Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajiving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul
Speaker 1: fella Aledo. Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute
Speaker 1: Leadership Podcast. It's episode four ninety eight. If you open
Speaker 1: your iPhone photo app and scroll down to the bottom,
Speaker 1: you'll find a folder called media Types. Inside that folder,
Speaker 1: there's one called screenshots, And if you're like most people,
Speaker 1: you'll have hundreds, maybe thousands of them, quick grabs of
Speaker 1: a recipe, a quote you liked, a text you didn't
Speaker 1: want to forget, and maybe, just maybe you'll reference a
Speaker 1: few hundred of those screenshots in a year. But the rest,
Speaker 1: the rest sit there taking up space forever. So now
Speaker 1: let's connect this to leadership. Every one of us is
Speaker 1: walking around with screenshots we didn't even know we took.
Speaker 1: Our brain is the most advanced photo app in the world.
Speaker 1: It's snapping images not with a click, but with experiences,
Speaker 1: and unlike your iPhone, there's no delete all button. Think
Speaker 1: about police officers, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, nurses, doctors. Their world
Speaker 1: is trauma, heartbreak and chaos every single day. Their brain
Speaker 1: is taking subconscious screenshots of those moments. The accident scene,
Speaker 1: the child they couldn't save, the argument with a distraught
Speaker 1: family click click, click, stored forever, And it's not just
Speaker 1: first response. Maybe someone on your team grew up in
Speaker 1: a rough home click. Maybe they went through a nasty
Speaker 1: divorce click. Maybe they lost a parent too soon click.
Speaker 1: These screenshots don't sit neatly in a folder on their phone.
Speaker 1: They sit in the back of their mind, waiting to resurface,
Speaker 1: sometimes in dreams, sometimes in conversations, sometimes in a quiet
Speaker 1: moment when they least expect it. Now here's the leadership lesson.
Speaker 1: Those screenshots take up space, just like the ones on
Speaker 1: your phone, except the ones in your brain don't just
Speaker 1: eat up storage. They eat up energy, focus, and enjoy.
Speaker 1: So what do we do about it? First, we need
Speaker 1: to understand that the people we lead are carrying unseen screenshots.
Speaker 1: You don't know their file count, you don't know how
Speaker 1: heavy their storage is. So as a leader, practice empathy.
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean lowering standards, but it does mean raising
Speaker 1: your awareness. Second, create a culture where people can process
Speaker 1: those screenshots. That might be through wellness programs, employee assistance,
Speaker 1: or simply creating a safe place to talk. Leaders who
Speaker 1: dismiss mental health is weakness are missing the truth. Unprocessed
Speaker 1: screenshots slow performance, cause burnout and drive turnover. Third, check
Speaker 1: your own storage. You've taken screenshots too, Some of yours
Speaker 1: may even go back decades. Maybe it's time to finally
Speaker 1: talk about them, write them down, or try to delete
Speaker 1: what you can. If you wouldn't let your phone store
Speaker 1: ridge sit at ninety nine percent full, why would you
Speaker 1: let your mind do the same thing. And finally, here's
Speaker 1: the action step. Ask yourself, how can I lead in
Speaker 1: a way that acknowledges the hidden screenshots that my people carry.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's asking how are you doing really? Maybe it's
Speaker 1: being approachable when someone is clearly having a tough day.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's simply showing kindness in the small moments. Because
Speaker 1: leadership isn't just about goals, numbers, and performance. It's about
Speaker 1: recognizing that behind every uniform, every suit, every badge, and
Speaker 1: every smile, there's a gallery of screenshots. Some are happy,
Speaker 1: some are painful, And the more we understand that, the
Speaker 1: stronger we become as leaders. So I see this happen
Speaker 1: in real life all the time. The rough ambulance call
Speaker 1: where someone breaks down because something they saw triggers one
Speaker 1: of their screenshots. So here's my challenge. The next time
Speaker 1: you open your photo app and scroll to that screenshot folder,
Speaker 1: let it be a reminder, a reminder that people around
Speaker 1: you are carrying thousands of mental screenshots that you may
Speaker 1: never see or know about, but they do have them.
Speaker 1: We all do, and as a leader, you can't delete them,
Speaker 1: but you can help manage them and the storage that
Speaker 1: they're occupying. This has been the seven minute Leadership podcast
Speaker 1: and I thank you for listening. For more Paul fell
Speaker 1: of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfelloalito dot com