Debbie Laskey's Blog: SPRING LEADERSHIP SERIES 2025

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 Julia Carcamo, based in Louisiana. I "met" Julia on Twitter (now X) back in 2012. Since we were both marketing professionals with a passion for brand-building, marketing communications, and advertising, we decided to collaborate in a "She Said, She Said" format analysis of the 2012 Super Bowl ads in posts that appeared on each other's blogs the Monday following the game. We followed that initial collaboration with several others over the years. Today, Julia is the author of "Reel Marketing, The Art of Building a Casino Brand" and founder of J. Carcamo & Associates, a leading gaming industry consulting firm. She specializes in empowering casino brands to capture attention, grow loyalty, and elevate revenue in competitive markets. With a proven track record in casino and hospitality marketing, she partners with brands to build robust strategies and breakthrough campaigns that make an impact.

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?

JULIA CARCAMO: Wow! I just loved this article. I, too, am a gardener but never saw the analogy. I have one particular flower bed that nothing seems to thrive in except perhaps weeds, but just today I noticed how colorful those weeds were and how the bees were enjoying them. Now looking back, I realize how often we try to force someone into a role that they are not well-suited for, but when we let them show us where they fit, it suddenly seems to make sense.

QUESTION: What was the most recent example of inspiring leadership that made an impact on you?

JULIA CARCAMO: I work in the casino industry, and leadership is still predominantly male. There are a handful of female general managers, but there is one in particular, who always amazes me. She runs a very profitable operation, but more importantly, she is more concerned with her employees and helping them, as she would call it, thrive. It's not simply about success for her. She feels passionately that everyone under her work roof should be able to thrive in whatever they want to do both professionally and personally She never hesitates to publicly share the remarkable bond with her team. She knows that if her team is thriving, they will create great guest experiences, which will in turn create revenue.

QUESTION: What is your favorite team-building activity, and why?

JULIA CARCAMO: Honestly, I cannot stand anything that's labeled "team-building." I do understand the importance of it, but I feel teams are built when connections are made - not when they struggle together to build a bridge out of match sticks. I accompanied a client to play bingo one night. None of us knew what we were doing, but we had THE best time. Two years later, we're still telling stories about that night. That's what I call team-building.

SHARE THIS: Teams are built when connections are made - not when they struggle together to build a bridge out of match sticks. ~@jccarcamo #SpringLeadershipSeries2025 #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: Which book is on the top of your to-be-read pile, and why?

JULIA CARCAMO: I'm actually excited to re-read "Pillars of the Earth." I read it 30 years ago and remember how moved I was. The other day, I had the urge to read it again.

QUESTION: In the past year, has a TV show, film, or work of fiction stood out as a result of its emphasis on leadership?

JULIA CARCAMO: LOL! Here's where I admit I watch too much trash (reality) TV. However, I have been watching "The Diplomat" on my flights. I love the juxtaposition of leaders who don't act like it and the behind-the-scenes characters that move like leaders. Also, I noticed that when the sad news about Gene Hackman broke, one of the clips I kept seeing was from the movie "Hoosiers." That was a movie I used (years ago) to talk to my team about teamwork. He was an outsider that had to coalesce a winning team.

My gratitude to Julia 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: FZMatch.com.

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/

Read Julia's previous appearances here on my blog:

Review of Julia's book, REEL MARKETING (February 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/02/review-of-reel-marketing.html

Read Julia's and my original collaboration (February 2012)

Which of the Super Bowl Ads Do You Remember?

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2012/02/which-of-super-bowl-ads-do-you-remember.html

Connect with Julia at these links:

Website: https://www.jcarcamoassociates.com

Twitter/X: https://www.x.com/jccarcamo