My Challenges And Successes In Leadership
I have been very fortunate, as my life has been rich with leadership opportunities since I was a little. Started from middle school when formulate directions clearly and effectively in boy scout - to give guidance, instruction, and mentorship in high school's debate club.
In university, I was elected either by students or faculty to some very visible leadership positions including: Student Council President, Campus Magazine Co Editor and Varsity Club President. I just had an innate way of motivating people to do better as well as developed communications skills, even at that age. Much of leadership is the willingness to mentor. When I ran in university, I was decidedly our best long distance runner. During a track meet, our squad was winning by a large margin. For the two mile race, I made decision to allow runner from the competition to beat me so that I could coach another team member. I ran alongside him for eight laps, offering encouragement. At the finish, I slowed, allowing him to come in third place and score points for our team. He was elated to have the chance to score in a meet. I met with some criticism for not being competitive enough allowing three people to beat me when I could have easily won. Instead I examined the risk (our team could not lose, regardless of the outcome) and chose to coach another, allowing him to feel triumph and a sense of contribution. I think that is part of being a successful leader.
In my current position, Research Executive, I do not have a named leadership role. I do have responsibilities as a situational leader, where I have to make quick, informed decisions for research issues and concerns. I lead the team that develops and reviews research policies and develops staff competencies. I also have privilege and responsibility of delivering professional training to the research staff. Some of training sessions I have developed and lead are: Incident Command System, Professionalism and Buy In. Last, but certainly not least, I conduct information presentations for managing director members.
In summary, I have always enjoyed the challenges and successes within leadership roles. Starting in my youth and extending into hobbies, I seek out and take on additional responsibilities with the focused goal of making things better than when I got there. Whether I contribute as a named leader, team mentor or subject matter expert, I make a point to do my best work and bring my team along with me. I encourage active participation and pride in whatever organization I work with and start that process by setting example. I try to take the mystery out of the art of management by communicating my thought process and sharing my goals.
In the end, I hope I am thought of as a purveyor of this wonderfully austere idea from Colin Powell: Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.
