S1E3: Tracy Call | Lead With Heart: Compassion Inspires Growth

Tracy Call, CEO and founder of Media Bridge Advertising, cuts to the chase: Great leaders instill confidence and autonomy. Tracy shares the importance of leading with the heart, why past Olympic training has helped her stay competitive during the pandemic, and how EOS has supported her step into the newest phase of her leadership.

Leaders Instill Autonomy

Tracy remembers the good leaders she’s had over the years not by their specific words or actions, but by how they made her feel. She always felt more capable, confident, and supported when she was around them. 

Tracy’s role models took a heuristic approach to their leadership that impressed her. Always listening and asking questions instead of solving her problems for her, these leaders let Tracy make mistakes so that she would learn how to independently solve them in the future.

As the founder and CEO of a Media Bridge Advertising, Tracy has taken those learning experiences and implemented them in her own leadership approach. Her core value: Lead with heart.

Lead And Let Go

Tracy uniquely straddles the line between visionary and integrator. She confesses that it has been challenging to let go of the last of her integrator duties as Media Bridge advances in implementing EOS. As a result, Tracy has been trying to refocus and reflect on her main role as a visionary. 

Tracy admits that coming to grips with fully stepping into the visionary role hasn’t been easy. Though she knows that she’ll become burnt out if she continues her leadership as-is, she can’t shake the feeling that stepping away from driving accountability and the day-to-day mechanics of the business is like letting her baby go.

At the same time, Tracy recognizes that letting go of some of her current responsibilities frees her to do the work that only she can do: elevated thinking, strategic planning, and creating relationships for the business that no one else thought were possible.

When you let go of some responsibilities to become a visionary, you don’t let go so you can disconnect from your business. You let go to make sure your business gets the highest and best use of your gifts.

Stick To Your Core Values

Tracy says defining her business’s core values with her leadership team as part of their EOS implementation has been immensely helpful. For them, it all comes down to caring.

[18:03] “The best marketing strategy is to care and the best strategy for keeping a team intact is to care.”

Tracy shares that she has relied on Media Bridge’s core values a lot during the pandemic. Having everyone on the same page about what the business is striving for has minimized confusion and helped them navigate uncertain times.

She has also been referring to the 5 EOS Leadership Abilities for guidance:

1. Simplify: Make everything as simple as possible.
2. Delegate: Let go of things you should let go of.
3. Predict: Set achievable goals and prioritise short-term and long-term goals.
4. Systemize: Document and implement core processes for consistency.
5. Structure: Determine the best structure for your business.

Tracy compares leading during a pandemic to her experience training for the Olympic bobsled team. Work hard every day, even when you don’t want to.

However, Tracy warns that it is possible to become too focused on the end goal. Balance between short-term and long-term wins is essential if you want to lead well and maintain good professional relationships. In sports terms, you don’t want to throw away the whole season to win one game.

[33:11] “What we do as leaders is passed down. It’s passed down within our companies. It’s passed down within our families. If our leadership team is behaving poorly, it is probably a direct reflection of how we’re behaving as leaders.”

Learn More:

Media Bridge Advertising

Tracy’s LinkedIn

Tracy’s Facebook