95. Jackie Pelland

The Iowa Idea: Jackie Pelland

 “You’re just not that big of a deal.”

In this episode of the Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Jackie Pelland. Jackie obsesses about leadership. She is a founding partner of the organizational design company, Slingshot25 where she designs and delivers leadership learning programs and provides executive leadership coaching. For 25 years before starting her own company, Jackie was an employee in big telecom and aerospace companies. This means she is no stranger to complicated corporate environments that are controlled by bureaucracy and office politics.

Jackie shares her journey from growing up in small town Iowa, to college, to the complicated and unnecessarily toxic corporate environments. Her mission is to bring humanity and joy to the heart of the employee experience. Her message is consistent and singular: she believes every single employee deserves a great place to work.

We mix it up on leadership, explore the Sunday scaries, and leaders’ ability to deeply impact the lives of those in their organization. I appreciated Jackie’s willingness to share what she’s learned, as well as her positive energy focused on unleashing the power of positive leadership. We discussed how the general principles of leadership haven’t changed in 200,000 years, yet why each generation struggles with learning and applying the lessons of leadership in our complex world. This includes the skills gap of leaders, as well as sociopathology that presents itself in HR and executive leadership. I enjoyed Jackie’s insight that coaches ask questions, they don’t give advice.

It was an honor having Jackie join me on the show. I hope you enjoy the episode.

About Jackie

Jackie Pelland is a founding partner of the organizational design company, Slingshot25 where she designs and delivers leadership learning programs and provides executive leadership coaching. For 25 years before starting her own company, Jackie was an employee in big telecom and aerospace companies. This means she is no stranger to complicated corporate environments that are controlled by bureaucracy and office politics.

As big companies keep getting bigger and taking up an ever-increasing share of employment in this country, Jackie’s mission is to bring humanity and joy to the heart of the employee experience. Her message is consistent and singular: she believes every single employee deserves a great place to work. A place where they can discover and apply their natural talents in order to feel personal satisfaction and the thrill of a job well done. There is no question that leaders have an outsized impact on the employee experience – they make or break it every day.

This ability for leaders to affect our lives so deeply is why Jackie has spent her career studying the art and science of leadership. Her studies have brought her to the conclusion that the basic premise of leadership hasn’t changed in about 200,000 years. She believes that what we need from our leaders – a desire to contribute our talents, to be valued and feel connected to others – is roughly the same now as when we lived in caves. It’s these beliefs that drive her irreverent, fun, and welcoming approach to leadership development and make her the designer of unique leadership programs that focus on the essential and often-forgotten truth of leading people.

Links

Slingshot25 website: www.slingshot25.com

My LinkedIn page: www.linkedin.com/in/jackiepelland/

Credits

Episode produced by Spark Consulting Group (www.inspiredbyspark.com) in Iowa City, with support from Executive Podcast Solutions (https://www.executivepodcastsolutions.com/).

The Iowa Idea Podcast theme music written and performed by Paisley Bible (https://paisleybible.bandcamp.com/).