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Dr. Beth Russell retired from Webster University as an Associate Vice President for Graduate Studies, after 34 years of service. Today she spends her time making special recipes and creating digital content for Carondelet Kitchen.
She talks to Cynthia about the organic path her career has always taken, her knack for being the second choice for a role but getting it anyway, and what it takes to succeed in your personal and professional life.
1 – Introduction 00:23
2 – Career before retirement 01:11
3 – Was it rare to be at Webster for 30 years? 02:48
4 – What stopped you from giving up? 05:03
5 – Where does your grace and professionalism come from? 07:23
6 – When did that optimism start? 09:13
7 – Did you want to go into theater or the arts? 10:36
8 – Mentorship along the way 13:00
9 – Moved a campus 14:11
10 – Your philosophy on speaking up 17:10
11 – How was your work received 18:13
12 – Value of hard work 20:42
13 – Passion for your work 22:01
14 – Importance of a good listener 22:53
15 – Boundaries are healthy, keeping it inside unhealthy 24:27
16 – Importance of good support 25:07
17 – Getting space you need, and returning to positivity 26:07
18 – What were your challenges along the way 27:33
19 – What do you do when being sabotaged? 30:38
20 – How did leaders motivate you 31:33
21 – Any other good mentors? 34:03
22 – Why did mentors pour so much into you 36:18
23 – You get out what you put in 37:29
24 – Did bad experiences with female leaders change your approach to being a female leader? 38:21
25 – Different approaches can be a positive 39:55
26 – How have you adapted over your career of 34 years 41:45
27 – How do you get comfortable advocating for yourself 43:58
28 – How do you handle tough tasks in your roles 46:12
29 – How do you reflect back on the tough projects 47:53
30 – More about pride in team, than personal ego trip 49:11
31 – Any mistakes you reflect back on 50:36
32 – Advice for the next generation 53:47
33 – More advice 56:00
34 – What role does Rotary play in your life 58:09
35 – Carondelet Kitchen 1:01:17
36 – Advice to get the most out of life 1:06:03
37 – What imprint are you leaving on others? 1:08:31
38 – Words of wisdom 1:10:51
39 – Find you? 1:12:59
Content Notice
This podcast and all She Lift Project content represents the opinions of Cynthia Kirkpatrick and her guests. The content here is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice – financial, legal, medical, or otherwise.
Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and across all She Lift Project media channels are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.
It’s not about me selling and, you know, me making money. It’s about you being satisfied and happy with what you want and what you need. And I’ve always had that kind of philosophy, and my dad had that, too. And people recognize you’re not in it for yourself, you’re in it for them. And you’re sincere, and it really goes a long way.
Leadership is not about the leader. And I equate this back to basketball. When you have coach or coaches, they can’t go out on the court and shoot the ball and dribble the ball and pass the ball. But coaches have to be really good at getting work done through others. And so from a leadership perspective, that’s how I see it. As a leader, I have to be really good at getting work done through others.
“Gallup just got done with their survey for 2022. They found 25% better profitability in companies that have great employee cultures. Because when you have happy employees, happy employees make your customers happy. Happy employees want to invite other people to come work at their company. Happy employees want to share their ideas to make the company better. All of a sudden, you’ve created this culture where people want to contribute, and that’s the reason we do what we do.”
“I think that what I’m able to do in the program is to create the brave space that women need to be vulnerable, to do the internal work that has to happen, to have great and deep, thoughtful, reflective conversations, to bring in a lot of other great women. But at the end of it, that she’s breaking out of that chrysalis and she’s got her wings.”
As lawyers, we’re expected to have all the answers and be right 1000% of the time…Actually, we are humans. We are going to make mistakes. It’s actually a beautiful opportunity, when we make a mistake, to show up for our clients in the right way, own those mistakes, and then fix them on our dime. It’s really that simple. You actually deepen a relationship.
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