Learning how to lead
Guest post by Staci Stratton, Evening MBA 2014
She attended the MBA “Perspectives on Leadership” Speaker Series. The speaker was Colleen Brown, CEO of Fisher Communications.
Colleen Brown shared her thoughts on leadership and her personal journey to becoming CEO of Fisher Communications. She talked about how we are a combination of both predisposition and learning how to be a leader. She also said in many cases leadership arises out of necessity. For Brown, she was the eldest girl in her very large family and took on responsibilities like grocery shopping and laundry very early on. She said these experiences helped her to develop a “get it done” attitude she still has today.
She also shared her four important characteristics of leadership:
- Character: understand who you are and why you are who you are.
- Resilience: develop, if you haven’t already, the ability to get back up after rough periods, mistakes, etc.
- Commitment: be committed to who you are and what you believe in. It has the effect of being contagious to others.
- Continuity: develop consistency and continuity in your behavior, as this helps your people to know what to expect from you-no surprises.
Brown feels the most important decisions you make on a day to day basis are about PEOPLE, which is why it’s so important to know yourself and be consistent in your behavior.
Watch highlights from Brown’s talk. Here she covers the importance of consistency, Aristotle’s leadership insights, and how to minimize office politics.
The next speaker is Howard Behar, former President of Starbucks, on December 6. Learn more.
