The New Portrait Of Leadership: Kelly L Campbell On Which Legacy Ideas About Leadership Need To Be Discarded, And Which New Approaches To Leadership Should Be Embraced

An Interview with Karen Mangia

Lighting the Way: Integrating the adversity we faced during our youngest years it is our responsibility — and in doing so, we light the way for others to heal, lead, and surpass any legacy we might leave. Fundamental #4 trades individualism for generative practices that ensure communal perpetuity for all beings. In other words, “by elevating others, we light the way for collective success.”

We are living in the Renaissance of Work. Just like great artists know that an empty canvas can become anything, great leaders know that an entire organization — and the people inside it — can become anything, too. Master Artists and Mastering the Art of Leadership draw from the same source: creation. In this series, we’ll meet masters who are creating the future of work and painting a portrait of lasting leadership. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Kelly L. Campbell.

Kelly L. Campbell (they/she) speaks and writes about “The New TLC” — trauma, leadership, and consciousness. The author of Heal to Lead (Wiley, April 2024), she is a Trauma-Informed Leadership Coach to emerging and established leaders who know they are meant for more. Kelly’s vision is to empower more than half of humanity to heal its childhood trauma so that we may reimagine and rebuild the world together.

Thank you for joining us. Our readers would enjoy discovering something interesting about you. What are you in the middle of right now that you’re excited about personally or professionally?

After about five years in the making, I am excited to be launching my debut book, Heal to Lead: Revolutionizing Leadership through Trauma Healing. It’s the culmination of my life experience, my work in the world, and my vision for reimagining and rebuilding the world we want to live in — and it’s being birthed at an auspicious moment in time.

We all get by with a little help from our friends. Who is the leader that has influenced you the most, and how?

Growing up, I saw how hard my dad worked and also how he was underappreciated as a people leader. When he decided to start his own business and had the opportunity to lead from his values, I saw his heart from a new angle. In his company, he believed in fair wages and family benefits as much as providing support for employees when they came to him with personal issues. He was approachable and honest, and he was a primary influence on me as a young leader. We may not have entirely understood the nuances of one another’s businesses, but the values we shared stemmed from the same place.

Sometimes our biggest mistakes lead to our biggest discoveries. What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made as a leader, and what did you discover as a result?

In starting my first (and second) business, I subconsciously tried to recreate conditions in which I was valued and needed. Because I didn’t feel as though I mattered as a child, I tried to prove my worth to myself, to my mother, and to the world through the vehicle of entrepreneurship. Clearly, that wasn’t going to work long-term because I needed to realize that I was inherently valuable simply for who I am. Through the healing modalities in which I actively engage, I have discovered my inner strength, the power of my voice, and the innate gifts I am here to contribute.

How has your definition of leadership changed or evolved over time? What does it mean to be a leader now?

I used to think leadership was about being tough, omniscient, and decisive. God forbid you ask for help or let anyone see your emotions, let alone sweat. Over the last eight years, I have come to understand how antiquated that way of thinking was — and how detrimental it can be for an organization, its employees, and even its customers and community.

Today, authoritarian leaders are trying to hold fast to these outdated behaviors — many of which are rooted in feelings of powerlessness from childhood — and they are being met with resistance and revolution. Here, Brené Brown’s definition of a leader from Dare to Lead comes to mind: “A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential.”

Taking that a few steps further, the most effective and influential leaders today are those who embrace high-conscious leadership. They understand the impact of their own inner healing work on those they lead, and they lean into generative practices that create supportive environments where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. The positive impact of this values-alignment is reflected in revenue and bottom-line metrics, but those are lagging indicators — and not the “why” behind this practice.

Success is as often as much about what we stop as what we start. What is one legacy leadership behavior you stopped because you discovered it was no longer valuable or relevant?

As a people-pleasing leader, I efforted at getting people to like me, particularly my employees. I wish I knew that I didn’t have to try so hard. I wish I felt like I had permission to be entirely myself, to drop the masks, and not succumb to subconscious emotional manipulation as a means of validation. After I sold my cause marketing agency and began delving into healing, I dropped all of that because it took a lot of emotional labor and wasn’t serving me.

What is one lasting leadership behavior you started or are cultivating because you believe it is valuable or relevant?

Leading with compassion has made all the difference in my roles over the last eight years since selling the agency. Whether it’s with coaching clients (groups or one-on-one), facilitation, speaking, or as founder of a speakers’ agency, compassion is one of the hallmarks of effective leadership. For me, it’s about feeling with someone’s experience and then taking supportive action in the best way for which I have capacity. You’ll also infer some healthy boundary setting in that answer, which is where most leaders could use the most support.

What advice would you offer to other leaders who are stuck in past playbooks and patterns and may be having a hard time letting go of what made them successful in the past?

I’d likely start by asking how their strategies are working for them on an emotional level. As a trauma-informed leadership coach, instead of offering advice, my role is to ask the questions that empower leaders to identify their areas of stagnation and hold them accountable to commitments they make toward change.

Many of our readers can relate to the challenge of leading people for the first time. What advice would you offer to new and emerging leaders?

Trust yourself. The more you outsource, the more disconnected you become from your inner knowing. Leading people is about relationships, and healthy relationships are rooted in integrity. So, ask those with experience how they might handle a particularly complex situation, but otherwise, make conscious leadership a daily practice.

Based on your experience or research, what are the top five traits effective leaders exemplify now?

In Heal to Lead, I offer four fundamentals for high-conscious leadership, and I’ll add one pre-requisite:

• Courage: Even though I don’t present courage as its own fundamental, per se, this is where high-conscious leadership starts. In fact, the question that sparked the direction of the book was, “What was the first moment you recall stepping into a leadership role?” I recalled a latent childhood memory where, after receiving some life-altering news, I comforted my little brother despite being confused and afraid myself. My first memory of leadership was also my first memory of being courageous, and this ultimately became the beginning of the introduction to the book.
• Trauma Integration: Never before has “actively healing childhood trauma” been included in a list of traits that effective leaders exemplify, but that’s all about to change. As Fundamental #1 of high-conscious leadership, I offer that if we aren’t integrating the trauma we experienced during our formative years, then we’re essentially projecting our pain onto those we lead. In fact, I reference this as a leadership responsibility — in that while trauma was not our fault, processing and integrating it is our responsibility.
• Embodying Vulnerability: Fundamental #2 is about giving others permission to share their lived experiences, stories, their feedback, their concerns, and more. Vulnerability has historically been associated with weakness, but it takes true strength to be honest — and it only “makes leaders more approachable, more trustworthy, and more human to those they lead. It also brings people together in times of crisis, transition, or transformation.”
• Leading with Compassion: Fundamental #3 is a part of a more conscious approach to leadership — through better support for our employees and the planet alike. “Healing our own trauma helps us remember the more compassionate parts that we’ve buried over the years — and to see ourselves as part of our collective family. Beyond sympathy and empathy, compassion is understanding, feeling, and being willing to help relieve the suffering of another.”
• Lighting the Way: Integrating the adversity we faced during our youngest years it is our responsibility — and in doing so, we light the way for others to heal, lead, and surpass any legacy we might leave. Fundamental #4 trades individualism for generative practices that ensure communal perpetuity for all beings. In other words, “by elevating others, we light the way for collective success.”

American Basketball Coach John Wooden said, “Make each day your masterpiece.” How do you embody that quote? We welcome a story or example.

It strikes me that this quote is really about presence. With each new moment, task, or situation, is an opportunity to bring your full awareness, and I do embody this — though I may not refer to it as a masterpiece because I try to remain unattached to perfectionism, absolutes, or an achievement mindset. Instead, I find it helpful to view each day as an invitation to expand my capacity. Full stop. That could mean my capacity to give or receive, my capacity to see and understand multiple viewpoints, or my capacity to hold space for others (back to presence).

What is the legacy you aspire to leave as a leader?

The fourth fundamental of high-conscious leadership is Lighting the Way. It’s about creating more leaders to surpass any legacy that you might leave. So, I don’t aspire to leave an individual legacy; I have faith that the work I have done is a continuation of what was laid before me and what will perpetuate after I’m gone. Being part of that generative ecosystem is how I live, love, and lead.

How can our readers connect with you to continue the conversation?

My website is www.klcampbell.com, and my new book can be found there, or on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. I’m also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to experience a leadership master at work. We wish you continued success and good health!

About The Interviewer: Karen Mangia is one of the most sought-after keynote speakers in the world, sharing her thought leadership with over 10,000 organizations during the course of her career. As Vice President of Customer and Market Insights at Salesforce, she helps individuals and organizations define, design and deliver the future. Discover her proven strategies to access your own success in her fourth book Success from Anywhere and by connecting with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.