Thanks Ryan for the great post on making the most of leadership opportunities, especially the opportunity to observe great leaders in action. And, although I really ought to be working on reports or any one of my upcoming presentations, your post got me thinking about how some of those opportunities may crop up where and when we least expect.
One night in mid-October 2010, I had a dream in which my dad came to me and told me that he wouldn't be able to come for Thanksgiving dinner that year (it had become a tradition that I hosted the day's festivities). Anyway, I told him "no, you have to come. I want to show you everything I've gotten done at my house – my new washer/dryer" (I was recently single then). He said, "no, you show your mother, she'll just have to tell me about when I see her, I can't make it this year, I have to go". And then he said, "oh, don't forget to look for the door" and I said, "what door, dad, what door?" and he said, "oh, kid, they always leave a door." And then I woke up …
… and two days later he died.
Certainly, choosing to accept a leadership role within our Association is, for all of us, a door – an opportunity - that has opened up a great many other doors, both personal and professional. It's obvious – that's very likely why we have chosen to "step on through". But, I don't think that's "the door" that my dad meant.
I believe, now and then, that he was telling me to keep an eye out for all the little, too often-overlooked opportunities - a chance meeting, a new acquaintance, a seemingly simple question, a post on a Community site to take action, a "what if" or " I wonder" moment. All "doors" that can have a profound effect on our lives, including how we behave as leaders, enabling us to react to challenges in a positive manner and to be proactive with respect to our and ASHA's Envisioned Future.
Buttonhole me sometime and I'll tell all of you all about some of the moments in my life that are my DOORS – when I learned something I didn't even realize that I needed to learn. Moments great and small, some good and some not so much that have shaped me as a person, a practitioner, a teacher and a volunteer leader. Even, for example, how a dad's passing reminded me to keep moving forward, keep doing the work, keep learning, and keep an eye out for those doors.
Think about it – you know that they're there- "they always leave a door". What's one of yours?
Thanks,
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Jeanane M Ferre, PhD
Audiologist, CCC-A
Chair - Board of SIG Coordinators (BSIGC)
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-03-2018 09:28 PM
From: Ryan McCreery
Subject: Making the most of leadership opportunities
Hello ASHA Leadership Academy Community Members,
I want to thank Dr. Augustine and the Leadership Academy for inviting me to share a brief post about leadership. This week, you will be seeing posts on the Leadership Academy Community from a diverse group of leaders. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share a little about my own leadership journey and hear about how it might resonate with your own experiences.
I am the Director of Research at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. In addition to running my own laboratory where we study perceptual development in children with hearing loss, I oversee the five research centers that comprise the research program at BTNRH. I started my career as an audiologist at BTNRH working in the clinic. One question that I receive often is how did I end up moving from a clinical service provider to Director of Research?
There were a lot of things that contributed to my career path, including going back to school to get a <g class="gr_ gr_1273 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation multiReplace" id="1273" data-gr-id="1273">PhD</g> after practicing for 7 years. But, I would say that there are three things that were critically important in my leadership development process:
1) Identify the skills you appreciate in a leader and take advantage to develop your own portfolio of leadership skills. Working with great leaders can teach us a lot. I've been lucky enough to have great bosses and mentors over the years. I've learned and borrowed something from each of them that I try to apply <g class="gr_ gr_2413 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="2413" data-gr-id="2413">to</g> the leadership opportunities that I have had.
2) Let your work speak for itself. When I am looking for the next generation of new leaders for my organization, I tend to give a lot of weight to the people who are working hard and doing high-quality work. These individuals might not be actively seeking leadership opportunities, but they are putting in the time and effort that it will require to develop as a leader.
3) View leadership development as an unending process. The previous Director of Research at BTNRH served in that role for over 35 years. One of the most valuable lessons I've learned from working with him was that leadership development is an on-going process. He took every new challenge as an opportunity to grow and develop as a leader.
What experiences or themes have defined your own leadership development process? I will look forward to hearing from the members of this group.
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Ryan McCreery
Director of Research
Boys Town National Research Hospital
Omaha, NE
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