Today is the thirteenth day of the new blog series entitled Bring Your Leadership to Life! Join us throughout the month of March and beyond as we feature guest bloggers who share their perspective on how they bring their leadership to life! This blog series highlights the theme of the 2nd Annual Evening for Austin Leading Ladies, an event that SOS Leadership is honored to be hosting in partnership with The Concordia MBA on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 at Concordia University Texas. Learn more about this powerful event and register at www.austinleadingladies.com.
Narissa Johnson, a communications and community relations professional, has worked with nonprofits, information technology companies, and the federal government. A graduate of Leadership Austin’s Emerge program and recognized by GivingCity magazine as one of the “New Philanthropists”, Narissa is an active volunteer who believes in giving back to her community. She is one of the founders of the KarmaBadgers and a radio host on KOOP, the community radio station in Austin.
What if being a good person is how we apply our leadership skills In our daily lives? Think about the people who you consider good leaders – don’t you also believe they are good people? Are some of these traits the same? I sure hope so.
In the last few months I have been writing about “community leadership” and about organizations that refer to their executive team as “company leadership”. The traits we identify as leadership qualities are applicable in the boardroom and as volunteers in the community. These traits should also be represented in our daily lives.
While not always a successful, I am always striving to exercise the traits I feel are leadership qualities in my daily life by:
- Recognizing the impact of my decisions – my words, actions, and intent – have on those around me. Not just the people in my life, but the environment and my community.
- Holding myself accountable for the decisions I make – and course correcting when it is time.
- Sharing the benefit of my experiences and being open to connecting people or providing assistance where and when I can add value.
- Being mindful of who I spend my time with and the time of others when I seek to spend time with them.
- Seeking out people with different experiences and points of view – I do not always want to be right (wow… there is a confession!) but I want to understand other points of view and sharpen my understanding of the issues.
I believe I bring leadership to my daily life by asking: Do I give more than I take? And at the end of the day, am I part of making the lives of those around me more productive and happier? If I answer “yes”, then it’s been a good day.
Stay tuned in the days to come as the Bring Your Leadership to Life Series continues….