opportunities and following people on linked linkedin or finding role models is a great way of building awareness and helping you follow and accomplish your goals and dreams.
That second step is access, finding that access point. So one of the things I share with entrepreneurs who are maybe in the ideation phase and are trying to figure out how they can help the world, how they can create an impact. A great place to go is the NASA technology transfer office. There are thousands of patents in the NASA technology transfer office that are waiting to be applied for and commercialized from energy and health care, agriculture, creature comforts, pharmaceuticals, and more. So that's one great place, the NASA tech transfer office, but the European Space Agency also has a tech transfer office. And so does the Japanese Space Agency. That third step in the five step interstellar guide to success is training no matter what you need to do, you may need to learn some skills, whether you wanna be an entrepreneur or a rocket scientist. Maybe you need a formal college education and a phd or maybe you need some online webinars or an internship or fellowship training can be formal or informal. That next step, the fourth step is building those relationships and connections. And that is an amazing thing that women tech network does. It connects all of us together so that we can build relationships today. And the rest of this week, this conference is an amazing opportunity to connect with others and to connect with women tech network.
There's also Space Generation Advisory Council, Women in Aerospace. So check out all those amazing professional organizations where you can connect with like-minded individuals. And that fifth step of the Interstellar guide to success is mentoring, finding a mentor and being a mentor and you can be a mentor or a protege at any stage of your career. So look for those mentors and women tech network has an amazing mentoring program. So does the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs Space for Women Program. They have an amazing mentoring program. So again that five steps of that interstellar guide to success are awareness, access training, connecting and mentoring. So as we look to wrap up this session.
If you didn't have a chance to send your question, please reach out to me or Women Tech Network on linkedin, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. And we will do our best to answer your questions and help you find your way and your interstellar guide to success as well as help you become a global transformational leader. I'm Shelley Brunswick, the chief operating Officer at Space Foundation, the G 100 global chair for the Space Technology and Aviation Wing, and a Forbes Technology Council contributor. I look forward to seeing all of you around the galaxy. Thank you.