My leadership journey
For this week, I would like to take some time to share my own leadership story. Keep in mind...I did not know a leadership story was even being written. It is in hindsight that I see its various chapters and verses. It started many years ago, in elementary school, of all places.
Our elementary school had a “safety patrol.” I honestly have no idea how students were selected for the safety patrol, but I was one of them. We were responsible for making sure students behaved in a safe manner – no running in the hallways, no pushing or shoving, and practicing good safety as a bike rider or pedestrian – it was not exactly a glamorous job. One day, there was a meeting for all the students in the safety patrol, and we were entrusted with electing officers. I have no memory of what happened, other than having to leave the room because I was nominated, and then returning to the room to discover I was the new “captain” of the Ehrhardt Elementary Safety Patrol. Bam. Evidently, I was a leader.
It is safe to say I was shocked to be chosen AND that such power went to my head. This position and the corresponding responsibilities certainly meshed with my desire to be a “rule follower.” Now everyone else could be a rule follower with me! I wasn’t a dictator or anything, but I did take my job seriously.
One day, there was an older sibling of an elementary student (maybe someone in late middle school or early high school) who was near the front door of the school, after the students had left. I was on duty, and I had just said goodbye to the last students as they navigated the crosswalk toward home. As I entered the building, this girl spoke to me, offering me some foreign substance.
Now I was in 5th grade in an era much different than today. I had never seen drugs, but I knew what happened to a brain on drugs (cue the egg frying in a pan video). My basic understanding was that drugs were bad and illegal and should be avoided. I told her I was not interested, and because this situation seemed beyond my pay grade, I immediately went to the office and told the secretary about my encounter. (What happened after that? I have no idea. I went home without a worry, because I had carried out my responsibility and had shared the problem with a person I fully trusted to solve it. This may be anticlimactic but keep reading. It will make sense.)
As I continued through school, my experience was that leadership opportunities were presented to me frequently, even if I did not recognize them as such. This happened in school with extracurricular activities – I was nominated and elected to positions of influence. This happened in youth group, too. At times, it felt a little burdensome, as though I had to “live up” to the expectations of others. While those expectations may be unfair or unhelpful at times, overall, feeling the responsibility of leadership (although I would not have called it that at the time) led to me making good decisions and staying out of trouble.
Even when there was not a title involved, I tended to do leadership type things. As an early career high school teacher, I learned about the Gold Star and Blue Ribbon awards that schools could pursue. What a great way for my school to achieve recognition for the good work our teachers and students were doing! Along with a friend and colleague, we organized a team of teachers and staff members (almost all of whom were much more experienced in education than we were!) to gather evidence and complete the lengthy application. Earning the Gold Star from that process remains one of my favorite career highlights. We were leading, but leading was not the goal. The goal was doing the work necessary to be excellent and leading our students on a path to success.
After eight years teaching high school, I transitioned to higher education. I started as an instructor, which is almost the lowest faculty rank possible. At the start of my career in higher education, I did not have a doctoral degree. I was low on the totem pole, but I was fine with that. My attitude was simply: do what’s given to me to the best of my ability and treat people well along the way. As it turns out, that simple approach gains the attention of others.
In 18 years at one institution, I held three different faculty ranks and five different titles. Every title change (I.e., promotion) was offered to me; I pursued none of them. My dissertation was on the experiences of female senior leaders at Southern Baptist Colleges and Universities. After interviewing 20 women leaders (half of the group of women leaders at that time), I formed several conclusions, including the following:
Women senior leaders in SBCUs are likely to be promoted from within and to be “known” candidates to the institution.
Women senior administrators in SBCUs do not follow the traditional career pathway through the academic ranks.
Women senior administrators in SBCUs face all of the barriers that are found in the literature related to women in leadership, with some additional barriers that are specific to SBCUs.
Although there are many factors that contribute to the success of women leaders in SBCUs, presidents play a key role in creating institutional culture that welcome women in leadership roles.
After completing this study in 2010, I had the very surreal experience of living it out. I was promoted from within many times. My pathway was non-traditional, and I faced similar barriers as other women leaders in SBCUs. In addition, I will forever be grateful to the president (and other key leaders and supervisors) who made a way for me.
What I have come to understand is that my experience is consistent with what Herminia Ibarra described in Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader. Ibarra stated:
I have found that people become leaders by doing leadership work. Doing leadership work sparks two important, interrelated processes, one external and one internal. The external process is about developing a reputation for leadership potential or competency; it can dramatically change how we see ourselves. The internal process concerns the evolution of our own internal motivations and self-definition; it doesn't’ happen in a vacuum but rather in our relationships with others. (p. 4)
When people do the work of a leader – whether they have the title or not (and maybe especially if they don’t!) - others see them as a leader, and they develop a reputation as such. There are so many examples in my own life of leadership moments that I had no idea were leadership moments. It was only in hearing the words of others that I realized I had led. I then adapted the identity of a leader over time, and through relationships with family, friends, and colleagues, I came to understand who I am as a leader.
It’s really problematic when a person has the leadership title but does not do the work of a leader. In this case, there is also an important spark – the credibility of that leader in the eyes of others significantly suffers. Unfortunately, this is the kind of spark that can burn down a leadership career without a concerted effort to “do leadership work.”
Don’t worry about titles. Instead, do the work of a leader, and become one. Let ABL Wise Consulting help.
