The theme of this episode is “Trust and Empower, ” and my guest on this episode of our podcast is Jamara Wilson.

We discuss building trust, the importance of authenticity and the human connection, the pursuit of excellence, and more!

Jamara Wilson is the co-owner of Progressive Cleaning (https://progressiveclean.com/). Jamara is a multifaceted and discerning businesswoman, recognized for her leadership abilities and passion for evolution.

With over 19 years of experience, she has successfully participated in the research and program implementation of various for-profit, non-profit, and civic organizations on their operational agility.

Jamara supports and educates other business professionals in small business management, operational agility, and vendor relationships through consultations, published articles, success and accountability coaching, and public speaking. More info can be found on her personal website here: https://jamarawilson.com/

Check out our conversation below:

 

Episode 15 – Jamara Wilson interview 

Robert Mixon:  

Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the Level 5 podcast series. 

Today’s guest is someone who I’ve had the privilege of knowing for about a year and a half now, and we’ve had the privilege of serving together here in the greater Melbourne Chamber ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee’ — It started out as a task force — but Ms. Jamara Wilson is someone who’s an accomplished leader who understands, I think, the impact and importance of effective leadership and I want to welcome you to the show today, Jamara, and ask you for help… Just tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey, if you would. 

 

Jamara Wilson:  

Absolutely, and Robert, first of all, thank you for having me. I do appreciate the opportunity and to sit here, and have a conversation with you about leadership… and I’ve respect you from the day we met, so I’m happy to be a part of this, and to have enjoyed the work that we’ve done so far here in the Brevard County and the Space Coast community. 

A little bit about me, I have a very diverse background. 

It’s not where I’m at now. Right now, I am the an owner, one of two owners… I do have a business partner… Progressive Cleaning — which we are a commercial cleaning janitorial service organization that serves all of Brevard County, Florida, but prior to that, I was in consulting, where my background mainly involved around project management, operations… through grassroots organization, nonprofits, or political organizations, corporate America. 

I have diverse skill sets when it comes to different industries, so a lot of transferable skills, mortgages, through retail, through infrastructure. 

There’s just a plethora of things that I’ve been able to do. 

With all of that said, my main goal and one of my common factors or denominators have always been when it comes to whatever I do, make sure you do it in excellence and that you’re involved with the community while you’re doing so, right? 

So you’re utilizing your skills and talents, not just for personal or professional gain, but also to give back, and to elevate others that are around you. 

So right now, even in the role that I am in as a business owner, that I also, as you mentioned earlier, the way you and I met, that I am also very involved in that community… through sitting on boards, through donating and or sponsoring time, talent, and or treasure here in the community where we both live. 

 

Robert Mixon: 

Wonderful, wonderful. Thanks, Jamara. 

Today’s topic that you and I had sort of war gamed together was on one of the Big Six principles that I think most of our listenership has been exposed to over the over the journey, the Level Five journey that we’ve been on together. 

But today, I wanted to talk about principle three of the Big Six, which is called ‘trust and empower’… and ask you for to give us your insights on the concept of trust and empower and what it’s meant to you in your leadership journey, both at leading yourself … the first person you have to lead is you, as we know, leading others and then… 

… then what you’ve learned also from people you admire and respect or have not really admired and respected because they’ve been more negative than positive in their trust and empower. 

So I’d like to ask you a few questions and just see where it takes us here. 

The first one, in this trust and empower concept would be, what’s the most important aspect of building trust that you have observed in your leadership journey? What does it take to build trust? 

 

Jamara Wilson: 

That’s actually a good question, and I would say for me that is authenticity and being able to set boundaries, right? 

So authenticity comes from both ends, right? You as the leader need to be authentic of what it is that you’re doing, what you’re leading, how you’re leading, why you’re leading, right? 

And also… the relationship and the interpersonal skills, the soft skills specifically when it comes in leadership, making sure that you’re able to be authentic and genuine and the people that you are responsible for leading, right? 

No one wants to be in a position where they’re having to follow someone that they really don’t think they can relate to in any one way or the other, right? We’ve all heard that the phrase that people follow folks … you want people to follow you because they want to, not because they have to, right? 

So that always stays in my mind when it comes to leadership. 

The other thing when I mentioned is the ability to make sure that you set boundaries. 

I believe that in leadership, setting those boundaries where I like to say even I say this to our employees, “our supervisors that are out in the field that, being a position where you are, you know someone, you have a relationship with someone … but don’t become too comfortable with them, if you have to be in a position to lead.” 

Because if something needs to be said, then you need to be able to say it for them, for the organization… the people as a whole… and take the emotion out of it when it comes to things that need to be said. 

But authenticity … as well as the setting of boundaries, allow someone to build that trust because they know and begin to understand that what, hopefully, what they see is what they get. 

Who you see with me, is what it is that you get. 

 

Robert Mixon: 

Excellent, that’s a great insight. Thanks, Jamara. So, having built the trust, how does trust affect your ability to empower others? 

 

Jamara Wilson:  

I would say that it plays a part, again, it goes into twofold, right? The receiver and the giver. 

When it comes to empowering others… one, I like to say that I’m hopeful that in any public setting that I’m in, group setting or, again, community-based setting, that I’m able to empower, hopefully, at least one person around me. 

That’s a new someone, that’s meeting me for the first time, or someone that has seen me around before. 

But the trust factor is important because of the fact that, again, it goes back into if I don’t think you are who you are, right? If I don’t think that there’s authenticity and genuineness there, then it will be hard for me to believe what it is that you’re wanting to tell me, that you’re trying to teach me… teach me that you’re hopefully wanting to empower or encourage me with. 

Because if you don’t have that human connection, that soft skill, where you at least let people know that you can relate, you are relatable, and hopefully in some way or the other, some form or the other, then it just goes back to human nature that I can’t trust you if I don’t really know you, right? 

And I know it may sound a little backwards where… guilty until proven innocent… that whole phrase where it’s like, no, it’s like, ‘I’m not, I’m not guilty until, unless you prove me otherwise,’ because of the fact that when it comes to the trust factor is, in leadership, you have to show yourself approved before the latter follows. Does that make sense? … I hope so! 

 

Robert Mixon:  

Yeah… I think it does. Jamara, the idea of authenticity is obviously important to you. And I think it’s important to me. 

And I know it’s important to a lot of our listenership out there. You got to be the real deal. And if you don’t ‘walk the talk,’ people see through that pretty quickly. 

And they’re not going to trust you. 

 

Jamara Wilson:  

Exactly. 

 

Robert Mixon:  

You’re not going to have that environment of trust. 

So, empowerment really is not going to follow because the two are, I would say, integrally connected, if that’s the right term, right? 

Empowerment is where trust comes to life. 

 

Jamara Wilson: 

Exactly. Good point. Exactly!  

 

Robert Mixon:  

The next question I’d like to ask Jamara is, in your view, what are the characteristics of a world class culture? 

What does it take to build that ecosystem that people want to be in? 

 

Jamara Wilson:  

I think passion, talent, resilience is another characteristic of a world class culture, the ability to be agile, of course, making sure you do things in the spirit of excellence in all that you do. 

That’s one thing that’s a personal thing of mine, ‘if you’re going to do it, do it well,’ right? Or just don’t do it at all. 

That’s from getting up in the morning and leaving your house for that day, right? That is, you got to brush your teeth, scrub in the way you should! …  I think that’s my humor coming in here…!  

But when it comes to world class culture, it’s always going to boil down to the common factor, the people which are the people, they make it go around. 

So, in an organization, in a community… the resilience, the value… being in a position where people are going to do it well, again, going back to the spirit of excellence, and then having that group or that culture, that organization, working together for the good of the whole, right? 

But it all boils down to and falls down to, ‘you’re going to do it, do it well.’ 

 

Robert Mixon:  

Excellent. And, of course, leaders who build trust and empowerment…  

 

Jamara Wilson: 

Yes. 

 

Robert Mixon: 

… enable that culture to come to life. I think that’s where you’re going as well, right? 

 

Jamara Wilson: 

Exactly, exactly. 

Because when you have the trust, and you’re able to empower others, you have their buy-in. 

 

Robert Mixon: 

Yeah. 

 

Jamara Wilson: 

… It makes it easier for folks to actually follow leaders who have already gained their trust and gained their buy-in. 

And then as a leader, when you have the trust, and you’ve been able to empower others in that regard… you’re able to … you should be … in a position to identify the talent, or unknown unidentifiable talent and the people who you are following. 

That becomes very powerful, because there are some people that may not realize, ‘you know what, you’re very good at public speaking,’ or ‘guess what, you’re good at solving problems from the back end’… ‘let’s figure out how we put all those things together, and create this world class culture’ …

Trust and empowerment allow people around you as a leader to also be vulnerable with you, right? And when they’re vulnerable with you, they become a little bit more transparent. 

When they’re a little bit more transparent, if you’re a good leader who’s attentive, you should be paying attention. 

And you should be able to identify and or see the resources that that individual brings to the group, brings to the organization, brings to the table… that as a team, now we can come back together and elevate, and do what it is that we that we set out to accomplish. 

 

Robert Mixon: 

Yeah, I really like that concept of vulnerability… I think a lot of times in my experience, with leaders, a lot of the guys and gals were hesitant to be vulnerable. They thought it was a sign of weakness. And so, they wouldn’t admit mistakes. 

They wouldn’t say, ‘I don’t know.’ And as a result, the people around them mimic the same behaviors, they wouldn’t admit mistakes, and they wouldn’t say, ‘I don’t know.’ And as a result, we were not genuine and all of those things… 

 

Jamara Wilson:  

… And that’s another thing, it’s leadership, you have to… a good leader, with that trust and empowerment, you have to be willing to say, “you know what, I’m wrong.”  

It’s okay to admit that you’re wrong, or you know what, “I don’t know… but I’ll get back to you with an answer,” because you don’t know what you don’t know. 

Right. And you have to be able to hear what everyone has to say, even if they don’t agree with you. 

 

Robert Mixon:  

Right… well said, Jamara. 

Who’s your hero or heroine? And why? 

 

Jamara Wilson: 

So, that, for me is, Angela Bassett. And the reason is, again, is because this is an individual, a human, a woman who takes ownership and what it is that she does, she does her job well, she’s good at it. 

She’s great in her profession. But at the same time, she understands that outside of work, there’s other things that still need to be done, right? It’s a selfless act of thinking about her community at the same time. 

So, she goes out and she does what she needs to … still empower folks around her. And it may not always be or it’s not always just about elevating her personal career. It’s about elevating the community around her and be I respect her and that because of her leadership abilities to do that. 

And because she’s someone who knows how to set boundaries, she empowers, and because of that, she has people that may have never even met her, that feel like they can actually trust her, myself included. 

 

Robert Mixon:  

That’s interesting. People who have never even met her feel like they could trust her. Very interesting. 

What advice, Jamara, would you give to aspiring leaders to learn how to develop the skill of trust and empowerment? 

 

Jamara Wilson: 

I would say go… and I and I’ve said this throughout, our talk together here today … is that I’m always going to fall back on trust yourself and allow yourself to be authentic… and, at the same time, know when and where to set those boundaries, right? 

The authenticity piece is powerful, though, because but because it starts with self, right? If you’re going to be a great leader, you have to know you. 

You have to know what kind of leader you are, you have to know, what are your areas of opportunity, because none of us are perfect. 

We’re always going, you should always, grow in some area or another. 

But being authentic and who you are, just allow people to get to know you. 

Just even if it’s just in a public stuff, because we have a public and a private stuff, but being authentic, and who you are, and what it is that you want, and why you are where you are, whether you’re at that table, that task force, that committee, be authentic on why you’re there. 

That is first. The other thing is going back into and as I again, I mentioned before those boundaries, that’s important. Because boundaries also allow you to protect self, when self needs to be protected. 

Because if you’re not your best self, if you’re not taking care of taking care of self first, you’re no good to anyone else. 

And we’ve heard that before. But I think a lot of us have experienced that to where you understand if you aren’t taking care of self first, you’re not your best self. 

So therefore, you are not going to be operating at the highest ability and aptitude that you can, to do your job and or to serve others and or to lead the lead the ones that you’re currently responsible for leading. 

 

Robert Mixon: 

It makes that makes a lot of sense that, again, we mentioned earlier, the first person you have to lead is you. And you got to take care of you. If you don’t take care of you, how are you going to how are you going to take care of others? 

And I, unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of leaders who didn’t follow that… guideline, and as a result, they weren’t as effective as leaders because they weren’t leading themselves very well, or taking care of themselves very well. 

 

Jamara Wilson:  

Exactly. You think about some of the most successful, leaders that we may see or and or know of, whether that’s executives or in a C-suite of some large corporation, whether that’s nationally, globally or statewide… some of the common denominators you see in successful executives or leaders are high and high-empowered leaders is the ability to take care of self, right? Even if that’s just a job once a week or a jog every morning, right? Or from health from the inside to the out, they take care of self. 

 

Robert Mixon:  

Yeah … another of the Six Principles is ‘Balance.’ 

And we haven’t talked about that today, but perhaps in the subsequent one, we can talk about balance. But, there’s a lot of misunderstandings about what balance is. 

Part of balance is really in terms of energy, and not time. How do you sustain your four ‘battery’ levels, ‘physical, mental, spiritual, emotional,’ so that you can lead yourself and enable others to be all they could be, as we used to say in the Army, “be all you can be.” 

So, the big idea you’d like for our listeners to take away from our conversation, Jamara, would have … you really already mentioned it? 

I think it sounds as though you have… but please, tell us, is there one singular idea that you’d like the listeners to take away? 

 

Jamara Wilson:  

I would say for me, and something I live by, is treat everyone with respect, regardless of who they are, right? 

That’s something I will always say, because even as a leader, you don’t want to get caught up in the fact that, okay, ‘I’m the leader, or, I’m responsible for this, or everything else, or everyone else can be irrelevant.’ 

No, because treating everyone with respect, no matter who they are… because you don’t know them, right? 

Even from … headed to the coffee shop, and the barista making your coffee, you have no idea who he or she is, right? Just because they’re making your coffee, because you don’t know who they know. More importantly, you don’t know who they may be tomorrow, right? 

The person that hold the doors for you when you’re walking out of a restaurant or retail store… again, respect them, say thank you, you don’t know who they are, you don’t know who they know, you never know who they will be tomorrow, right? 

People don’t forget the acts or how people remember how you make them feel. 

And if you make them feel in a negative or bad way, they will not forget your face. 

And so … then as a leader, I feel like you just respect people for who they are. And that will help you again in return, for folks to actually return that same level of respect. 

 

Robert Mixon:  

Yeah, thanks, Jamara. That’s, that’s, I think, a very wise takeaway for all of us that, we, we need to demonstrate respect for ourselves and for others, every day, in whatever we do. 

I think kindness is one of those indicators of respect, when you’re kind to people, you treat them as they deserve to be treated. 

There’s a golden rule idea, but I think sometimes we can paraphrase it a little bit. 

If someone wants to learn more about you, and about your journey, how would they contact you Jamara? 

 

Jamara Wilson:  

The best way to contact me to just get in contact, get in touch with me and learn more about me, feel free to send me an email. And my personal email is Jamara, J-A-M-A-R-A, at jamarawilson.com. Again, that’s Jamara, J-A-M-A-R-A, at jamarawilson.com. 

 

Robert Mixon:  

Well, thanks, Jamara. I’m sure some people will. 

I also want to thank you for your insights today and, and giving myself and I’m sure our listenership some real insights they can take away and use… and practice every day, and perhaps audit themselves a little bit and say, at the end of each day, how well have I done… at being a trusting and empowering leader, at being authentic, at demonstrating respect and regard for others. 

So, thanks very much, Jamara. And I look forward to our journey together and your successful journey in in the days, weeks and months ahead. Thanks very much.  

 

Jamara Wilson: 

Thank you, Robert. 

 

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