I sat across from a woman who has experienced a great journey as a leader. This woman is no stranger to a diligent work ethic. While having two children under the age of three she finished her undergraduate degree in accounting. As if this wasn’t a big enough challenge she then completed her MBA while having three kids under the age of four.
Having three kids under the age of four is hard enough, but through great tenacity and persistence this woman accomplished what she did academically. This was only the beginning of what those traits brought to her.
Jo Biggers who now is the Vice President of Finance and Administration at CountryMark shared many lessons about leadership that I was able to learn during our time together. At the point in her career where she had four children at home she switched from public accounting to a role at Delco Remy and Magnequench where she served for many years until moving to MISO which eventually provided her the opportunity to lead as a Vice President.
I asked Jo what she would say are her top three leadership principles and through our conversation I gathered the following:
- Lead by example. The hard work she modeled both at work and home transferred not only onto many of the employees she led, but also at home. She has hard-working adult children who are independent because of her example. Biggers believes that if she expects others to do something then she should be modeling that behavior and serve as the example. When leaders are modeling what they expect they will attract the kind of followers they desire.
- Self-awareness. Ms. Biggers shared a challenging situation she encountered at one company. Through this situation she had the opportunity to see two very different approaches to leadership. Eventually this situation negatively impacted her. Through conversations with her coach and an increased self-awareness she realized the way she was leading was not how she desired. This became a pivotal moment in her career when she switched from being a micro-manager to a leader who empowers others. This occurred because she was open to growth and feedback that increased her self-awareness. Because of this revelation she builds an empowered team by asking them “who did you talk to?” to assure they have buy-in and are collaborating with one another.
- Culture. Through her transformational experience over time at a previous company she realized the importance of culture in leadership. Previously Biggers believed people never do enough and are kind of lazy. Over these later years in her career she has realized she gets better results by trusting her people to do the job at their highest possible level of ability. When leaders create an environment of trust others are empowered and not living in fear of being fired or striving for constant recognition.
As we concluded our time together I asked her to share with me any thoughts she would share with female leaders and she had two major thoughts:
- Let the guilt go. As a mother she struggled with guilt because she worked outside home. She is wired for that and that is ok. You are not an inferior mother because you work outside of the home. Use your strengths to lead well both at work and home.
- Work hard. Similar to another female leader I have learned from Jo said you have to work hard and continually improve personally and professionally. Always be growing.
One final thought which I thought serves as a great reminder to all leaders was: “When in a position of power you have to be careful all the time.” Whether a coach, parent, teacher, CEO, Vice-President or whatever position of leadership we hold, people are always watching so use your influence in a way that will continually add value to others. Whether people see you or not, do the right thing and this will be a non-issue.
What about you? Do you micro-manage or do you lead? What does the culture of your organization or team tell you since it will be a reflection of your leadership? What example are you setting for those you lead? Continue to grow and become more self-aware so you can lead well at work and home.
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