at happens when you put together a humanitarian organization that serves the needs of the children of the world, a dynamic advertising agency, and a leadership development consulting firm? You get the trip I leave for right now. Leaving for the Dominican Republic tonight with a team from the Seattle based ad agency… known as HL2 to serve with Children of Nations. This is one of the coolest things I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in as it’s a team effort between HL2, Children of Nations, and Real Time Development Strategies to respond to the need in the DR, and in the process, help this team be intentional about learning from the experience. See you soon.
http://www.cotni.org/
www.hl2.com
www.realtimedevelopmentstrategies.com
An ad agency, a humanitarian organization and a leadership consultant…
Posted February 21st, 2010
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:41 am
Our Prayers will be with you! May you change these children’s lives!
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:41 am
Our Prayers will be with you! May you change these children’s lives!
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Leadership Live Assignment
Maurice McRae, Frances Perez, and Arin Kepler
It was our pleasure to meet with Michael Ramos, the executive director of the Church council of Greater Seattle. This non-profit organization emphasizes their commitment to reconciling justice and engaging congregations in order to witness and impact the world. Michael Ramos has a great heart and it was interesting to see his perspective along with his vision of what leadership truly is.
Michael talks about his role as a leader as a means to guiding the organization and promoting effective productivity. He seeks to provide an environment that enhances close relationships amongst the team he is working with. He also stresses the importance of finding priority in their work in order to be as effective as possible. He values viewing his work not only in the present but also looking ahead towards future possibilities.
We asked Michael what his challenges were in his current leadership position, which he has held for the past year and a half. His current challenges as a leader deal with the plummeting economy. Because so many families are struggling, the organization is having trouble fundraising, causing a decrease in resources. At the same the level of need has spiked because of the economic downturn so his main challenge is trying to manage funds carefully because need is greater than ever and resources are depleting. Michael wishes that he had more resources in order to better serve the community.
The last part of our interview ended with us talking to Michael about what advice he would give to the emerging leader. He responded by saying that as a leader, one should maintain his or her authentic self; that one should prepare to act with integrity in whatever steps are being taken to proceed. By maintaining that integrity, it will serve as the foundation from which all other work will stem from.
We ended our time with Michael by thanking him for meeting with us on such short notice and also encouraged him in his work. He gave us another opportunity to meet with him again in person in order to hear more about the organization’s vision as well as his own personal experience as a leader. He gave us business cards and directed us to http://www.thechurchcouncil.org for further information on ways to get involved in their mission statement, “grounded in faith, working for justice.”
It is safe to say that the three of us were blessed by our interaction with Michael. His vision for the organization and for the world is refreshing. He reminded us to stay true to our convictions and live an authentic life in service to others.
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:41 pm
We met with Erica Orahzda, the corporate team-builder for the Southwestern Company at the University of Washington. She leads a sales force of between 30 and 50 salespeople. She is a recent graduate, and has moved up the ranks fast in her company. Only three years ago, she was a low level sales person pushing widgets like 3000 other employees. Her first year her production was well below average. After making a decision that she was not going to let herself fail at this, she bounced back and ranked number 6 in the entire company. She also led a sales force that ranked number 25 out of over 400 the following year. Since then she and her team have continued to grow. Now her team is the highest producing team on the west coast and Canada.
The most prevalent theme throughout the entire conversation was how important and powerful the relationship aspect of her job is. “I strongly believe in being a good friend, whether you are their leader or just a co-worker”. She has noticed how people will often leave the company not because of how much they are paid, but because of the quality of the relationships they have in the company. One thing that could help her be more effective is having an office where she is constantly surrounded by co-workers. She usually spends her time interviewing possible employees, but not in a set office. If she could spend more time with co-workers, she feels that she could have a greater influence on them and stay motivated and engaged throughout the day. But she also realizes that anyone she interviews could soon be an employee. Thus she looks for people who she really wants to work with: courageous, sharp, high EI, relational, funny, and have pure motivations (wanting to get hired for reasons other than just money).
Her biggest advise to us was to have integrity in whatever you do. She makes it a principal to ask her employees to do something, only if it is something that she is doing or has done and will be willing to do again.
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:18 pm
The leader that we chose to interview was Jake Butler the manager of the Q Café, located on 15th Ave. in Interbay. Q Café is a non-profit café operated by Quest Church. Every month it donates 10% of its sales to some sort of charity. As a manager, Jake wears many hats that go beyond making coffee. He is charge of scheduling, hiring, firing, inventory, keeping track of sales, maintaining the space, coordinating rentals, and heading marketing.
Because he has such a wide range of duties, when asked the one thing that would help make him a better leader, he joked, “Other than an assistant?” On a more serious note, he explained that the one thing he wishes he had is more resources at hand. As a non-profit manager, he has to be very creative in order to cast vision with limited resources.
After some thought, the one piece of advice he said he would give an emerging leader is that, “self-awareness is key.” This means being aware of your strengths and weaknesses, as well as adapting accordingly. He further explained that a leader must be responsible, not just for themselves, but also for whom and what they are overseeing.
As our interview drew to a close, it became clear that self-awareness has been an integral part of his entire leadership experience. As a former SPU student, he was involved in STUB, he was a PA, and finally the VPCA. These roles taught him about his own strengths and weaknesses as well as providing him with opportunities to learn from others. Even his answer to our first question demonstrated strong self-awareness as he had a good understanding of his and the cafes shortcomings.
As the interview drew to a close we said we had just one more question, and asked him if there was anything we could do that would be of value to him, or if there were any burdens we could help relieve. He got really excited and brought out a box of 500 brochures/coupons to distribute to the surrounding neighborhoods. Though he was slightly hesitant to take us up on our offer, we excitedly assured him that we would love nothing more than to walk around and do just that. We did and had a great time, happy that we could actually do something to benefit such a great organization and Jake, who had enthusiastically helped us. Also, he gave us all fantastic iced coffees as a thank you.
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:23 pm
[this is in reply to our class assignment, not necessarily the blog post]
For our informational interview of a local business leader, we went up to the Starbucks on Queen Anne, to interview the shift supervisor. We asked her a series of questions regarding leadership, and below are her answers. In order to maintain privacy, we will not post her name. We found that a leader can emerge just because someone sees potential in them, even if they did not know they had it.
She has been working at Starbucks for five years, starting as a shift supervisor. She was discovered when a manager from Starbucks came into her store a lot, and kept telling her to apply at Starbucks. One of the days she decided to apply, and the manager put her into a leadership position right away. Most people do not start at the supervisor position, but need to be a barista first.
When asked what is one thing she wishes she had to be more effective as a leader, her answer: more time. She said that time is crucial, and she would like to have more one-on-one time with her employees. When they are on the floor, they are always working, and do not have very much time to tell someone if they are doing something wrong or right.
She was put into her leadership position without training, and was given duel roles, training to be a barista and a shift supervisor. She said that her one piece of advice for emerging leaders is to be upfront and let people know what you expect from them. A lot of times we think people know what we want from them, but they don’t, and it makes it easier for them if we let them know what we want.
She told us that at the beginning of her job, it was stressful to train people and supervise when she was trying to learn herself. She found that one of her strengths was to get things done on time and keep up on the schedule. A weakness she found in her leadership position is needing to be more upfront and letting people know what she expects, she has found that harder than expected.
When she first had the responsibility of other people, she found it to be stressful because if people messed up, she thought it would be more her fault. But now, she has gotten used to training people.
One interesting thing we found was that she did not have to work her way up to a leadership position, someone found the hidden talent in her, and gave her a chance. We talked in class about how people can take notice and say “I see a leader in you” and sometimes a leader emerges because someone believes in them. Maybe that happened to the lady we interviewed, but either way she looked very comfortable in her position.
Don’t always hav to work your way up, people can find your hidden talents. She was put into her leadership position and it helped her to learn her job more quickly because of the higher expectations that were being pushed on her to a higher level job. With leadership, she learned how to lead BY being a leader. You don’t necessarily need past leadership experience to be a good leader, but she was put into the job, and has excelled at it.
We explained to her the background of intentional listening, and told her how she can use that with potential discrepancies within the workplace. Also, we gave the address to this blog if she wanted to learn more about how to be a leader.
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:32 pm
We talked with Jason D. Davis who is the assistant manager for popular services at the Seattle Public Library. He oversees three departments: General references, Fictional Unit, and Periodicals/News/Magazines. He also meets with and is responsible for the work and development of the clerical staff. It’s Jason’s 9th year in this career, and although he is overseeing so many people, the first thing Kristin and I noticed was his apprehensiveness in thinking of himself as a leader! He was shocked that we wanted to ask him about his personal leadership. He said, “I’m not sure if I’m exaggerating in my work or what I do in my position, or if this is what you’re looking for…” Jason started off with as we sat in his office. After prompting him with some questions about his career and how his leadership story has developed over the years, Jason began revealing his responsibilities as one who makes sure 42 people are working effectively on the same page and happy at work. One of the most important things to remember in his job is that teamwork and communication are completely crucial in his job, because without it, three departments in the library would be chaos. Personally, one of Jason’s words of advice that really resonates with us was to treat everyone with the same quality of high standard and respect, and to appreciate and embrace diversity.
We were confused about what valuable piece of advice we could offer Jason. So instinctually, we decided to tell him what we have learned thus far in class. We told him about how leaders emerge in high pressure situations and stressed the importance of knowing what you (he) wants. We also told him about the benefits from seeing the big picture. Lastly, we explained how a leader must be knowledgeable of both sides when making a decisions.
-Rebecca Cheung and Kristin Unti
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:37 pm
We met with Michael Cheung. He is the Vice President, Senior Portfolio Manager of Fixed income investments for Washington Capital. It was interesting talking to him because he talked about the different things we have been discussing in class without our prompting.
While not using the specific words he talked about conviction versus connection. Michael stressed the importance of getting to know the people working under him. The most important piece of advice he provided us with was to “walk in subordinates shoes” so that you’ll know where they come from. Knowing where people are coming from helps in giving them opportunities to grow in their career. Michael stays true to his conviction by setting forth clear goals and expectations for those he works with. He knows what he wants and tries to convey that as clearly as possible to colleagues.
In the fast paced and intense business world Michael told us that he has found that honesty really is the best policy. He is upfront with those he interacts with about his values and convictions so that they can know what to expect. People want to work with people who they know what to expect.
Michael has worked every hard to get where he is in the business world but he told us that it is because he doesn’t view his career as a 9-5 job. He is passionate and loves what he does. He has strived to exceed others expectations.
In discussing the intersection of faith and career success, Michael advised us to avoid the common temptation of luxury. Too often, people begin to “wine and dine” as they achieve success and lavish themselves. Michael shared stories from his industry of people who succumbed to the temptation and ruined their reputation to the point that the locals still say “remember that guy…”
Overall Michael emphasized knowing who you then know where you want to go as a key part of his leadership experience. This knowledge helps him make the hard decisions that people look to him to make. The one thing that he thought would improve his effectiveness was to be a better writer so he could communicate better with others.
Brittany Harwell and Kevin McFarland