Learning to Lead Getting in Alignment
how many of you
have been fired show of hands
okay because i was afraid it was just me
okay
so in 2014 i finished grad school
and i got an amazing opportunity
in a big city at a large international
pr firm
and about six months after getting that
role
i was fired and i i went through all of
the things that folks typically go
through the embarrassment
and the shame and the sadness and the
self-doubt
and the frustration and that’s typically
what we go through
when we feel that we failed
luckily it didn’t take me long to
rebound
a few months and about a year after that
rebound
i landed at an organization that i’ve
been with for the last
five years i was recently
selected to serve as the executive
director of that organization
i am the first person of color and that
role and the first
black woman to serve in that position
but 2014 was an inflection point for me
in my personal growth and development
what it required me to do as
often happens when we have a setback is
to be introspective
is to understand what works for me
and in this process and in that journey
what i developed essentially was this
foundational um aspect if you will
a toolkit lessons in leadership
and first it really started off as how i
wanted to be engaged and
invested in as an employee and over time
it developed into what i would call a
leadership vision
how i wanted to show up for myself
and others if given the opportunity to
lead
so there are five lessons or my five
nuggets
as i call them
the first is creating opportunity the
second
is building trust giving grace
the third is building your own personal
board of directors
the fourth is advocating for self and
for others
and the fifth seeking growth
now this sounds really great but with
all tool kits you have to have a really
good tool box and that’s a foundation
and that foundation for me was getting
in alignment
and what getting an alignment looks like
typically we say is
all the things that we want right it’s
the blue sky
but it is equally as important to know
the things
that you want and it’s it is to
understand the things that you don’t
want
and the things that don’t work for you
and that’s what i was able to do in this
process
is to get in alignment and understand
what worked for me
what environment could be created so i
could thrive
and hopefully help create an environment
where others
could thrive so
the first after you get in alignment
after you build your foundation
is creating opportunity recently
someone shared with me when opportunity
knocks have your bags packed
when opportunity knocks don’t say wait
let me go pack my bags
be prepared as i shared with you i got
an opportunity
after i rebounded and that opportunity
was in montgomery alabama
i was living and working in chicago
illinois illinois is my home state
and if i could have told you how many
people told me not to come to montgomery
alabama
but i knew what worked for me
it was important for me to be in a space
with historical context
that impacted this country and the world
to be a part of something
greater than myself
to be in community i had to know
what worked for me i had to acknowledge
what opportunity i could take on
and that’s what i did
the second is building trust and giving
grace
building trust comes with intention with
consistency it’s not a flash in the pan
and how that translates into the
workplace is creating synergy
cultivating people understanding what it
takes for them to expand
and when we stumble and we mess up and
we fall and we skin our knee
to make sure that you are accepting
people with compassion
and understanding and understanding that
those falls and those stumbles
are a part of the greater process
and a part of our personal stories that
part is the grace
the third piece is building your own
personal board now it’s
critically important to understand that
this board should be composed
of mentors and sponsors and people who
are going to hold you accountable
find your tribe find the folks that are
going to tell you
honestly the things that you don’t want
to hear
and sometimes it will come with kindness
and other times it may seem a little
harsh
but it makes our backs strong it
fortifies
us it allows us to grow
i’ve been so fortunate to have
great folks on my personal board in the
formative years of my professional
career
a vast diverse group of individuals but
the
black women who are unabashedly honest
with me
who show up from me who tell me honestly
the things that i need to hear
who invest in their communities and
their families
they are the critical aspects of the
board
for me and i am eternally
grateful for them
the third piece
is making sure you
advocate for yourself
and for others
now in this
time of socio-political shifts
where we are understanding what advocacy
means
and what allyship means we must
first understand how
to show up for self how to ask for the
things
that we need and to get clear on those
things
to understand how to navigate
and shift
but first we must as always be
in alignment with self and once we’re
able to do that
we can speak up for ourselves and we can
speak up for others when they are not in
the room
boldly and ambitiously because that
is how change happens
now the last and final
piece in in all of this is
seeking growth
langston hughes writes life isn’t always
a crystal stare
and we will have our own set of
challenges
we will have setbacks we will have
obstacles
and sometimes it will be difficult to
navigate those things
but in all of those things
they are growth spurts and in every
growth spurt
you get to a different level and you can
see a little further
understand that all of this is part of
the process
of getting an alignment of learning your
lessons
of creating your toolbox
and the essential things that place you
exactly where you need to be
thank you