I am taking a leadership training class as part of my studies at Bizdom U. At the end of the course I should be able to understand 8 Leader ship Skills, and they are:
Vision
Presence
Adaptability
Deep Thinking
Personal Growth
Living the Culture
Talent Development
Communication Expert
I’ve been asked, as an exercise, to identify which of these skills I think I’m strong at, and which ones are opportunities for me.
My strongest skill is probably adaptability. I’ve always thought of myself as a really happy person. And, I’ve always attributed my happiness to growing up in a household where money was tight. Unlike, MY KIDS, who must constantly be reminded their last name is not Rockefeller, I never asked for anything from my parents. I knew upfront the answer would be “NO”. So I learned how to make my own “happiness”. As a little girl if I wanted something I figured out how to get it, or get over it. As a result I learned to adapt.
For example, when I decided to learn how to play guitar, it was pretty obvious to me that it wouldn’t be easy. But rather than give up, I learned really really simple songs that were really really good. AND I found a bass player who was AMAZING and could make up for my weakness as a musician. And I also learned that being in a band is about more than playing well—it’s about marketing, image and branding—things I was pretty good at. So I made myself a valuable player by being aware of my strengths, and finding others that were good at the things I wasn’t—and never getting stressed out. Being in a band made me happy—not being a good musician—I found ways to adapt.
I also think Personal Growth is one of my skills. Before I wrote a book, “Rock Star Mommy”, I never once dreamed of being an author. It wasn’t one of my goals in life, but I knew I had a pretty good story, even though I knew little about writing. After a lit agent explained having a ghost writer would be expensive and time consuming, I had no choice but to write the book myself. I paid a local writer to review my work, and positively embraced my entire editor’s feedback. I wrote a 200 page book in 4 months. After I wrote the book, I continued to grow as a writer and went on to write several magazine articles too.
As for opportunities, the two big areas for me to work on are Vision and Deep Thinking. I am pretty good at dreaming about BIG things—but dreaming is not vision. I learned you can “dream” about being in PEOPLE magazine, but without vision, it doesn’t add up to much. Folks see your picture for a week and talk about you—but what happens? Another PEOPLE magazine comes out the next week with new stories and you are quickly forgotten. I wish I had the vision in 2004 to have leveraged a big opportunity, like being in a national magazine, into making something else happen. I didn’t.
I need to:
Ignore the noise.
Make long term goals.
Focus.
Have reasonable, measurable objections.
I could also work on Deep Thinking. Before Bizdom, I spent most of my time being reactive—you know, reading my email and responding. Now I am working on being proactive. Thinking things through. Going deep. Looking for opportunities. I am figuring out how to make things happen for me, rather than waiting for someone else to come up with an idea for me.
I need to:
Dig deep in my problem solving.
Brainstorm with others.
Use research in my decision making process.
Having action items will hold me accountable to improving my leadership skills.
We were heartbroken to learn of the passing of our dear friend Catherine Darin.
