Danute Debney Shaw: Leading Beyond Adversity --[Reported by Umva mag]

Discover how personal experiences and relying on the use of all your individual skills can transform challenges into opportunities for growth!

Leadership often falters in the face of adversity, leaving individuals, teams and organizations struggling to find direction. How do we inspire and support others when the path seems obscured by challenges? For Danute Debney Shaw, the answer lies in drawing powerfully upon personal, subjective awareness, along with the tools of skilled training to provide not only a catalyst and powerful platform for dynamic growth and innovation, but potentially a paradigmatic framework for success.

The origin of Danute’s journey is deeply rooted in her family’s history of overcoming traumatic events. This in addition to well over 25 years of experience spanning backgrounds of law, corporate management and not for profit work, she has witnessed firsthand the complexities of rebuilding lives and organizations. Her unique perspective informs her mission: to empower individuals and teams to rise above obstacles with resilience and creativity.

As the Managing Director of CelaPhontus, LLC, Danute transcends traditional consulting by blending her legal background with innovative decision-making strategies. She champions a holistic approach that emphasizes strategies engaging components of subjective awareness and conscious action; powerful decision-making and ultimate resilience equipping leaders to navigate challenges effectively. Danute’s insights have made her a sought-after speaker and author, particularly through her acclaimed book, “How the Tin Man Found His Brain”, where she shares transformative lessons on self-trust, leadership, and resilience.

Danute Debney Shaw exemplifies how for example, personal stories can illuminate pathways to developing effective leadership foundations. The tools of deep awareness, insight and understanding, coupled with more traditional leadership management techniques can be a powerful approach. Along with encouraging the fostering of environments where innovation thrives and human elements are prioritized, Danute is not just helping to shape businesses; she is redefining what it means to lead in today’s complex landscape. Through her work, she hopes to inspire a new generation of leaders to embrace their journeys and lead with purpose.

Let’s know more about her journey:

Inspiration behind Leadership  

Danute’s journey began with the inspiration of her family members who had gone through trauma, tragedy, war, and devastation. They survived and thrived. In addition, she acquired  years of diverse professional training and experience in corporate, not-for-profit, and government contexts including  a number of years as a law clerk/judicial assistant for the Federal Bankruptcy Court of the Central District in California; as a domestic and international negotiator for the aviation industry, and in most recent times as a contract federal practice counsel in Washington DC. Danute has had the opportunity to learn throughout her career, how people and businesses fall apart and do, or do not get put back together, as well as what kind of vision, decision strategy and leadership is required to succeed.

Driving Innovation and Business Growth

Many of Danute’s best strategies were acquired and honed before she started a private company. Indeed, her various experiences and personally. developed tools led her to share her acquired knowledge and insights with others. One of her central strategies has always been to listen, particularly for the “click” – that moment when ….

Danute emphasizes that the “click” is different in different contexts. It could occur in the middle of a negotiation by extending a bit of humor and easing the tension of participants, or as in one case when taking the lead in a negotiation after sitting across the table for 4 days during a discussion with a Hong Kong company.

After those 4 days of reading through the articles of a proposed contract, one simple explanation of why additional language would not protect them more deeply in one of the articles – it occurred. The “click” happened. That’s what it took to build the trust. And from there, the soon-to-be new client of the company for whom she was working started to ask her what they should do in other areas of the proposed agreement.

Danute sees innovation and business growth as starting from the top down. Beginning with awareness, powerful perception and ultimately vision in developing strategy from those in leadership positions. An underlying driving force of subjective awareness and intuition, coupled with a cognitive, rational thought engagement of the facts and circumstances, and possibly some imagination and creativity have repeatedly evidenced a winning combination in the leadership roles Danute has seen and been exposed to in her experience.

The Birth of Decision Strategy

Danute’s approach to decision strategy developed long before the engagement of her career direction. But there were several pivotal influences in her professional life. One of her earliest experiences was being a unit manager for network news at a broadcasting company in New York. It involved being subordinate to the guiding direction of the producers, but within that limitation, there were several management leadership responsibilities.

This is where her ability to “read” work environment situations became crucial in handling her work effort. The unit manager role in this organization required being the management buffer between the production team and the union technical team.

Generally, things would run smoothly; however, at times there would be silent underlying “insurrections” and even occasional open conflicts. So, not only did she have to project a yearly budget for the given show and resolve it every week, book the crews and facilities, and oversee studio sessions along with other responsibilities, but she also functioned as a sort of mediator.  For example was when crews didn’t like the catering (which does not sound serious but could be quite disruptive) and voiced it, or had some dissent with the requests by the production team, solutions needed to be developed. This is when it became necessary to develop and employ strategies that honored the various concerns and points of view, respecting the parties while meeting the needs of the production schedule.

Being in her 20s and one of the first group of women hired in this network production management context, only added to the mix. It was very important to “read” situations on a day-to-day basis and determine what was a tiff, a skirmish, or a battle. Life was one challenge being resolved after another. Some were minor, some not so minor. The development and implementation of her personal strategic, paradigmatic approach was an incredibly important go-to resource.

Establishment of CelaPhontus, LLC

Decades of employing this particular paradigmatic approach to all the work Danute has engaged in, coupled with the surrounding influences of corporate, judicial, and other examples of decision-making and leadership, have brought her to a place where sharing her experience and insights is part of a most deeply satisfying effort.

Danute believes that owning your own company and being the managing director, provides the freedom of how you wish to inhabit your space and work effort. You can determine what body of clients you do and do not want to take on (a brief discussion of which Danute undertakes in her book, “How the Tin Man Found His Brain.”).

It is also easier she has found, to take the innovative directions that you believe are more in alignment with the goals and purpose of the company, and the service of its clients. The goals and purpose may even require a change of direction. Seeming setbacks are not failures. Flexibility, working to truly understand and engage when and what changes and new strategies may be required, along with the courage and commitment to do what is necessary, these are important skills that propel successful, independent leadership forward.

Success Found through Decision Strategies 

During a particular negotiation with a company in Mexico, Danute’s approach lent itself more to a diplomatic relations impact than to hard leadership issues. The results of the negotiations were very successful.

But to relate a more defined scenario, she was once approached through CelaPhontus by a manager of a finance group who was having difficulty with her department. The manager was a very creative, out-of-the-box thinker. Her team, on the other hand, was a very concrete and “strictly by the book” group of employees. As their leader, the manager was frustrating them with criticism regarding their judgment calls, and they, in turn, were, in her words, “driving me nuts.”

Since the corporation was not authorizing any intervention nor seeing the need to fund any management support (not very visionary), she privately consulted with Danute. The expedient solution, which would not necessarily be a deeper, long-term solution was to simply move the “box.” Danute designed a way to have them perform their responsibilities with an expanded view of the parameters while believing they were still working within the “box.” It worked.

To stay updated with the latest trends and innovations Danute usually practices watching and listening, occasionally reading about new theories and information in various forms.

Law and Management Shaping Practices

It is the composite of her work in law, corporate, government, and not-for-profit on one hand, and very specifically her problem-solving and strategic efforts in her various employments and assignments on the other, which enriched the foundations of her current consulting efforts.

While law and management insights have remained resources in her approach, Danute’s work through CelaPhontus does not include providing legal advice. She does however, heavily rely on critical thinking coupled with perceptual awareness. In addition, she is always mindful of noting if a client might benefit from consulting an attorney when there may be a red flag or legal ramifications amid the concerns being discussed.

Overcoming Challenges 

Danute believes that facing “change” in various forms has been the most significant challenge. Dealing with such changes sometimes requires one to think on one’s feet in order to find the subjective space for a response rather than a reaction. It can be particularly difficult when dealing with ultimate unknowns. Evaluating situations or issues with acuity and thoroughness, and applying subjective awareness can be a very strong dual resource. As others have said before, “If it doesn’t feel right, why doesn’t it?”. Perhaps the issue or challenge requires a second look? And sometimes that second look can make all the difference to a successful outcome.

Also, Danute emphasizes that the imperative in the immediate situation can often be, to “find a way.” Therefore, sometimes waiting for the right moment is the answer, and sometimes engaging the best discernment based on the information available is the only possible choice when an action needs to be taken.

Crucial Qualities for Leadership 

From Danute’s perspective, awareness, perception, flexibility, and vision are fundamental for an effective leader, whatever economic/managerial administrative platform he or she may be employing. Fundamental, core subjective power affords a base for engaging the facts and circumstances of a professional leadership challenge in the most effective way.

This is important at any time in any professional environment, but particularly today when we are faced with many and constant new challenges. It is difficult to know the possible outcomes of scenarios that have not been previously tried and tested.

Just as with the internet breaking on the scene, which required the development of new accompanying laws to govern it, the advent of new elements in play such as cryptocurrency and AI will continue to lead global change and hopefully evolve along with the challenge. Doubtless powerful, leadership strategies will be called upon in many corners.

Role of Cultural Diversity & Benefits

As small as our world has become, and it seems to continue to shrink, awareness of the presence and even the need and value of cultural diversity is crucial. Understanding the different dimensions and perspectives is important, and not that difficult to grapple with when you have the desire to learn, know, and understand.

Coming from a European family, Danute often felt as though she was born in the US and went to school in America, but came home to a family heavily steeped in European culture and sensibility. In the early years of her childhood, she grew up in a neighborhood that had cultural and ethnic diversity. Today, engaging with people of various ethnic backgrounds is likely to become more and more important and necessary for all of us across professional sectors, in our ever smaller and closely entwined global community.

Professional Philosophy as an Author 

Danute’s work on “Tin Man” and its essays and commentaries is emblematic of her professional philosophy. The themes within pertain to developing awareness; developing self-trust personally and professionally; persevering through challenges; coming to know the world around us, and more.

Her next two books in the trilogy will be about the Cowardly Lion and the role of risk-taking, and finally the Scarecrow, which will discuss our need for validation in our lives. But first, she is completing a saga about her grandmother’s life entitled, “The Nine Lives of Agnieszka” which will be written closer to a historic novel form, but will nonetheless be a teaching exercise in determination, perseverance, and resilience.

Advice to Aspiring Leaders

“It may sound strange, but aside from learning as much as you can from examples of leadership around you, and learning what you can of techniques, theories, and approaches, use your senses.”

As Danute has already shared, “reading” situations, people, circumstances, trends, etc. is a skill well worth honing. The best part is that you can sharpen it while you are simply living your life.

Measuring Success & Metrics 

Most of Danute’s work at this time is focused on her writing. But in the consulting context, generally, her clients are individuals or groups that are already committed to the investment. In other words, they know what is required to achieve constructive outcomes. Objectives are very specifically defined and designed for the client or clients in question. With commitment and determination, it is difficult not to see positive results. And these results speak for themselves.

Future Trends in Decision Strategy Consulting 

Danute sees more people turning to the type of holistic, paradigmatic approach she has expressed, and Danute thinks that is great. It will help support more people in this world who are ready to broaden their vision and their tools regarding self-governance and the development of leadership strength. This is an area where collaboration rather than competition may bring about the most fruitful results.

Combining Resilience Leadership with Training Programs

Resilience is always important to build into an objective from Danute’s perspective. There is no constructive need to entertain failure as an option. Not because we must be driven to success, but because ultimate success is inevitable if we are working appropriately within our integrity of capability and awareness of developments within the company.

That doesn’t mean that there will no longer be any challenges, or avenues trod down that may need to be abandoned or retraced, ultimately perhaps even taking us in a different direction. But this is not actually “failure.” It is all part of ultimate growth and success. So, part of the equation is being focused from a well-developed, strong perspective, and the other part is taking “correct,” meaning well-conceived and strategized action.

The post Danute Debney Shaw: Leading Beyond Adversity appeared first on Insights Success.

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