00:00The concept of the crew grew out of my experience mentoring and coaching hundreds of women.
00:05One of the observations I've made is that we're often trying to be successful the hardest way possible,
00:11which is through our own work ethic and our own ingenuity and our own performance,
00:16when in fact a village of people lifting us up can make a world of difference.
00:22I really think it's important that each one of us have people in our lives that are being our cheerleaders,
00:27that we're being vulnerable with, that are helping us to create a plan, holding us accountable to that plan,
00:33and also helping us with the networks that we need and the capital that we need in order to make
00:38our dreams a reality.
00:39My name is Tiffany Duhu. I'm author of Drop the Ball and founder and CEO of The Crew.
00:45Today we're going to be talking about the importance of finding your crew.
00:48I think it's really important that we don't think of our leadership journey as a solo endeavor,
00:53but that we understand it as a team sport.
00:55So just imagine that you have a group of women who you're all climbing a mountain together,
01:01but you're tethered to one another to ensure that everyone reaches the summit.
01:05One of the ways that I've personally been able to achieve more by doing less is the launch of the
01:11crew itself.
01:13One of the hang-ups that I had in launching a new venture was that I don't have employees,
01:17I don't have a big team that I can delegate things to, but I have a crew.
01:21And so months before I wanted to launch, I literally sat down and created an Excel spreadsheet
01:26of all the things that I felt like needed to happen in order to get the crew off the ground.
01:31I thought about the members of my crew and their areas of expertise,
01:34and I put everyone's name down next to the task that was assigned to it,
01:38and I simply sent out emails that said, hey, look, I really want to launch something that I think can
01:43change the world for women
01:44and can support them in creating lives that they're passionate about.
01:47Can you do what is on this Excel spreadsheet?
01:50And if you can't, I think that I can launch.
01:52With 11 crew members who cared about me and the impact that I wanted to create in the world,
01:56I was able to get it off the ground.
01:58One of the pain points that I was hearing from women is that we often spend a lot of time
02:03with people who are like us,
02:04and it just happens organically. It happens naturally.
02:07I really encourage people to get out there, whether it's on social media, friending people, liking people,
02:12and developing relationships that can really get you outside of your comfort zone.
02:17But the most important thing for you to know is that if diversity of your crew is important to you,
02:21you're going to have to be intentional.
02:22And so the way that the crew works is that you apply to become a member and then we match
02:27you with nine other women
02:28who come from different backgrounds, whether that's socioeconomic, whether it's ethnic or racial,
02:34whether it's from a different religious background, political.
02:38You're matched geographically so that you can spend time together, get to know one another,
02:42and also support one another in your leadership journey.
02:45I think it's important that our crews are diverse across racial and ethnic lines, sexual orientation,
02:51but they come from different industries because we never know when we're going to need an accountant,
02:56when we're going to need an attorney, when we're going to need a marketing strategist
02:59in order for us to move our dreams forward.
03:03But the most important part is that each member of the crew is committed to her own personal growth and
03:08development
03:08and that of everyone else's collective experience.
