Your Marketing Co. CEO walks through stories of failure and growth

Many of us fall into leadership without any idea of what we’re doing, so Your Marketing Co. CEO Bo McDonald decided to launch The Accidental Leader podcast to help other accidental leaders learn from his and his guests’ journeys.

“When people are thrust into leadership positions, they’ve had no formal leadership training, so we have to rely on their root systems,” McDonald explained. “The root system is really why you do what you do, and why you communicate the way that you do.”

Root systems, he shared, borrowing from his business coach, Chris LoCurto, are developed over time, with bits and pieces borrowed from every leader you’ve encountered. These contributors to your root system include people like your parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, managers and bosses. They shape you through your shared lived experiences, for better or worse.

Acknowledging during the first episode (listen here) that he’s a ‘high D’ for Dominance on the DiSC assessment scale, McDonald takes listeners through his journey of understanding what that means for him as a leader and the impact it has on the people around him. He shares that as part of his root system, he had worked for two very different Johns during his early career – and he only realized years later that he was following the wrong John’s example.

Being an accidental leader is all about adapting and learning from your mistakes, so don’t make the mistake of not tuning in to The Accidental Leader. Guests scheduled for upcoming episodes include Ash Davis, author of A Life Through Letters and TedX Speaker; leadership coach Brian Rollo; Jason Vitug, author and entrepreneur (founder of Phroogal); and our very own Jennifer Pham, vice president of ideas and results.

“Most of us have passion that we pursued with a certain skillset we’ve mastered, and leadership isn’t typically one of those but here we are, leading organizations, leading teams of people and really just winging it,” McDonald said.

Aligned with McDonald’s personal mission, ‘I exist to change passionate people by providing opportunities to use their gifts,’ the goal of the podcast is to share the stories of other accidental leaders and their journeys to help inspire others to learn and grow into their best self as leaders.