Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. Sheila Trapp. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dr. Sheila, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?
Moral Injury – Helped me Focus!
My last leadership situation lasted seven weeks. It may seem short, but it was enough time for recognition. I have finally come to understand more about myself. I understand more about how I fit in this world and why things make me happy and sad. I am also more understanding about what is for me and what is not for me. I know my feelings are not to be trusted alone, but my soul is a light force calling me to a way, and my spirit is a fresh perspective of who I am and all I will become. In trusting my soul, I can see that the number one thing I have learned and employed in the various leadership roles I have been privileged to have is “I serve at the pleasure as long as it is MY pleasure.” You see, the more I know about myself, the more I can truly say…. When you get me… you get all of this, and when I am not wanted or used inappropriately… I take ME away. As much as I am still unpacking, it is clear that no one can beat me at being Sheila Trapp because I am a designer’s original… just like you. However, despite all this clarity, I still have not been able to vacate discomfort or vulnerability. I am simply learning to use the discomfort and vulnerability for my good. Today, I know they are there for a reason, and I have learned that to be alive is to be vulnerable. The seven-week journey outcomes were full of unpacking trauma and lessons that produced a better me, a new outlook, and a new way to help the next generation of leaders develop a more resilient leadership stance. My experience with Moral Injury led the way.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am humbled by the many blessings in my life, including being a mother, wife, daughter, sister, and her new designation as a grandmother. My grandchildren have changed my life and made me better at living. I have worked for over 30 years in various leadership roles in the social justice arena, from Program Manager to Executive Director. I have a passion for leadership on issues of inequality, women’s rights, and advocacy, which impelled her interest in becoming involved with racial, economic, social, and transformative justice agendas. I am most concerned today about developing the next generation of leaders, real Equity work in the DEI equation, and organizational and individual leadership capacity, coaching, and development.
I have fundamental skills in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, capacity building, and servant leadership and have served on numerous committees and activism groups working towards community and system-level changes. I believe that ordinary people do extraordinary things and that she is simply one of those ordinary people.
I am a native of New Jersey and the owner of S. Renae Consultant Group, which serves to Redefine Public Servant Leadership on all fronts. I have a Doctorate of Management in Organizational Leadership and Master’s degrees in Organizational Management and Theological Studies. I am also a Certified Public Manager and the author of several books. I am honored to be available for seminars, retreats, and speaking engagements based on my experiences and my latest book, Seven Weeks: Unpacking Trauma in Organizational Leadership. You can contact me at [email protected] or on LinkedIn- Sheila_R_Trapp.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Most of us have finally come to the understanding that leadership is not an easy task. Many of us have faced various trials and tribulations that have equated to pain and suffering. If you are anything like me, the pain and suffering have become the experience that we would not trade for anything because we learned so much. Through pain and suffering, we grow. But, what is most important to note as I take you on this journey is that once you come through your pain and suffering… then you can teach. Then you have earned the right to be heard. It is that pain and suffering that creates the bedrock of your leadership because it is in those lessons that we can strengthen others. We can only teach that which we have learned, and when do we learn best… when it hurts. Real experiences are shown in a place of the unknown in humbling areas. But once we gain the knowledge the pain and suffering were sent to provide, we must strengthen others. I have found that in the leadership journey, there is success, and then there is good success. When you are the right leadership fit for whatever the problem or task before you, you can have good success. You feel the connection as if you were created to solve what was in front of you. However, there are times when you will solve the problem after much deliberation, consultation, and research. This is success, but were you called to solve the problem you just solved? Did you feel connected to the problem or the solution? You see, good success is about a place of purposeful exchange. That exchange where you just know that you were born for something, and it connects to a deep place within your soul. That is what this article is about, growing roots that attach to your soul so we can lead and have good success. Through my 30 years of experience in various leadership roles, I have discovered that successful leadership has 3 components that I call the KEY with a C. CEY stands for Compassion, Experience, and the real You. These elements are the keys that must be unlocked to lead in a way that unleashes good success. Do you want success or good success?
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
YOU, the authentic you, matters most in the equation of successful leadership because you can’t pretend to an experienced leadership table. Leadership does not happen in a vacuum; it happens with others. If no one is following or you are not influencing others, you are not leading. The key to successful leadership is that you embrace your own talent, abilities, and gifts and deliver them to the experienced table of leadership. But when you bring in your TAG, you bring it in with your head up with a sense of belonging because you know that no one can beat you at being you. You are original, and there is no other human being like you. However, to become that authentic self, we must know our rag and our rock. That is a high attainment, to know thyself. Your authentic self is found in your Rag and your Rock. What do you have that makes you stand out in the crowd? What makes you tick or turns you on? What can and would you do for free that others struggle with? And mostly, what pushes you to act? These are some essential questions to ask yourself if you want to lead successfully because you can only be you, and you can only bring authenticity to leadership if you’re going to be successful. You have heard the saying, to thine own self be true – do you know who you are? If you don’t, you have work to do. The Discovery of self is one of the significant tasks of breathing. Who you are determines so much about what and why you do what you do. How do you get to the place where you never feel compelled to apologize for being you? How do you find YOU?