Rear Admiral Danelle Barrett (Ret.) On Leading with Integrity, Humility, and Humor Rock the Boat: Embrace Change, Encourage Innovation, and Be a Successful Leader
After 30 years in the US Navy, retired Rear Admiral Danelle Barrett has learned a lot about effectively leading at the highest levels.
She is insightful in everything that matters most if you want to learn how to lead with integrity, humility, humor, and compassion. Today, Danelle Barrett is a sought-after board director, speaker, and leadership coach.
During her time as an Admiral, she served as the director of current operations at US Cyber Command and as the Navy Cyber Security Division Director and deputy chief information officer on the Chief of Naval Operations Staff.
In her last role, she led the strategy and execution of enterprise IT improvements, cyber security efforts, and cloud operations for over 700,000 personnel across the globe. She is the author of the new book Rock the Boat: Embrace Change, Encourage Innovation, and Be a Successful Leader.
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What I Discuss With Rear Admiral Danelle Barrett About Leadership
We spend an hour discussing what it takes to have a successful career. …We discuss how to lead when the PRESSURE IS AT ITS HIGHEST and the clock is ticking. Her guidance is precise, and she offers countless sea stories throughout the interview, including poking fun at herself, that illustrate the core pillars of servant leadership.
We explore the following topics:
Her path to joining the Navy and ROTC experience
Why she wrote Rock the Boat
Why mentoring matters
How to manage expectations
The keys to effective communication
Work-life balance
Finding inspiration
Overcoming biases
Guarding your reputation as a leader
How you learn from jerks
Have any questions, comments, or stories you’d like to share? Drop us a line at info@passionstruck.com!
And much more…
180 | Leading with Integrity, Humility, and Humor | Rear Admiral Danelle Barrett (Ret.) | Passion Struck Podcast
180 | Leading with Integrity, Humility, and Humor | Rear Admiral Danelle Barrett (Ret.) | Passion Struck Podcast
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More From My Interview With Rear Admiral Danelle Barett on Why She Wrote Rock the Boat
During our interview, I asked Admiral Barrett about why she wrote Rock the Boat and the takeaways she hoped readers would get from it.
Rear Admiral Danelle Barrett explains, “As military folks, we always get tapped to talk to different groups about mentoring or leadership, or you end up having discussions with folks about leadership, and it always comes up the same kind of things. John, what do I do if my boss is a jerk? How do I have a work-life balance? I mean, everybody asked the same questions.
And frankly, I have found since working with industry and being on several corporate boards now that everybody always asked the same question. So it’s kind of agnostic of industry or profession. It’s not anything unique to the military. So I wanted to write a book that focused on those kinds of lessons that anybody could use in any management position at any level and then put it in language that’s accessible.
I don’t know about you. But I’ve read some leadership books where I literally get a bruise on my forehead, as the book slams into my forehead at night, when I’m trying to read it, lay in a bed or whatever, right? Because it’s just so heavy, they’ll put mathematical forms on there. Also, testing them. I say to myself, ‘like, just stop, just give it to me in English, like we’re having a conversation.’
So I wanted to write a book that was like we’re having a conversation today on the podcast but that you could get some practical advice out of. I also wanted to tell some funny stories because I’ve always found that the best leadership lessons I’ve gotten from people were through storytelling. They would tell you what happened to them. And as either a cautionary tale or a, Hey, this is a good way to think about doing it. And I remembered their stories long after I would remember them giving me a leadership lesson on time management or something, then telling me a story about how they manage their time was more impactful.
So I tried to pepper the book with many stories that might be useful for folks to understand conceptually what I was trying to express.”
Thanks, Rear Admiral Danelle Barrett!
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Resources From The Show With Rear Admiral Danelle Barrett
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Rear Admiral Danelle Barrett (ret.) spent over thirty years in the Navy. While in active duty, she served as the Director of Current Operations at U.S. Cyber Command, the Navy Cyber Security Division Director, and Deputy Chief Information Officer on the Chief of Naval Operations staff. Her new book Rock the Boat: Embrace Change, Encourage Innovation, and be a successful leader is an Amazon Best Seller in Business Leadership, Business mentoring and coaching, and Management skills. She’s one of less than 200 women in history to achieve the rank of admiral. Today, Admiral Barrett is a sought-after public speaker and writer.
John R. Miles is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO and founder of Passion Struck. This full-service media company helps people live intentionally by creating best-in-class educational and entertainment content. John is also a prolific public speaker, venture capitalist, and author named to the ComputerWorld Top 100 IT Leaders.
John is the host of the PassionStruckPodcast. The show focused on exploring the mindset and philosophy of the world’s most inspiring people to learn their lessons to living intentionally. Passion Struck aspires to speak to the humanity of people in a way that makes them want to live better, be better and impact.
Stay tuned for JJohn’slatest project, his upcoming book, which will be published in summer 2022.