Ep17.fin.carriemead
===
[00:00:00]
Introduction and Show Overview
---
This show is powered by Others Over Self®. Hit that subscribe button to keep training your brain.
Carrie Mead: you take care of yourself first. Then you can take care of your family and you take care of your team, and then the mission gets done.
Shelly Rood: From Others Over Self®. It's Hardcore and At Ease™. A show about people who are keeping their edge without going over the edge.
Meet Carrie Mead: Breaking Career Plateaus
---
Shelly Rood: I am host Shelly Rood, and today's guest is Carrie Mead, one of only seven civilians in the entire army. To hold a position, typically reserved for a colonel managing the Detroit Arsenal, 8,000 people. As Garrison Manager, we explore how to break through career plateaus by expanding your network instead of just climbing higher.
The one question that transforms information hoarding [00:01:00] into collaborative momentum and how to build leadership systems that prove their strength when you're not in the room.
This is Hardcore and At Ease™.
A Personal Connection: Shelly's Story
---
Shelly Rood: I met Carrie Mead when I was brand new to Michigan's civilian life, and I was just trying to figure out how to build a business and a community that I barely knew as an adult. I was looking to network with high achieving women in the defense industry, and somebody mentioned Carrie's name. I reached out fully expecting that polite deflection that you get from executives that manage thousands of people.
But she met me for breakfast. She just showed up, generous with her time, asking about my transition, my business ideas, what I was trying to build, and when I launched an initiative to celebrate women in the defense industry. Well, it was just a small thing that I was trying to get off the ground, and Carrie didn't just offer encouragement.
She actively supported it. She connected me with [00:02:00] people and opened doors that I couldn't have opened myself. That's the kind of leader she is. Over the years, I'd met people through my kids' school, through community events, and when they'd mention working at the Detroit Arsenal, I'd always say, oh yeah, I have a good friend there.
Do you know Carrie Mead? The response was almost always the same. A chuckle, oh, I don't know her personally, but I see your name on a lot of paperwork and memos that tells you something about the scope of what she was managing. 8,000 people. You don't personally know everyone when you're running a city within a city, but everyone knows who's leading them.
Here's the moment that captured who Carrie really is for me. I was at a formal gala, dressed up beautiful with my husband, and the Detroit Arsenal was providing the refreshments while I reached for a water glass. And the woman in the black slacks that was handing it to me. It was Carrie. She wasn't supervising from a distance.
She wasn't delegating the grunt workout. [00:03:00] She was actually operating alongside her people, providing support to them in the way that they could see and appreciate. That's authentic leadership. It's not the performative kind where you just show up for photo ops. It's the real kind where you're present in the work, regardless of whether anyone's even watching.
Generating Collaborative Momentum
---
Shelly Rood: Today's conversation is about generate momentum. It's the fourth element of the hardcore and addie's framework for everyday excellence. We build collaborative momentum that multiplies exponentially. We transform individual excellence. Into unstoppable team excellence, and most high achievers hit a plateau.
And it's not because they lack skill or work ethic. They plateau when they stop collaborating and start operating in silos when they start trying to do more themselves instead of multiplying through others. And it's a really easy mistake to make. And here's the uncomfortable truth about that [00:04:00] plateau If everything stops when you step away.
Then you really haven't built any momentum. You've built a bottleneck with yourself at the center because real momentum continues without your constant presence. It multiplies through others. It creates aligned action that doesn't require your hand on everything to succeed. Carrie's one of only seven civilians in the entire army to hold this position.
Typically reserved for a colonel. And that kind of career trajectory doesn't happen by accident. It doesn't happen just by working harder or climbing some traditional ladder. I recorded this conversation back in May during her transition from the Detroit Arsenal, so by the time you're hearing this, she's already at or even has graduated Army War College building toward whatever comes next for her.
Now, that's momentum in action movement that continues even when you can't see the full path ahead. [00:05:00] Today we're exploring the shift from individual excellence to team excellence from doing it yourself to multiplying impact through others, from protecting information, to sharing it strategically, from climbing ladders to expanding networks, and critically, how do you lead authentically while managing thousands?
Let's talk to Carrie Mead actually. Thank you so much for joining us today, Carrie.
Carrie's Journey in the Defense Industry
---
Shelly Rood: Now, your career spans over 20 years at military installations. What first drew you to a career that supported our nation's defense structure? So if you would've, uh, talked to me, Shelly, right as I had graduated college, I never would've told you I'd be spending 20 years working in the defense industry, supporting our soldiers and our families.
Carrie Mead: And the, the thing that drew me that way is I held up in a married, a boy in the army. So I had gotten myself down to North Carolina. I was ready to go to UNC at [00:06:00] a law school and figured out that that fellow that I dated over the summer who had joined the army was about a, you know, a short drive away.
And once I got a chance to see him a couple times, we decided like we're gonna do this life thing together. And that kind of, that kind of changed everything for me. Now, at what age did you start to get into the defense industry? Can I ask? So, um, geez, married at 23. So this seems really young now that I'm a little bit older and past that age, but married at 23 and um, we moved out to Colorado, to Fort Carson and I wasn't able to get a job working in the defense industry or a job, you know, for what I had gone to school for, which is work, working with youth at risk.
Um, but I started, uh, picking up working service to the armed Forces as a member of the American Red Cross when we moved to Germany, uh, back in 1997. You know what's funny, Carrie? I would say that um, the work that you do in our defense industry is working with youth at risk. It could be be categorized that way.
Yes, [00:07:00] it could be. It could be at times, perhaps too fun. And when you're out there, as you know, I mean you're a grown woman at 23, but you still feel very young and you still feel like, you know, where am I gonna put my footprint? Did did you have confidence to step into the defense industry? Or like what did that door opening look like for you?
Yeah, I'll say, you know, for Michelle, I think it's more, um, my comfort zone was taking care of people. So, you know, when you're working with youth at Risk, you're helping young, uh, young kids and their families navigate, um, challenges. And really that's, you know, when I went. To your point right about that's really helping the, the same kind of job, working that way, service to the armed forces.
Um, I spent a lot of time helping families and, um, young soldiers and their families navigate hard times. Right? I was a, a caseworker for the American Red Cross when I first started, uh, where I was the person calling you to tell you that somebody in your family was ill or had died and we were gonna try and help you [00:08:00] get back to be with your family at that critical time.
Um, so, you know, it, it, that has kind of, um, I'll say morphed into something bigger in my current role. Um, but uh, definitely kind of, um, has always started with taking care of people, which is really one of the important army tenants, right? We take care of our people and then our soldiers and their families take care of us and not any more or less important.
Shelly Rood: I was one of those soldiers that received a Red Cross phone call when my grandfather passed away. Yeah. Um, and I'll never forget that moment. And so now you, you were a part of those moments when you were doing that job, um, and now you're just doing it in a different capacity. So there have been significant changes.
I've known you for years now, Carrie, and yeah, there's been some changes. I was going, changes, yeah. Wow. Yeah. I was like, Ooh. Kind of witnessing that. So, you know, for a lot of our listeners, I think that they hear Detroit Arsenal, but I don't think they really understand the beans [00:09:00] and bullets and the scope of the mission that happens over at the arsenal.
Can you take a second and just kind of orient us to that? Yeah, for sure. So, um, let me start with my current role.
Leadership and Community Involvement
---
Carrie Mead: So you referred to me as the Garrison Commander early in your intro, but I'm gonna correct that and call that the Garrison Manager. And that's one of the things that I think is most, um, interesting and neat about my job because I'm one of about seven civilians that have taken a position that usually is reserved for a kernel, um, on a military installation and.
In my role as the Garrison manager, I'd liken myself, or best describe it as I'm the city manager here of the Detroit Arsenal, and my job is to create a safe and great workspace for our folks who are, uh, here on the arsenal, on the daily, our visitors who come to see us and our retirees who still get service from us.
So for me, you'll hear me talking about. Public works and fire, uh, services, other emergency services and security. [00:10:00] You'll hear me talking about, um, social services and parks and recreation activities like our MWR programs, our morale, welfare and recreation programs. And those are all, um, things that we do to support the almost 8,000 people here that, um, buy, create, um, and take care of our soldiers with.
All of the equipment that they need to successfully, uh, win and fight our nation's wars. So, uh, we're highly focused in the ground combat vehicle area. Um, but uh, take home, especially our senior commander here and my big boss, general Leer and his team are focused on sustaining many different aspects of, of what those soldiers need to do their jobs.
Shelly Rood: So Carrie's leadership has helped us maintain the arsenal significance over these periods of budget, uncertainties, defense spending, realignment. And if you're, you know, not military or if you're like me and you are military and you [00:11:00] just have so many acronyms in your head, you can't remember them all.
Tecom, um, is part of the Detroit arsenal and it's the home to the US Army Tank Automotive and Armaments command. Thank you. I try not to speak an acronym, but it's really hard after it all this time. Well, it is important because there are several other critical defense organizations, and when you combine them all into the Detroit Arsenal, you really represent a cornerstone of Macomb County's defense industry.
Carrie Mead: Indeed. So the, the majority of the work that gets done here is the acquisition of, of, um, all of those, um, different systems or vehicles. Um, it's the research and development that goes along with them, and then the sustainment, right? The logistical end of, of all that here. So the, the folks who work at the Arsenal do really important things to, um, keep us moving forward, uh, and making sure that our, um.
Our folks have the, the best, um, equipment that they [00:12:00] have, or the equipment that they have is sustained. Well, um, and, you know, they're, they're super soldier centric focused. And I say that to say there's probably only about 250 soldiers assigned to the arsenal of this 8,000 people. I was, I think, was thousands of people.
Right, right. I think people don't realize, um, the significant work that the civilian Corps does here. Um, and, and how important, um. What they do here is to, to keeping, um, our lethality high and our soldiers safe. Now, we mentioned the budget uncertainties over the last few years, the spending realignment, bringing that to a more conversational level.
Shelly Rood: Can you talk us through some of the most significant changes that you've really witnessed there during your tenure? Um, for sure. So, you know, I think like any good business, um, the government has to look at, uh, take a critical look at how, how we're doing things and um, is what we planned on doing still the right road to be [00:13:00] traveling.
Carrie Mead: Right. And I think, uh, we see, um, you know, we see a lot of, a lot of that, especially recently, and I, I won't get crazy political about things, but, uh, you know, we. We always are taking a critical look at, at how we can perform better, um, how we can realign, uh, the resources that we're given to provide, uh, the most service that we can, uh, to our teammates.
So, um, I think you'll see, um, if you were to go back on our timeline here, historically with the Arsenal, you'll see lots of changes in maybe the vehicle systems that we're purchasing or sustaining. You'll see, um. Different, uh, us looking at different and innovative ways to procure, uh, procure items. I know, um, you know, other transactional authorities was a, a big thing.
Uh, you know, if we go back five or six years Right? As a, as a different way to engage with the industry to, to buy things. So, um, you know, for what were, can you gimme an example of those ground systems that you're doing now? Ooh. So, you know, for [00:14:00] me, I, I am, I'm not as in the elbow deep portion of, of those things, but I'll tell you back when, I know when the Army was looking in, first getting into some of the robotics pieces, they were, they were using those other transactional authorities to see what was already out there, right?
And how we can use, um, use equipment that's already being made, uh, in industry, um, and adapt it for, for best use, uh, for the Army. Carrie, I love your honesty with like my job, my position is not necessarily elbow deep, so there are layers of things that I don't get into specifics. I love that and I wish that a lot of us would realize like, it's okay to stay in your lane and, and that can actually be a, it could be really helpful.
Shelly Rood: Yeah, it can be helpful for sure, for sure. Now as, as the garrison manager, what aspects of your role have required that most? Intense focus for you, particularly when you're thinking about relationships between maybe military and civilian communities. [00:15:00] Sure. You know, um, I, I came into this job. I had been acting in the position for about three months when the pandemic started, so I'll use that.
Carrie Mead: I mean, that to me, like there's no better trial than trial by fire, right? So, um, trial by fire, um, you know, some of those hardcore and critical things. And some of what I look back on and I reflect on is like being in the best practice things was really, um, my teams. Constant, um, refrain of who else needs to know, right?
There were so many things moving and changing, um, so quickly at, at, at a time and, and especially when we felt so, um, protective of our workforce and wanting to make sure that we were doing the, the right things to protect the workforce, but keep the mission going. Um, our, our mantra, like every, like every discussion we had, the, the last question was like, who else needs to know?
And. Sometimes our discussion was really [00:16:00] about like, you know, who you think might need to know, there might be more people, right? So sometimes you have to cast that communication a little more broadly. So, um, also one of the things you're, you're like opposite of where my immediate reaction goes because I come from the military intelligence world, so I'm like, yes, we gotta hold it.
Shelly Rood: The need to know is like you hold it tight and you don't give out communication. Only the people that need to know need to know. Right. So I mean, it is, it's kind of, it's a big, it's a big spin kind of on the same thought. Right. And to that, to your point, right. With the, like, I, like, I'm not gonna talk a lot about the ground vehicle system side of things 'cause that's, I, I didn't have a need to know, so I'm not spun up on it.
Carrie Mead: Right. But, um. Uh, you know, the, in communicating with folks more widely as our community, we took that moniker of what else do we need to know? And we, we went wide. Like we need, we need to be engaged with the state, we need to be engaged with the counties. We need to be engaged with [00:17:00] the regions. We need to be engaged with.
Selfridge. What are they're doing is important to us. 'cause we're sitting on Selfridge and many installation, uh, many, many different ways. Um. What is the local community doing? What is the National Guard at the Greater National Guard doing? They came and, uh, helped us in so many ways when we were, um, didn't have enough folks to, to accomplish some of the missions that we wanted to do.
They helped step in and then making sure that, who else needs to know? On the installation, right? Like making sure all of the, um, equities and the, the individual organizations here, um, had access to information that they needed to share with their workforce. So, um, do you know, Carrie, over the years, I've met so many people that work at the Detroit Arsenal, and I'll always say, oh, my good friend works there, Carrie Mead.
Shelly Rood: Do you know her? Right? It's kind of like, do you know somebody who lives in Michigan or whatever? Oh, yes. Yeah. And they always say, they say. You know, I don't know her personally, but I've seen her name on the bottom of some very important emails. So I'll make you laugh. 'cause I was [00:18:00] at a Women in Defense event, um, and it was like something, you know, like a wine tasting.
Carrie Mead: It wasn't like a real official event kind of thing. And I was speaking, um, speaking with a friend there and she's like, oh, my husband works on the arsenal. I'll see if he knows you. Text her husband and she comes back, she goes, oh, he says, you're the COVID lady. 'cause I'm sending all of those COVID messages, uh, on the daily.
Sorry, I made myself laugh so hard. I knocked out my earbud. Um, well, I mean, somebody has to do it, so I, yeah, I'm, I'm delighted that, I think I've shaken that moniker, uh, for, for a while. But yeah, I laughed 'cause I'm like, oh, hey, that's good. That means you were reading, you were reading all that. I need you to know this information, messaging that I was putting up.
Shelly Rood: You know, there are world events that happen and they serve as milestones in our lives forever. And you know, when Carrie Mead thinks of her time at the Detroit Arsenal, COVID is attached to that. Whether you like it or not. When I worked in broadcast [00:19:00] television, I'm gonna date myself here, but I worked during the transition from analog to digital.
That was a big, big deal. That was a majority of my television career. And for, so Germany, for me, working at the Red Cross will always be Y 2K. It was Y 2K and we were all, all of our computers were going to die and we were gonna get stuck in Germany. I don't know, it's too funny. Did you, did it happen? No.
Carrie Mead: Oh, all, all that. Worry for N for, oh. All that worry for not, no, we never do that. So you mentioned Women in defense, you know, I wanna get a little bit into, you know, who is Carrie Mead and beyond your official duties, you've really been involved with women in Defense, Michigan. Can you share with me. Why did you choose that organization?
Shelly Rood: I mean, they have a mission as well, and, and it's interesting to see how it's really aligned with your personal leadership and philosophy. Yeah. So, um, women in Defense had, you know, it was one of those things where I had, um, rolled out [00:20:00] of a formal mentorship program in my command. And, um, I had had signed up to receive their emails and shortly thereafter I had gotten a note about how they were standing up their next cohort of mentors.
Carrie Mead: And I was like, well, I need a new mentor, right? Like, oh yeah, okay, so I need a mentor. So, um, it all started very, you know. Easing my way in with, uh, you know, picking up as, as, as having a mentor. And then that moved into the, you know, becoming on the mentorship committee. And that moved into becoming the vice president and the president over the organization.
And I'll tell you, it's, it like, what a joy to, um, surround yourself with the right people, right? You hear that all the time from, from folks that you wanna, you wanna see what your future is. Look around you. Who are you surrounding yourself with? Um, and surrounding myself with. With these amazing women and men who, who joined the organization as well, um, for women in Defense, uh, just is a, a community that lifts people up.
So [00:21:00] we were. We were and are highly focused on creating great women leaders in the defense space. Um, creating strong networks, um, and then, you know, bringing up the next generation. So we do that through scholarship. We do that through STEM programming. Um, we do that in a variety of ways and it really, um, I always say like, if you're gonna volunteer your time for something, it better be amazing.
And, uh, the chance to, to volunteer with a women in Defense organization. Um. Always proved to be amazing and always proved to, um, help connect our community in very positive ways. And your volunteer time didn't stop with Women In Defense. You work with Fisher House Michigan as well. Yeah. Which helps to support families in need.
Shelly Rood: What impact have you seen there? You know, why, why not stop after one volunteer organization can? Nah, you're busy lady. Nah. So, you know, you gotta do what you love. Right? And you have to, um. [00:22:00] Demonstrate it for other people. So I saw my first Fisher House, right? And if people are not familiar with Fisher House, they're comfort and care homes for our soldiers and families and our veterans and their families that are usually tied to a military, um, medical hospital or a veterans, uh, administration hospital.
Carrie Mead: And I saw my first Fisher house when I was doing the executive leader development program, and I was down at Fort Sam Houston and got to walk through and see, um. A very tangible way that we show how much we support our armed forces and how much we support our veterans. Um, by, by setting up these homes where their families can, um, count on a safe space that's comfortable, that will feed them, that will help meet their, um, you know, all those Maslow needs.
Right? Those. The need for shelter and um, and care and food and, um, what a great way that, to just really be able to give back to folks. So when, uh, I heard that we were standing up Fisher House in Michigan and raising money to [00:23:00] open our first house in Ann Arbor, I'm like, I am in 100% in, um, and super excited to say that we just opened our house in Detroit as well, so we did.
I know. I'm so excited by like, you know, it just, like I said, it's sometimes it's very hard, like when we. Donate to things, you know, you're like, oh yeah, you know, but like I just being in the house and talking to the families that are there, or, you know, I'm on the social media sites for Fisher House, Michigan, and we always put, you know, you know, we put the little journal entries that the families leave for us out to just kind of reiterate, um, you know, what all, uh, what all we're doing for them.
So, yeah, I don't know. It's, it's a joy. I mean if, if Carrie Mead can go out there and give more of herself to her community in this way, I think that all of us need to make it a priority. Managing a major military installation while maintaining community connections, I mean that requires balance, like hardcore balance.
Shelly Rood: I bet you have some pretty significant [00:24:00] boundaries. Carry. I laugh about
Carrie Mead: balance though, Shelly, all the time because I say balance is junk. Like no one's like when you balance, like, okay, when you were on the teeter-totter when you were kid, like how often did you stop right here? Perfectly. Right. I love that analogy.
You don't, right? You don't, you're, you're here 'cause somebody, maybe you don't have the right person on the other side with you. Um, or you're here or you're wavy gravy and you know, you're passing through the balance point. But I think, you know, for me, that whole like work life thing is you have to understand like everyone's not gonna get a hundred percent all the time.
'cause there's not a hundred percent to give. So, um. What I do say to folks, you know, and I, I was talking to a group of mentees, um, in my career field, and they're like, well, you know, how, how do you do it? I'm like, you're gonna make the time. You are gonna make the time for the things that are important to you.
So you make sure you make enough time for your family, you make enough time to get your work done, and you make enough time to contribute back to your community. Right? And it, [00:25:00] the, it's not always gonna, they're not always gonna be equal or even, so you just have to figure out the, the, the best way and, and.
I, I always say move it around a little bit so that you've passed through the balance point more often.
Shelly Rood: I just was listening this morning and leaning into the idea that work fills whatever box you give it. Yeah. And if you give it a gigantic box of your entire life, two in the morning, four in the morning, six in the morning, then it's gonna fill it.
Carrie Mead: Yep. Exa Yeah. That's, that's great. I hadn't thought about it that way, but it's true. Like you, you know, I, I, I laugh 'cause I talk to people like, I like to stay late. I'd rather stay like an extra hour at night. I'm not gonna go home and. Fire my computer back up and, and do more work. Right? The way I protect my, my space and my peace that way is like I stay till I get it done.
Um, 'cause you're right, if I bring it home, then it, it will, and I reopen, reopen the door to that box and I'll, I'll make more space for it. And we don't, we don't wanna do that. We wanna, we wanna make lots of space for lots of things. [00:26:00]
Shelly Rood: I know when I do that, it's the quality suffers. Yeah. Like if I just keep in the zone and just crank out another 30 minutes or another hour, whatever's needed, it's so good.
But then when you like close and you pause and you come back and now the kid's running in the house and the fingers are sticky and now I can't find my notes, I should run that load of laundry.
Carrie Mead: Yeah. Like those sorts of things.
Shelly Rood: Yeah. Leadership lessons. You've had the pleasure and the honor, maybe not always the pleasure of working underneath some of the most incredible leaders in American defense history.
Can you tell me some lessons that are flying around that boardroom when you're with them?
Carrie Mead: Oh my gosh. So, um, one of my first mentors who previously held my job, many, many moons ago, um, drilled into us, and this kinda goes back to your work life balance piece, that you take care of yourself first. Then you can take care of your family and you take care of your team, and then the mission gets done.
And as long as you do those things right, take care of [00:27:00] those things in the order, then the mission will always be successful. But if you don't take care of the first things like yourself or your family, the mission will always suffer. So I, I hang on to that piece of information, uh, from my mentor, Brenda McCullough, who.
And no joke, like any of us who were on her team at that point can recite, recite that for you over and over and over again. Um, that's probably one of the, one of the first, first things that I would tell you.
Shelly Rood: Well, I wanna recite it, so go through it again. So it
Carrie Mead: starts with, take care of yourself, take care of yourself, take care of your family, take care of your team, and the mission will succeed.
Shelly Rood: Beautiful. It's lovely.
Carrie Mead: And it came from another woman. Yep. Yep. Yep, yep. Lots of, lots of women in defense in my space.
Shelly Rood: Well, you're, you're in my backyard. I mean, Macomb County is where I live. Um, we are home to the Virginia National Guard, uh, base, and we've had some major [00:28:00] news lately with the a tens retiring, not retiring.
President Trump was just on ground. Um, can you walk me through a little bit about. What's next for the area? Because I know Carrie Mead, your, your time and your position is coming to an end. You're getting ready to tie a bow on it. It's,
Carrie Mead: it is. So, um, I'm in a position that has a mobility agreement, so my time is starting to TikTok for sure.
So the most recent, um, announcements are super exciting, right? Having been part of this defense community for a long time, um, you know, we are, we're always. Um, talking about the, the value that Selfridge brings to the defense community, uh, you know, for the nation, um, but also for the area and for us, you know, we run the golf course, the childcare facility, the marina, um, all of those sorts of things out there that help build a better community for our soldiers and, and families as well.
So, you know. Suffrage is important to us from the ability, especially, [00:29:00] especially to help us, um, you know, take care of families through child development. Um, and then also to recreate, right? Recreated recreation is great. So, um, very important for us. So we're excited to see that, uh, they're projecting, uh, a new fighter mission out there because that helps us, um, longevity and, and building our case for, um, you know, keeping up with the services that we're providing out there.
So for me, I'm, I am leaving us in the next two months. I'm headed off to the Army's War College. So I am, uh, gonna go for 10 months to school and, uh, come back, uh, with a, uh, master in Strategic Studies, and then I will launch out to whatever my next duty assignment is. It's an, it's an unknown at this point, so I can tell you what's going on for the next 10 months, and I can tell you something exciting is gonna happen afterwards, but I don't know what it is yet.
Shelly Rood: And I think we all get to some point in our lives where we think that like we know the path ahead and it's like we're here. I can see everything. [00:30:00] It's a smooth path, you know? Yes. And here you have one of the most accomplished women that I've ever known, and she's headed off for 10 months of education.
And then behind that is a giant question mark.
Carrie Mead: I know, but you know what? I love that you started to ask me about my Red Cross time and, and all that. 'cause it really, um, level sets things I could have never told you at that point. Like my, you know, getting married and running off to Colorado was going to end me, you know, up.
You know, serving families, you know, through, through the Red Cross for that time. And like, look how wonderful that turned out. Like what a, like what a joy my life has been to like move around all over the world and, and do those things. So I'm, I, that fires me up. It gets me excited. Like almost not knowing is better.
I.
Shelly Rood: I know we're coming up to the end of our interview time. Can you share with me where you've lived in your life?
Carrie Mead: Yeah, so, um, I'm from Detroit, so that was fun and exciting to come back to Michigan after all this time and, and work for the Army. Um, [00:31:00] and I met my husband when I lived in North Carolina. We moved to Fort Carson, Colorado and then to bomb holder Germany.
And then from there we came back to Michigan while he went to school at Fort Leonard Wood and uh, he ended his career at Fort Stewart in Georgia. We then moved to Texas. We lived outside of Fort Worth where I worked for the Red Cross also there doing, um. More disaster service case work than anything else.
Um, and, uh, I was there for, uh, hurricane Katrina. Talk about another life moment that we could talk, we could talk for long hours about that one too. Um. And then, uh, back to Detroit. And I call it life's great irony that, you know, I I finally get this great job working for the Army where, uh, where I started, where I never would've thought that this, this is where I would've ended up.
So
Shelly Rood: no,
Carrie Mead: God brought you back home and he brought you back home. Right? When he brought me back home. Exactly. It was right about the same time. Right. I go back to that, uh, you're, you're giving our, [00:32:00] one of our seminars Right? For Women in Defense. And I think that was the first chance we had to, to meet and, um.
Just, you know, birds of a feather, right? Your energy is amazing and, and uh, was great to have you, you know, join that flock with wid too.
Shelly Rood: Well, thank you Carrie. I remember being a part of that and asking the audience how many of my military women veterans are currently serving are in the room. And of the hundreds that were in there, I think there were two hands and I was shocked.
And I say that to share that. To all of the listeners today, you do not have to join the military to make a significant impact in your nation's defense. Indeed, by all means, Carrie is such a beautiful example of a woman who never personally joined the military, but yet here she is climbing letters and shaken trees and eaten fruit, and just rocking out life.
Carrie Mead for everything that you've given to our community and the time that I've known you and the time that [00:33:00] God has prepared you before from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.
Carrie Mead: Oh, I love you, Shell. Thank you so much. It's been a joy to be on, like, I'll call it our at least 15 year venture together.
Shelly Rood: Oh, I love that conversation.
Conclusion and Key Takeaways
---
Shelly Rood: And that's our episode for today. I wanna name what Carrie just demonstrated about generating momentum. The plateau that most achievers hit. It isn't about capability, it's more about approach. Do you feel like you might be trying to do more by yourself when you know deep inside that you should just be working through others to multiply these efforts?
Think about your career progression. Are you focused on that next rung up, or are you working on building connections that create some unexpected opportunities? Because traditional ladder climbing assumes that there's a linear path network expansion. On the other hand, it creates possibilities that you can't even see.
And so here's the generate [00:34:00] momentum principle that matters most. Real momentum continues without your constant presence. If everything stops when you step away, then you haven't built momentum. You've built a bottleneck with yourself at the center. So here's your action for this week In your next three important conversations, practice asking.
Who else needs to know, not who has the need to know? That's the control mentality. And as a former intel officer, I totally get it right. Everything's on a need to know basis, but if you're looking for genuine collaboration outside of confidential documents, then we should be asking who else needs to know?
And when thinking through that question, take an honest inventory. Are you measuring success by your individual accomplishment or by a collective momentum? Because if you're working harder, but you're not getting any further, or if you feel like [00:35:00] maybe you're still carrying everything alone, if you're operating in this sense of isolation and you just feel like there should be other people along with me.
Well, I hear you and the others over Self coaching framework is designed specifically to help ambitious people like you break through those plateaus. Not by working more, but by generating momentum that multiplies exponentially. Through strategic collaboration. You don't break through plateaus. By working harder alone, you break through them by generating with other people to multiply your impact.
So if you're ready to stop being the bottleneck and you wanna start building systems that work without your constant presence, then keep listening to this podcast and think about the others over coaching framework that we teach because it addresses this exact challenge. I'm Shelly Rood, and you can count on me every Tuesday to challenge how you're leading and give you principles and tactics that [00:36:00] actually work.
Next week. I'll see you for a solo episode on Expect Excellence. How to raise standards without intimidating the people around you. It'll be especially interesting considering how many people over the years have directly told me that I intimidate them and they still do. So perhaps you are the same and maybe we can work through this together.
I'll see you next Tuesday, and until then, stay hardcore, be at ease and trust the process.
Speaker: You are listening to hardcore and at ease. Keep the conversation going at join dot others over self.com.