by Jesse Ford DL3 Public Relations Manager
This last weekend I was asked by our IPDD Jamie Pickering to be part of a discussion session at the Summit where I would be 1 of 4 on a “Leadership Panel.” She first asked me a few weeks ago and frankly, it caught me off guard. I have held roles in my corporate club and last year I was the District Logistics Manager, but I did not see myself exceedingly high on the 5 levels of Leadership I learned about at TLI. Now looking back I am proud of my experiences and where I am today.
To be straight forward I was worried because I have not been an Area Director yet and I feel like I am only just getting started when trying to figure out how I can best serve the District. Jamie assured me however that there was a reason for me to be part of it and with complete trust in her I can now say I am so glad I did. During the panel I realized that by my example I was showing a nontraditional path in leadership and that it is still something to be proud of. I am so glad I got the chance to share my experiences with my fellow panelists. Shout out to Nicole Gray, Allan Pickering and Denise McConnell.
By the end of the time we had on the panel it left me wanting to keep doing more and really hope it showed everyone that the District theme this year of “Run Your Marathon” doesn’t require us all to be sprinters or even hyper-competitive. It does however now mean to me that the most important piece is to keep moving forward. At the end of the session we all were allowed to give some final thoughts and I stand by what I said then and will say it again … If somebody asks me about how to take on a leadership role I would say, “Nike says ‘Just Do it’ but I think it’s more important for a leader to say ‘Let’s do it together.”
