Happy Pisces Season! Whether you were born between February 19 and March 20 or not, it is the era of the Pisces and you’ve probably been in your feels. This is the time to dig into our deepest stories, feel our emotions, dream up big visions, and use all that empathetic energy as fuel to build trust and community. 

So in this episode, I’m going to share how you can sink into Pisces sensibilities now or any time of year as you build your brand and business as a changemaker. I’ve also invited some of my fellow Pisces siblings to join me by the campfire and share how their Piscean qualities support their work. Listen in!

OK so if you’re newer to this podcast, I want to share my working definition for thought leadership which is: the consistent practice of using our lived experience, passion, and credibility as fuel to spark trust and community as we imagine and shape the future together, for the better. 

That is some peak Pisces stuff, OK? Let me explain. 

Pisces are known for our compassion, artisticness, creativity, deep emotion, empathy, psychic abilities, generosity, magic, sensitivity, and imagination. These aren’t always concepts that are traditionally thought of as the old school leadership skills. But you know what? I’m going to argue that these are so necessary to the new type of leadership that will be needed in these times, as we imagine new worlds and make them happen together, in community.

Highlights from the podcast episode: 

Compassion and Empathy for Thought Leadership

It’s very Pisces to just naturally and deeply connect with other people’s experiences and emotions. One of my favorite quotes or like working definitions around empathy is, from Isabel Wilkerson in the book Caste. She says, “Radical empathy means putting in the work to educate oneself and to listen with a humble heart to understand another’s experience from their perspective, not as we imagine we would feel. Radical empathy is not about you and what you think you would do in a situation you have never been in and perhaps never will. It is the kindred connection from a place of deep knowing that opens your spirit to the pain of another as they perceive it.

What that brings up for me is that being able to witness and put in the work to humbly understand other people’s points of views, stories, and perspectives is a superpower. If we’re talking about thought leadership, which we are, because this is my podcast, compassion and empathy helps us see the issues we work on from the eyes of not just our audience and speak in their language to support them in feeling safe to come to us for support. Pisces is also the last house and final sign of the 12 zodiac signs, and folks say we have absorbed the experiences of all other 11 signs. I feel like that emotional depth helps us see with the eyes of many different stakeholders, which helps us create content and communications that can engage the right people, powerfully. This compassion and empathy helps us attune to upcoming trends that may affect the communities we work with, and support us in helping them prepare for what’s to come. It allows us to show up with compassion for both ourselves and others when we have to deal with conflict, or people who don’t see the things we’re passionate about in the same ways or are even downright harmful in their thinking – instead of writing them off, we wonder about how we can change their hearts and minds and work towards getting on the same page. What else? It can be helpful in terms of not worrying so much about vanity metrics like likes and follows, because we know that if we are able to reach and teach even just one person, that is enough. Because we understand that one person is a whole world unto themselves. 

Artistic Creativity for Thought Leadership

We are natural born artists and if we let ourselves, have so much to express.  I have always said thought leadership is a pathway towards self-actualization and self-expression, even if we dip our toe into this work because we think it will help our business and grow our brand, honestly, that self-expression piece is so rewarding as well. I really believe that marketing is mission; what I mean by that is that while working in the nonprofit field I came  across folks who thought marketing was just a cost center, or a thing to check off, like OK we have a website, we’re good to go but no, marketing is mission because marketing – and art for that matter – is crafting compelling messages that resonate with our audience so deeply that they are moved into action. And maybe that’s writing – for me my creative outlet has always been writing ever since I was a little child – but it doesn’t have to be writing-based to be good, actionable thought leadership. There are other ways to show up and serve as a go-to voice and practiced guide. Some other types of creative ways to put your thought leadership out into the universe could be: hosting a salon, summit, or other type of event to discuss a topic that’s integral to your work, and see what emerges. Host a podcast, or video series, without scripts. Convene people, like you could challenge people in your community to an innovation contest and offer a prize for the best solution. Paint, make a comic book series, doodle, draw to express something about the issue you work on. It doesn’t even have to be good. Maybe the first iteration of it isn’t public, but the third or fourth is. You know? And by the way, I have a whole podcast episode about how to cultivate your creativity. If that piques your interest, I’ve got a link to it in the show notes. 

Intuition for Thought Leadership

OK, another unique set of Piscean superpowers is our psychic abilities. Or intuition. There’s nothing spooky or woo-woo about this. Instead, it’s like … we listen. We bear witness. We hold space. We see between the lines to hear what’s being said without actually being said. We support folks in feeling completely seen and deeply understood – even though funny enough we can’t really do this for ourselves and are usually totally confused about our own stuff but man we are great at supporting others with this. OK so how is this a superpower in terms of thought leadership work. Well, a couple things – we hear our audience. During discovery calls, presentations, market research sessions, Q&A sections of our webinars, literally anything were doing where we’re witnessing the people we serve talk about the issue we support them with, we actually hear them, and the underlying fears, questions, and concerns underneath. If you are a Pisces, you might not even realize that’s a skill because you just do it and you’ve always been that way. But damn, it is so helpful as long as we are taking that information and using it to serve at scale, through LinkedIn content, podcast episodes, ummm incorporating those pieces into our services and programs. Because if even one person is feeling a certain type of way about the thing you do, other people are too. Also another thing here is that we are uniquely skilled in being able to go underneath what’s visible in terms of the issue we work on to get to the root cause. It’s going from surface level to swimming upstream to figure out ok, how did we get here … and how are we going to change it?  This can be status quo defying and dismantling. This is action-oriented. This is a skill that helps us speak to shaking up how our field or sector has always done things, which have possibly led to the issues and problems your community now faces.  This can be scary, especially for us Pisces who also tend to be very sensitive. But what I will say is that taking a stand about the issue you work on, is a filter. And taking a stand means you’re filtering out the people you don’t really want to work with, and clearly calling in the people you do want to work with, right, because they’ll get it, feel alignment, and move in closer. 

Imagination and Vision for Thought Leadership

And then finally from me, before we hear from our guests, I would say the last superpower I want to cover is our imagination and vision. I can’t really say enough about this. Vision is so important for thought leadership work, and if you want to get deeper into dreaming up your vision, check out this older podcast episode I did just about that – the link is in the show notes. But what I’ll say about us Pisces is we sometimes live in dreamland. We are not always the most logical, we love to daydream, and fantasize, and maybe yes sometimes dissociate from reality but why that’s actually a good thing is because by dreaming of a more just future, we can begin to see what that looks like and work towards bringing people along towards it. We also tend to be great storytellers because of our imagination and vision, and that storytelling can inspire other people to become agents of change. Storytelling is immersive, and helps other people imagine a future they can’t yet see.   And progress in social impact is contingent on a group of people having a shared sense of purpose and direction  – I mean think about how we literally talk about getting on the same page. Right? They’re a catalyst for change because they break the illusion that we are separate, when in reality we are all interdependent, so visionary stories help to shape your audiences’ worldview about the kind world they want to live in, and the kind of person they want to be. 

OK so this is the Campfire Circle after all, even though we are water signs, and so I’ve invited some of my Pisces sisters to join me to share what Pisces qualities they root into in their work. You’re about to hear from: Zina Rodriguez speak on empathy, Kamilah Martin speak on slow flows, Lyrik Fryer speak on emotion and Dana Snyder speak on creativity. Here they are! 

Zina Rodriguez: Hi, my name is Zina Rodriguez and I’m a social worker and an equity and inclusivity advocate who practices a decolonial and liberatory framework. As a Pisces leader, I really tap into my empathy superpower. I think this quality is important in social impact work because in our work, we hold space for a diversity of perspectives, some of which are harmful not only to the individuals, but also to society as a whole.

The ability for me to harness my superpower of empathy allows me to have compassion for myself and for those I engage with, particularly when I’m facilitating workshops around the topics of equity and inclusion, because I’m intentional about creating healing spaces for individuals to share what may be coming up for them in context of the work we’re doing.

The empathy I role model in the moment allows for vulnerable and authentic sharing that can be the catalyst for change. I can remember one particular conversation I had with a white male leader who shared his reaction to some of the content I was delivering on white supremacy. Even though some of what he initially shared stung.

I was able to have compassion for the parts of myself that felt injured, and I was also able to share with him what I was experiencing. I then used my superpower of empathy to not just listen to him, but also to hear the roots of where his reaction was coming from. In this exchange, that empathy helped us navigate a difficult conversation and set a foundation for continued growth.

Kamilah Martin: I am Kamilah Martin, the founder and CEO of Katalyst. And as a Pisces leader, I really tap into my essence of flow. I think this is important for me because situations change, circumstances change, community needs change. I think my ability to come into situations and environments with an understanding that I don’t have all the answers, and being willing and able to flow with the circumstances and surroundings and what I’m feeling and what I need in the moment really helps me be a valuable leader to the communities that I serve.

Lyrik Fryer: Hi, I’m Lyrik Fryer, the co-founder of WorkPlay Branding as a Pisces leader. I really tap into my deep emotion and empathy. I really can’t choose between the 2. I think these qualities are really important because as a founder who is running a team of 25 plus people and employees, I really need to be able to understand my team and what they’re going through at any phase of their life and career. 

And that’s not always, you know, all butterflies and rainbows, right? Like there’s, there can be darker times, there can be heavier times. And so having the ability to tap into deep emotion, and not be scared of deep emotion, as well as have empathy for my team and everyone that we serve, it really allows us to do the work that we do.

And part of the work of what we do is really showcasing people in a visual way. I’m the founder of Workplay Branding. So we create visual marketing campaigns for Members every quarter and so we have to be able to have empathy for our members who are in front of the camera for the 1st time really hold space for campaigns that have deep emotions as well.

So, there is a sense of on the team side, but then there is a ton of. You know, deep emotion, empathy that’s needed on the client side.

Dana Snyder: Hello, my name is Dana Snyder and I am the host of the missions to movements podcast as a Pisces leader. I really tap into my creative nature. I think this quality of being creative is important in social impact work because it speaks to who I am.

In literally everything I do from my branding and marketing to the offers and keynotes, I share creativity is infused through and through. And I think that’s what people really resonate with.

Thanks to Zina, Kamilah, Lyrik, and Dana for joining me and hey – if you’re a Pisces I want to hear from you too! Reach out to me on LinkedIn and let me know: what are the Pisces qualities you tap into as you build your thought leadership?