7 Questions on Leadership with Jacqueline Campbell
Name: Jacqueline Campbell
Title: Emotional Intelligence and Wellness Coach and Speaker
Oranisation: Restoring Minds Wellness
When I was a child I wanted to grow up to help those that couldn’t help themselves. I wanted to protect people from harm so I joined the United States Marine Corps and served 6 years overseas. I was blessed with observing good and bad leadership, but it made me re-think what stress and trauma do to the human mind and body.
I received a Master's degree in Forensic Psychology and worked for over 10 years in the mental health field specializing in trauma. I worked with hundreds of survivors of physical and sexual abuse, 1st responders, and leaders.
I wanted to have a larger impact on my field, so I opened Restoring Minds Wellness, a clinic in Midlothian, TX and I continue to be the owner and CEO. I felt contributing to my community and field was my calling but I still wanted to contribute more. During my time working to heal trauma with my clients, I learned how trauma runs our society even when people don’t have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I wanted to focus on working with leaders to enhance their work-home life balance, help them heal from their unresolved traumas, and assist them in being better leaders for their families and colleagues.
I am now an Emotional Intelligence and Wellness Coach for Executives and Entrepreneurs and I strive to spread healing to those that carry the most burden and responsibility; so that the world and our communities can experience the positive change the world needs. I am currently working on obtaining my Doctorate in Naturopathy and I specialize in neuroscience and quantum physics to better assist the body in healing itself. I am a public speaker, trainer, and author, and I strive to create conscious leaders who want to make a real difference in the world.
Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!
I hope Jacqueline's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!
Cheers,
Jonno White
1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?
The home-work life balance and leaving work at work always seem to be the most difficult, especially for highly ambitious leaders. If we work jobs we hate it's easier to limit working hours. But when you live your passion, it drives and motivates you and what's better than living on that high? Well, for most it's their family. But the push and pull of that always seems to be the #1 difficulty. I assist others in maintaining that balance but I, just like them, need to manage it or it can get out of hand.
2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?
I have always felt that intuitive pull to be supportive to people. I want to help. I feel like that pull has placed me in positions where people naturally gravitate to me for support, grounded advice, or validation that they are on the right track. I never want to take control from someone so helping in a way that supports their empowerment has always been important to me. It's important we know that WE can push past difficulties so our confidence in ourselves persists. I feel like leaders need that confidence and guidance to live in their authenticity because of the stress that comes with leading. I feel very blessed that they confide in me and allow me to lead them.
3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?
I wake up 1-2 hours before my children so I can feel grounded and accomplished before the day even starts. I see individual clients in the morning and spend most of my afternoon working on the business. Exercise and meditation are after I pick up my children from school as they decompress after a long day at school and by 5 pm my phone is shut off. I announce to my children, "Mom's done working for the day!" I have family time until 9 pm. 9-10 pm is my time and I need this to decompress and refresh for quality sleep so I'm ready for the next day.
4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?
Recently, I was humbly reminded that professional growth also means personal growth. Growth of any kind disrupts due to disequilibrium and I am most grounded when balanced. Therefore, I feel "off" during the transition. We feel best when we are "on our game" but sometimes for growth, we need our limitations highlighted so we know what's blocking our progress. Growth does that favor for us.
5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?
Brene Brown's Braving the Wilderness Being a leader can be lonely for many and the burden of responsibility can be heavy. This book is a reminder to understand that standing alone actually allows for more connection.
6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?
There are no mistakes, only lessons. Always find the lesson.
7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?
It's ok to find help. I believe we have all the guidance we need right inside us and the way I find my inner guidance during difficulty is to step away, clear my mind, calm my body, and then distract myself before returning to the issue to find a resolution.
One very difficult time when my business was suffering I was sacrificing my income to keep it afloat. I knew I could find the answer but the thing that kept frustrating me was I kept coming up with "I need help" I need help." I would answer back, "I KNOW I NEED HELP!" Quite comical right? I was talking out loud to myself! I meditated more and when I came out of my meditation I heard it again. Usually, this is where I find my answer but all I kept getting was "I need help..." I was furious as I wrote down these ridiculous words.
I read them "I need help." I read them again but less frustrated this time. "I need help."
I read them again and I was paying attention this time "I need help."
I laughed so loud! "Ooh, I need help!!!" I couldn't believe that the answer was I needed to hire an outside team. It was so obvious to me now, that I couldn't believe I didn't understand it at first! It was a huge lesson that it's perfectly fine to not have all the answers because sometimes your answer is to get it from someone else! We don't always need to shoulder the burden because it's ok to ask for help.