Unleashing the Power of Exceptional Leadership: A Conversation with DeWayne Allen

[00:00:00] One is my professional mission and then I have a personal mission.

[00:00:03] My first professional mission is help businesses grow,

[00:00:07] generate profits and revenue with my various skillset.

[00:00:11] Be it operations, program management, engineering,

[00:00:16] be it business development, strategy,

[00:00:19] corporate development, things like that.

[00:00:20] That's one thing. That's the professional.

[00:00:22] And then I have a personal which is I want to impact,

[00:00:25] make a meaningful impact for STEM professionals

[00:00:28] to become influential businesses and particularly those that are in the aerospace and defense

[00:00:35] brand industry.

[00:00:36] And then I have a, I want to say purpose, all that's wrapped into really fostering,

[00:00:44] understanding, using our diverse beings to be successful in whatever we do.

[00:00:52] Welcome to the Wheel With It podcast with your host Devon.

[00:00:56] At Wheel With It, we are dedicated to exploring DEI issues in a fair, balanced and fun way.

[00:01:02] Let's get into the episode.

[00:01:06] Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to another episode of Wheel With It.

[00:01:10] I am your host Devon Wieters and today we have Dwayne Allen on the podcast.

[00:01:15] He has a lot of great things to say about leadership and mentoring and he's doing

[00:01:20] a lot of great things for the African American community.

[00:01:23] So I think you'll really enjoy this conversation.

[00:01:26] And before we get started, I just wanted to say that I forgot to turn my video on this whole entire Zoom meeting.

[00:01:35] So my side does not have video except for the intro that you're watching right now.

[00:01:42] So the actual conversation does not have video because I forgot to turn my video on.

[00:01:50] That was my fault.

[00:01:51] But other than that, enjoy this conversation with Dwayne.

[00:01:57] Hello, hello. Welcome to another episode of Wheel With It.

[00:02:01] Today I'm here with Dwayne Allen.

[00:02:05] He requested to be on the show and that always makes me excited because we don't get very many requests.

[00:02:11] Dwayne, how are you today?

[00:02:12] Doing great Devon, how are you?

[00:02:15] Good. If we could start by telling us about yourself and then we will get started.

[00:02:21] Yeah, sure. So I am an executive for Aerospace and Defense Company.

[00:02:25] I've been in Aerospace and Defense for about 25 years.

[00:02:29] My passion is I have two missions.

[00:02:33] One is my professional mission and then I have a personal mission.

[00:02:37] First professional mission is help businesses grow,

[00:02:41] and generate profits and revenue with my various skillset.

[00:02:45] Be it operations, program management, engineering,

[00:02:50] be it business development, strategy, corporate development, things like that.

[00:02:54] That's one thing. That's the professional one.

[00:02:56] And I have a personal mission, which is I want to make a meaningful impact for

[00:03:03] a thousand STEM professionals to become influential business leaders.

[00:03:07] And particularly those that are in the aerospace and defense realm industry.

[00:03:12] And then I have a, I want to say purpose all that's wrapped into really fostering,

[00:03:20] understanding and using our diverse beings to be successful in whatever we're doing.

[00:03:28] And so what I've done over these last parts of the year, last year and this year,

[00:03:33] just starting to share some things on various things on my thoughts on leadership,

[00:03:39] my thoughts on how to show up, my thoughts on how to prepare yourself

[00:03:44] to be ready for leadership.

[00:03:46] And then also thinking about those types of what leadership is,

[00:03:50] and particularly around the topic of exceptional leadership

[00:03:52] and how that shows up and how you can grow together and build in a community around that.

[00:03:57] And then I saw your podcast and really so impressed with yourself

[00:04:03] and the level of guests that you brought.

[00:04:05] And I figured, hey, I like to share my story,

[00:04:07] share my some passions here with you.

[00:04:10] And so that's why I'm here.

[00:04:12] Thank you for the compliment, first of all.

[00:04:15] And second of all, how did you get into this leadership thing?

[00:04:19] Was it just by accident or?

[00:04:21] No, it's actually something I want to say most people as a person.

[00:04:25] I think it's driving towards my God-given purpose.

[00:04:29] You know that I don't know how I'm not going to date myself?

[00:04:32] That kid that's always, even in kindergarten, first, second grade,

[00:04:36] the one that's always thrown in front to go speak for the class

[00:04:39] or at the school ceremony and things like that.

[00:04:43] How was that kid?

[00:04:44] How was that kid?

[00:04:46] How was that kid that had to speak in church,

[00:04:49] particularly down in the world, grew up in Memphis to talk about

[00:04:52] my looking junior and speak on a Black history topic?

[00:04:55] Or I was that student in college where I wasn't the smartest student,

[00:05:00] but I was always the one that was in front to speak and speak

[00:05:04] about the project, particularly engineering.

[00:05:06] Or in my work life, it's been someone who's been able to,

[00:05:11] even as if I was leading a team or being a part of a team

[00:05:15] to bring that team together around a common vision,

[00:05:18] a common strategy, a common goal and executing to meet results.

[00:05:22] And so I think what that is in my essence is that and leadership.

[00:05:27] Right? And I've shown it's shown up in a lot of all my tasks

[00:05:31] because I've been doing and that's probably what it is.

[00:05:33] And I say, hey, you know what, I got something to share with the world

[00:05:36] and it's unique, but it's also a culmination of study

[00:05:43] and culmination of experiences and a culmination of just thoughts,

[00:05:48] and things that I would like to put out into the space.

[00:05:51] And so I think that's probably my purpose

[00:05:53] and I'm growing into that purpose, if you will.

[00:05:56] That's great.

[00:05:57] Can you give us a little definition

[00:06:00] of what exceptional leadership is to you?

[00:06:03] Yeah, exceptional leadership to me is embodying all those

[00:06:09] characteristics of a leader to bring a team together

[00:06:15] because you can't have leaders without followers

[00:06:17] to influence folks from move from point A to point B.

[00:06:22] And it's not just say, hey, I'm a hard charger.

[00:06:25] It's more about being able to influence and have a vision

[00:06:30] and being able to communicate that vision,

[00:06:32] being able to show people what good looks like

[00:06:35] and executing that vision

[00:06:37] and then help holding yourself and everybody accountable

[00:06:40] to those traits of execution

[00:06:43] to get to the results that you want to get to.

[00:06:46] And it's a bunch of tenants that we're going over.

[00:06:49] You can check out my podcast

[00:06:50] and you'll check out my newsletter

[00:06:52] that's out there around that called the storyteller

[00:06:55] beef at storyteller.beehive.com

[00:06:58] really to talk about a lot of those traits

[00:07:01] that are embedded in that.

[00:07:03] So we will put all those links in the show notes.

[00:07:07] Can you give us what you think

[00:07:10] some of those traits are just very briefly?

[00:07:13] Yeah. So I'm going to begin with where you start

[00:07:16] and what you are, right?

[00:07:18] And how you build your personal leadership.

[00:07:19] And I have this moniker called the five B

[00:07:22] and it's some characteristics that you gotta be

[00:07:25] and excuse the pun, but pardon pun

[00:07:28] to really show up in the space that you're in

[00:07:31] and executing something, whatever it be.

[00:07:33] And this could be for high school, college

[00:07:36] or in your professional life

[00:07:38] in your personal life in your community based life.

[00:07:40] Right? And those B's are the first B is be prepared.

[00:07:45] Right? And that's about understanding the situation

[00:07:48] that you're going into really looking and researching

[00:07:51] and being prepared in those moments

[00:07:53] and for that moment that's going to occur.

[00:07:56] The second one is being be on time, right?

[00:07:59] And be on time is more than just a chronological thing

[00:08:02] where, hey, I'm on time for this podcast

[00:08:05] but it's also being able to say the right thing

[00:08:09] and having them build a, to say the right thing

[00:08:11] at the right time to move a conversation move

[00:08:14] and execution move a point forward.

[00:08:17] The third point is a trade that I say

[00:08:19] is I want you to be inquisitive, right?

[00:08:23] Where you're in a session of a group of people

[00:08:25] or within yourself or you research or something

[00:08:27] and asking the questions that really drive innovation

[00:08:33] and drive being, first it says that you're present

[00:08:37] but it also drives innovation between you

[00:08:39] and the group that you're in

[00:08:40] or you just going through in a topic to get to those results

[00:08:43] or asking them why, how could we do this better?

[00:08:46] Or here's an idea that I have, can I add it here?

[00:08:50] Just that's those type of things.

[00:08:52] The fourth thing is being impactful.

[00:08:54] Be impactful and being impactful is about me figuring out

[00:08:58] where I fit in and how can I add value

[00:09:01] to the situation on it

[00:09:03] and really showing up and delivering on that value

[00:09:07] and delivering on it to that point of here.

[00:09:09] There's a, I'm being impactful today

[00:09:12] in trying to add value to your podcast

[00:09:15] and I've studied myself to make sure that I'm ready

[00:09:17] and trying to make sure I'm bringing value

[00:09:19] to what your podcast brings, right?

[00:09:21] Along with sharing my thoughts

[00:09:22] and bringing that to the world.

[00:09:24] And then the last piece I call it

[00:09:26] and the most important one is be yourself.

[00:09:29] This is understanding who you are, what you are

[00:09:33] and being authentically you in the place that you are.

[00:09:35] If you are a somebody who,

[00:09:38] I'm a big cliff to strength guy

[00:09:40] so if you're somebody who leads from a point of influence

[00:09:43] you're making sure that you are showing up

[00:09:45] as who you are and you're comfortable.

[00:09:47] So first it's authentic, people believe that

[00:09:50] people can see it and you can move to a point

[00:09:52] but there's also you being comfortable in your skin

[00:09:55] knowing how you get things done

[00:09:56] and knowing how you show up

[00:09:58] and being strong in that.

[00:09:59] So you don't have to dim your light if you will.

[00:10:01] We all beautifully and wonderfully made

[00:10:04] in an image of our creator.

[00:10:06] And so we must show up and be proud of that image

[00:10:08] that and how we're made.

[00:10:09] So that is amazing what you just said.

[00:10:13] How can people develop some of these?

[00:10:17] Yeah, it's all about, I dare say

[00:10:20] you gotta do a bunch of stuff, right?

[00:10:21] I think people can learn from understanding

[00:10:26] doing a personal assessment of who they are

[00:10:28] and what their purpose are.

[00:10:30] A lot of reading, one of my favorite books to read

[00:10:33] is understanding your purpose,

[00:10:35] understanding who you are,

[00:10:37] starting with why those are some great books,

[00:10:40] purpose-driven life, purpose-by design,

[00:10:43] just understanding where your purpose

[00:10:46] and just outlining it and what your interests are

[00:10:48] and mapping that in some games,

[00:10:50] some alignment with that,

[00:10:51] what your interests and your passions

[00:10:53] and your skill set that you bring

[00:10:55] and then what your career may look like.

[00:10:57] The other piece of it,

[00:10:58] you can do other personal assessments

[00:11:00] like Mice, Briggs, Clifton, Strengths.

[00:11:03] Things like those are important

[00:11:06] where you really get an assessment

[00:11:08] of how you understand your own emotional intelligence, right?

[00:11:12] You're growing that muscle

[00:11:13] and really pushing a understanding of how you show up.

[00:11:19] And then once you master

[00:11:20] and start mastering yourself

[00:11:22] and how you deal with adversity,

[00:11:24] how you are in situations

[00:11:26] and understanding your kicks, right?

[00:11:29] Then you can start really understanding

[00:11:31] how other people's, how they show up

[00:11:34] and how you can get the best out of them

[00:11:36] and they can get the best out of you

[00:11:38] based on how they show up in the workplace, community,

[00:11:42] wherever.

[00:11:42] And that's really something

[00:11:44] that seeing somebody as being authentically them,

[00:11:46] that's how those things,

[00:11:47] those are a couple of ways you can do it,

[00:11:48] but it's all about just really assessing

[00:11:50] and taking that personal time to look at you

[00:11:52] or who you are.

[00:11:53] I think I've taken the Myers-Briggs,

[00:11:57] I've not, oh maybe I have,

[00:12:01] maybe I haven't even done one of those.

[00:12:04] I figured out my Enneagram number at the very least.

[00:12:06] Can I ask what Enneagram number you are?

[00:12:08] I haven't done the Enneagram thing.

[00:12:10] I haven't done that one.

[00:12:11] I need to do that one.

[00:12:13] I've done some Myers-Briggs, I'm a super ENFP.

[00:12:18] I'm a, I and my ending letter is a J,

[00:12:22] I forgot the other ones.

[00:12:23] Yeah, it's a T.

[00:12:25] It's either F or S,

[00:12:27] you're feeling or you're sensing.

[00:12:29] Don't worry about it, it's just,

[00:12:30] anyway, I'll have to also look at my,

[00:12:34] and you know what?

[00:12:35] Do it again, cause you change from the last time you did.

[00:12:40] You morph as a human being.

[00:12:41] We mature, we grow, we go through our experiences

[00:12:44] and we might show up differently.

[00:12:45] You show up differently because we mature them.

[00:12:47] So do it again.

[00:12:49] I try to do mine,

[00:12:50] I do that ideogram score, I'll do that thing.

[00:12:52] I'm taking the notes to get that.

[00:12:54] I do mine probably every time I'm making a career move

[00:12:59] or as a promotion coming up and saying,

[00:13:01] okay, does this me show up today?

[00:13:04] And how does that show up?

[00:13:05] And I go look at, try to look at the results

[00:13:07] of how I've matured over time.

[00:13:09] What's different?

[00:13:10] I'll say you took it the first time

[00:13:12] when you were fresh out of school,

[00:13:14] fresh out of college or fresh out of high school.

[00:13:16] And then you completed college

[00:13:19] or you got your, from the other extreme,

[00:13:21] got done in your first three years of schooling,

[00:13:23] first three years at the job, right?

[00:13:25] And so you need to do it again and look at it.

[00:13:26] So okay, what things have I developed?

[00:13:28] How am I showing up more?

[00:13:30] What things have changed over that time?

[00:13:32] Yeah, that's really insightful.

[00:13:35] Have you random pivot here?

[00:13:36] Have you read Dear to Lead by Renee Brown?

[00:13:39] No, I haven't.

[00:13:41] I like, what's my favorite Renee book?

[00:13:43] I have to go to my audible

[00:13:45] that I'm listening to now.

[00:13:46] I love her stuff though.

[00:13:48] I haven't read that.

[00:13:48] Could you tell me more about it?

[00:13:50] It's just a leadership book

[00:13:52] and she takes all the work that she does

[00:13:55] and puts it into a leadership context

[00:13:58] for people in leadership.

[00:14:00] And it's really good.

[00:14:03] I do love her books.

[00:14:04] I have a bunch by Renee Brown.

[00:14:08] And it's in my, so I'm a crazy reader.

[00:14:10] You probably figured it out already.

[00:14:13] Yeah, I'll lead as much as I should, but.

[00:14:16] And let me say it better.

[00:14:17] I'm an even crazier listener

[00:14:19] because of apps like Audible and things like that.

[00:14:22] Audible, yes.

[00:14:22] A lot.

[00:14:23] A lot.

[00:14:24] A dream, okay.

[00:14:27] Because I can't read anything

[00:14:29] without having audio to listen along to.

[00:14:32] Yeah.

[00:14:33] Audible is like a dream.

[00:14:35] Yeah, so it's like my favorite Renee Brown books

[00:14:38] I got in front of me now.

[00:14:38] It's Dear to Lead and the Power Voluntary.

[00:14:41] Yeah, that's the one I was talking about.

[00:14:42] Yep, yep, I missed it.

[00:14:43] I'm sorry.

[00:14:44] Yeah, I didn't hear it all right.

[00:14:45] Yeah, Dear to Lead is my favorite one.

[00:14:47] And Power Voluntary is the other one

[00:14:51] that I've been listening to as of late.

[00:14:53] And her TED talks are good,

[00:14:55] particularly how, particularly as being a man

[00:14:59] and then being an African American man,

[00:15:01] that Power Voluntary really helped me understand

[00:15:06] who I am and when to be vulnerable

[00:15:08] and who to trust and how to trust better and more.

[00:15:12] And understanding that sometimes

[00:15:14] somebody's not gonna deal with it

[00:15:15] and that's their issue, not mine.

[00:15:16] I really appreciate her work.

[00:15:19] I really do.

[00:15:20] Yeah, and she's funny too.

[00:15:21] She's very funny.

[00:15:23] And she's a matter of fact, right?

[00:15:24] She just gives it to you to the truth

[00:15:26] and I always appreciate lectures

[00:15:29] that give it to you,

[00:15:30] give it to my grandfather,

[00:15:31] he should say go give it to you,

[00:15:33] give it to get it to where the goats can get it.

[00:15:35] And so it means just get,

[00:15:36] you don't come up here,

[00:15:38] you put it at a level that everybody can understand.

[00:15:40] So I really appreciate that.

[00:15:42] What leadership ventures are you in now?

[00:15:46] What leadership ventures I am in now?

[00:15:48] Is that the question?

[00:15:50] So I've been in a bus.

[00:15:51] You don't have to give us the whole thing.

[00:15:53] My favorite part, the one that I am in right now

[00:15:57] is I'm a leader in this organization

[00:16:01] called 100 Black Men of British Charles.

[00:16:03] The 100 Black Men of America

[00:16:05] is the one of the oldest mentoring organizations

[00:16:09] that started in 1960s.

[00:16:12] It was started by a group of African American executives

[00:16:16] during that time as well as,

[00:16:17] so somebody might know like Jackie Robinson

[00:16:20] to really focus on mentoring boys

[00:16:23] and mentoring African American boys

[00:16:25] and getting them prepared for life as a whole

[00:16:29] and looking at them as a whole person

[00:16:31] and using that.

[00:16:32] And I serve as, I keep my titles,

[00:16:35] I serve as the vice president of leadership

[00:16:39] and development.

[00:16:40] And I have a couple of programs

[00:16:42] and a team of gents that helped me out.

[00:16:45] We spend time, we have a couple of programs

[00:16:48] we call the ones called the Pathway Success Program

[00:16:51] which is like a leadership development program.

[00:16:53] We take high school juniors and seniors

[00:16:56] and some college A students in the local area

[00:16:59] and take them through a 15 week leadership program

[00:17:01] where they, we do personal assessments

[00:17:03] like we just talked about.

[00:17:05] We take them through personal development

[00:17:08] and a professional development curriculum

[00:17:10] like resume writing and understanding your career

[00:17:13] and goal setting.

[00:17:15] And we take their goals or what they wanna do

[00:17:17] and help them create plans and sessions to do that.

[00:17:21] Along with that, we also provide them mentoring

[00:17:24] and we call it a mentoring over a lifetime

[00:17:26] and we take it with the 100 Black Men of America

[00:17:28] has this thing called four pillars

[00:17:30] where we talk about education, mentoring,

[00:17:33] health and wellness and economic development

[00:17:35] where we take all our students

[00:17:37] and all our cohorts and mentees through those pro,

[00:17:40] a set of program to help them be prepared for life.

[00:17:43] And we mentor them through a lifetime

[00:17:45] and we really target mostly African American,

[00:17:47] well, mostly African American boys

[00:17:50] to men at ages starting elementary school

[00:17:53] all the way through college.

[00:17:54] And it's an organization I spent a significant amount

[00:17:58] of my time, free time outside the daily job

[00:18:01] of working that.

[00:18:03] And it's very rewarding.

[00:18:04] It gives me an opportunity to give back,

[00:18:06] which is big for me.

[00:18:08] And it also gives me an opportunity

[00:18:09] to continue to grow my skill sets

[00:18:12] from a leadership development standpoint.

[00:18:14] And so I'm really proud to be a part of that organization.

[00:18:16] That sounds like an amazing organization.

[00:18:18] Yeah, take us out.

[00:18:19] We're on them through Google as we are out there.

[00:18:21] We've been doing, it's a great organization.

[00:18:24] It brings a lot of folks together

[00:18:26] and you'll see a lot of famous faces

[00:18:28] that's a part of that organization.

[00:18:30] What's it called again?

[00:18:31] The 100 Black Men of America.

[00:18:33] We call it the 100.

[00:18:35] Okay, we will put all those things in the show notes

[00:18:38] and how can people get involved if they want to?

[00:18:42] Yeah, so I would say look and see

[00:18:44] if they're engaged in their community

[00:18:47] in their local area

[00:18:48] when most major cities around the world,

[00:18:50] around the country, basically around the country

[00:18:52] and we got some major cities around the world

[00:18:54] but we always looking for people

[00:18:57] to bring their expertise,

[00:18:58] people who care about our kids, our boy

[00:19:01] and people who want to figure out a way

[00:19:03] to share and understand and help our boys

[00:19:05] in their way of life.

[00:19:06] And as we all know, we have a thing to say

[00:19:09] what they see is what they'll be

[00:19:11] and we make sure our boys understand

[00:19:14] that whatever dreams they have,

[00:19:16] we have folks that looks like them

[00:19:19] that've been through some of the same experiences

[00:19:22] and life experiences that they're going through

[00:19:24] to help them out and be there

[00:19:25] and get them out in front

[00:19:27] and basically help them understand

[00:19:28] that they are successful

[00:19:30] and we can show them the way to get through it.

[00:19:33] Yes, is there anything else you want to add

[00:19:37] before we get off here

[00:19:38] and where can people follow you on social media?

[00:19:40] No, I just want to thank you for that opportunity

[00:19:44] to be here and share my passions

[00:19:46] and things like that

[00:19:47] but you can find me on a couple of things.

[00:19:50] You can find me on LinkedIn at Dwayne M. Allen

[00:19:53] you can find me there.

[00:19:54] I post a lot of my leadership stuff there.

[00:19:56] Again, I have a newsletter that's out.

[00:19:58] It's the storyteller.

[00:20:00] It's all about my leadership experiences

[00:20:03] and leadership topics

[00:20:04] that help us grow that community around there.

[00:20:05] And then I just started a podcast

[00:20:09] with another good friend of mine, Mr. Robert Wesley

[00:20:12] and we as called Brothers in Aerospace and Defense

[00:20:16] and we are both in the Aerospace and Defense Industry

[00:20:18] been spent sniffing years there

[00:20:20] and we basically deep dive into a lot of topics

[00:20:24] around in the Aerospace and Defense sector

[00:20:27] be it technical, be it leadership based

[00:20:29] be it business based

[00:20:30] and really give our spin on it

[00:20:32] and let us let folks know that our industry is thriving

[00:20:35] and we absolutely need a talent of everyone

[00:20:39] who has an affinity for it to come and be a part of.

[00:20:42] I'm proud to kick those things off.

[00:20:44] That's how you can catch up with me.

[00:20:46] That's incredible what you're doing.

[00:20:48] It really is.

[00:20:49] Thank you so much for being on here.

[00:20:53] I'm sorry if I missed it

[00:20:54] but you don't have Instagram or Facebook

[00:20:56] or anything like that.

[00:20:56] Just LinkedIn?

[00:20:58] No, I'm fine.

[00:20:58] Just LinkedIn.

[00:20:59] Okay.

[00:21:00] And that's all for today

[00:21:02] and we'll see you guys next episode.

[00:21:04] Bye guys.

[00:21:05] Thank you for joining us.

[00:21:06] We hope you enjoyed the show.

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[00:21:18] See you next time.