"Launching its new season with a focus on storytelling, Audio Signals, hosted by Marco Ciappelli, features our first guest, Jim Fielding, a celebrated corporate leader and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, illuminating his journey through narrative and leadership in our increasingly interconnected world."
Guests: Jim Fielding, Author
On Linkedin | https://linkedin.com/in/jamesdfielding
On Twitter | https://twitter.com/AllprideNoego
On Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/allpridenoego/
On YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@allpridenoego
Website | https://www.allpridenoego.com/
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Hosts:
Marco Ciappelli, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining Society Podcast
On ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/marco-ciappelli
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Episode Introduction
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the inaugural episode of the freshly repurposed Audio Signals Podcast. Today, I, Marco Ciappelli, ITSPmagazine’s Co-Founder, am honored to embark on this newfound expedition of words and narratives, dedicated solely to the age-old craft of storytelling.
In this ever-evolving world, where we blend analog traditions with digital innovations, storytelling has never been more crucial. It is the vibrant lifeblood pulsating at the core of our society, a vibrant echo of shared experiences, values, and knowledge. Storytelling is the grand symphony of human existence, the warp and weft in the vast, richly textured fabric of our collective consciousness.
As technology continues to erase borders, stories are our bridges—conduits of understanding that foster a shared human experience in an increasingly intertwined world. From authors to filmmakers, musicians to comedians, podcasters to game designers, every storyteller is a vital thread in this resplendent tapestry of existence. Through diverse mediums, you illuminate the countless nooks and crannies of our shared reality, creating narratives that provoke thought, inspire hearts, and underscore the myriad layers of the human condition.
So, with a firm belief in this power of stories, I am pivoting Audio Signals, recalibrating our antennas to spotlight the fascinating universe of storytelling. In this new direction, we seek to honor the craft of each storyteller, casting light on their unique narratives that underscore our shared humanity.
I extend an open invitation to all storytellers to join me on this riveting journey to share their passion, craft, and the tales that make us intrinsically human. It is the dawn of a new era in the legacy of Audio Signals, a testament to the timeless art of storytelling, evolved and adapted for our dynamic digital world.
For our inaugural episode, it is my absolute pleasure to welcome an exceptional guest, Jim Fielding. From humble beginnings on the department store floor, Jim has left indelible footprints across the realms of media and retail, leading iconic brands like The Gap, Disney, Claire’s, Dreamworks, and 20th Century Fox.
Jim's story intertwines storytelling and product merchandising to conjure unforgettable consumer experiences. Today, he splits his time between independent media, entrepreneurship, higher education, and philanthropy, and is an unapologetic advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
We will explore his book, "All Pride, No Ego: A Queer Executive’s Journey to Living and Leading Authentically," an inspiring narrative of servant leadership, reflecting on his key inflection points, leadership style, and the lessons that propelled his journey up the corporate ladder.
This isn’t just a podcast; it’s an expedition into the captivating realm of narratives, a forum for voices that mold our collective consciousness, and an ode to the extraordinary human capacity for storytelling.
I hope you will join me on this journey by sharing this episode and subscribing to Audio Signals Podcast on your favorite podcast player!
About the Book
An inspiring and personal roadmap to servant leadership
In All Pride, No Ego: A Queer Executive’s Journey to Living and Leading Authentically, celebrated corporate leader James Fielding delivers an inspirational leadership story told from the perspective of an out and proud LGBTQ+ executive. In the book, you’ll explore a call-to-action for authentic servant leadership that encourages people to own their truth and bring out the best in themselves and their communities.
The author explains his key decisions and inflection points and highlights how his leadership style, learnings, successes, and failures informed his rise through the rungs of the corporate ladder. You’ll also find:
The importance of becoming and remaining a lifelong learner and constantly curious
How to control the controllable while leaving space for the possible
Strategies for employing truthful and inspirational servant leadership
An essential resource for managers, executives, directors, and other business leaders, All Pride, No Ego: A Queer Executive’s Journey to Living and Leading Authentically will also earn a place on the bookshelves of young, aspiring leaders seeking practical and impactful strategies for real-world leadership.
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Resources
All Pride, No Ego: A Queer Executive’s Journey to Living and Leading Authentically (book): https://www.allpridenoego.com/copy-of-home
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For more podcast stories from Audio Signals:
https://www.itspmagazine.com/audio-signals
Watch the video version on-demand on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnYu0psdcllS0aVY7qlwHxX3uiN7tqqsy
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Please note that this transcript was created using AI technology and may contain inaccuracies or deviations from the original audio file. The transcript is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for the original recording as errors may exist. At this time we provide it “as it is” and we hope it can be useful for our audience.
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Marco Ciappelli: All right, this is Marco Ciappelli, the podcast is Audio Signals and I'm here today for a very exciting episode and there is a couple of reasons because it is a very exciting episode. Number one, my guest, I'm very excited to have him on and his name is Jim Filding and he is going to talk to us about the book that he just wrote and he's about to come out and also his story and, uh, and.
As you know, audio signals is made of story and the other reason why it is A great episode to listen to an important for me is because I'm officially dedicating audio signals, not only to stories, but to storytellers, and that can be in every form that you want audio, video, movies, books, podcast, dance, anything, anything tells a story.
And I like to say we are all made of stories. I think Jim agree with me when we were chatting. Or, and, uh, so I want to welcome him to the show, Jim, thank you for stopping by.
Jim Fielding: Oh, Marco. Thank you so much for having me. And I love. I love where you're taking audio signals, and I definitely am honored to be part of it, and I, I realize that I've been a storyteller my whole life, and that I love stories, uh, and I think that is what bonds us, and I, I love what you just said, because anytime I meet somebody, I, I instantly want to dive into their story, because everyone has a unique story.
Everyone is a storyteller at heart. And I also love how you said, how can it be, it can be expressed in so many mediums and in so many different ways. And, uh, I've been blessed because I've built a career working with some companies that are some of the best storytellers in the world and. I would say it was intentional.
I definitely searched out some of these roles, but at the same time, I also think there was some great moments of serendipity where, you know, opportunities came up and I was able to then attach myself to great companies. And so, you know, I grew up in the Midwest. I grew up in Toledo, Ohio. and went to school at Indiana University and I, I majored in political science and business because I thought I was going to be an international lawyer.
Yeah. I was like, okay, I'm going to be an international lawyer. And got to the end of undergrad, did well, but was frankly out of money. And, uh, it was a time where they were telling us to go out and get practical world experience too, before we went on to get a graduate degree, either an MBA or law school.
And I ended up in a retail training program and I literally saw it as a two year stopover. And that started my career is that I fell in love with retail and many, many of your listeners, if they've worked in retail or know people in retail, we say you're either bitten or not bitten by the retail bug.
And I was bitten by the retail bug. I liked the industry. I liked the pace. I liked the immediate feedback. You basically got a report card every day of how you were doing at retail and was blessed. Uh, to go through a great department store training program and then got recruited by the Gap to be a district manager.
And this was the heyday of the Gap. And I was in Detroit and Chicago running stores and really thought that was going to be my career. I was going to be a store regional director or zone vice president. I was just going to run stores and be a retailer. And then got asked if I wanted to go into merchandising and buying in San Francisco.
And that's really when I got to California. Uh, didn't really know what merchandising or buying was. I'll be honest with you. I knew the stores, but they said, Oh, come out for a week and attend these line reviews and meet some people and see what you think. And I think this is where the story happens.
Right. I went, I was like, Oh, this is really cool. I didn't know what it was called, but I want to do it and moved to San Francisco and became a merchant. Did denim and sweaters and knits and active wear, traveled around the world, saw factories around the world. It was an unbelievable experience. And that was really the first half of my career.
I talk about like, like retail was the first half of my career. And then I got this. phone call from a recruiter who said, Disney is looking for someone to be the head merchant for their catalog. And I didn't even know Disney had a catalog, which I thought kind of smelled like opportunity and went out and interviewed in Los Angeles.
And you know, I had grown up on Disney, like many people that listen to your, I had grown up and Disney and my favorite movies were Disney. My mom was a huge Disney nut. We had gone to the parks early on. Like we went to Orlando in 1971 when it. When it opened, that's how Disney we were as a family and, uh, and ended up at Disney for almost 12 years.
Uh, my final job at Disney was president of Disney store worldwide, and then got recruited to go back into retail as a CEO. And that's really when I. Ascended, quote, to the CEO role of Claire's Stores, the girls jewelry and accessory stores. Uh, did that for two and a half years in Chicago, it got me back to the Midwest, got me back to my retail roots, and then got called by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Francis to come back to Hollywood.
DreamWorks had bought a multi channel network called, uh, AwesomestV. And said, we want you to introduce, we want you to meet the founders, come back and learn about YouTube and influencers. And this was early, this was 2014. Uh, came back to Hollywood for that and then spent really the end of my career in big media.
I was at DreamWorks. DreamWorks got bought by NBCUniversal, I was displaced, got recruited to go to 20th Century Fox, literally thought I would be talking to you today from 20th Century Fox because 20th Century Fox was so huge, owned by the Murdoch family, they were acquirers, and, uh, you know, fate came in and said 18 months into it, oh no, Disney's gonna buy Fox.
And so, It was like this full circle, like Lion King moment, the circle of life that I was, you know, was acquired by Disney, but I knew I wasn't going to have a role at Disney. And then what happened to Marco was that I was going through that. I got a package. I got a separation agreement. First time in my life I'd ever been fully laid off.
And I heard. The stories that I would always tell people when we ended up going through restructuring, take the severance package, take the time, think about what you really want to do next. That's what severance packages are for. Use the outplacement services. And coincidentally, as that was happening, The pandemic was starting and that really forced me for the first time in my career to sit on the sidelines and really think about what I wanted to do.
And then that kind of gets us to today because in the middle of all that, I started to get active and LinkedIn started to write more kind of opinion pieces on LinkedIn. And people said, you should write a book. And I said, I've never written a book. Like I've never even thought about it. It was not on my, I tell people it was not on like my Oprah wishboard.
It wasn't on my Brene Brown, you know, visioning session. And I said, I don't, what would people want from me? Like what, you know, what would people want in a book? And, um, I ended up talking to a couple of publishers because I knew people in the industry because I've been doing this so long and they said, tell your story, you're a storyteller and, and basically what happened and you know, the book comes out on August 15th, 2023.
Thank you for having me. And, uh, and, um, basically the end of the day. I'm with John Wiley and Sons. This incredible executive editor, Shannon Vargo, said to me, I want you to write the book. I want 56 year old Jim to write a book to 26 year old Jim, who was struggling with his early career, struggling with his sexuality, struggling with his Midwestern family.
And I want you To share life lessons and leadership lessons with yourself. And that became the basis of the book. I mean, the book is, it's not an autobiography. It's not told in order. It's not chronological, but it's 10 leadership and life lessons that I think form my leadership style, but are also things not only that I wish I knew when I was younger, but I think.
For managers at any point in their career, I think they're really good tips, um, of ways to deal with managing people today. And so, to me, I'm really excited. It's called All Pride, No Ego, A Queer Executive's Journey to Living and Leading Authentically. And what I realized through it, because of course, Marco, as you know, it has to have a hook, and the hook is authentic leadership and storytelling.
Is that, that's, that's how I lead and motivate and build teams is, but through authenticity. And so that's where we are today. I know, I went fast.
Marco Ciappelli: That's where we are. No, no, no, no. I, I, I enjoy cause you make my, my job really easy. Cause you can tell a story for sure. Yeah. But let's attach to to that. So there is an entire career here.
And now you do you know what? A lot of people call mentorship, except that you can do it through a book, which is a great thing. And I can tell you, I cannot tell you how many people. took the pandemic to write a book. It's kind of like the moment that is like, all right, maybe I know I do have the time to, to do that.
But you, you mentioned something about storytelling and, and I'm going to connect to some conversation that I have on my other podcast as well, or the one about cybersecurity is how do you talk to the board? How do you connect with, you know, the CEOs and how you, you, you get. The budget that you want to do what you want to express your ideas and it all comes down lately to storytelling like for me storytelling has become the key element to to advance in your career but also to to build a team around it so I was I'm very curious to know your perspective on this how you've been using maybe storytelling maybe when you it wasn't even intentional I don't know that it's that you're it's a
Jim Fielding: I mean, I, I think I'm, I think I'm a storyteller because I'm mission and vision led, right?
And so to me, whenever you go into a new role, any new role, it doesn't have to be the CEO. If, if, if it's a new role for you, it either means somebody was there before you and got promoted or let go, or a new role was created. And So there is a story about that role, even before you get there, right? There's, there's context and, you know, once upon a time, right.
Or today, right? Like all stories kind of start the same. And, and for me, because I'm already mission and vision led, and I want to build teams who care about the mission and vision, not only what we do, but how we do it. To me, that's the story is where, where do I want this company? Where do I want this team?
Where do I need this business to be 18 months from now, two years from now, three years from now, where are we today? And what does the journey look like? Like, what is the path that gets us there? What are going to be the success, the steps, what are critical success? Check in points. And I think to your point, managing a board, managing investors, managing.
I mean, you do a lot of decks, right? You do. And the decks are storytelling and it always starts with. Like if I use Claire's as an example, Claire's was a global company, the world's leading ear piercing destination in all the countries that did business. And there's so many stories with that, but you know, and then you tell like who your competition is and what's going on with the consumer and what's going on with malls and what's going on with high streets and in Europe, you basically set up the story, you, you provide the setting and then.
I would often say to my team, what is the yellow brick road that gets us there? Right? What are the stepping stones that get us there? Picking up on storytelling techniques and storytelling moments and. I have found, especially, I think, pre pandemic, but also post pandemic, most people want to work places where they believe they're making a difference, right?
Most people don't want to just come in and punch a clock. I mean, there are some people that want to do that, but most people that I've interacted with, especially in the creative companies I've worked in, want to feel like they're making a difference. They want to see their impact. They want it to be tangible.
I think they want to be part of a story. They want to be part. They want to be part. You know, when you work at Disney, you probably know this Marco, but you're called a cast member, right? You're not called an employee. I've carried that with me, even though I worked at Disney for 12 years, but I've been out of Disney now 10 year, almost 11 years.
Um, but I still think as like a cast member, because we were called cast members at Disney, because we were part of creating the magic. We were part of telling the story and, and. I, I think of that. Like, I, I never really used the word employee. I'm always calling it, you know, team or group or community, uh, because I think, I think that's how people want to work now.
I think they want to, I think they want to feel a difference, feel themselves making a difference.
Marco Ciappelli: I'm not making this up. I'm actually reading a biography of Walt Disney right now and and I am a big Disney fan. I, you know, I believe in all the story. I'm like you, you know, you actually work there.
And there is a few things that I am kind of seeing. Connecting, um, at least at the beginning of the company is that, you know, Disney wanted to be through with him, always true to himself. To be an innovator and to authentic, not really. Exactly. That's exactly where I'm going. Uh, the authenticity. And it's like, you know, his brother, you take care of getting the budget to do things right.
And you find the money. I wanna, I wanna do it the right way, you know, and, and so I was connecting with this thing is in your. Title in your subtitle, you talk about leading authentically, and then one of the thing I know you talk in the book is out to be always a constant learner, like a lifelong learner.
And I can see this to be very well connected together. So I love to hear. Your perspective on, on this two thing, authenticity and, and learning constantly.
Jim Fielding: Yeah, I mean, it's the second learning in the book I talk about is to stay constantly curious and be a lifelong learner. I think definitely if you're reading Walt, Walt is an incredible role model for this, right?
Um, and what I say in the book and in my life is. I never want to be done. Like, I never want to feel like, oh, I've learned everything I can learn and I'm, I'm just done. Right. I always want to be evolving. And I think the pace of change with technology, with the industry, with the consumer, with things like the pandemic and, you know, global warming and, and, you know, crises in Ukraine, like there's always something going on that is impacting you and impacting your consumer in a certain way.
And so for me, I. I'm a voracious reader. I was born into a family of readers. So I'm constantly reading magazines, articles, books, my news feed on my phone because I want, I want to stay on top of, of new technology and new, uh, new insights and new learnings. And I think as a, as a leader, you have to role model that for your team because for them to stay relevant and to stay vital and to move up in their career or move even, you know, laterally in their career, you know, like I tell the story of the time I have jobs.
I'm advising for some incredible companies right now through my consulting business. There are jobs that I work with that didn't exist five years ago, like job titles and, and. Functions that when I started at DreamWorks, when I started Fox, we didn't have anybody that was doing it. And now they're so critical.
Um, you know, social media, digital marketing, you know, all of those kind of jobs. We didn't have that, you know, five years, 10 years ago. So I, I think it's tied with Being competitive, helping you achieve your goals, staying relevant. But for me, it's just about staying vital. I mean, I, I say that all the time is that I, I, I really want to learn something every, every day, um, big or small.
And, um, there's so much going on in the industry right now. And we were talking before we came on Marco, the strikes now in our industry, right, the writer's strike and the actor's strike and what those impacts are having and the ripple effects that it's having all across. Not not only our industry, but across communities like where I live in Atlanta, where the film business has shut down.
And what does that do to local restaurants? And what does that do to local hotels and air B and B's and local economies? And um, We forget sometimes to think about that, right? Of course I'm worried about the writers and I'm worried about the actors and I want them to get the deals that they want. And, um, but it has so many ripple effects and I'm, I'm like a student of that.
Like I'm really interested about those ripple effects.
Marco Ciappelli: Yeah, man. I'm, I'm with you. I mean, it's, you can always put it from so many different perspective. Mm hmm. World change. You know, even more role now than what there was 10 years, 20 years ago. But the point is, I feel like we need to get along with that and we can just sit and say, okay, this is where I got.
So I want to go into another thing that you, that I know you, you mentioned in the, in the book, which is about control what you can, but leave space for the possible. And I'm connecting with Disney again, with the possible impossible that he used to say, but, you know, creating that even in your life. That idea that you just can't get affected by everything, right?
I mean, even now, you know, technology move on. I think everybody needs to be respected. Everybody needs to get what they want. But at the same time, we probably need to always reinvent ourselves. So how do you do that? What's the lesson?
Jim Fielding: Well, I think, I think the lesson for me is I would say up until late forties, even probably until I turned 50, I was a control freak.
Like I, like the, the sentence would have just said control the controllable. I wouldn't even put the comma, right? Cause the comma is, but leave space for the possible. I was like, no, I, in fact, in my career. I was recognized and rewarded for being proactive and taking initiative and delivering projects on time or ahead of time and under budget.
And if you had met me in my late forties, particularly when I was at Disney. A hundred percent of my life, and I'm talking personal and professional life, was scheduled. I knew when I was traveling, when I was on vacation, you know, I, I, I would basically plan my life 12 or 18 months out. And I thought that's what you were supposed to do.
I thought that made effective. And what I realized was. Not only was I setting an unrealistic standard for myself, I was setting an unrealistic standard for my teams. Cause then my teams thought that they had to be like that. Right. And I basically was stressing myself out and stressing my teams out because I was trying to control things that are not controllable.
I eat the weather or airplane departures or, or the global economy, right. Or the banking crisis. And, and I was so Anal retentive, frankly, and control freak that I would burn out my batteries. Like I would just get tired and I would just shut down for a weekend and through work with my executive coach and therapist, I learned that I had to start letting go.
Just quote, leave space for the possible my tools. I went back to storytelling. It's interesting, Marco. I went back to journaling. Journaling. I, I went back to journal. I'd always been a journaler. I kind of put that on the side. I went back to journaling, which sometimes meant doodling to be honest, or writing like weird poetry.
I, I found meditation. I found adult coloring books, like where I literally would just color and. And the start I had to like literally put in my calendar block or gym time or just nothing like I just block basically right and over time I came to realize that by putting time in my day in my week in my month I was actually getting some of my best inspiration and some of my best creativity in those spaces where I didn't have anything planned I didn't have a meeting I didn't have a Uh, show I was watching on TV.
I wasn't reading a book, you know, I just was kind of doing nothing. And I think I used to almost be afraid of it. Marco, if I'm honest with you, I think I was almost afraid of blank space in my calendar because I was like, that meant I wasn't being productive. Like it had been so beat into me. So you were feeling guilty for, yes, I was feeling guilty.
Like, Oh my gosh, I should be doing three to four is open. I should have scheduled something instead of just sitting back and saying, you know what? I think I'm going to have a cup of tea or a cup of coffee and I'm just going to reflect. And I find that I get my best ideas and my best music. Inspirations like in that time and again, I, as I was coming to this learning, I think the pandemic forced a lot of us to do this, right?
Particularly in California, as you know, Marco, we were shut down. I tell people this all the time. Now that I live in Atlanta, I'm like, you don't understand the pandemic. Like we didn't leave. You remember like I would go out to walk my dogs and you'd see a neighbor and you would cross the street. Like you were not even, I literally would just be like every day I'd walk my dogs.
That was my activity and, and do my Peloton in the garage. Like that was my two things I did. And yeah. And, um, and I think that, and you can only watch so much TV. You can only read so many books. I love to read, but there's times where you just need a break. And now I look forward to it. And now it's become a habit where I don't have to write it into my calendar.
It's just something that comes naturally to me now. And so I really want to role model that for people, particularly young people. And I want to make sure that I'm not rewarding people for being like hyper controlling schedule people.
Marco Ciappelli: All right. So with this, I feel like in the, throughout the conversation already, you have put quite a bit already of tips on to give to people.
And to give, let's go back to. Write a book to what would you say to younger Jim? Right. So yeah, you're ready. Sprinkle a few of those. Um, let's keep going. So yeah, these these experience, you know, in your personal experience, but You and also many other people like, like you, you know, that are 25 now. I mean, honestly, like open heart, uh, you know, on your sleeve and seriously, you take your time for yourself, constant learning, be flexible, be honest.
And what else, what else did you learn?
Jim Fielding: I mean, I think. You know, there's 10 learnings in the book. I mean, it's not that I, you know, I don't have favorites. People do ask me that, like, which are your favorites? But, um, I mean, another one that I learned. Uh, it's, I think it's learning number eight is selfish is not a bad word.
I think that's a really important learning for young people. I grew up in a home where selfish was a bad word, where you were basically put in the corner to think about what you had done because selfish meant you weren't sharing your toys or you weren't sharing your feet. You were basically not sharing with selfish.
And I, I had to twist that and learn that selfish meant self care. And that taking care of yourself mentally, physically and emotionally actually made you a better person, made you a better leader, made you nicer to be around, made you a better friend, a better son, a better partner, better brother, the whole bit.
And so that was a huge learning for me that I wish I would have learned earlier in my life. Um, I think another learning is don't let anyone ever dim your light. That was probably the hardest part of the book to write because that, particularly as, as a queer man, um, got into the bullying that I experienced in middle school and high school, where I wasn't even 100% sure what my sexuality was, and I was struggling with all that, and people were attacking that, and I was extremely vulnerable, physically, mentally bullied, uh, and then realized later in my life that I got into some situations Transcribed In the professional world where there was bullies in the professional world and that I would get bullied and it would manifest the insecurities of that middle school and high school kid that I hadn't really processed all of that hurt and um, anger from earlier in my life.
And it would manifest itself. You know, later in my career in not nice ways because I would just shut down. I would get frustrated and I'd shut down and I'd almost revert to that child. And I had to work through that. I was never going to let anybody bully me again. That didn't mean I wouldn't listen to other people's point of view.
It didn't mean I wouldn't engage in healthy debate or discussions, but if they were starting to really. denigrate me or really, really go in hard. I had to stand up for myself and I wasn't ever going to let anybody did my light again. I, and to the point I, you know, I tell a story in the book where I ended up leaving a job position because I was just in an unhealthy relationship with my work supervisor and it wasn't going to change.
I, he wasn't going to change. I wasn't going to change. So what I said is. Even though I was in my favorite job in my life, I needed a change. I needed, because I was getting bullied. Um, and I think, you know, and I think another chapter, I mean, we talk, you know, at Disney on your first day at Disney, they ask you who your favorite character is.
I'm sure if you're, if that started in Walt's days, right. And it literally goes on your name badge. My Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio. And, and people ask me why, and it's because he's like the moral conscience in that. Um, movie. He's like everybody's, he's like Pinocchio's best friend. He's like on his shoulder giving him advice almost in a brotherly way.
And, uh, so I wrote, I wrote a chapter that says, you know, trust your Jiminy cricket, which has basically learned to live, learn to love and live with yourself and listen to yourself. Like trust your intuition, like trust that inner voice and. All of us have an inner voice that has a good side and a bad side, right?
Some, you know, like that's the thing when I was getting bullied back to that chapter, what anybody was saying or doing to me was nothing worse than what I was saying to myself internally, right? So I had to learn to love myself and live with myself and accept myself completely. That's the authenticity.
And And that's another thing that I wish I would have, I would have learned younger. I think what I've enjoyed my thirties more, I think I would have enjoyed, you know, my four, my early forties more if I had learned to really love and embrace myself completely earlier in my career. Uh, so, you know, each one of the lessons is.
It's tied to personal stories, back to your storytelling and professional stories. And I had to go vulnerable in order to write it. I had to write about some not really nice things, um, some things that had happened in my family, some things that had happened to me in career, uh, things that had happened to me personally.
But again, if I wanted to mentor people or share with people, I felt like if I wasn't honest about how did I get to that learning, it was going to come off as inauthentic. And I just, that's not me. Inauthentic is not me.
Marco Ciappelli: Well, it's in the title, too.
Jim Fielding: Right. Yeah, we put it on the title. It's so funny you say that, Marco.
We debated, right? First off, I put queer on the cover, and I put authentic on the cover. That was two very long discussions. Because, unfortunately, in the world we're in right now, certain bookstores may not carry it because it has queer on the cover. Um, and then, if I was going to be authentic, it meant I had to go authentic, and that meant calling my mom and telling her what I was doing, calling my sister and telling her what I was doing and having my sister be an early reader.
Because a lot of my early story is also her story. We were there together. Right. And so, and I, I loved it. She read some of the early chapters and she came back and said, just keep going, keep going. You need to do this. Yeah. And, and honestly, if she had told me, and she told me sometimes, I think you went too far or, you know, you were a little hard on mom and dad in this part.
It wasn't always terrible. And I totally loved that feedback because Sometimes when you're writing, you can go a little dark. I realize like you can only, you just kind of go down this rabbit hole and having her as an early reader was a godsend because she would pull me back up and say, we had a lot of good times too.
Like it wasn't all, it wasn't all dark.
Marco Ciappelli: Yeah. Um, I think it was Hemingway or I'm going to want to misquote someone, but I said, well, it's easy to write. You just cut your vein and let it bleed.
Jim Fielding: Yeah. There, there, there was, there was times Marco, but the, the bullying chapter, the learning three where I would write like 1500 words and I erased them all.
And I was like, too much, too much, or I would write 500 words and be like, I have to take a break. Like, it's just too much. I got to come back to it. It's emotional. It's emotional. It's emotional. And it was cathartic. And in a weird way, probably ended up being one of the most selfish things I've ever done is to take the time.
And, and as I was writing it, I was realizing, of course, when you write a book, you want it to sell. Like I want people to like it. Like I want people, but it was never about bestseller list or, you know, selling a lot of books. It was like, can I just help a few people? Like, can everybody read this and take away one learning or, um, you know, one insight.
And I had about 35 early readers that I purposely chose a wide swath of ages and sexualities and gender. And, and, you know, unanimously they came back and said, this is good and the world needs this, but they all took something different away from it. And that made me feel so good because I was like, that's exactly what I want.
It's, it's not like you have to be gay to understand the book or a man to understand the book or. 50 to understand the book. Like everybody took something away from it. So that made me feel good. Okay.
Marco Ciappelli: So here's one of my favorite questions to ask. Yes. When I talk to people that write a book is while you're writing.
Who Who are you telling that story in your head? Like, you know, like this could be for the 50. This could be for the queer person. This could be for the young leader. Was it like different chapter that were making you think about someone else listening to you telling this story or you're like more of a target in mind?
Jim Fielding: No, that's a good question. I mean, I mean, I definitely, you know, in the dedication of the book, I, I dedicated to young leaders around the world and I say, particularly those who feel like they don't fit in. So I think, I think I was writing it. To people who feel marginalized for whatever reason. So that could be women or, or LGBTQ or people of color that who do not feel that they're part of the, the system, right?
That the system wasn't built for them. Uh, I, the way I wrote it and my writing style, I wrote it like how we're talking, like you and I are sitting next to a fire and I'm sharing stories like, you know, like I, I write in a very conversational way I've learned now. Um, and I do think some chapters probably will resonate more with people of the LGBTQ community.
I think some chapters will resonate more with people who are over 50 and at a different stage in their career and are going, you know, Going into something different in their life than where they are right now. Um, and, and I hope young people see a lot of opportunities to, to, to learn and to grow. I write in the book, it's not a recipe for success.
Do not follow this. And then all of a sudden you're going to have, right? Like you do not follow these 10 steps and then I guarantee success or your money back. Right. It's not that it's, you know, try to take what resonates with you and remember that. And, and apply it, you know, in your life and see, see if it makes the kind of change that you want to make.
Um, and I'm, I'm excited to do things like your podcast. I'm actually excited to get out on the road and do some of these appearances and signings and things I'm doing, because again, I want to talk to people like that, that's. my leadership style. And so I, I saw different people talking to me, right? I always saw somebody in a chair to your point, but I think it was different people.
I never saw it as a lecture. I always saw it as a two way dialogue. Um, exactly what we're doing where somebody said, well, what do you mean by that? Or, okay, I understand that, but. But I don't understand that example. Give me more. I love that feedback. I love, um, and that's why I did the website and, you know, I've done a lot of things is why I'm, I'm being active on social media is I love the back and forth.
I love the community aspect of it.
Marco Ciappelli: And I have to say, I'm looking at the website right now and looking at the cover. I love how you put that pin with a rainbow at Eagle. Yes. On the, oh, it's, you know, I, it's really cool. And I honestly, I mean, I, I didn't meet you before this. Yeah. But I, I felt like, I'm feeling like you're coming through very honest.
I mean, you're, you're not even trying to sell the book, you know, it's, it's, you're just telling your story and, uh, I love that. And, and I wanna end up this. With what I believe it's the most important thing in any story, which is, which is the why, right? You know, how you do this, what you do, but you know, the why you write it.
And again, I know you said it throughout the conversation, but I want to give you a minute. To, to wrap these, um, episodes with kind of like, you know, your, your, your final message on the why you wrote it and why you suggest people to, to read it. And then we say goodbye and
Jim Fielding: perfect, perfect setup, perfect setup.
Yeah. So it's so easy for me. Uh, I write in the book. It's again, one of the learnings may we leave our corner of the world better than we found it. It's something I talked about in my high school speech. Like I gave a speech to the national honor society many, many moons ago. It was the theme of my speech as something I've carried with me my whole life.
And I really believe in small incremental changes, this ripple effect we talked about earlier. And. I, any situation I enter a work situation, a friendship, a personal relationship, a business transaction. I want to feel like I'm adding value. And I want to feel that when I'm done with that situation, whoever I interacted with feels like it's in a better place than when I got there.
And it's how I measure myself and look at myself in the mirror every day and say, You know, Jim, are you better today than you were yesterday? You know, did you, did you do what you wanted to do today? And, you know, and I, I think the older I get, it's very much tied to gratitude and just living in the moment.
But I, that's, that's my simple summary for this is just maybe leave our corner of the world better than we found it.
Marco Ciappelli: Can't' be better than that. So I'm gonna I'm gonna stick with that. I'm gonna say that I absolutely agree. I'm going to say that again, a little reminder that all the the link to connect with you to the book and to the website will be in the notes of the podcast or if you're watching YouTube is going to be right there.
The book is all pride no ego. I Absolutely want to read it as soon as it come out, which will be August 15. And if you're listening to this, uh, it may be after because, you know, it's not that, uh, this magic disappear. So the book will be probably on the shelf or the virtual shelf for a long time. And if it's before just go ahead and, uh, and, and, and book it.
So that you can get it right away. Um, I'm honored, really, Jim, to be able to have this conversation with you. And, uh, and, uh, yeah, it was a great start for the new deal of, uh, of Audio Signals podcast about storytellers and why they tell their story. And there's some big whys here.
Jim Fielding: Yes. It was my total pleasure and such an honor. Like I said, I can't thank you enough for asking me.
Marco Ciappelli: Well, it makes two of us. We're happy. We're going to say goodbye to everybody and see you to the next episode or listen and subscribe and um, to the next one. Bye bye.
Jim Fielding: Bye.