Empower Your Leadership with All Pride, No Ego by Jim Fielding

A Queer Executive’s Journey to Living and Leading Authentically. Step into the world of authentic leadership with “All Pride, No Ego,” where Jim Fielding’s courageous narrative redefines success. This book is a beacon for aspiring leaders, advocating for integrity and truth in the corporate sphere.

Uncover the secrets to authentic leadership by exploring “All Pride, No Ego.” Continue reading to transform your leadership style and inspire those around you.

Genres

Biography, Business, Leadership, LGBTQ+, Non-Fiction, Self-Help, Professional Development, Corporate Culture, Diversity, Empowerment

“All Pride, No Ego” by Jim Fielding is a candid exploration of the intersection between personal identity and professional leadership. Fielding, an LGBTQ+ executive, shares his journey towards living and leading authentically.

The book serves as a call-to-action for servant leadership, urging readers to embrace their truth and positively impact their communities. It details Fielding’s pivotal decisions, leadership evolution, and the lessons learned from both triumphs and setbacks.

Review

Jim Fielding’s “All Pride, No Ego” is an insightful and inspiring guide for anyone seeking to lead with authenticity. The book is praised for its accessible and compassionate narrative, offering practical advice for business leaders and professionals. Fielding’s story is a testament to the power of owning one’s truth and the positive influence it can have on both personal growth and professional advancement.

Recommendation

Jim Fielding has held senior leadership roles at leading companies, including Disney Stores and DreamWorks. But when Fielding started his corporate journey, he hid his queer identity. After coming out as a gay man and sharing his authentic truth, he urges others to avoid making his mistake. Fielding adopts a nonlinear, conversational style to share the most significant lessons he’s learned over the course of his career. Absorbing and often poignant, his story will help readers build their confidence and unleash their full potential.

Take-Aways

• Don’t try to control everything – especially the truth about yourself.
• Embrace continuous learning and stay relevant as a “change agent.”
• Find roles where you can shine your light. Know when to walk away from toxic cultures.
• Don’t neglect your most meaningful relationships.
• Cultivate self-love and acceptance. Decide for yourself what success means.
• Lead high-performing teams by prioritizing the needs of today’s young, bright talent.
• Prioritize self-care.
• Aspire to be a kind, empathetic and courageous leader.

Summary

Don’t try to control everything – especially the truth about yourself.

For Jim Fielding, a queer executive who has served in executive leadership roles at both DreamWorks and Disney Stores, the best approach to leadership is to balance control with openness. He recommends using the “80/20 rule”: By carefully planning 80% of your actions to achieve a desired outcome, you and your team can better handle the 20% – the challenges and changes you can’t anticipate. When you have a solid strategy in place 80% of the time, you might even start looking forward to the surprises and setbacks that come your way. These apparent problems could unveil unforeseen opportunities.

“If you attempt to control too much, you will drive yourself and your teams crazy. Most importantly, you may miss key new learnings and opportunities if you are too controlling and close-minded.”

Fielding learned the importance of not trying to control everything in 1987 while managing a men’s retail store in Flint, Michigan. At that time, he was hiding his queer identity and dating a woman, suppressing his authenticity in a desire to appear “normal.” He and other closeted queer managers would meet secretly on the weekends and evenings, living a lie by day to protect their careers. This double life took a toll on his physical and mental health: He experienced migraines, stomach ailments and depression.

When Fielding finally came out, not everyone he valued responded with compassion. His father, for example, quoted verses from the Bible to invalidate Fielding’s identity. But Fielding was done trying to control and curate a false image. After acknowledging his authentic truth, he realized he couldn’t hide his identity at work. He moved to a district manager role at Gap, where he felt unconditionally accepted as his true self. Give yourself the gift of authenticity, and find a company where you can thrive in your truth.

Embrace continuous learning and stay relevant as a “change agent.”

Leaders must prioritize continuous learning. Keep an open mind and pay attention to the world around you so you can help your team interpret new trends. Staying relevant requires embracing new ideas and familiarizing yourself with the potential of new technologies. Think of yourself as a “change agent”: Shift your mindset toward change to frame it as something inevitable and positive, as opposed to something to avoid or fear. If you resist change, you risk becoming rigid and closed-minded and missing opportunities to learn and grow.

Be wary of “change-killer” responses to new things, such as, “We’ve always done it this way” and, “We tried something like that before, and it didn’t work.” On an individual level, embracing change can look like experimenting with a new career role in a new city. Fielding did just that when he moved to San Francisco’s Castro district and decided to work as a merchant at Gap – a journey that led him on a weeks-long “learning tour” across the United States. He learned how Gap made its denim, visiting numerous places, including a mill in South Carolina to wash and finishing facilities in El Paso.

“Never stop learning. Never stop listening. Stay constantly curious.”

It can help to metaphorically think of change as “a train on a platform at a station.” You can choose to remain on the platform as the train passes or get on the train and go to a new destination. You can also board different parts of the train, representing different corporate roles. For example, jump onto the front of the train in the “first-class” or “second-class” section if you want to take a leadership role in enacting change, or climb into “the luggage car” to participate as a “valued team player.” Alternately, you can work as an engineer, helping make change possible for others.

Find roles where you can shine your light. Know when to walk away from toxic cultures.

The best leaders see your potential and help you gain the confidence to shine your inner light and keep going through challenges. Fielding worked for a decade under the leadership of Andy Mooney at Disney. He felt supported by Mooney, who prided himself on building a diverse and robust executive team. The company promoted Fielding to Disney Store’s worldwide president in 2008, but just a few years later, Mooney resigned, and a new leader, Bob Chapek, took over Disney’s Consumer Products Division (a role Fielding himself wanted).

Fielding felt bullied rather than supported by Chapek: His new leader gave vague examples when he critiqued how Fielding did business. Fielding felt left out of the informational loop and pressured to defend every one of his strategic decisions. In this new culture, he felt “marginalized and diminished.” He lost motivation and felt like he was re-experiencing the struggles he faced when bullied in high school.

“Never give away your power. Never dim your light.”

Sometimes, your career journey presents you with a choice: Work in a way that doesn’t align with your passion, personality and natural abilities, or resign. Fielding chose the latter, landing a role as the CEO of Claire’s Stores after leaving Disney Stores. While he dove into the new role at Claire’s with passion and enthusiasm, he also found the culture difficult there. He hoped to diversify the board – hiring more female directors to better connect with Claire’s tween and teen girl target demographic – but struggled to make headway.

After reconnecting with his father and then losing him to pancreatic cancer, Fielding realized that the power struggles he was having with the board, who weren’t aligned with his vision, were making his career situation “untenable.” After two years at Claire’s, he worked up the courage to resign and prioritize his health and well-being. His experiences taught him the value of seeking work cultures where you can let your inner light shine and feel empowered to help others develop their unique talents and gifts. They also illustrated when to walk away.

Don’t neglect your most meaningful relationships.

Never sacrifice your personal happiness or make choices that compromise your valued relationships for career growth. As you grow your career, prioritize time with your friends, partner and loved ones. Remind yourself of how grateful you are for these people daily, rather than taking them for granted. Remember that nobody can tell you how to define “family” and that your chosen family – the people who love and support you unconditionally – will help you stay connected to your authenticity and tell you the truth when nobody else will.

“Make authentic connections with people you love, trust and respect. And make sure they make you smile and laugh and relax!”

Your chosen family will stick by you through life crises and significant transitions. Fielding discovered this truth when his friends and family offered emotional support when his husband told him he wanted a divorce during the COVID-19 pandemic. Make time and space for the people who remind you that you’re not alone and who celebrate your wins and growth.

Cultivate self-love and acceptance. Decide for yourself what success means.

It can be tempting to live in a state of chasing higher-paying jobs and loftier career titles, but at some point, you need to stop and reflect on whose idea of success you’re pursuing. Will a “bigger job” actually make you happier, or are you just climbing the corporate ladder to impress others? Learn to identify when you have enough. Taking time to express gratitude for what you have and savoring the present moment is a vital skill that will support your career and life journey.

“Do not let society or someone else define your happiness or definition of success.”

Take time to get to know yourself, connecting with your sense of self-love and worthiness. You’ll connect to your intuition as you get to know yourself. Trust this inner voice; it can help guide your career and life. Pursue goals because doing so makes you genuinely happy, not because you think it will make you more impressive to others. Your journey to self-love and self-acceptance is an important aspect of being an authentic leader who lifts others up. As television personality RuPaul asks, how can you love someone else if you can’t love yourself?

Lead high-performing teams by prioritizing the needs of today’s young, bright talent.

If you want to lead a high-performing team, create environments where workers understand their roles and can connect their tasks to the organization’s primary goals. It’s also vital that you listen to others. Good ideas can sometimes come from unexpected individuals. Fielding advocates an “open-door policy”: ensuring team members feel comfortable engaging leaders in conversation when they’re not too busy. He also makes a concerted effort to learn people’s names and remember details about their lives. Fielding believes everyone should feel valued, regardless of whether they’re interns or executives.

“The employees are fully in charge now, and employers need to adapt to attract and retain the best and the brightest.”

Today’s young, talented workers want to work for companies that share their values, show their employees respect and offer flexibility regarding remote work. They value these factors more than whether the company offers a 401(k). They’re also more likely to choose their employer based on factors such as whether they can live in the city where they want to live. If you want the best young workers, you must create opportunities that align with their professional and personal needs and provide them with mentorship opportunities. If you’re a queer executive, remember that you have a platform to celebrate and elevate the stories of other queer leaders, inspiring young queer workers to unleash their full potential.

Prioritize self-care.

Leaders must prioritize self-care, understanding that it is in no way “selfish” to do so. Life events such as caring for aging parents can drain you emotionally and negatively affect your well-being if you don’t make an effort to take care of yourself. Build time into your schedule to rest, reflect and restore your energy levels, doing activities that feel meaningful to you outside of work. Know your limits and maintain healthy boundaries. For example, don’t overextend yourself by taking on all the tasks involved in planning and organizing activities with friends if it drains you.

“We have to do everything we can to age gracefully and without drama, but the march of time is inevitable and unavoidable.”

Be wary of comparing yourself to others – a common problem in today’s social media culture – as jealousy and envy can negatively affect your well-being. Be mindful of your self-talk: There is nothing productive about talking to yourself in ways that erode your self-confidence. Don’t treat promotions or your salary as metrics of your success. Find satisfaction in moments of personal growth. Consider taking up practices that enhance your well-being and sense of happiness, such as journaling and mindfulness meditation.

Aspire to be a kind, empathetic and courageous leader.

As you climb up the corporate ladder, do so with a healthy measure of self-awareness and humility, aspiring to be an empathetic leader. Empathetic leadership starts with being kind to yourself, which requires self-acceptance and self-forgiveness. You must find ways to release past pain and be fully present if you want to show up with compassion in the workplace. Commit to leaving the parts of the world you move through better than you found them, standing up for what you believe in to build a better world.

“Stay proud; stay humble; cherish your family and friends; love with abandon; and dance and sing with joy. Work on projects you love and that make a positive difference in your community.”

Don’t treat your life like a “race to riches or glory” – it’s so much more than that. Discover your authentic path, then muster up the courage to follow it. Don’t hide your truth just to fit into a culture that doesn’t accept you. Speak up when things don’t seem right in the workplace or your community, and protect the rights of future generations. As a queer executive, when you loudly share your journey with pride, you become an educator and an activist, inspiring others to do the same.

About the Author

Jim Fielding is a partner at the independent media company Archer Gray. Previously, he served as a part-time executive-in-residence for IU Ventures and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Indiana University. He was the president of Disney Stores Worldwide for four years, and has led consumer products groups at leading companies, including DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox.