Niiamah Ashong leads a Tribe group coaching session about slowing down and embracing transition. He opens with his own transition and then coaches two leaders, one discovering the gift only she brings to the world and one stepping into a more public, mission-led role. What emerged is the invitation to show up undiluted: the purest version of a leader is the gift.
Episode at a glance
- Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
- Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released September 29, 2020
- Format: session, 67 minutes
- Topics: Honoring transitions, The gift only you can bring, Range, agility and compassion, Leading with an undiluted mission, Mission versus mechanics, Stepping into the light
What this session is about
The first leader came open-hearted, wanting a life-changing conversation and to see in a new light what she uniquely brings to the planet. She named her range, moving from deep thought to humor in the same sentence, and a capacity for compassion and unconditional love that she had rarely shared. The second leader is creating programs in response to the injustice she sees, with a life mission of helping love-centered, purpose-driven people find their path and turn it into their way of contributing to the world. She is stepping into speaking opportunities and more public work as that mission grows.
What emerged
Niiamah Ashong reframed uniqueness as something drawn out from within, not brought in from outside: there is only one of each person, and only they can play that game. For the first leader, the shift was seeing that the compassion she keeps protected may be her biggest gift. For the second, a small moment with her lighting became a mirror for where she is choosing to be seen, and Niiamah Ashong invited her to treat decorum as one setting she can switch out of, so her full power and undiluted mission come through.
Questions this episode answers
How should a leader handle a major life transition?
Niiamah Ashong describes slowing down to experience a transition, not just understand it, and to honor both the chapter that is ending and the one that is beginning. He invites leaders to explore what they want and give space and time for it.
How can a leader find what makes them unique?
Niiamah Ashong says uniqueness is not something extra to bring in but something drawn out from within, because there is only one of each person. Only that person can play that game, and by default they become the best at it.
What does it mean to lead with an undiluted mission?
One leader noticed she was mixing her message with more familiar language so others would buy in, and leaving out the soul side of her work, where love and purpose live. Niiamah Ashong invited her to practice being the pure, concentrated version of herself in the conversation itself.
How can a leader keep mission and the mechanics of business from muddying each other?
A leader described how early on she led with mission and everything else took care of itself, and how mixing mission with the mechanics that keep life going cost her some urgency. Niiamah Ashong named this as mission versus mechanics and explored what would serve her most, which she said is the stability to focus on her mission.
Can professional decorum hold a leader back?
Niiamah Ashong told one leader he is not looking to break decorum, since it has served her, but if it is the only setting she has, the world misses out on her power. He invited her to expand her range so she can step out of decorum when the moment calls for it.
In their words
We create a model of the world that we want to see in every single instance that we exist.
Niiamah Ashong
I want to show up open-hearted and willing for a life-changing conversation to occur.
A participant
Only you can play that game.
Niiamah Ashong
Key moments
00:35 – Slowing down to experience transition
05:44 – Modeling the world you want
09:50 – Seeking a life-changing conversation
15:29 – Range and agility as a gift
28:34 – The protected gift
33:17 – Concentrated, undiluted love
39:57 – What would make it life-changing
42:58 – Mission versus mechanics
48:38 – Stepping into the light
64:58 – Decorum as a setting, not a cage
About Niiamah Ashong
Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.
Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference
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