Might this headline reflect your life journey? It resonates as part of my own journey growing in wisdom and maturity. Remember being a kid, when the girl with braces seemed weird? How about the boy who brought kimchi in his lunch? Totally weird. And the twins who were adopted from Indonesia? So weird! As we age and see more of the world, we start to get a sense of its rich tapestry. We hear stories, we see beauty and atrocity, and we grow. Eventually, we approach unfamiliar people and cultures with wonder, not judgment. This is the joy of getting from weird to wonder.
As I interviewed Jessica Gleeson for the P&G Alumni podcast, she commented on the responsibility of a person working in two cultures. As an American running a business in China, she sees her role as bridging understanding and connecting people… and I couldn’t agree more!

Whether it’s bridging China and US, client and agency, diversity of background or thought, every leader owns helping our people (and ourselves) continue to evolve from weird to wonder.
Getting from Singular to Supported
Jess also spoke about the difference between mentorship and sponsorship, an important distinction. Mentors invests in us – they help us figure out who we want to be and where we want to go. We can share without filter because mentors listen and help us sift through the clutter. They help us develop skills to become the leaders we aspire to be. So, it’s super important to find a mentor who you can trust completely and who has your best interests at heart.
On the other hand, sponsors help us move into our next roles, they advocate for us. Sponsors talk about us when we’re not in the room and show up for us even if we aren’t in the room. We must be equally intentional about finding a sponsor; they must be in a position to help you. As well, a sponsor should be willing to speak up on your behalf, which means they need to have enough visibility to your work in order to speak meaningfully about it.
So, let’s get from Weird to Wonder and from being Singular to Supported!
To listen to the full podcast, click here and check out this page for all my podcasts (as host and guest!)