I Am A Leader: Ana-Cristina González's Thought on Leadership

Welcome to the I Am A Leader blog series, featuring leaders who make a difference. Today's guest blogger is Ana-Cristina González, Director of Stewardship and Development for Saint William’s Catholic Church in Round Rock. She holds a BS in Human Development and Family Sciences from THE University of Texas and a Masters in Communications and Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University. When she is not spending time with her amazing niece, she can be found enjoying the wonderful city of Austin, TX! 

I am told that anyone who speaks to me for more than 10 minutes will quickly learn that my faith and my family are the most important things in my life.  When I was asked to reflect on the most important leadership roles at this time in my life, those are the themes that popped up again.  I work for the Catholic Church.  This was not a lifelong goal; it was never a career that had entered the long list of things I wanted to be when I grew up, but when you are called, you are called, and you must answer.  My Catholic faith has shaped the servant leader in me, inside and outside of work.  It's leading people through serving.  It's getting your hands dirty and experiencing the situation along with your co-workers, those you supervise, your boss.  To put it simply, you're walking the walk not just talking the talk.  This helps build collaboration, creates a strong team, helps form a vision, and it shows those around you that you are willing to put in the hard work instead of ordering it out to others and sitting back for the results to come in.  It's challenging, but it is rewarding in so many ways.

This leadership role heavily influences what I see as being one of the most important roles of my life, being a Tía (Spanish for aunt).  I am blessed to be the Tía of my 7-year-old niece who is the love of my life.  I have been a mentor to youth before through non-profit organizations, but this is so different and so much more!  There is no doubt that we adore each other, but I want to be an example to my niece of what it means to be a strong, smart, successful, kind, generous woman in this world.  I want her to see that anything is truly possible and that there are people in her life who will be there to support, guide, and love her all along her leadership journey.  This holds me accountable in my role as a leader and as an important person in her life because I know she is watching me.  I know she is listening.  I know that she trusts me.  Everyday I am working hard to be the person that my niece thinks I am.  

Being the oldest in my family, I was always put in charge of things.  That didn't translate into leadership roles in my life until I went to college.  I went on a mission trip one year during Spring Break, and the friendships made on that trip literally changed my outlook on life but my also my role in the organization.  I was sought out to be a speaker on retreats, sit on planning committees, and eventually lead 30+ college students on a mission trip.  This mission trip is where I learned the best and hardest lessons of leadership.  Being the official leader of your peers puts the spotlight on you in so many different ways.  

• I learned how scrutiny increases, how your motives are questioned, how people tend to treat you differently (in good and bad ways), and how you lose your anonymity.  
• I learned you have to have people you trust to go to so that you can just be yourself, away from the crowd.  I learned that staying calm, cool, and collected (even when you aren't) will keep those around you calm.  
• I learned that even though you can address every doubt that people have about your decision-making, it's sometimes best to take a deep breath and keep moving forward.  
• I learned that communication is essential, that hard conversations have to happen, and how you treat people in those difficult times will address people's concerns and they will learn to trust you.  
• I also learned that innovation is a must.  New ideas bring about creativity that could catapult your organization to the next level or it could fail and you go back to the drawing board.  Either way, you're learning and that in itself is successful.  

The lessons learned from this leadership role have impacted every position I have held and every organization I have given my time to.  I learned how to use my role as a leader to advocate for those who didn't have a voice when I mentored and tutored at-risk youth at an Eastside elementary school, managed a child abuse prevention program, and spoke to the community about the importance of children and education.  I knew I had this passion, this desire to do more in the community but wasn't sure what to do with it.  That's when I applied for Leadership Austin's inaugural Emerge class.  There I met people just like me, wanting to accomplish the same things I did (in different ways), gathered together wanting to become better leaders so that we can create an even better community.  This involvement led me to leadership roles within the Emerge program and friendships that introduced me to great causes that I have become involved in.  It is so important to surround yourself with good people who will push you to be better and do more.  

I hope the legacy that I leave behind is one of perseverance and hope.  I would hope that people would say that I was someone who always stood up for what she believed in, that I was a woman of my word, and was always there for those who needed her.  I want to leave behind a legacy of the importance of education, discussion, and debate but within all those the importance of listening to one another.  I hope people would remember that I truly wanted to make the world, at least my little slice of it, a better place.  And of course, the legacy of being the best Tía in the world!  

A special thank you to Ana-Cristina Gonzalez for sharing her insights about leadership with us today! Stay tuned every Friday as the I Am A Leader blog series continues. Please share this blog post via Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Let's continue the conversation on Twitter using the #iamaLEADER hash tag! You can connect with SOS Leadership on Twitter here and Ana-Cristina Gonzalez here.

Check out all of the I Am A Leader blogs here!

Weekly Motivational Minute: The Seeds of Defeat

Every week, an SOS Leadership partner or friend shares a motivational minute about a different leadership topic. This week SOS Co-Founder, Bill Moyer talks about the Seeds of Defeat!

I Am A Leader: Kate Stoker's Thoughts about Leadership

Welcome to the I Am A Leader blog series, featuring leaders who make a difference. Today's guest blogger is Kate Stoker. Kate Stoker is the Immediate Past President and VP of Programs & Events of the Young Women’s Alliance, a professional organization that supports young women leaders through personal and professional development. 

Kate was a graduate of the 2009 Leadership Austin Emerge Class and currently serves at the Emerge Program Co-Chair. She also recently joined the board of The Creative Fund, a support organization for new artists in Austin. She is a mentor for Explore Austin, which works to increase confidence and teamwork skills for junior high girls through outdoor activities and is a member of the Association for Women in Communications. This year she was invited to serve on the Advisory Council of the Texas Conference for Women and was recognized as a Giving City New Philanthropist for 2012.

Professionally, Kate has worked both in sales and marketing at Dell since joining the organization in 2004. She develops creative strategy and campaigns for the Global Small & Medium Business segment, specifically acquisition and reactivation customer engagement programs.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin. Outside of her professional and community activities, she enjoys yoga, live music, hiking, anything outdoors, and traveling around the world.

We are human; thus, we are going to do our best to make positive changes in the lives and community around us, but we are also of course going to make mistakes. I’m not perfect; no one is.  It took me years to recognize that, as a leader, I could still be vulnerable and accept support. My key to being able to do this is the incredible people in my life because they are the ones that make it worthwhile. I’m leading them; it’s not about an issue, a project, or an organization. Rather it’s about the people that issue impacts, the people the project includes, or the members or supporters or the organization you’re a part of. 

I am by nature a doer, and I like being in the trenches. Delegation is something I only did when I had to and that was more about self-preservation than developing those around me. My leadership journey started with an organization called the Young Women’s Alliance. I joined in 2008 and hit the ground running because that’s what I do. I jumped into fundraising events for the organization, managing and planning one almost entirely on my own. I didn’t need a committee; I could do it all by myself. As a result, my perfectionist tendencies overshadowed the relationships and opportunities I had available to grow closer to others. My leadership success was based in results: funds raised, event success, checking off all my to do items first. Years later, my focus has shifted to the people part of leadership. 

Most of my leadership training, if you can call “on the job, real-time, think on your feet learning opportunities” training, has started with YWA. It was the gateway to my community involvement with other Central Texas organizations. It has also provided me with a network of amazing people that serve as cheerleaders, coaches, and friends. These relationships are my safety net, and I’m able to freely be brave and move out of my comfort zone knowing they’ve seen me make mistakes and celebrate successes and supported me the same either way. 

You probably didn’t force people to follow you; they chose to follow you. With that comes responsibility to those individuals as well as the causes and values you represent. Human nature is to want to contribute, to be valued, to matter. What others gave to me I have learned to pass on: the opportunity to be part of something bigger than they are alone. After all, without them what would all this be for?

A special thank you to Kate Stoker for sharing her insights about leadership with us today! Stay tuned every Friday as the I Am A Leader blog series continues. Please share this blog post via Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Let's continue the conversation on Twitter using the #iamaLEADER hash tag! You can connect with SOS Leadership on Twitter here and Kate Stoker here.

My Leadership Journey - The Concordia MBA

It has been a little over a month now since I have started on the path to obtaining my MBA. I knew I wanted to get my MBA even before I received my undergraduate degree four years ago from St. Edward’s University.

I was the first person in my family to graduate from college, and I knew when I walked across that stage in 2008 that my journey would not end there. After years of moving around from place to place, and after years of much research on what university would fit me, I finally decided on Concordia University in Austin, Texas. Their MBA program had everything that I was looking for including: a cohort style set-up, classes one night a week, two-year track, strong core values, spectacular professors and staff, and most importantly the focus on helping me to develop into a better leader.

I chose for my concentration to be in organizational leadership. Over the past year and a half working with SOS Leadership, I have come to realize how important it is to answer the call to leadership. I know that I am nowhere near reaching my full leadership potential, either professionally or personally. I understand that I need to continue to invest in myself, and that is why I decided to take on this new adventure, despite how busy my life already is.

I know this is going to be challenging, but it is necessary for me to become who I desire to be. A better husband, a better father, a better friend, a better employee, a better leader! I am looking forward to the exciting and new opportunities that will come my way in the future. I look forward to keeping everyone posted on my journey over the course of the next two years. Check back every month as I blog about my journey through the Concordia MBA program.

Weekly Motivational Minute: Becoming Requires Overcoming

Every week, an SOS Leadership partner or friend shares a motivational minute about a different leadership topic. This week SOS Co-Founder, Billy Moyer talks about how Becoming Requires Overcoming!

I Am A Leader: Nathan Green's Thoughts about Leadership

Welcome to the I Am A Leader blog series, featuring leaders who make a difference. Today's guest blogger is Nathan Green. Nathan Green is co-founder of campus2careers (c2c) and the Austin Young Chamber (AYC). c2c is the fastest growing entry-level job board on the net, while AYC is the second largest chamber in the city and the largest young professionals organization in the state. Prior to these endeavors, Nathan was the youngest executive at Pearson, a global 300 company, where he was responsible for their worldwide Talent Assessment business. Nathan began his career in consulting with Accenture, and has also held executive positions in two other Strategy and Technology consultancies. He is a two-time finalist for the Austin Under 40 Awards in the Technology category and led a panel on the future of Education at SXSW this year. Nathan is a graduate of Cornell University and started his first business in college, which he sold when his parents told him to get a real job.

Two weeks ago my wife and I had our first child, Asher Green.  As someone who has always (and often only) measured my self-worth based on my work ethic, and then business successes, fatherhood presented a unique challenge to my identity.  As the owner of a high-growth start-up and a self diagnosed workaholic, I knew I would need to find a role model/mentor to help me find balance in this next phase of life.  A week before Asher was born, my parents came to Austin to help out, and I realized that the leader I needed most in my life had been there all along.   

Growing up my dad ran a successful law-firm, but I can't remember a time where his work got in the way of something important to me or my family.  He figured out how to prioritize clients, cases, and his children.  And like any good leader, he surrounded himself with a great team, my mom, grandparents, and cousins who were always around to help.  

Here are a few things I have learned from the leader of my family (both nuclear and extended) that I plan to apply to fatherhood and you can apply to the work world:

- Learn to prioritize and invest in what matters most

- Give lots of praise and support

- Ask others for their opinions/make them feel valued

- Learn to delegate and empower others

- Help each person identify and develop their unique strengths

- Remove barriers for others so they can succeed

The best leaders, like good parents, are there to support their team, let each employee become the best version of themselves, and remove any barriers to their growth and the businesses development.   

My Leadership Path

I remember this moment vividly, I was 28 years old and one of the youngest managers at Accenture in NYC.  People had been telling me for a few years that I was on the path to Partnership.  I was being interviewed by the owner of a boutique strategy firm for a Director position and I felt completely unqualified.  After the interview, I asked him: What makes you think I am even qualified for this position?  He said, "sometimes you see things in others, you don't see yet in yourself."  It was then that he told me I was a natural leader.  

Since then, and perhaps because of his comments/belief in me, I had an even faster ascent up the corporate ladder.  At 31, I became the GM of Harcourt's worldwide Talent Assessment business, and the youngest executive at Pearson when they acquired us.  At 33, I co-founded campus2careers and the Austin Young Chamber of Commerce, two of the most widely known organizations in TX.  But the first time I really felt like a leader is when I was asked to speak at UT's MBA program to a room full of peers, people my age who actually had achieved a level of success (getting a graduate degree), I would never pursue.  

When I became GM of Harcourt's Talent Assessment business, I was definitely over-employed.  I went from managing projects as a consultant to managing my own P&L as a business operator.  I found that running a business is much more challenging because it requires both a long-term and short-term perspective. It also requires that you manage the people below and above you, which takes real leadership.  Up to that point, I believed all executives were leaders themselves and did not need to be managed.  I learned quickly that a senior title did not make someone a leader.  

My Leadership Legacy

I have often thought about what I would leave behind and for whom.  Before having my son, I would have said my legacy will be a business that I plan to pass down to my kids.  Now that I have a child of my own, the legacy I hope to leave is a stronger generation that can accomplish the goals and virtues we have not.  To help my children become the leaders that can help solve global issues like world hunger, war, and human trafficking.  A leader is only as good as the successor they pick for themselves, and I hope to have a family that improves on what my wife and I have both accomplished for themselves and for our society.

A special thank you to Nathan Green for sharing his insights about leadership with us today! Stay tuned every Friday as the I Am A Leader blog series continues. Please share this blog post via Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Let's continue the conversation on Twitter using the #iamaLEADER hash tag! You can connect with SOS Leadership on Twitter here and campus2careers here.

Weekly Motivational Minute: 4 Steps to Discovering Your Life Purpose

Every week, an SOS Leadership partner or friend shares a motivational minute about a different leadership topic. This week SOS Co-Founder, Bill Moyer talks about 4 Steps to Discovering Your Life Purpose!

I Am A Leader: Vivien Xiao-Yun Du's Thoughts about Leadership

Welcome to the I Am A Leader blog series, featuring leaders who make a difference. Today's guest blogger is Vivien Xiao-Yun Du. Vivien is a graduate student at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton, Texas, and serves as an intern for SOS Leadership. We are grateful for her hard work and dedication to developing leaders that make a difference.

I am an international student from China, studying to get my MBA at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton, TX. Meanwhile, I am an intern working at SOS Leadership Institute. Before I came to America to get my Master’s degree, I worked for Industrial Securities Company, China Merchants Bank, and Beijing Zhong Lianya Real Estate Develop Co. Ltd. Through the real experience of working with executive managers as well as other professional leaders, I have developed my own personal understanding of leadership, which is constantly evolving. Being in Texas for almost eight months and adapting to a new culture reinforced my definition of leadership in a more practical and realistic way.

“To become an able and successful man in any profession, three things are necessary: nature, study and practice.” - Henry Ward Beecher

Everyone is a leader by nature, at least in the sense of determining and being in control of their own life and destiny. Mastering time management, goal setting, self-control, and self-motivation are critical for individuals to lead themselves and others. 

It is often hard for people to improve their weaknesses, which makes developing into an effective leader difficult. One of the most common weaknesses leaders have is procrastination. Many people find it natural to procrastinate and can never seem to overcome it. 

Some leaders who use their time effectively and efficiently are great at accomplishing their goals, and find it easy to overcome their weaknesses. These people are what we usually define as being successful. Author C. JoyBell C once stated, “I feel that we are often taken out of our comfort zones, pushed and shoved out of our nests, because if not, we would never know what we could do with our wings, we would never see the horizon and the sun setting on it, we would never know that there's something far better beyond where we are at the moment. It can hurt, but then later you say 'thank you.' I have been pushed and shoved and have fallen out and away, so very, very, many, many times! And others around me have not! But then, the others haven't seen what I have seen or felt what I have felt or been who I have been, they can't become what I have become. I am me.” 

Some of the greatest leaders I know may be described as being: passionate, logical, positive, responsible, creative, and inspiring. These traits can be learned and strengthened through experience. 

There is a saying, “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” Leaders help others to become leaders. A key aspect of being a good leader is to be confident. If you lack confidence, how can you help others to trust in themselves? 

Take me for example – coming from a non-English speaking country, language is an obstacle that has been a hardship for me. I was feeling uncomfortable and frustrated at the beginning, and I was not really confident anymore even though I typically adapt well to new environments. The stress of graduate classes and socializing dragged me into a depression and even made me doubt my own ability. 

“Very often we are our own worst enemy as we foolishly build stumbling blocks on the path that leads to success and happiness,” said Louis Binstock. The most fortunate thing is I realized at that point that you have to build faith in yourself wherever you are and whoever you are at the moment. Like Charlie Chaplin said “You have to believe in yourself, that's the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world. I had to feel the exuberance that comes from utter confidence in yourself. Without it, you go down to defeat.” 

Day by day, I am trying to be confident in myself no matter what I say or do. Only when you believe in yourself can you truly impact the people around you and arouse their hope.

If you want to be a good leader allow yourself to be confident. Know that you can overcome your weaknesses. Leadership is an acquired ability. Leaders are not born; they are made! Have faith in yourself, continue to expand your knowledge about leadership and put what you learn into practice each and every day. 

I’ll close with one of my favorite quotes from the book Seeds of Success by SOS Co-Founders Bill and Billy Moyer, “If you do what you’ve always done, you will be who you’ve always been.” Know that you have what it takes to become a leader!

A special thank you to Vivien Xiao-Yun Du for sharing her insights with us today! Stay tuned every Friday as the I Am A Leader blog series continues. Please share this blog post via Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Let's continue the conversation on Twitter using the #iamaLEADER hash tag! You can connect with SOS Leadership on Twitter here.

You CAN Have It All...

Today I had one of those "AHA moments" about my own leadership journey. It came during one of the sessions with the SOS Gr8 Women Leaders Program when Heather McKissick, CEO of Leadership Austin and a long-time mentor of mine, shared her perspectives on leadership and personal growth.

Heather talked about the "all or nothing mentality" we sometimes get into as leaders. We think we have to do it all; we try to be all things to all people. We allow ourselves to buy into the notion that we can please everyone. Have you ever been there? I certainly have. I have mental images of myself in a Superwoman cape, and I fly off triumphantly into the sunset. Okay, not really. But I do get fired up about a lot of things, and I truly want to do them ALL well. I want to be the best wife and mother, the best at my job, the best professor, the best blogger, the best volunteer, the best advocate, the best runner (cyclist, triathlete, or whatever fitness kick I'm on), the best _____________ (insert 50 other goals here). And where does all this motivation lead me?

I get tired. Or overwhelmed. Or sick. Or all of the above at once. And then I have nothing left. In those moments, I curse myself for trying to do it all AND for not being able to do it all. I look around at others who seem to have it all together and think I'm not as strong as they are. It is then that I want to do nothing. I want to retreat from it all, to go into my cave and hibernate. I need a break. (And sometimes, during my lowest moments, I blame others for my "crash and burn." I can't see the reality of the situation that I created, and I want it to be someone else's fault.)

In these moments, I also remember a quote I share often, "Those who do not make time for relaxation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness." (John Wanamaker)  How often I share this quote shows my core belief that, "We teach what we most need to learn."

All of this links directly to something incredibly profound that my Dad, who has wisdom about so many things, often says to me, "You can have it all. Just not all at the same time." 

Today Heather talked about the "all or nothing mentality," and something clicked. This is not an all or nothing proposition. There's a balance I'm seeking and still trying to find in my life. I'm searching for the right balance of what matters most TO ME, without comparing myself to anyone else and without beating myself up when I don't attain an unrealistic standard that I set for myself. I am on a journey and am making measurable progress. I am learning and growing. I am striving to become a better version of myself, and when I look in the mirror, I am in awe of how far I've come. And, in this moment, I still know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the best is yet to come!

Read Heather's incredible article, Three Ingredients in the Secret Sauce of Resilient Leadership, to get more perspective from someone who truly walks her talk and commits herself to ongoing growth and learning.

**After re-reading this blog a number of times, I smiled when I realized that this blog is a continuation of what I shared in the book I recently co-wrote with my father and brother, "Retreat to Success: Living Your Life on Purpose." My character in the book is nicknamed Superwoman, and the book describes my journey toward discovering my purpose. This journey involves learning (time and again) that I'm not Superwoman, but I am called to be a leader - at home, at work, and in the community. The journey continues. Thanks for being a part of it.

Weekly Motivational Minute: Saying Yes to What Matters Most

Every week, an SOS Leadership partner or friend shares a motivational minute about a different leadership topic. This week SOS partner, Amber Fogarty talks about Saying Yes to What Matters Most!