Leadership at the Intersection of Curiosity and Civility: 1000 Seconds with Tycely Williams

Welcome back to Season 2 of 1000 Seconds!

In this episode, Tycely Williams, CEO of Liberty Fellowship, shares with Forrest L. Alton how the "activation of courage" is the key to unlocking joy, strengthening values-driven leadership, and fueling meaningful change in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector. Tycely's effervescent conversation with Forrest underscores how this work is both heavy and deeply rewarding and is always better when we engage with each other and do it together.

Learn more about Liberty Fellowship: https://libertyfellowshipsc.org/

Thank you for tuning in! Please subscribe to keep updated on Season Two of 1000 Seconds! 

⏱ Learn more about Forrest's work at https://www.1000feathers.com/.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

You know, for us, it first looks like the activation of courage to introduce question marks. You and I spend a lot of time shaping and sharpening how we see things, right? And we do that as friends, when we're sitting down, when we're solving something. And we do that within Liberty Fellowship. We really introduce the conditions by which you can invite multiple truths to exist at once.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

You're listening to award-winning nonprofit leader Tysley Williams, who currently serves as the CEO of Liberty Fellowship, a community of values-driven leaders committed to creating a better future for all people in South Carolina. This is 1000 Seconds, a podcast hosted by 1000 Feathers co-founder and president Forrest Nolan.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Welcome back to 1000 Seconds. My guest today is a dear friend and colleague, Tysley Williams. Tysely is an award-winning C-suite executive. I'm going to get more into her bio in a second, but just trust me when I tell you that it reads like a who's who of organizations in the nonprofit sector. She's been on an amazing journey of leadership and philanthropy. In her current service as the CEO of the Liberty Fellowship, is how we first cross paths. Tysley, how are you, my friend? Welcome to 1000 Seconds.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Oh my gosh, Forrest, I'm great. It is a delight to be with you. When you referenced the word friend, I was like underscoring and highlighting and punctuating. And I am so incredibly grateful for uh your wise counsel. Uh, this journey has been an interesting but fun one. And I really appreciate the many ways in which you've stepped in to help me sharpen my leadership and to set us up for success. So I'm super excited to have a conversation with you today and dig a little bit deeper.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Let's do it. You're too kind. So much of our interaction, just because of place and space, has been virtual or over Zoom. I think the last time we saw each other in person might have been in the lounge at the Charlotte Airport, if I'm not mistaken. And that's probably a testament on our lives and schedules and both traveling too much.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

That's exactly right. And my most favorite time with you uh was in the Palmetto State. We were able to break bread and dive into dinner and connect on the many things that keep leaders up at night and how we solve it.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's get into all of it today, too. But before we get too far along, let me do just a bit of highlights from your bio for those of you that might not know you as well. Undergrad from Wake Forest, Master's in Leadership from Georgetown, certificates and credentials from Boston University, Duke University, Harvard. I mean, what's really going on here? I mean, this this in terms of nonprofits where you've spent time mostly on the fundraising and development side of the house, right? But the Bipartisan Policy Center, America's Promise Alliance, YWCA USA, American Red Cross, the YMCA of Metro Washington. I'm sure that I've left out some. I'm just picking some highlights. An incredible journey in philanthropy and in the sector. I gave this away a little bit earlier, but I do ask all of my guests uh, do you remember how, when, where we first crossed paths on that journey?

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Let's see. So I seem as if it must have been before Liberty Fellowship.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

It has to have been, right? I'd find it hard to believe it. Must have been, yes.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

I am going to make a bet for the YMCA.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Could be. Yeah, you you might be right. I don't, I have been thinking about this question too. And it, you know, it was one of those things I remember when we were fortunate enough to have you join the Liberty Fellowship in this role, me thinking, surely Tisley and I have met before, right? We've we've crossed paths. We've both been in the sector too long and in varying parts. I'll I'll tell you one fun story. I don't think this is when we met. Do you remember roughly the years you were at America's Promise?

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Yes. That would have been 2020, 2023.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Okay. So that that that is not the answer to the riddle. I'm gonna go way back. If I'm remembering correctly, America's Promise, founded by, or at least the founding director, Colin Powell, right? That was mid to late 90s, if I'm remembering correctly. That's right. This was at the very beginning of my career journey. And actually, the very first professional conference I ever attended was in the summer of 2000. And it was an America's Promise Gathering in Orlando with thousands of people. And I have always remembered and held on to that. And I forgot that you worked there until I was going back through your bio and it gave me a good smile.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

I love it. Well, you know, Michael Powell is also an Aspen Institute fellow.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

He is indeed. He facilitated one of my uh group discussions not long ago.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

I love it. I love it. Well, Michael has carried on the family tradition, serving on the board of America's Promise Alliance, making sure he too is investing in pathways for caring adults to show up for young people with enormous promise and potential. And I so love that you had an opportunity to see it when uh General Powell was out and about and making just a really inspirational and incredible commitment. And so uh I thought you were gonna say that you brought a little red wagon out.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

So somewhere, somewhere I have one. If you look close over here, how do I point? There's a there's a little red flame, right? That looks a lot like the Liberty logo. In fact, it is. I don't have my red wagon with me, but there's one in this office somewhere, I promise. And thanks for reminding me about Michael and that connection. I I will follow up on that. So, Tysley, we've got a lot to get to. I want to talk about the Liberty Fellowship. I want to talk more about you and your journey. I want to talk about our shared love of South Carolina, all the things, and we'll do that right when we get back.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Set your timers because Forrest's 1000 seconds with Tysley Williams starts now.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

All right. So, Tysley, we teed up the Liberty Fellowship. Your relatively new still position, right? 20-ish months, if I'm not mistaken, if my math's right. I read a quote from you just recently that you described your 20 years as a fundraiser as quote, grueling but glorious. I love that. I love the alliteration. Any of my fundraising and friends in philanthropy will recognize both of those words, right? Yes. Um, that was a 20-year career as a fundraiser on that side of the house, 20 months now in the C-suite. I wonder if you have a similar alliteration or words that come to mind to describe your time uh with the Liberty Fellowship so far.

SPEAKER_03 7:51

I think if I had to hone in on something short and sweet, it would be um splendid and successful. It's been a fantastic transition. You know, Forrest, I started my career as an executive director at the age of 24. And what I loved most about leading organizations was the fundraising component. And so I shifted from the ED role to focusing in on fundraising. And I thought that that would be probably like a temporary commitment, you know, maybe try it for five or six years. Yeah. I love relationship building, I love innovation and problem solving, which is what the money allows us to do, right? It's not about getting the money, it's what you're able to do with the resource once you have it. And so I became so incredibly connected to those in making investments. And it was just so glorious to see the return on the financial investment. And that's what kept me in the seat, right? Year after year, decade after decade, it was just so wonderful to play a small role in helping to be a matchmaker.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

I love that. And I love the relationship piece of it. And and again, so so many of our listeners are connected to the nonprofit philanthropic sector in some way. At the end of the day, it's a relationship-based business, right? And that is what we're trying to build. But as you said, also, we have the joy and pleasure of seeing a real return on those relationships that become investments, that become outcomes. And that return might not be in a dividend or a stock price, right? But the return is equally as valuable in whatever way we choose to measure that impact. Speaking of that, you now are at the Liberty Fellowship, right? And when we think about impact and outcome and all these things, I know that 20 months in, I know you well enough to know you've got the elevator pitch perfected. So tell us just a little bit about Liberty Fellowship for those who maybe don't know it as well.

SPEAKER_03 10:03

Liberty Fellowship is a public leadership organization. Uh, we strengthen the leadership capabilities of the world's best and brightest leaders who call South Carolina home. The vast majority of our fellows live within the state of South Carolina, about 75%, so just over 200. But we have nearly 100 fellows outside of South Carolina. And while they find themselves driving really positive change in those local communities, all of those fellows, along with those within the Palmetto State, they call South Carolina home. There's a tie, there's a connection, there's an affinity, there's something that continues to motivate them to invest in the 46 counties and the 5.3 million South Carolinians. So it is a wonderful network. It is a privilege amongst privileges to listen, learn, and just leverage the great thinking of great people.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

I love that. In full disclosure, in case I haven't said it out loud on this podcast or otherwise, I am in the number. I am one of the Liberty Fellows. I happen to be one of the 100. I didn't realize there were that many of us at this point who don't live in South Carolina, but still, as it were, get called home quite often, right? It's one of the reasons you can always find me in a lounge in the Charlotte Airport. I'm probably waiting on a connecting flight to Columbia or Greenville or Charleston or Hilton Head, wherever I'm headed. Uh, and the work of 1000 Feathers brings me back to South Carolina a lot. So it's a it's a win-win in in that way. But I still do have deep and strong connections. Speaking of being called home, Tisley, I know that not only was it a great opportunity, right? In everything you described to become the leader and CEO of the Liberty Fellowship, but it also was in many ways an opportunity for you to return home, right? Because South Carolina is a place where many of your family still live, where you have deep roots. I've I've enjoyed reading about and learning about more of your background and your family's background. I'm curious, as someone who has been in the state, has left the state, has returned to the state a couple different times, sort of how how you describe the condition you found things in on this most recent return.

SPEAKER_03 12:33

Yeah, friend, that's a great question. And it's a question that I'm still challenging myself to answer.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Yeah, fair.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Um, in the low country where my ancestors came to this country as slaves, there's often the question, are you a been here or a come here? And it's complicated for me. Yet again, the unconventional thinker and doer. A little bit of both. So my origin story starts in South Carolina. And I spent all of my summers here. Parents were educators, and so when school let out, there was no summer camp. You were back to Ellery working the farm and being tied and connected uh to the land and to the people uh in a town and in a community that we love. I will say South Carolina is now the highest rate kid and rank as far as places where Americans want to move. We've moved out edged Florida in that regard. There's some really amazing opportunities unfolding within the Palmetto State from an economic perspective, as far as the environment, the culture, economic growth. We also have a wonderful blend between recreation, entertainment, amazing coastal assets. It is a jewel of the states. I mean, South Carolina, it's where it's at for us, literally. I will also say, like most places and spaces, when you've got the confusion of new and you're trying to maintain the old, that's a bit of a struggle, right? You find yourself thinking through how do we go about not losing our identity, but also looking at this moment with an open mind and an abundant, centered mindset, right? We don't want to just close in and close off ourselves from growth and expansion, and yet we want to protect and preserve our history, our heritage. And so it takes intentionality to do that, right? It takes plans, it takes strategy, accountability partners, you know, all of the things. And so I'll say generally speaking, I am pleasantly pleased with the way we've gone about maintaining the balance. And I am committed, just as every other person in South Carolina, to making sure that we maintain our unique value proposition.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Yeah, it's it's very well said. You know, I mean, I sort of would add even yet another comma, right? And you and I have had these conversations of the range of opportunity that's present that's that's causing an influx of population of all different ages while balancing the reality of making sure those opportunities are available for people born and raised in any number of communities in our state. To your point, not all the opportunities are for new residents, but for all of our existing residents as well. And I just think it's important, as you articulated, not just in South Carolina, but in any community, quite frankly, to be able to articulate those multiple truths simultaneously. Yes. Right. We we spend so much time sort of arm wrestling over which truth is more true, as opposed to saying multiple things can be true at the same time. And then in this case, for South Carolina, as it were. Also the case that you are leading an organization, right? You gave us the elevator pitch, but the sort of mission statement or a tagline or whatever it is, a community of leaders who make a lifelong commitment to creating a better future for all people in South Carolina. And again, count me in that number. How is the Liberty Fellowship, both you as the leader of the organization, your team, the fellows, what does that really look like to lean into this challenge of creating a better future for all people?

SPEAKER_03 16:53

You know, for us, it first looks like the activation of courage to introduce question marks. Right. You and I spend a lot of time shaping and sharpening how we see things, right? And we do that as friends, when we're sitting down, when we're solving something. And we do that within Liberty Fellowship, right? We really introduce the conditions by which you can invite multiple truths to exist at once.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

I love it, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:27

You pose the questions, you step back and reflect on what might or could or would have been your answer, and you say, I'm gonna step into this with exploration and curiosity because life has shifted, things are changing. I may have a limited viewpoint and perspective from what I've been exposed to or what I haven't yet seen, or what I may understand, or may not fully understand. And so, what I love about Liberty Fellowship is the best and brightest leaders in the world, they sit at the intersection of curiosity and civility. Because inevitably, Forrest, when you start asking those question marks and introducing the questions, you're gonna run into someone that's got a varying viewpoint, it's gonna push back and say, I don't see it that way, Forrest. But the beauty is that you understand civil discourse, you value it, you know how to engage in a way that's not gonna push me away because I have a varying viewpoint. It's actually gonna pull me closer because you're gonna say, tell me more. You're gonna say, Let's dig into this, and you're gonna do that with the hopes of seeking an understanding, not necessarily an agreement, right? You don't have to double-click and agree and co-sign, but that's what good leaders do. Good leaders understand that it's important to not only challenge the views of others, but to have enough courage to challenge your own views. And that's what Liberty Fellowship is all about. That's what you as a Liberty Fellow demonstrate day in and day out. And those are the types of behaviors and beliefs that we want others to emulate and replicate. And so I'm just really, really grateful that you're out here evangelizing and showing up in an authentic way and underscoring why it's important to do so.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

All of that is so important. I certainly hope personally that I'm I'm living up to those expectations. I hope that people will feel that. What I will say is this I don't know that I've put my brain around it in this way so clearly before, but listening to you talk, searching out that curiosity, even the discourse, obviously wanting that to intersect and layer with the civility piece. But what I find probably on some reflection is when I'm in rooms without curiosity and without some discourse, I get bored really quickly. Yeah. Or I find myself just like saying, like, you you all aren't aren't serious about changing this thing or solving this problem. And if we can't get curious, if we can't have some productive disagreement, if we can't have some courageous conversation. And and a lot of that did come from the fellowship in terms of my training and my my experience. But it's really interesting to think about that on the global scale as a leader, right? Either as a leader of an organization or in a community or of a movement, right? Our our willingness to push that way. You also use the phrase, and it's not lost on me. I know why this phrase is important, but I'm gonna ask you to say more about it. The activation of courage.

unknown 21:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

When I think of you, Tysley, and I I want to sort of finish on the personal side a bit here. Every time I have a chance to be in places and spaces with you, I leave thinking about words like hope and inspiration, but also courage. Uh, and I had never known this part of the story, but activation of courage isn't a phrase you come by randomly. Tell us when that entered your lexicon and how you have really, again, tried to live that out.

SPEAKER_03 21:32

Wow. So, like you, as a lifelong learner, I found myself in structured educational settings. And I was so blessed and fortunate as a student at Wake Forest to learn from the incomparable Dr. Maya Angelou.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

It's so cool. It's so cool. When I saw that in your bio, I had to go back and read it like four times. I was like, wait, what? What?

SPEAKER_03 21:58

Such a blessing. Such a blessing. And what I do as often as I can is I interject and introduce the wisdom of my teacher. My teacher deposited so much within me and other students and individuals around the world. And I remember being at what I thought was a really important decision moment. And I didn't know it was an inflection point. I had never been introduced to that term and that work. But I had a big question mark about what am I gonna do with my life and myself after I graduate? The degree can't be the only measure of success.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Dr.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

Angelou introduced two important truths. She said, first of all, it is important for you to identify being and living in a joyful state as the measure of success. You are seeking and searching joy.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

The only way you find it is through the activation of courage. Because to your point, the easy road is gonna lead to complacency, it's gonna lead to oh I feel comfortable. I may not feel joyous, enjoyable, but I'm comfortable. You know, it's not gonna lead to you feeling a peace that literally surpasses all understanding. Joy is something that comes as a result of you failing forward, not being concerned about missing the mark, because you know why? You stepped in and you did your best. You sent the signal that you wanted to win, to be chosen, to be promoted. Whether or not that is what happened is really irrelevant. What matters is that you got up and you stepped forward and you advocated for yourself, and you should feel really great and joyful about that. So that is the wisdom of the most amazing uh Dr. Mayan.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

I love it. I love it. Thank you for sharing that part of your story and journey. I I've got to bring us to a close here. I could talk for hours about all of these things. Let's take everything you just said from this sort of activation of courage standpoint. And I'm I'm also sort of reminded of like the be in the arena mindset, right? Like get out and do. And again, so many of our listeners are in the nonprofit philanthropic sector. Just apply that sort of logic and learning to philanthropy for a second, right? Whether that's giving, serving on a board, you know, volunteering, these sort of things. What's your call to action for folks listening here who who might want to get more involved in in philanthropy, in the nonprofit sector and social service work? How do we make that call? Because boy, do we need it right now?

SPEAKER_03 25:18

We desperately need it. And I think, Forrest, it's important to realize the work that it is heavy and it is hard. Right? Being about the business of positive change is heavy and hard. My suggestion is to lighten the load by forming and forging connection to people who share your values. Because when you show up and you're doing something with a friend and you're shoulder to shoulder and hand and heart connected to others, that you can draw strength and encouragement, there is power in solidarity. So, my recommendation and suggestion is don't try to do it alone. Find consultants who can provide guidance and counsel, find personal members of your board of directors, find volunteers who are also willing to bring others to the table with extra hands. Think of whatever it is that's before you as an invitation to invite others to be a part of your story, your passion, your pursuit. And in doing so, Forrest, I promise it might be heavy, it might be hard, but there's gonna be a lot of joy and a lot of happiness just being in the presence of good people and great friends.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

I love that. I love everything about it. And it's a it's a great note to wrap. And I appreciate you lifting up the heavy, hard descriptors of this work, right? I mean, it especially right now in the sector, times are heavy and hard. And the the only way forward is through uh and through together in in solidarity and in connection to others who are values aligned. I couldn't have said that any better. Tysley, I love having the chance to talk to you. A thousand seconds is simply not long enough. We'll follow up later. I promise. So good to see you, my friend. I hope we're in person somewhere together soon.

SPEAKER_03 27:55

Thanks, my friend. Super proud of you.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

Talk soon. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Thanks for listening to 1000 Seconds, a podcast by 1000 Feathers. This series is produced by Renley Wilson with original music from Emily McNally and support from the entire 1000 Feathers team. Learn more at one thousandfeathers.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook for future episodes.