Kristiana Corona
Hi, and welcome to the Worthy to Lead podcast. I'm your host, Kristiana Corona, and I'm so glad you could join us today. Today, I'm going to be sharing part two of my conversation with Tim G. Williams. And if you didn't get a chance to hear part one, I'll just give you a quick overview on who he is.
Tim is a highly successful seasoned professional of finance with over 22 years of experience. He's held titles like Vice President, Controller, and Special Advisor to the Chairman, President, and CEO for a $17 billion multinational company. Tim has served as a board member for both for and nonprofit organizations and is an award -winning MBA instructor for SMU's Cox School of Business for over 10 years.
He's also an ICF certified executive coach, and we both attended the University of Texas Dallas graduate program for coaching, which is where we met. Today, Tim owns a consultancy called Bonafide Leaders, which specializes in organizational consulting, executive coaching, and leadership development. And he believes that there's a place for authentic human -centered leadership in every organization. And his mission is to help leaders lead with their hearts and their heads while driving top results.
In part two of our conversation today, Tim's going to share more about his leadership journey. So we're going to dive deep into the experiences and the skills that helped him to be successful at every level. He will also be sharing strategies that you can use to be the kind of bona fide, authentic and highly effective leader that you aspire to be.
So there's so much wisdom here and a whole lot of fun. I hope you enjoy today's episode. You're not going to want to miss it. Let's dive into part two of my conversation with Tim.
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Tim G Williams
I remember my first opportunity to lead a project team was when I was voluntold by the CFO to lead this diversity team in the room in front of everybody is like, can I say no? No, I can't say no. He said, I think you, right. So I did that. And for two straight years, I led a team that reported out our findings and did road shows all around the finance and operations organization. That's like 700 people. And I got to present to the CFO and their direct reports every single month for two years in a row. And there were some other things that were happening. The point is
Kristiana Corona
That's a yes sir moment.
Tim G Williams
Outside of TI, as well as inside of TI, I was developing skills and abilities. And so when they finally gave me the opportunity to be a leader, I was excited. And I felt like I was ready. That doesn't mean that I was great at it, but my belief was high. So I went in excited and optimistic.
Kristiana Corona
Well, I think what's so fascinating about that is, you know, sometimes people think, wow, can you, you know, how do you get those opportunities? How come it was just given to this person or just given to that person? But really your story shares that you put on a lot of pre-work there. Like you were working that pathway of leadership for a long time and volunteering for a lot of things and putting yourself in a position where you were leading or mentoring others, in many different facets. And so when it got to the point of leadership, it wasn't a new concept. It wasn't like your first time jumping in and experimenting with it. Like you kind already had a track record there.
Tim G Williams
Plus, I had motivation. All my contemporaries had already been promoted. So I was super excited to have a shot at demonstrating the ability to lead. Like I said, the hunger was high. I don't know if the ability was high, but I was definitely excited about it.
Kristiana Corona
So you get this leadership position and it's inside of a finance team and I'm not in finance so I don't know all the ins and outs of like what the culture is, what the environment is in finance. Can you just share what that was like leading in that environment?
Tim G Williams
So here's what's crazy, Kristiana My first seven years, the roles that I had functionally were actually accounting and finance roles. But my first leadership opportunity to lead a team was in a different function, in operations. And this is operational order fulfillment. So what this means is Texas Instruments, we design, manufacture, and sell semiconductors, right? If you have an electronic device of any type on off, you've got semiconductor content on the inside of it. And this particular business back then was hard disk drives. And so we had this servo motor controller and we had this preamplifier, these two big chips. And the responsibility of the team was to get products out on time to our customers when they ordered them. And I'm not talking about like 10,000 pieces here and there. No, no, no, no, no.
I'm talking about millions and millions and millions of product out to our customers on time. So that was our team's responsibility. Completely new function. Finance, accounting is all about precision. It's about, if you're in finance, being able to forecast the future, having a little bit of business savvy. Accounting is about documentation. It's all about generally accepted accounting principles and ensuring that you got
R &D booked according to the rules that you book R &D right every single Debit and credit has to be reconciled on the accounting side. That was my background. Operations is all about flexibility, baby. Because you don't know what's gonna happen on any given day you have a product that previously performed 95 % yield that final test today all of a sudden it doesn't want to run on the tester
you get a zero yield and you can't ship anything because that's the last leg before it goes out to the customer. Or the customer says, I'm not taking those products because we're going to put those on quality hold because your engineers told us there was something suspect about that particular material. You never know what your day is going to look like. Customer upside, one day demand is flat, next day it's all of a sudden I need a million parts tomorrow or the opposite is true. I need a million parts, I need a million parts. All of a sudden I don't need anything. So.
Tim G Williams
The customer relationship management, I had three or four really big customers that I had calls with every single week. My team had calls with every single week and I was leading for the first time in a brand new function. So it was, it was a lot happening all at one time. And this was a big high profile business. I was blessed from my first supervisory role to get probably one of the top three to five premier businesses in all of analog at the time out of, don't know, 30 businesses. And so that was pretty cool, pretty cool opportunity.
Kristiana Corona
Okay, as you're describing this for me, my heart rate is just rising and rising. Like I understand logistics. I've been in logistics for a long time myself, but just being in charge of all of that as a first time leader inside of this organization, that had to be stressful. So how did you, I guess, manage day to day, like being a new leader in that space and really get yourself up to speed so that you felt confident and you knew everything that needed to be done and you knew how to handle with flexibility versus this like really, you know, structured way of working that you had been in before.
Tim G Williams
Yeah. it was not easy for sure. There were, there were a few things that were hard. One is that I have to come up to speed on what I call engineering speak and manufacturing speak, which I didn't have to learn too much previously. mean, I had to work a little bit with the new product development teams for building out their forecast of what R & D spend would be previously. But now this is about understanding the world of product testers and roadmap testers versus, I mean, all this, you know mumbo jumbo that I was unfamiliar with. That was difficult, just terminology. Second thing that was difficult was the fact that it was such a completely different world. Finance is very structured. You have a calendar, same thing with accounting. You have your monthly close, you have your quarterly close, but no two days in operations look the same. I mean, you literally come in in the morning, but you may have gotten 50 emails overnight from Asia, which is where we built our products and where our customers built their end systems for their hard disk drives.
and everything would change. So one thing that I did is that I decided to partner with a good engineer. And I used to give this talk at TI. It's called the Top 10 Tips for, I think I call it a career success. And one of my tips out of those 10 is if you're not an engineer and you work for an engineering company, you've got to partner with a really good engineer. And so I partnered with a lady,
who was our product engineering manager. And she seemed sharp, she seemed friendly. And one day I just said, you know what, would you be open to meeting with me? And she was like, well, what do you mean? Cause you know, we have our regular product and test engineering and know, operational collaboration meetings and discussions to get products out the door. But I was like, no, no, no, not that. I mean like just me and you one -on -one so that I can learn engineering and manufacturing tests and all the things that you deal with. and then guess what? Maybe half an hour, we'll do that. And then the other half an hour, I'll show you what I know about finance, accounting, operations, and customers. And they were like, yeah, that sounds cool. So for one year, once a month, one hour every month, that's what we did. We would sit down and I would teach her, she would teach me. I think that was critical to my development and understanding the world that I was in now.
Kristiana Corona
Wow.
Tim G Williams
and the flexibility that was required and really being able to now be intelligent when I'm in front of the customer to explain why product wouldn't be available today, but would be available next week. And the customer to be able to understand the coherence behind my answer to say, okay, I get it. That was a really big important step. The other big thing that I think was important, I got this advice from my boss at the time. Brian was his name and Brian gave really good advice. His advice was whenever you encounter anything for the very first time, go super, super deep in it. And I was like, okay, well, what do you mean? And so he gave me a couple of examples. And so what that looked like is that, let's say, for example, I had one customer, Western Digital, they wanted to have a consignment program. They were based out of the Bay area and they went to have this consignment program in this particular location for inventory. And I didn't know anything about consigning inventory. If you're listening out there, I know they knew that already at the time, but I didn't know anything about it. And so I went deep. So I said, okay, we want to design this. Got it. How's it going to meet your need? They would explain how it's going to meet their need. What's different about that versus what we do today? well, this is what's different. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And then when we get the contract in front of us and I would go through and I would redline and I would send back revisions and I would say, I don't understand this. I don't understand that. The advice was go deep. Every time you encounter something brand new. That was great advice. And I use that along with this employee to really help advance and quicken the learning process that otherwise would have taken forever because it was a huge transition to be changing functions and leading a team for the first time. There's a lot. Going into that.
Kristiana Corona
Yeah. that is so amazing. I just want to like sit with that for a second here. So, so rather than, you know, fake it till you make it or pretend you know what you're doing or scrambling through and trying to give people answers when you have really no clue how to solve the problem... What you did was you asked for help and you went deep and you learned in a very specific way. like it wasn't learn everything about the entire company, but it was find someone smart, figure out what they know and how and then they're kind of your guide in a way of figuring out of all the things that you could learn, these are going to be the most important for you. And I love that. And then also not being afraid to go back and forth with customers. And, you know, like there might have been a question or two in there that you know, they probably rolled their eyes at. But at the end of the day, like you figured it out and you knew what you were doing so much faster. And I just I love that that strategy.
Tim G Williams
Yeah. Thank you for saying that. The other advantage that I had or something that helped is that I had people who were experienced underneath me. So this team of what we call them business planners, they basically were like business or operational analysts. They were the ones who were on the ground in the system, getting the products scheduled and sent and ordered and working with the manufacturing teams. And then my job was to manage the escalations for the most part and go manage capacity and supply out in time. That was the job of the manager. Well, these people were experienced. And so one of things that I could do is I could go sit at their desk. Now, whether they knew it or not, when we would go through their spreadsheets, you know, I'm taking copious notes in my brain of what they're doing. So I would also say if you're a non or less experienced manager, but you've got a team of experienced people also don't be afraid to learn from them too. I knew at some point we would have turnover on the team and fortunately when we did, I had accumulated enough knowledge that now I was in a position to understand the work that they did and I could do that work. In fact, I did do that work when we had a gap on the team for a little bit. I was a planner and got products scheduled in the system and shipped out to customers and did all the things that they had to do. yeah, leveraging the team, particularly if they're experienced, I think is something that we can all do as leaders as well.
Kristiana Corona
And I think that creates so much respect, right? When the people on your team know that you value what they bring to this table and that you're not trying to sound smarter than they are and better than they are, but you're really elevating the things that they do very well and also eventually proving that you can learn how to do it too and that you show an interest in that. I think that's so critical. Sometimes leaders don't take that time and intention to really go deep and understand what the people on their team are doing. So I think that sets a great example.
Kristiana Corona
All right, so you started to develop a leadership, you know, runway for yourself in this operations environment. And then you told me also that you have transitioned and you've led in many different areas. So where did you go from there? You started in this very complex operations business. Where does one go from there?
Tim G Williams
Hahaha
Tim G Williams
Yeah, so after that job, the next step was to have accounting, finance, and operations functions reporting to you. So now you would be the director of finance and operations. That would be the natural next progression that you would hope for. And I was blessed with that opportunity in late 2009. So I did the operations manager job for just under three years and then was promoted to director of finance, accounting, and operations.
Then from there, I got a surprise opportunity, which was to run FP&A for the company, which is financial planning and analysis. And at the time, we were a $13 billion company. For those unfamiliar with the FP&A world, think of it this way. Every single financial number that is released externally must be approved, revised, looked at, audited by the FP&A team. So when you think 10K,
AK's quarterly earnings releases. In fact, I'm in the room, even though no one would know that, but this role is in the room for the quarterly earnings call. And from time to time, there's questions that analysts ask that, you know, people are not sure how they want to answer it. The CFO is in the room, the head of investor relations is in the room. I'm right there, Johnny on the spot to make sure I can direct and give input silently so that no one really knows what's happening. But that was the role that I had.
We went through a lot of transition from issuing debt for the first time in at least over a decade to buying back lots and lots of stock. got exposure to the balance sheet and the cash flow statement in a way that I never would have before. We were just doing a lot of stuff. We acquired a company out in California and coincidentally, after we acquired that company, fast forward about three years and I was asked to go out to California to help finish the integration of that acquisition.
So I was the head of finance and operations, my first official vice president role out in the Bay Area, lived out there for three years. And again, had a big old team of people all around the world from Scotland to Malaysia and Tucson, Arizona and Dallas, the Bay Area, etc. And then it was a global business. You we had about 1500 or so people in that business around the world, lots of sites, literally globally, and just running all the finance and operations and being the right hand to our general manager, the senior VP who was running that business. So did that. And then was called back to Dallas, doing a similar role, just a different set of products, although some came with me for the next three years. And then took a little sabbatical, which is an interesting diversion, and then was asked to come back to TI and did a unique role as a special advisor to our chairman of the board, president and CEO for my last two years at Texas Instruments.
Kristiana Corona
Okay, there's a lot to unpack there. That's a super interesting flow. As we think about that career. The first thing that stands out to me though is it wasn't like a straight line of, you know, a career ladder in one role in one organization just going up. Like there was a lot of learning laterally or learning different organizations learning different businesses along the way. And I'm curious, like what, how did that help you develop your leadership as you acquired sort of these different types of businesses and, and, you know, experiences.
Tim G Williams
I'm so glad you asked me that question, because that was definitely something I wanted to touch on in our conversation, is that I had the privilege of from day one being a business partner. My very first job in TI, didn't, 80% of most people who were in those jobs, when you come out of college, you're an individual contributor and you work in a product line or business unit and you have a dedicated job function and you do that. That wasn't my experience. I came in in a corporate level job. And immediately I had three business partners, all of which who were senior executives in the company. One was a vice president of e -marketing, or you remember how we used to have E behind everything back in the day? So that was the precursor to what we now know as TI .com, where you can buy, semiconductors and do everything you want, product trees, et cetera. So that was one person I supported. I supported a senior VP of what we would now call government relations or corporate citizenship.
Kristiana Corona
yes. That's funny.
Tim G Williams
and also the Senior VP of Investor Relations and Communications. My first job out of college, supporting, I'm the right -hand business partner for all things finance and accounting, cost center, everything for these incredible leaders. And I actually did that for the next 20 years. So was a business partner in every job that I was in. The way TI structures it is that the finance and operations leader, which is what I did for most of my career,
You're not only executing finance and executing accounting and executing operations in order of fulfillment, but you're also the primary business partner and interface with the person running the business. So it's a combination of COO and CFO responsibilities that this role owns, which is just really unique and different in almost every industry. I've benchmarked so I can tell you without certainty that that's very unique that all reports to the CFO. Most CFOs have got the accounting audit, finance, treasury, cash management, et cetera, but not the operational order fulfillment. Normally that's at someplace else, but we were privileged to be able to have that. The other thing, Kristiana, is that I had nine different jobs, which is not that unique over 22 years, but I worked for one company and it's a tech company. And I'm a, what am I, a Generation X and borderline millennial, There is not very many of us who can say they worked at one company that long and a tech company and I left on my own volition. I had a mentor tell me once that it's very rare when you get to certain levels in any corporation that you get to choose your exit. It's very rare. And I think the same is true for athletes. Normally the team kind of tells you it's time or father time kind of tells you it's time. So I just feel incredibly blessed to have had that. And then the last thing I would say is that in addition to working at the product line level, business unit level, division level, and corporate level, although I had nine different jobs, I had 16 different managers and supervisors, none of which I worked for more than that one time that I worked for them. So a lot of times, you know, we'll work with the same manager because they know us, we like them, we'll even leave a company and go work for that same manager, you know.
Tim G Williams
My experience is that every single one of my supervisors and managers was different, which I think made for a rich experience. And then last, truly last thing is the nine jobs I had, those are their day jobs. But then I worked over the course of those 22 years on 20 different company level initiatives and project teams. So when I told you earlier that I worked with all the different functions inside the company, I literally had the privilege of doing that.
I was on the cyber security team, which again, was not a part of my day job. I was on the government contracts team. I was the steering team member of the new college graduate rotational program. I was on the competitor analysis team. was on the, I was a sponsor for the personal electronics, end equipment team. mean, it was just kind of crazy when I look back. So I feel like there's really not a part of a corporation. I wouldn't really be able to understand because I've literally seen and touched just about every part of it, which I think really greatly supports the work that I do now with Bonafide Leaders, because I'm in a position to not, you know, hypothesize, but to talk about what I actually know about how the business runs and how the organization is structured.
Kristiana Corona
Well, and I think that rich breadth of experience is really the thing that either people don't understand that and then they don't pursue that kind of thing or they don't build those relationships. Like I think you're a real relationship person too, right? Being able to start over with that many managers and that many teams and that, you know, as a business partner, you have to have a high degree of currency with human interaction.
But if we don't focus on those things, then often those bigger or higher level opportunities are not quite as accessible. And I'm just wondering, as you think about the opportunities that you did have and how you capitalize on that, how much of that was relationship building or developing the ability to partner effectively, just like that partnership that you shared with that engineer way back in the day, right? How much of that played into your continued scale and your continued growth at the company.
Tim G Williams
I think it played a big role. I'm gonna tell you something that is embarrassing to tell you, but it's true. So I was an intern at American Airlines. I did two summers there and I got feedback after my first summer that I had really good interpersonal skills. And I was like, what is that?
Kristiana Corona
You never heard that phrase before? wow.
Tim G Williams
Nope. I was so focused on being a finance major and technical and I was like, hey, if it's not net present value or internal rate of return or capex or all the different things that you learn to finance, I didn't know what that was. so later on, I got to appreciate that you're right. Again, credit to my mom. She always impressed upon us the importance of treating everybody with respect.
And again, I didn't come from a family of CFOs and big business leaders and politicians. That wasn't my story. And so there's probably a bit of humility that just naturally comes when you're used to just sort of being around everyday people. And I tried to treat everybody that I came in contact with, and I do the same today, the same way I try to treat people with respect, because I like the same thing back. So yeah, I guess the ability to relate to people was an important thing and it benefited me in some ways. you know, it's like I tell people when I do these leadership sessions sometimes with groups, I say, you know, all of us have a reputation. And the question is, what are they saying when we leave the room? Or when we leave the company? And what do you want people to say about you? And don't just act that way because you want people to say that about you.
But think about the fact that whatever actions, behaviors we're all are taking, they're causing a person to feel and think something. And just going back again to the way that I was raised, you just respect people and you just treat people kindly. And you just never know how the world will work and whether you'll need something or whether you'll be in a position to help someone one day. so because of that, again, my faith is grounded in that we treat people kindly and with respect and with love until they have given you a reason not to deserve it, if you will, or have lost it. That's just the way I've tried to approach things.
Kristiana Corona
And I bet that that approach towards people, maybe that was somewhat unique. mean, thinking about a very analytical group of people, like I'm imagining that a lot of finance and accounting are very analytical skills, right? Like having that deep sense of value for people and putting emphasis on that, like intentionally cultivating your reputation, intentionally cultivating relationships, Maybe you wouldn't have had to, like you could have just stayed in a spreadsheet or you could have stayed in a computer screen and not spent time doing that, but you did. And I feel like that really stands out when I think about your leadership style and sort of what makes you unique. What else would you call out like as sort of those differentiators for you that really stood out for leadership?
Tim G Williams
I'll tell you what some people have said. And I think it's come through in the way that I like to be led and the way that I like to lead people, the way I think is most effective. So here's the premise of bonafide leaders. We don't have to sacrifice being kind to people and being respectful to people and their business results. Like, why can't we go for both? What's the limiter? It's all up here.
It's all in our brains. I've seen it over and over again, that when we put people first and we care a lot about the business and hold people to a high standard and hold them accountable while also supporting them, I've seen that that works. So I guess one of the differentiators for me was empowering people. And again, love my company, was there for 22 years. You can imagine many opportunities to leave. stayed there because they were good to me, enjoyed it, good experience, I grew. At the same time, there's always something about our companies that maybe we don't always agree with. And one of the pieces of feedback that I got continuously was empowerment was sometimes not always looked at as a strength. And unfortunately, people would sometimes mistaken as being weakness or you're afraid to be in the front. had nothing to do with being afraid to be in the front. If you've been a college student athlete and dealt with things you had to deal with as a college student athlete and all the other things we've talked about, like, it's not about fear. It's about giving other people an opportunity. And I don't always have to be the mouthpiece. and by the way, and I've heard you talk about this too, when those people accomplish something for themselves with support from you.
Kristiana Corona
Mm -hmm.
Tim G Williams
not micromanagement, but support. Their confidence goes up, their ability to do it again and do it again well increases, which frees you, the leader, the manager up to go be strategic and focus on what the future looks like and the things that we as leaders, I think, ought to be focused on. Yeah, we got to manage that tension between today, results, as well as tomorrow, the future. I just, for me, I just felt like If you look at Daniel Goldman's book, what is it? Primal Leadership, I think it is. And he's got, you know, six leadership styles. And I talk about this in the courses that I've got. My natural leadership style, the one I felt most comfortable with and the thing I have seen generate pretty decent results is the coaching leadership style, where I am naturally curious and interested in the person and helping the person have success in the job and helping position them for the future.
And I think when we put people in positions where they can be successful in the job and be positioned in the job for their future, man, that seems like a win-win to me. And so that's been my approach.
Kristiana Corona
I love that. Amen to everything you just said. That is, that is, it is so refreshing and I think just countercultural sometimes to be able to say I can be kind. I can, you know, treat people with respect. I can put other people first and empower them. I don't have to always be the one who has all the attention, all the spotlight, all the credit and the praise. Like in fact, like it feels so good when you see someone else that you coached and mentored rise up and do something even better. Like, isn't that just an amazing feeling?
Tim G Williams
For sure, Kristiana. And on that point, that's what I would say. Sometimes I think we get leadership confused and what it's really all about. Sometimes people think leadership is all about vision. Sometimes people think leadership is all about having great charisma. Sometimes people think leadership is all about managing tasks and processes. And while there's some truth to all those layers, at the end of the day, it's about influencing people and putting together a group of people to go out and be the best that they can possibly be that delivers the absolute best results for that company, that organization, that team. That's what leadership is really about. And so I think the best leaders, bonafide leaders, dare I say, are the kinds of leaders who do genuinely get excited when somebody on their team wins. I just never understood how there's confusion.
About that, yeah, I wanna put points on the scoreboard, but that's the individual contributor mindset. Once you begin to take the reigns of being a supervisor and a manager and a director, it's all about the other people and the organization and the company at large. And you matter so much less. So I always tell people this too, before you start thinking, you just wanna go be a leader, cause you think it's about having more glamor and fame and money and all those things.
Yeah, you laughing just like everybody else I know who's actually doing the work, right? To be a manager and a leader. It's a far lot less fame than you think it is. It might be a little more money. It's a lot more work. And it's a lot more about being selfless than it is about some of the things that we think it is. And so, yeah, I think the best leaders thrive and enjoy when people around them succeed there's no greater feeling than knowing that you've put something in someone to enable their success. That's what leadership, in my opinion, is truly all
Kristiana Corona
Yes. There's such a feeling of teamwork in everything you're saying there. it, you know, the the through line, I think all the way back that I continue to hear from you is building and empowering these really amazing teams and getting people to work together and collaborate effectively and feel empowered and, you know, drive results. And like you said, it isn't just about the numbers. There's
Tim G Williams
Mm -hmm.
Kristiana Corona
If you have a vision, a really strong vision, or if you've driven an outcome, but your team is suffering and they're not okay and they're not working well together and they're fighting against each other, they're competing against each other, that's not a win. That's not a win. That's not a sustainable type of team. It's a short -term gain, but not a long -term win. You touched on coaching and I want
Tim G Williams
It's not sustainable.
Kristiana Corona
dive into that a little bit because that's really where you and I met. So back in 2021, we both enrolled at University of Texas Dallas into the executive coaching program, which was incredible. And, you know, during that process, I had the fortune to coach you, you got to coach me. I just saw such amazing, you know, conviction and wisdom coming from you during that process.
Tim G Williams
Yeah, it is. Yep.
Kristiana Corona
I'm curious, like what really led you to go into coaching?
Tim G Williams
Couple things happened. The first thing that happened is that, as I mentioned, I went on this little sabbatical period at TI where I knew I just needed to do something different. It was just time for me professionally as well as personally for my family to experience something different. And I wanted to be doing work that I was super excited about most of the time.
And there is a point, I think, for all of us when we reach a natural state of burnout or you're just not learning at the same speed that you were learning at before and you're just ready to do something different. And so that was where things were for me. And I didn't know that I would apply to coaching school. This is the fall of 2020. But as I talked with people who were in my network and just, you know, try to get advice, input on what am I good at? What do you see in this dude named Tim?
And one of the things that kept coming through was, you know, developing people and coaching people and being good at that. So I said, okay, let me go ahead and enroll in this little coaching program. And I thought at a minimum, I would get a graduate certificate in executive and professional coaching and at least be better equipped to ask better questions. And at the time, truthfully, I was thinking at home with my teenager kids.
Kristiana Corona
so much application at home, isn't there? You're like, this is the parenting manual we never had.
Tim G Williams
And absolutely. And with my wife, right, just being able to ask better questions. But on the flip side, maybe somehow I could end up turning this into a future business. I don't know what that would be. So that's that was the genesis for how I got going with this program. There had been a couple of people who had worked at TI who had gone through the program and they had said really good things about it.
And so I said, yeah, let me go ahead and do this. Plus it was online and it was online as we know, right? From the very beginning, from inception, even before 2020 and coronavirus became a thing. And so it just worked out for me, for the family to go ahead and enroll into it.
Kristiana Corona
So once you did start learning some of those skills and getting that experience and that expertise and understanding how to ask great questions, what did you notice change? Like maybe in your leadership style or the results with your team as you started to implement some of these coaching strategies.
Tim G Williams
Yeah, so at that time, the way that I used what I was getting from the coaching program was actually around the specific role and responsibility I had was externally focused. And it was basically legislative governmental policy work at the federal, state, and local level. Again, a brand new experience for me, story of my life.
Kristiana Corona
Why not? Why not? Just throw Tim at whatever is the hardest problem we have. That's what I'm hearing.
Tim G Williams
I don't know if that was the hardest problem we had, but it was certainly different for me. And what I realized is that people in that space work differently than what I was used to in finance and operations and accounting. One thing that was consistent across finance, accounting, and operations, the business period, is that there are clear starting points and clear ending points. And in the world of legislative governmental affairs.
It's very, very fuzzy. I'll just put it that way. And timing, you gotta wait around. And so I was frustrated at different points and I'm sure my counterparts felt that. So what I learned is just how to step back and listen a little bit deeply to what my counterpart was really saying. Not what I was translating, but what were they really saying? What was their intent behind the initiative, the strategy that we were deploying? And then actually,
That skill in coaching proved very, very helpful because part of what I had to do was go talk to former mayors and city council members and police chiefs. And I would conduct listening sessions with all these experts, people across the country from Chicago to Colorado, Dallas, Austin, you name it. And I was just listening and I was just taking notes. And then my responsibility would be to try to ask thoughtful questions that would help yield some fruit back to what we were ultimately trying to get done legislatively. So that's how it helped me.
Kristiana Corona
That's incredible. mean, I'm trying to think of a better application for coaching skills than just that role of constantly listening and asking great questions to dive deeper. I mean, you couldn't have planned that better. It was, yeah.
Tim G Williams
And I didn't plan it, Kristiana, that's what I'm saying. God has a plan, he knew what he wanted to do, and I'm just a part of it.
Kristiana Corona
love it. So you get your coaching certification and then at some point you decided like, I think I'm gonna do this thing full time. I think I'm gonna go do my own thing. Like tell me about that transition.
Tim G Williams
Similar. So now it's 2021, we're at the tail end of the coaching program and we need to get those coaching hours. Remember that? This is a lot of hours. And so I'm thinking, how am gonna get these hours? And so people had brought up the idea of coaching people where you work, as well as coaching for a coaching firm. And so I started doing that.
Kristiana Corona
yes. yes. That's a lot of hours.
Tim G Williams
I started doing both of those things with the approval of people within the reporting structure at the company, as well as with a coaching firm and just started to get practice. So I was coaching people with working at startups. I was coaching a nonprofit CEO. was, I was kind of just doing a variety of different types of coaching and different people. And then I decided, you know, let me just go ahead and get the LLC set up. So I got the business started. It was late 2021, I think it was, but I really didn't know what I wanted it to be exactly.
And it really probably was not until after I left TI. So I left TI in March of 2023. And I started to get clarity. What happens for me, though, when I learn is that when I'm in, like, I'll call it someone else's program, I start to think like somebody else. And so while the wisdom of all of our instructors was great at our program, I began to have that tunnel vision, kind of thinking like someone else and didn't find a way back to apply it in the way that, you know, I want to do it. And I realized that my passion, yes, I enjoy coaching. Yes, I enjoy leadership development. What do I enjoy the absolute most? I enjoy consulting. I enjoy business partnering, but man, my passion is leaders. Leaders, leaders, leaders. Because leaders change and shift the atmosphere. They change the world around us, whether it's our local leaders at the city level,
Kristiana Corona
Mm -hmm.
Tim G Williams
whether it's in our corporations, whether it's at the global level, leaders change things and make things happen. And so I wanted to make sure that who I was working with are those people. So I created the name bonafide leaders, meaning authentic, legitimate, the kind of leadership that we've talked about today on this podcast that the listener has heard. That's what I wanted my business to be about. So whether I did one -to -one executive coaching, whether I did leadership development, organizational consulting, or keynotes,
I wanted my audience to be leaders and hopefully as people work with me, they gain even more clarity about what it means to be a legitimate, authentic leader who inspires people towards being the best they can possibly be. That's where the Genesis, the name and the company came from.
Kristiana Corona
Hmm, I love it. And I think it's interesting, too. I didn't realize how early you had started that company and that, you know, you were really cultivating that over time, sort of curating what is my unique style within all of this? What is my unique positioning? And I love that one of the core principles that you have now is that, you know, in your leadership training is that you should lead with both your heart and your head. And, you know, as leaders that we can get to where we want to.
While also staying true to our authentic selves and I think you're proof of that, right? Like you didn't have to sell your soul to get to the top and give up everything you believe in and you know be a jerk You could be who you were and and really authentically live into that even at the highest levels And I think there's so many leaders out there that just feel like they have to sacrifice parts of who they are or what they believe in to fit some sort of a corporate mold and You know or fit the company that they're in
And so I'm, but that wasn't really your experience. And I love that. And so I'm curious if you just have a few strategies, you if you were to sort of teach the listeners here what you think a healthy and balanced and authentic leadership style is so that they can sort of take that with them and be encouraged.
Tim G Williams I would say being an authentic leader first and foremost starts with knowing who you are, knowing your strengths, your differentiating strengths, knowing your gaps and being honest, doing what I call the mirror test and being able to look in that mirror at 10 o 'clock at night or 11 o 'clock at night, whatever time you go to bed and saying, I pleased with the product that this person was today?
And was there consistency between my thoughts, what I had going on in my heart, my head today, and then what came out. And to the extent that those things are in alignment, or close to alignment in terms of internal and external, what I displayed, what people saw, and also what I felt, what I observed, what I thought. When there's close alignment, I think that gives us the best shot at having a shot at being an authentic legitimate bonafide leader that people want to follow. And not just follow, but that people would want to do anything for. That's, think, a first step is the mirror test. Real quick example is that I had a boss, I was getting ready to get this surprise opportunity to go out to California. you know, a few people knew about that. And they said, hey, you're getting ready to go interview for the job. How are you going to show up?
And my answer back was, I was confused by the question, because this person knew me very well. And I said, I'm going to show up like me. And they said, what? You don't think you have to augment this and that because the person you're following is like this and that? And I was like, you know what? If being me is not good enough, I can live with that. What I cannot live with is me doing the mirror test and realizing I'm a phony. In fact, one of the...
syndromes that we have running around, as you know, you probably coach people on it from time to time. It's this thing called imposter syndrome. And I believe imposter syndrome to some extent is sourced from phoniness, from being somebody we are not, getting success in being someone we're not, and then having to continue that as we go through the cycle. Man, that is difficult to do, man. That is stressful for me.
Kristiana Corona
Mm
Tim G Williams
At some point, I just realized I gotta be me. And if being me is not good enough, I'll take my game as Lebron James says someplace else and trust that it will work out, right? And that was my approach and that's the advice I would give to folks.
Kristiana Corona
Mmmm.....I think that the weight of, you know, trying to meet other people's expectations by bending over too far or departing too far from who our main character is or authentic self, you know, like I think about introverts and extroverts, you know, there's people on the team who think, hey, I have to pretend to be this like super outgoing, gregarious person at work because that's what everyone expects of me. They don't respect that I'm an introvert or whatever. And, and I think that there's, you know, there's success paths for every kind of person and finding the way through that without losing yourself, without having to be something you're not is so critical. And I just, I love that advice because there's many, many ways where we can go off course by trying to be what we think a leader should be or what we think they expect from us when really at the end of the day they don't. That isn't the expectation, you know?
Tim G Williams
Yeah, and then guess what, Kristiana? We spent all that time climbing up that ladder. I want to be like what they, what I think they want me to be. I get all the way to the top. I'm on the wrong ladder. Now we got another problem, right? So yeah, man, for me, it's just being authentic, being real about who we are. And if that's not good enough, take a game someplace else. There are plenty of opportunities in this world and I believe there's a space for everybody.
Kristiana Corona
And in that there's this inherent belief that you are good enough, you are capable, you're whole just the way you are. And I think that in coaching, we continue to say those things and try and believe those things in every session that we have, right? Like we're approaching people not that our intent is to change you and to make you become what you should be and you're not. It's the opposite of that. It's respecting who they are and cultivating and growing you to be the very best and most open version of yourself. Yeah. Okay. So Tim, if my listeners like these strategies and the story that you've been telling today, which I have had so much fun. Thank you for going so deep on this. Where can they go to get more of this leadership goodness from you?
Tim G Williams
Yeah, love that.
Tim G Williams
Yeah, folks can check me out at bonafideleaders.com That's the website where you'll get everything. You can see the podcast. There's a link for the podcast. There's a link for the blog. And there's also a link to my courses. So /courses after bonafideleaders.com /courses are some digital on-demand courses I've just released on leadership. And I'm super, super excited about those. If you're super busy, you don't have time to invest in a conference.
That's a great place to invest a relatively low amount of time, 75 to 90 minutes worth of content, highly dynamic, similar to what you heard here. I'm gonna tell you real stories about real life, about real situations with some theory built in there too. It's all downloadable and relatively cheap. You can even get the bundle and you can see the pricing online. You can also catch me on LinkedIn and I've got a YouTube channel as well.
Kristiana Corona
And you also do keynote speaking, correct? So someone wants to have you come in and speak to their organization, how should they contact you?
Tim G Williams
Yes, so go to bonafideleaders.com and there's a forward slash contact. In fact, if you want, if you think after listening to this, you're ready to work together, I would say go to the contact page. That is the best, easiest way to connect. Whether you want keynote speaking, you'll see there's boxes, keynote speaking, leadership development, executive coaching, et cetera, and fill out that form. And that will come to me. And that is a great way to connect.
Kristiana Corona
Awesome. Thank you so much, Tim. This has been such a pleasure. Really, really enjoyed our time together today. Thank you for making time for me.
Tim G Williams
Hey, thank you for having me, Kristiana. I'm proud of you, making it happen, UTD in the house. So keep it up.
Kristiana Corona
Woo! All right, thank you.
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Kristiana Corona
Okay, that was such a fun conversation. I just felt like it was talking to an old friend, spending time with Tim like that. I hope you get a chance to know him personally too. We covered so many interesting and helpful topics today throughout the conversation. I'll just give you a quick recap of a few of the highlights for me.
First of all, knowing your own worth and believing that you are capable to take on any challenge. I love this in reference to sports where he talks about playing your own game or running your own race. Like maybe that is not easy for us to do because we're so busy comparing to other people and their success. But really the more we focus on the value that we are adding and what we are uniquely capable to do, it really takes that pressure off and helps us to focus on the right things.
Second, I think developing those deep and meaningful relationships and knowing when to ask for help, especially when you're new to a space, and relying on the expertise of others, that is not a bad thing. We are surrounded by smart people, so we should be tapping into those people for their wisdom and learning lessons from them.
The third thing is building your team, coaching them, empowering them, learning how to listen. To really listen as a leader is such an important skill. I love that he said investing in people over profits. And this is the type of leadership style that is going to drive long -term outcomes, not just the short wins.
Finally, if you can develop a healthy and authentic leadership style, you will be able to do the mirror test successfully, which basically means, can you look at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and say, I feel so good about what I've done. I feel like I've contributed and I feel like I brought the person that I wanted to be. I have lived up to that identity of who I wanted to be today and I have done my best. If so, then we can be satisfied no matter how the day went.
Okay. Don't worry if you weren't able to catch all the notes and all the references and the links to things that Tim was talking about during the conversation. I've got you covered. Everything is in the show notes for this episode. So go to worthytoleadpodcast.com/8.
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so that you get all the new episodes as I release them.
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so that you get all the new episodes as I release them. You can go to WorthyToLeadPodcast.com/subscribe. And I would love it if you would share this with your friends and any other leaders in your life who need to hear this.
With that, I wish you a wonderful day and best wishes on your journey to being the worthy leaders that I know you are. Bye for now.
