Learning, Growing, Leading

I once got a bit of feedback from a supervisor about my leadership qualities. I had to ask what she meant, as I didn’t remember doing anything special. She pointed out that I brought ideas to the table. I didn’t just do my job, but I was actively seeking to make improvements to the process and workflow for my coworkers and me. Ahh, yes, I guess I was doing that. 

The Oula theme of Learn-Grow-Lead had me thinking about this experience and what it means to lead. Leading can be small suggestions, improvements, setting a direction, or asking a question. Leadership can also include taking on a more formal role in guidance or management.

Years ago, Oula had a podcast, Mind-Body Stuff. And I loved it! When interest in an Oula podcast recently started brewing again, I contacted Oula HQ. Having experience in podcasting and being a fan of the original, I volunteered to help develop the new format. I knew that anything we did could not capture the magic between Oula’s founder, Kali, and her best friend, Bernice. Now, it would have to be something different.

I started thinking about what we would need to do to build upon the original podcast’s formula. I started asking questions: What aspects of the original Mind-Body Stuff did listeners like? What did we like? How could we bring those aspects of the original podcast to the new version? What makes a good podcast? What will make a good podcast for the Oulaverse? What kinds of topics do we want? 

We came up with some guiding principles: We want personal, honest stories from real people with intimate and relatable moments, like a conversation on your best friend’s couch with a warm cup of tea. Even if you are not an active Oula participant, we want this podcast to have something for you. Insight into what it means to be human, stories from people with similar lived experiences, and interviews with people with expertise in mind and body stuff. 

In late 2016, my husband started a podcast. At first, I provided the normal amount of partner support, lots of listening and responding to his ideas. Slowly, I became more involved: being a guest, hosting, editing, maintaining the website, and branding. I even had a short-lived podcast of my own. I was interested in supporting my spouse, but I was doing all this because I was so interested in learning everything.

One of the things that makes my husband and me compatible is what I call “endless curiosity.” We always want to talk about new interests and ideas. Take an interest in your friends’ and your family’s jobs, hobbies, and thoughts. You don’t know when you will be able to take information and wisdom and apply it to another area of your life. This helps us learn, and helps us grow. 

With Oula, we think about the growth of our communities and our connections: We want the podcast to grow, we want Oula Fitness to grow. Mind-Body Stuff should be accessible to anyone, interesting and helpful to most, and, hopefully, it will lead people to the best fitness company around. With the podcast, we also want listeners to learn and grow. Expert interviews and personal stories will help our listeners learn, connect any wisdom shared to their own lives, and feel less alone, knowing that someone has experienced something similar or taken pleasure in the same things.

The best Oula instructors are the ones who share, make class personal, and form real connections with participants. Sometimes that’s standing in front of the class to share a story that is uncomfortable, maybe it doesn’t get a lot of response right away. That takes bravery and personal growth. The Mind-Body Stuff podcast is a bigger platform than a single class. As we prepare to record our first new episodes, we will be reaching out to our communities for people with specific experiences and expertise. Stay tuned, and continue to get curious, learn, grow, and lead with Oula.