Meet Stephen “Shed” Shedletzky

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephen “Shed” Shedletzky a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Stephen “Shed”, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I found my purpose working on Simon Sinek’s team.

Early on in my career, I felt very lost. I was quite clear on what I wanted to do – speak, coach and facilitate to help people find & feel greater fulfillment in their every day. The main issue, I was 22 years old and had next to no experience. I felt quite clear on a vision, but lacked clarity on execution or the patience to get there. I felt like I could see the peak of the mountain… as if I was clear on step 10, was clearly on step 1, and had zero ideas what steps 2 through 9 entailed.

I was introduced to Simon Sinek’s work in 2010 and quickly fell in love with the message. Simon articulated a world I wanted to live in and contribute toward – a more inspired, safe and fulfilled world. Through a series of events, I had a chance to meet & communicate with Simon and his small team in late 2010 & early 2011. One thing led to another and I had a chance to join the team, which I gladly and excitingly accepted.

I fully admit that for the first couple of years on Simon’s team I outsourced my purpose discovery – or my WHY – to Simon himself. He and I are similar in how we communicate and in many of our strengths and tendencies. He articulated a vision I believed in; his WHY inspired me, so I thought his WHY was my WHY. As it turns out, that’s a pretty disempowering experience. While I share much in common with Simon, I am my own, unique person, with my own background, experiences and preferences.

So, by good fortune, my direct leader and the CEO of Simon’s team at the time, took me through the WHY Discovery Process. Through her prompts, I shared the peak and valley stories from my past. After a number of stories shared, an articulation of my own WHY became clear – to engage with people in meaningful ways, so that we connect with depth and live in a more fulfilled world.

I already had and was living my purpose, I just didn’t have the words yet. Being coached and guided through this discovery process gave me the words and with the words I could be ever more intentional in focusing on it and bringing my purpose to life. Part of the beauty and meaning is I’ve now guided thousands of people through that very process in 1-on-1, group and large facilitation formats. Over the years, I also helped to build and scale tools on Simon’s team to help people find, articulate and bring their purpose to life. It’s kinda fun and very meaningful to have a purpose that gives others greater purpose. Woah, that’s meta! 🤯

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

The first day of my professional career started with layoffs. I was a young, fresh out of business school, professional who walked into post merger corporate efficiencies. #Blech

1,000 people were laid off on my first day – nearly 10% of the workforce at the time. I walked into an eerie and confusing environment. I was grateful to have a job and grateful that this was the first job of my career. I saw the impact these changes were having to 30+ year veterans of the company. I felt I had a front row seat to the impact of leadership behavior and organizational culture on the performance, productivity, health and well-being of the people around me. It was both concerning, fascinating and even inspiring at times. I was introduced to what leadershit looked and felt like – those who were in positions of leadership but did not behave as leaders. I saw some very senior leaders putting themselves first. I also witnessed and experienced a small handful of leaders who behaved as leaders. They shared as transparently as they could and they fought for the well-being and future of their people. I write much more about this experience in my book, “Speak-Up Culture: When Leaders Truly Listen, People Step Up.”

It is in this first job that I became truly fascinated by and passionate about the impact that the behavior of leaders have on the people, culture and results around them. I’ve since developed my career to this work – to help leaders lead better.

We know from UKG(*) that our relationship with our direct boss has more of an impact on our health than that of our relationship with our family doctor or therapist and it’s on par with our relationship with our spouse. Whether or not we work in life or death industries, the work of leadership is high stakes. I care about it deeply and I’ve devoted my career to helping people lead better and be better lead.

I am very excited that we’ll be launching our new podcast, “Shed Some Light” this year. It’s essentially a leadership development program in the format of a podcast and I’m so keen to see how it will impact our listeners.

*https://www.ukg.ca/about-us/newsroom/managers-impact-our-mental-health-more-doctors-therapists-and-same-spouses

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1) Ask for what you want & need. If you ever get to the good fortune on knowing what you want or need, it’s vital to communicate it. I’ve learned that the people around all of us are pretty cruddy at reading our minds, no matter how hard I try to get them to do it. Far more effective is in nurturing healthy and trusting relationships and asking for what we need. As evidenced by Adam Grant’s brilliant book “Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success,” asking for what we want need not be a selfish pursuit; it can actually be service oriented. So, do the work and ask for the help to sort out what you need to thrive and then make it happen while also holding space to help others thrive.

2) Show up to give. If there’s one thing that has helped our species kick around this floating ball of glowing blue and green it is in our capacity to help one another out. We’re not the fastest nor strongest animal or force out there, however, we do have an unprecedented capacity to both communicate and help one another out. We’ve always traveled in packs and we should remain to do so. One of the greatest ways to keep this tribal mentality alive is to show up to give. Giving is healthy, positively contagious and deeply meaningful. So, figure out what it is within you that you have to give, and see if you can make that giving and service orientation part of your every day.

3) Talk less, say more. As a mentor shared with me, “Two thirds of an answer is better than an answer and a half.” As an extrovert, I’m typically comfortable talking. But just because I’m comfortable or confident speaking, it doesn’t mean it’s useful for me to be the loudest voice. I’ve worked hard at and continue to work at brevity – saying what ought to be said in the most efficient way possible. I’m also obsessed with and committed to being a good listener. Part of my job as a coach and facilitator is in being a good listener – asking good, open ended questions, staying curious just a little bit longer and listening actively, ensuring I heard what was truly being said (or not yet said). There is no greater compliment or evidence of listening than having the people around us sharing with us that we truly made them feel heard. Now, my listening practice comes in handy with clients; it also comes handy in my closest friendships and relationships, which is often the hardest place to practice. So, listen more and speak wisely.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

1) Finish writing my grandfather’s memoir. My late grandfather, or Zaidie as we call him, lived the type of life movies are made of. One of his many mottos in life, “I never hit first, but I hit back twice as hard.” He was kicked out of school at the age of 14 when he struck back at an antisemitic teacher. He then joined the family butcher business, engaging with farmers and learning the land around him, which would later save his and others’ lives. He was drafted to the Polish Army in 1937 and fought against invading Nazi Germany in 1939. After spending two years in a prisoner of war camp near Berlin, he escaped with a small group and walked home, at night only, for nearly two months. He married his childhood sweetheart, my grandmother Eva, shortly thereafter, having a very modest wedding at home, during Nazi occupied curfew. Then, things got really tough. The Jewish population in his small town was rounded up into trains to be sent off to a centralized area – either a larger ghetto in nearby Warsaw or Lodge or camps. Unwilling to hand himself over to SS Guards again, my Zaidie Ben led a small group of 7 in hiding in the Polish countryside. He, his wife and siblings had to say goodbye to older parents and younger siblings who weren’t fit or willing to go into hiding. That group of 7 became 5 by the end of the war and my grandfather had to giveaway his first born. You can’t hide in the woods or barns with a screaming infant. He, my grandmother and some of their siblings survived the Holocaust.

It is because of him, his survival and later thriving in life that I even have a shot at living mine. I owe it to him to honor his legacy and have his story shared with the hope of positively impacting and inspiring others.

2) Spend as much quality and active time as possible with the loved ones closest to me – family and friends.

3) See more of the world and positively impact as many people as I can with my work on how best to lead ourselves and others.

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Image Credits

Some photos by Victoria Schwarzl, After All Photography

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