Season 3, Episode 2: Live with Neferteri Strickland on Leadership and Success

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Hello LinkedIn family, this is Coach Bizzy and welcome to the very first edition of the third season of the Leadership and Success podcast. So I am here with a very special guest, and I'm going to introduce her in just a moment. And while you are there, please let me know where you are watching from, add it to the comments. And if you have any question for me or my guest, please go ahead and type it in the comments. So without further ado, let me introduce to you Neferti Strickland. How are you doing this morning, Neferti?

I'm well, Bisi, I'm well. How are you?

Wonderful. So I'm, I'm really excited to have you. I think it's been almost a year since we've been planning this, and maybe you can tell us a little bit about your leadership journey.

Mm, leadership journey. Uh, so they have a saying that you are not a leader until you create other leaders. I believe I've done that, so I qualify as a leader. Often I'm referred to as an expert in a few different fields, but I shy away from that title of expertise because there's always so much to learn. There's always an opportunity for someone with less experience to come in and shed some light on a different aspect of that area that will help you grow your understanding and effectiveness. So for me, my leadership journey has been platformed by my lifelong journey of learning. First as a child, then through adolescence to young adulthood, and now as an adult. 43 years I have lived on this planet, and I look for patterns. And when I express those patterns to others, I'm said to have led them to something, but I'm really just pointing it out. So you hear people talk about servant leadership. You hear them talk about leaders eat last or refer to that. I believe that those are, those are great ways to look at it. I feel as though if I plan properly, if I lead properly, I will take care of the people around me. So being a child of 5 or a child of 5 children in my family, I was second to last. I often had to fight for my place, but born to two military noncommissioned officers, the thought of leadership was always in my home. Both of my parents were leaders, my father an infantryman, my mother in aviation. And with those older siblings, I watched, right? And so at the age of 17, I joined the National Guard. So I became a part of the US military where again, I was young, young, but I was asked to be a leader among my peers. And it came second nature to me because of that upbringing, because of the way that my home was structured. And I, I had an opportunity to do some amazing things by falling in alignment with the adult leaders in that military program that were around me. So as I grew into adulthood, again, looking for those patterns and whether it's my professional career as a civilian or now as a, as a military officer, I look for opportunities to learn. I look for opportunities to learn from others, and I look for patterns, and those things are consistent in my leadership.

Wow, that is really fascinating, and I do believe that leaders are learners. So as a leader, what are you learning right now, or which book are you reading?

So I'm— I have many books dog-eared and marked, uh, and, and I have a sagging, uh, bookshelf. If I were to go and look at my Amazon, uh, history of books that I've ordered, it's everything from leadership proper to education, formal education, Blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, menopause. There are so many intersections in my life that I'm looking to learn from the lessons of others to bring into my awareness. So I will move through those spaces at least with some foundational knowledge. Uh, it is the 30th of January, 2023, and we are about to, um, observe Black History Month here in the US. So there is one book in particular that I keep very close to me, and that is Everything You Need to Know Before Race and Racism Dialogue by Walter D. Palmer. He is a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, a civil rights leader here in the greater Philadelphia region, and it is written to be understood by students on a third grade level. It's very, very accessible. And the way that the book is structured, I'm a fan because it gives you historical figures, um, their— with the context of their ethnic or racial or even religious affiliation. And then it provides you with chronological events, a timeline. So if you want to talk about Judaism, here are some significant figures, and then here's the timeline. And it allows us to create mutual understanding, or at least decide on some facts which are really important right now as we put the topic into context. And we seem to need those two things right now in whatever we're discussing— a foundational knowledge, artificial intelligence, and then a timeline. How did this technology— where do we say that it began? And then how has matured before we start to talk about, you know, branded artificial intelligence platforms. And if we'd apply that logic to everything, I think we'd bring a whole lot more people along this journey with us.

Wow, that is quite fascinating. And you mentioned Dr. Palmer, he's one of my heroes. I think he's a living legend. And I understand you do have a personal relationship with the man and you might be doing some work with him. You may, I don't know if you are allowed to talk about it now or not, but can you tell us a little bit more about Dr. Palmer, how you got to, know him, and if possible, what type of work you might be doing with the legend.

The legend, the GOAT, or one of the GOATs. I consider myself fortunate to have many people in my network that are narrowly focused, that I would refer to as subject matter experts. And Dr. Palmer was born, I want to say, in 1934. So even trying to conceptualize almost 100 years old here in the Philadelphia region, in New Jersey, and then moved to Philadelphia in the community that is— was labeled the Black Bottom. And if I fast forward through so many important details about his life, he teaches today at the University of Pennsylvania. Race and racism is what he lectures on. So it's not that that's the most important thing to talk about, but the context that he provides is so important. So important.

Wow, that is, that is just fascinating. Now, another thing about you, and while I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna show a little bit about your LinkedIn page, right? You are a cyber technology strategist, podcast host, military officer, adjunct professor, and you align your community through Emerging Technology Initiative and K-20 science, technology, engineering, arts, which is very important, and mathematics. So from STEM to STEAM education. Can you tell us tell us more about STEM and how you kind of got involved with it and why you think art is so important today?

So from STEM to STEAM, and it's really just semantics, right? It's really just how we choose to codify and label. For me, the arts of expression is accessible to anyone. You do not have to be a subject matter expert. You can go get your MFA if you so choose, But art is something that you solely get to be subjectively judge of, right? Whereas mathematics, not so much. Science and technology, maybe not. So if we take a child and put music on and that child moves, that child is expressing itself in an art form. If that child starts to belt out some tunes, the child is expressing himself and it could be beautiful. It could be natural genius that we would observe, and, uh, likelihood though, we would put that child in singing lessons and say, "You are amazing. Let's teach you how to," and that's when we start to get into education. And so when we look at science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, there are those that we believe are credible, those who are the holders of knowledge that the rest of us are attempting to access. Access through first principles. And again, not that art is not structured, a knowledge base that you can pursue an educational pathway and career in, but there's a— there is a natural genius in every one of us that even though we are not trained in science, we're still scientists. Even though we're not trained in mathematics, We're still mathematicians with math plural. If someone would just stop for a moment and help us understand and identify those patterns. So for me, the arts and STEAM make STEM accessible to anyone.

That is really something. Now in my house, I am the only quote unquote scientist. When I went to school, I studied biology, chemistry, and almost got a PhD in microbiology. Both my daughters really are strong in arts. That's why arts is very important to me today. My first daughter is a, I guess, a junior now in college studying music and psychology. And my second daughter really loves everything artsy. But anyway, and I wanted to give a shout out to Georgette Miller. She's online right now. She's my sister from the Black Corporate Board Readiness. Court 6, I believe, the GOAT, greatest of all time, and also Chris Brown from Portland, Oregon. Thank you so much for watching. And anybody watching now, if you have any question for me or my guest, please feel free to type it in. And, um, Nefertari, I, I want to get to asking you, I guess, my, uh, 7 favorite questions. Uh, first one being, what is the greatest lesson you have learned?

The greatest lesson that I have learned in that Everything is— has a lifespan. And we might just have a short amount of time together. So it's important that we value that time. And when it's time to go, put that in context. An example of that is when you're employed, we've accepted that the generations that make up our current workforce aren't necessarily going to be employed with one employer for 20 or 30 years and get that watch and retire off into the sunset, that they may very well hold many positions, that their career looks nonlinear, right? So it's really important for them to know when it's time to go and understand that although you are no longer in that position with that employer, you are essentially in a alumna of that institution, alumni, you know, depending if you're female or not. So thinking about how what you learned comes with you and how you have an opportunity to give back because there are people behind you that now sit possibly in the role that you sat in. So knowing when it's time to go and if that's, uh, you know, your military service, if that's for a corporation, if that's as a member of a, a religious congregation, You still have something to give, but it might be time to move on.

Wow, that is quite fascinating. Now, looking at your biography, I don't know where you find the time, but you are a lecturer at the Wharton School, which is one of the most prestigious schools, business schools out there, but you also an adjunct professor for St. Joseph University. And then you are also right in the Army National Guard and an education advisor for John Vercitti. It's like, where do you find time to do all of that? All of this? How do you balance work and life or integrate work and life? And then on top of that, I know you are married, you have children. That's definitely a full-time job. How in the world are you able to accomplish so much? And you're just a human being like most of us.

So I answer that question and, you know, speaking to another service member, you understand the And you understand where combatant commanders are able to force multiply, right? Where we are able to affect and impact those lower levels of something that's going on or something that has to happen. For me, I am accustomed to having to do many things or have many hats, whereas I, you know, I'm not speaking on behalf US military right now. But as a military officer, I'm communicator, I'm planner, I may have to be a movement officer, I may have to be a sexual assault officer in terms of getting that training. I could have 5 or 6 different delegated roles, and I'm expected to then, one, be responsible, but then identify the task, communicate those tasks to higher or the stakeholders in the civilian sense, and then delegate some of the tasks to those that are below me. So as I move through, it's important for me to understand what's to my left and right, our left and right limits, and who's there. Because some of the patterns that we see that need to be a theme across, it's important as a planner and a leader that you're aware of them and you have the communications channels established in order to get the message there. And so drones, is that something we need to know about? If you look and you see other experiences or other affiliations on my LinkedIn profile, is that, is that siloed? Does it make sense to the average person? It's like, wow, those are a lot of different things. They're transdisciplinary, not even interdisciplinary, they're transdisciplinary. And fortunate enough to have those that are very narrowly focused subject matter experts that I can tap into, learn from, look for the pattern, call them out, and we move forward together.

Wow, that is, uh, very, very, uh, good. And I think really In my opinion, the military, all of the branches really, are leadership organizations. We just happen to have a bunch of hardware and we can blow up a bunch of stuff, but really it's all about discipline and serving other people. So having said that, what is the greatest leadership advice you have ever received?

Hmm, the greatest leadership advice I've ever received. The leadership pause. The leader's pause is doctrinally— well, at least it serves our doctrine. So it's baked into some of the military decision-making processes that we leverage to organize, to plan, right? And knowing that I don't know everything, I do need to take the moments to stop, look around, assess what are the things that I'm doing that I shouldn't do, and what are the things that I'm not doing that I should be. So that leader's pause.

Wow, that is, uh, something. And it's really amazing though with leadership specifically how you can apply it across, you know, pretty much all of the functions out there across industries. And no, no, really, no matter what you do in life, it is applicable. And I don't know where I got that from. I think I was about 17 years old, and back then I was a pre-med student, but I just knew in my heart that there were 3 things I needed to be an expert in, no matter what. One was leadership, one was technology. I kind of knew the next century would be all about tech. But then the other one was business as well. But it is really formidable to have, especially in this 21st century, I feel like leadership is one of the skills that we really need to get better at because technology pretty much, you know, AI, we talk about ChatGPT now and all of that, you know, before you know it, the robotics and technology will take away a lot of the entry jobs. I think we don't need human beings to do things that computers can do so efficiently, you know. And we've had sick leave, we've had vacation leave, and we've had pay. But still, though, there is room, I believe, in the future for those people who are going to lead, implement programs, and influence people. So you already told me about what you were learning right now, but related to that, What is the greatest investment you have made in yourself?

My education. My education. So when you say technology, business, and leadership, those are the three areas you believe are important for development, for sustainment. I look at technology as the tool, business as the commerce and leadership is the organization of people, right? And things. So when do we not need tools for work? When are we not exchanging values with others? And in the context of our economy, commerce. And then when do we not need to organize to be able to do something that our two hands and our one brain, two eyes, two ears, one mouth can't do, right? So Everything I've ever felt was valuable was about how can I use those tools? What tool is that? What value does it have? What lifespan does it have? How can I apply it? Commerce. How can I engage with others and exchange value? Organization. I can't do it all by myself and I only have 24 hours, independent how much money is account, right? So I, like you, believe that those three areas— technology, business, and leadership— are important. But how do I get access to learning about those things from others and their lessons learned? And so formal and informal education is where I choose to make my investment, because someone in formal education will pre-select and possibly pre-chew the information for me to and be able to absorb the value or the nutrients from to grow in the way that I see fit. In formal education, it's taught in a classroom. Not everything gets brought into the classroom. I teach blockchain technology at St. Joseph's University. Not every university student across the country— luckily, YouTube University or self-guided learning accessible today in 2023. It wasn't always the case, so we would look to formal education institutions to provide us with opportunities to grow and learn.

Wow, that is, uh, wonderful to know. So basically your education doesn't end once you earn your bachelor's degree. Uh, when I think about, you know, my, my parents, especially my grandparents back then, even high school was actually a requirement, and, and really you would go to through high school or maybe 2 years of college, and that's it. That's all of the learning you need to do for your entire life, and then work for a single company for 20 years, 30 years, and get your gold watch and retire. But like you said earlier during the podcast, that's just not the way things are today, are they? And one thing I remember my godfather always told me was, you know, get an education because that's one thing that nobody will ever, ever be able to take away from you. Wow, this, this is, this is really Fascinating. So, as a leader, I really believe that success and failure are two sides of the same coin. And I know we celebrate a lot of great people because of their great success, but my question for you is, so that's the third question, how has failure shaped your life?

You know, that's a hard one because to answer that question, you have to one, admit failure, right? Which is not easy for everyone to do. And I don't see failure at the end. It's kind of like saying you lost the race. Well, if you didn't stop the clock or if it wasn't only 100 meters, maybe I would have won. Further, faster, right? And so life, it is finite for all of us, but I'm still running my race. So where have I failed? I can't say that I paint it with that brush. I paint it with the brush of I lost that battle. But the campaign, the war is much longer than that. And so part of the way that I learn is through quote unquote failure or through not hitting all of my targets or marks or meeting all of my requirements. And if I understand where the opportunity to get up or to try again is, I can learn from that. But often in education, it is a pass or fail, or a degree of failure in that you didn't, you didn't get 100. But there's so much value in getting it wrong and discussing why. I actually encourage that in my students because I am not perfect. So I like the, I like the frameworks that guide gamification because it creates a sandbox within which You can fail. The objective is to win, but to win, you must learn. You must understand the context. You must understand the playing field or the battle space. So for me, failure is the greatest teacher, provides the greatest lesson. But because of the fear of failure, I choose to paint it with a different brush. That's all.

Wow, that is very insightful. So earlier you mentioned Dr. Palmer. I think he's a legend, definitely somebody I'd like to know. But who do you know that we should know? Who are some of your mentors, thought leaders that you are following right now? Hmm.

You know, my husband loves some Stoic philosophy. Philosophy, Aurelius, and thinking about some of the, some of the greats. When I am learning, I look to, I look to the frameworks. I really like the synergistic methodology. Bob Fuller spoke to a number of military leaders that I follow in terms of people, though, I'd like to send you a list. I don't know if LinkedIn profiles will be most appropriate because sometimes it's hard for me to draw a line from those that I'm reading or reading about, those that are living, those who have passed, because it, it makes up It makes up the continuum of the experience that I'm having. So would love to introduce you to Dr. Maher. If that's what you— if that would do it for you, Bizzy, I would love to introduce you to Dr. Maher. And if there's anyone— I like to build in part— that's a framework as well. There's a Dr. Jim Jensen who is doing some amazing research in Qatar right now that, that I'm attempting to build in public with. There's a Dr. Teresa Serafim who's in Portugal that I'm building with in public. There's a Dr. Jah Hayes, he's here in the greater Philadelphia region that I'm building in public with right now in real time. There are students that I'm engaged with. When you said, how do you do all these things? There's a community with each one of those things. There's a network that those individual community members gives me access to. So I host convenings, I host roundtable discussions where I bring people together so that they can meet one another because it's just like, wow, we need to be in the same room. We need to have time to network and get to know one another. You're out in the West Coast. I travel there seldom, but I would love to be able to come out, meet members of your network. Come join me. Come join me on the East Coast. Come to a convening, and then you'll be able to meet those people. But the offer beyond— if you see me dialogue with anyone on LinkedIn, more than likely I know them. So I'd be happy to make any introduction that would be helpful.

That is, that is fantastic, and that goes for my audience as well. And earlier you also mentioned some of the people who have influenced you are not just the ones that are living now, but some that may be dead. So thinking about even people from history or people who are alive today, if you could choose 3 people, right, 3, to have dinner with, who would you choose and why?

Wow.

Mary Bethune, who Bethune-Cookman is named for, she was an honorary general in the Women's Auxiliary Corps for the military, for the Army, and did some amazing work that many people don't know about. I would love to be able to sit and talk to her because very similar to my lived experience. She had her hand in so many things with so many organizations, an advisor to, I believe, the Truman administration. And so just to be able to sit and learn from that strategist, I would consider it a gift. I would love to be able to sit with my grandmother, Daphne King. She was a woman who came to the U.S. at my father's encouragement when he joined the U.S. military, but, but she a woman who was born and raised in the country of Panama. And I did not know as a child the gift that she was. And so now, as a woman with my own children, I would love to talk to her specifically about my father, like all the things you could tell me about my dad. Right. And so the third would be my, my, my mother's mother and understanding a little bit more about the lives of these women, I believe, would add some context to my own experience in a meaningful way.

Wow, thank you so much for sharing. So what have you done, you know, looking throughout your life and your career that you think we should do as well, or one action that you've taken that has positively impacted your life?

So one thing, uh, come up with a, a learning plan for yourself. Understand how you learn first, and then come up with a learning plan for how you will sustain yourself as we migrate into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which it's happening in real time because there's It's, it's impossible for us to know everything. It's impossible for us to spend as much time as we need to studying or becoming learned in these different spaces and sectors of development. So how will you, as a human being with human brain, yet no— nothing is implanted in you yet to throttle all of this data and information that's coming our way. So how will you manage it in a way where you feel informed and you believe that you can filter how, if, and when you need to?

Wow, thank you so much. That is quite insightful. So, uh, if you had one and only one day to live, what would you have liked your final contribution to be?

Wow. I don't know if that's morbid or that— I don't know what are we doing. If today was it, I would, um, have to end this call immediately, and it would take me about 35 minutes to get home, and I would want my children and my husband there with me, and I would want that time spent with them.

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing. And I know we all went through this global pandemic. I think it's more than 600,000 people died in the US alone. And yeah, I know exactly what you mean. And I really believe there are things in life much more important than money, career, and all of that. And sometimes, you know, you kind of have to put things in perspective. So I guess the last question I have for you is, how can we add value back to you? Thank you so much for being on this podcast. Hopefully more than 30,000+ people are going to be able to listen to this in the next couple of months. But what could we do to make a difference in your life at this moment?

Provide me with probably a 3D-printed Kleenex remotely. Because you just got me. That should have been the last question, Bob. What, what is that? Yeah. Oh, so, um, you know, there are actionable things that I would want your hundreds of thousands of followers to that I believe would make a difference. But be kind. Be kind to one another. Approach engagement with others from a position of wanting to understand. Give people the benefit of the doubt. And that crosses all sectors of industry levels of leadership at this moment in time, we need to, we need to be kinder to one another.

Wow. That is very simple, but I think, uh, very insightful. Be kind. Wow. I love it. And, uh, so we are pretty much at the end of the podcast now. Uh, one new thing I'm gonna start doing for season number 3, I'm gonna ask you for 3 adjectives that describe you as a child.

3 adjectives that— so I've been always described as charismatic, always, uh, curious but naive, a bit naive.

Charismatic, curious, and naive. I like that. What about 3 adjectives that describe you right now?

Still charismatic. Charismatic. I'm still curious, but I'm aware. I am aware.

Yes. And, uh, and I saw from my discussion, awareness is really part of your leadership tool. And I think as a leader, you definitely need to be aware of your surrounding and eventually maybe be the person that makes things happen, but at minimum, being aware of what's going on around you. And adapt. Wow, that is wonderful. Okay, the very, very, very last question I'll ask is, can you give us one word that represents our shared experience here in this podcast? We've been speaking for about, what, 45 minutes or so. What is one word that sums it up for you?

Hmm, one word. It's going to have a negative connotation for some, but agenda. What will we do? Wow.

Okay, that is enough, enough, enough said, because like we say in the military, it's really all about action, right? You can have very good intention and you can learn a lot, but what do you do with that knowledge? What positive impact do you have on the world? And I think being kind is definitely something we need more of in this world. Thank you so much for your time, Nefertari. I really, really do appreciate that. So you are live on LinkedIn right now, and I believe on Twitter and Facebook as well. And in the next couple of hours or so, you're going to be on all of the major podcast platforms, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Spotify, and all of them. Again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

See you next time.

Thank you for listening to the Leadership and Success Podcast with your host, Coach Beezy. If you like what you heard, please subscribe to our channels and come back for more wisdom nuggets on how you may develop into a better leader and achieve greater levels of success. Leadership is the most critical skill. The world will always need leaders to lead others, deploy the next disruptive technology, or execute a business strategy. You may as well decide on counting yourself among the 21st century leaders. See you right here next time on the Leadership and Success Podcast with Coach BZ.