I read for fun almost daily when I was growing up. In recent years, with life happening like we all have, I have not read as much as I’ve wanted to – and I’m working on changing that with a little reading each day. October happens to be National Book Month, so it is timely to highlight some inspiration from a book on leadership development.   

“The role of a leader is not to come up with great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.”   

Excerpt from Raise Your Game: High-Performance Secrets from the Best of the Best by Alan Stein 

When I first came into major leadership roles, I had a view that the best leaders, like the mentors I emulated, were the ones who had all of the great ideas – because they did! For many years, I did not feel like my strength was being a super innovative person, which honestly diminished my confidence. This quote speaks to how wrong I was about that, and I reflect on it still!   

Reading this established the norm for me of the critical importance of three things as a leader: the culture you create by ‘walking the walk’ (actions), surrounding yourself with people that bring unique strengths/experiences that make the group better and complement each other, and being smart enough to leverage all of this well to do great things together. I have directly applied this in my daily work as a leader of a large cancer genetics team, and it has paid off in more ways than I can count.  

A volunteer leadership position, such as leading our Board of Directors, is a different leadership experience – primarily because this is not a classic employer relationship, and we have set goals through our Strategic Plan that guide us. However, if the environment is not created for all members to feel heard and valued, the efficiency of work and actual execution will not be realized.   

I reflected on this quote for my work as President this year and focused on creating an environment for our Board where each member truly feels that their input is valued. Additionally, making space for time to thoroughly consider and discuss the issues at hand, which allows for creativity that inspires great problem solving. I am so proud of our Board and the work we’ve accomplished so far. I don’t think it would have been possible to achieve this level of productivity without this environment we created together.  

The point, that I hope is obvious by now, is that growth will not happen and nothing would be as successful if we don’t make space for different viewpoints at the table, if we don’t make time to consider alternatives,  and if we don’t value the strengths that others bring because of their unique lens.  As a part of our NSGC values and mission, we emphasize the importance of having different perspectives, leadership and working styles, identities, and lived experiences in our community. We all need to strive towards ‘walking the walk’.      

As a sidenote, if you are thinking ‘does she ever read anything brainless?’, yes, I do! I would love to sidebar with any of you that want to share some of those recommendations too. But this message today is to keep reading, keep learning, keep growing in appreciation of different perspectives – professionally and personally. Part of what brings many of us to this profession and community is that we value these things!  

A great upcoming opportunity to keep learning and growing is our Annual Conference, and I look forward to seeing many of you in Seattle! To this point, I wanted to highlight an opportunity at this year – our Community Connections Reception, Saturday Nov. 8 from 5-6pm PST in the Exhibit Hall. Join the J.E.D.I. Stewardship Committee for a networking reception focused on fostering inclusive community within NSGC.   

One of our wonderful Directors at Large, Aarin Ables Williams, is excited about the Annual Conference and will tell you more about it in the attached video – happy viewing!  

---