In this inspiring episode of The Huddle Leadership Podcast, host Kate Russell sits down with Becchara Palmer, Olympic volleyball player turned entrepreneur, for a profound exploration of self-leadership across high-performance sports and business. With 18 years of professional beach volleyball experience, including competing at the London Olympics, Becchara reveals how the journey from external validation to internal drive transformed not only her athletic performance but also her approach to running her own marketing business, Ease Digital. Her insights on agency, trust, and the power of process over outcomes offer essential lessons for leaders navigating pressure in any arena.
Key Takeaways
Self-leadership is an internal diesel engine - True self-leadership comes from within, driven by purpose rather than external expectations, creating sustainable motivation that persists through challenges and setbacks
Agency transforms performance - Taking ownership of decisions and processes, rather than being a passenger on someone else's journey, leads to greater satisfaction and better outcomes even when goals aren't achieved
Trust enables excellence - When leaders believe in their people before they've "earned" it, it frees up mental space from proving worth to focusing on actual performance and value creation
Process trumps outcomes - Focusing on the quality of the journey rather than just end results creates more sustainable motivation and greater long-term satisfaction, as the process lasts much longer than the moment of achievement
The reset mechanism is crucial - Developing the ability to clear your mind after setbacks and refocus on the next task prevents one mistake from cascading into multiple failures
Gut instinct requires cultivation - Learning to trust and act on intuitive decision-making becomes a competitive advantage, but requires practice and the confidence to move away from purely analytical approaches
Responsibility can be elevating or crushing - External pressure and responsibility to others can either drain energy or inspire excellence, depending on whether it aligns with personal purpose and values
Transition requires new self-leadership skills - Moving from elite sports to business demands developing self-leadership in different areas, requiring systems and approaches that may not come naturally from athletic training
Featured Discussion
Becchara Palmer's journey from a 23-year-old Olympian to a confident business owner illustrates the evolution of self-leadership across different life phases. Her candid reflection on two contrasting Olympic cycles - one driven by external pressure and fear of letting others down, the other powered by internal purpose and team connection - provides a masterclass in how leadership approach fundamentally changes outcomes. Drawing from her experience as part of "three strong-willed women" who chose to "steer the ship ourselves," Becchara demonstrates how agency and ownership can transform even unsuccessful attempts into deeply satisfying experiences.
The conversation delves into the practical application of athletic mental skills in business, particularly the volleyball "reset" technique that helps maintain focus under pressure. Becchara's transition to entrepreneurship reveals how self-leadership principles translate across domains while requiring adaptation to new challenges like organization systems and business development.
Quotable Moments
"I think self-leadership is a drive. It's like an internal, it's like the little diesel engine that is just inside of you."
"I wish I had trusted myself more. I think had I trusted my gut instinct and my initial instinct, I think I would have felt more comfortable to speak up and to be heard."
"I wanted to do it my own way."
"The process became a priority as opposed to necessarily just an outcome at the end."
"I don't have to convince you. I don't have to try and make you see that I'm here for the right reasons and that I'm committed."
"Reset, reset, reset."
"I use my instinct or my gut feel to make pretty much every single decision in my own business. Because mostly it's right."
"I can empathise and go, okay, I stuffed that up. I thought it was the right one. It wasn't. Okay. Well, onwards."
Connect with Becchara Palmer
Ease Digital LinkedIn
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