Last year, I launched a Spring Leadership Series to think about leadership in nontraditional ways. As 2024 continued, I presented additional ways to think about leadership during my Olympics Leadership Series and Holiday Leadership Series. With a new year upon us, I've invited 25 thought leaders to share their responses to five questions relating to team-building, reading, and leadership. My #SpringLeadershipSeries2025 began the first day of Spring and continues through June 20th, the first day of Summer.
Before we begin, I'd like to applaud two special individuals for providing the inspiration for this series. First, big applause goes to Erika Andersen, a leadership expert and author who I've had the pleasure of knowing for nearly 15 years, and she's appeared on my blog 13 times since 2011. She wrote an article for Forbes entitled, "How Springtime Can Make Us Better Leaders," and that article serves as the core of the series as its first question. Second, I also applaud Joseph Lalonde, a leadership expert and author of a book called REEL LEADERSHIP, for planting the seeds for last year's Spring Leadership Series on my blog. After I read Joe's book, I started looking at movies as well as works of fiction, TV shows, and TV characters with "leadership-tinted glasses."
For today's post, I'd like to introduce Amanda Hahn-Peters, based in Los Angeles. Amanda is a copywriter, content writer, and marketing strategist that collaborates with creative business owners and impact-driven brands to uncover and share the stories that connect them to their audience and build trust. Additionally, she is a former professional triathlete-turned-endurance coach and has assisted many teams throughout her 14-year coaching career - and now coaches age-group runners and triathletes through her endurance coaching business, AHP Endurance. When she isn't writing or coaching, Amanda enjoys traveling, reading, attending theater productions, and spending time with her husband and cat. She is also a lover of musicals who thinks in song lyrics...when I met her on Twitter/X, her pinned post was: "If you could swap your email sign-off with song lyrics, what would you choose? Defying gravity, Amanda." Is anyone else a fan of WICKED?!
QUESTION: Leadership expert and author Erika Andersen wrote an article for Forbes entitled, "How Springtime Can Make Us Better Leaders." In the article, Erika compared gardening to management and leadership. What are your thoughts, or was there something that stood out from the article?
AMANDA HAHN-PETERS: I love how the article compared gardening to creating an environment for employees to thrive! And I don't think we can emphasize listening and fostering two-way communication enough. Employees want to know that their ideas are heard and taken into account by leadership, and when given room for feedback, they feel understood. This creates an environment where employees feel comfortable, collaboration is encouraged, and leaders and their employees most likely look forward to coming to work and thriving.
QUESTION: What was the most recent example of inspiring leadership that made an impact on you?
AMANDA HAHN-PETERS: I'm a big fan of companies who lead by meeting their customers where they are and stepping up to meet their needs. As a resident of Los Angeles, the devastating fires of January 2025 are still fresh in my mind as my city begins to recover from this disaster and makes plans to rebuild. For weeks, when so many were forced to evacuate their homes, businesses (both small and large) stepped up to care for their community.
Although many businesses made notable contributions, one that stood out to me was Planet Fitness. The gym chain opened its doors to residents, first responders, and others impacted by the fires and offered them basic necessities like showers, locker rooms, Wi-Fi, charging stations, and other resources. I admire that they temporarily changed their policy and opened their doors to non-members to care for those who needed it most.
QUESTION: What is your favorite team-building activity, and why?
AMANDA HAHN-PETERS: As a freelance copywriter who works mainly with creative brands and service-based business owners, it's been a while since I've participated in team-building activities. However, as an agency copywriter, I appreciated team-building activities because they helped break the ice between new co-workers I didn't know very well. I also enjoyed getting to know people outside of work processes.
My favorite team-building activities are escape room-like games or any type of situation where team members rely on each others' unique strengths to figure out a puzzle or solve a riddle. It's fun to see how everyone uses different problem-solving techniques to reach a solution, and team-building activities are a great way to encourage team collaboration.
SHARE THIS: Team-building activities are a great way to encourage team collaboration. ~@amandahpcopy #SpringLeadershipSeries2025 #DebbieLaskeysBlog
QUESTION: Which book is on the top of your to-be-read pile, and why?
AMANDA HAHN-PETERS: I'm currently in a season where I'm drawn to mostly fiction books. While there are some great memoirs and business books on my TBR, I love how fiction (specifically historical fiction novels) usually include story arcs where characters overcome obstacles to grow, evolve, and remind us that transformation is possible.
That being said, the book at the tippy top of my list is Kristin Hannah's The Women. One of Hannah's other books, The Nightingale, is one of my all-time favorites. From reading a plot summary of The Women, I can tell that, similar to The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah's The Women highlights the power of female friendships and the strength of women in general.
QUESTION: In the past year, has a TV show, film, or work of fiction stood out as a result of its emphasis on leadership?
AMANDA HAHN-PETERS: It's been out for more than a year and I'm just late to the party, but I recently binge-watched and loved the TV show Ted Lasso on Apple TV+. There's something so refreshing about Ted Lasso's leadership style — he's humble, vulnerable, self-aware, and, above all, joyful.
Early in the series, when Ted Lasso, a former American football coach, takes over as the head coach of an English Premier League soccer club, he isn't afraid to be vulnerable and admit that, despite being one of the organization's higher-ups, he's a soccer newbie. Instead of being embarrassed by his lack of soccer knowledge, Ted accepts suggestions from others in the organization to help make the team better.
A specific example is when he seeks input on game strategy from AFC Richmond's kit manager, Nathan Shelly. As kit managers don't usually contribute to a team's strategy, this stood out as a moment of transformational leadership.
This is also a good reminder to all current and aspiring leaders that great ideas can come from anywhere and at any level of an organization. Now, what's the best way to create a system within your company that encourages everyone to share their views and voice their opinions?
My gratitude to Amanda for sharing her leadership insights and for being a part of my #SpringLeadershipSeries2025. Did these questions open your eyes to think about leadership in nontraditional ways? That was the hope!
Image Credit: Bryan Garces via Unsplash.
Read Erika Andersen's article, "How Springtime Can Make Us Better Leaders"
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2015/05/14/how-springtime-can-make-us-better-leaders/
Good news for Amanda - and all of us who enjoyed the Ted Lasso series:
"Everything We Know About Ted Lasso Season 4"
https://www.si.com/soccer/everything-we-know-about-ted-lasso-season-4
Read Amanda's previous appearance here on my blog:
OLYMPICS LEADERSHIP SERIES – Featuring Amanda Hahn-Peters (August 2024)
https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/08/olympics-leadership-series-featuring.html
Connect with Amanda at these links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-hahn-peters
Twitter/X: https://www.twitter.com/amandahpcopy
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandahpcopy
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@amandahpcopy
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandahpcopy.bsky.social
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