Leading With Meaning at Every Stage of Life
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
By Wintress Odom
When I founded The Writers for Hire in 2003, I assumed my influence would extend to a small circle: a handful of clients, a small team, and the daily work of running a service business. Over time, I saw my influence widen.
Ripple Effects
I began to see how “small” decisions regarding how a company treats people, how it communicates, how it shows up under pressure can ripple outward through employees, client organizations, and the community.
That shift became tangible when I introduced a simple Pay It Forward initiative. For one month, I asked team
members to commit to doing one intentional good deed each week and sharing it internally. With roughly 25 people participating, the acts multiplied quickly, and the outcomes were notable.
The most surprising outcome was durability; the experiment didn’t end when the month ended, but it normalized a habit of noticing opportunities to help. For me, that was the lesson. Impact doesn’t have to be dramatic to be meaningful. It can be consistent, practiced, and multiplied through other people’s behavior.
Honoring Accountability
Influence, I believe, also comes with weight. Ownership can be isolating—“lonely at the top” is not just a cliché, it’s an operating reality. As a business owner, I cannot offload financial fears, client risk, or operational uncertainty onto my team and still expect them to feel secure enough to do their best work.
One of the quiet responsibilities of leadership, in my view, is emotional containment— carrying the stress privately so the workplace remains steady, focused, and calm.
I also treat “the buck stops here” as a literal part of my job description. The outputs of the business—client deliverables, hiring and training, public messaging, compliance, and overall quality—ultimately, my judgment. That accountability extends to culture, too.
Authenticity to Self and Team
I consider my most profound obligations to be the ones I hold toward my team. They are job stability, fair and prompt pay, meaningful work, and an environment my team can feel proud of. Those aren’t perks; they are promises that shape how I hire, manage, and plan for the long term.
Lastly, even with purpose and competence, leadership can be costly on a personal level. The business feeds some parts of my psyche—creativity, problem-solving, productivity under pressure—but it can starve other parts: rest, appreciation for art, nature, friendships, and family presence.
My solution to this is not a perfect formula; it’s a practice in boundaries. I plan time for family, which is non-negotiable. I avoid “half-parenting” and answering client messages during these times because it erodes relationships in small, compounding ways.
Systems of Support
After more than 20 years, I am now able to reclaim some pursuits I once postponed—not because leadership is easier, but because I built a team I trust. That is the long view I offer other women: lead with meaning, protect what matters early, and build systems and support so success doesn’t require self-erasure.
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