ARTICLE
How do you lead? Often, I am asked how do I lead the Chamber and what specific skill sets do I bring to promote the Chamber’s Mission? I always respond with the same message — I lead by example, never asking a colleague in the office, a board member or an associate to do something that I would not do myself regardless of the task. One of our Leadership Forum keynote speakers wrote this blog about her experience early in her career, it inspired me to think about one of my leadership roles. Take a look and read this thought-provoking piece from Shellye Archambeau about risk and opportunity. https://shellyearchambeau.com/blog/2018/3/16/risk-and-opportunity Years ago, as the Chief of Staff to a US Congressman, my colleague stepped into my office, almost in tears and said, I can’t work with the new intern we hired. I paused and asked why because during the intern’s interview everyone who spoke to this young man believed he was the most qualified, articulate and best dressed intern of the bunch. Every year, especially during the summer months, Congressional offices in our Nation’s capitol and in district offices hire interns to do the day-to-day administrative work in a busy office. The tasks are not always glorious, but the learning experience is worth gold because if you perform your internship duties well, it can lead to future employment or a letter of recommendation from the Congressional office. As my Congressional colleague and I spoke — she alerted me that “this young man thinks he is too smart to file paperwork or answer the phone.” After listening to my colleague’s plight of frustration I called the intern into my office. He sat down at the conference table and I said, “Do you know why I called you into my office?” Looking puzzled he had no answer. I explained to him it was his lucky day, he gets to work with me. His eyes lit up as if it was a Christmas gift from the Congressional internship heaven high above, thinking how special it would be to ‘work side by side with a Congressman’s COS. Trust me, it was not glamorous, it was the requirement of my leadership role. I told the young intern we have a busy day so let’s get started. First things first, let’s bring a cup of coffee for the senior volunteer at the front desk who comes every morning 9 AM sharp to answer phones and open the day’s mail. (That was when mail was delivered daily in a huge USPS tub as Congressional offices received hundreds of letters each day). Shortly after delivering the coffee, I advised the intern, our next job is to sort through the mail and hand deliver it to the respective staff person responsible for the topic — social security, health care, veterans benefits, immigration case work, IRS tax complaint, local city, county issues, etc. all would be handled locally by the district staff. The second batch of letters relative to legislative policy would be sorted again by issue, logged into the spread sheet and then mailed by pouched Congressional mail to our Capitol office. After an hour of sorting the mail, I asked the young intern if he had any questions. He nodded no. I said great, now let’s help the staff with filing their congressional correspondence in our archived file system by category and date. This filing process was manually done — there was no I-cloud or Google file system back in the 1990s. As we finished the filing, the young intern asked if he could take a break. I said yes, but to be back here in 10 minutes as it was time for him to shadow me as I embarked on the rest of the day’s meetings outside the office: A presentation to a senior citizens center; a rotary luncheon speech; afternoon briefings with local government officials on two highway improvement projects in the district and a late afternoon meeting with an environmental organization about a policy issue that was coming before Congress the following week. The time was nearing 4:30 pm when the young intern asked when me when does my day end? I said that it was just beginning with a 5:30 pm reception for a retiring Veterans officer, followed by the annual Chamber dinner starting at 7:00 pm that would most likely end about 10 pm. I asked the intern if he wanted to continue with me for the evening’s events. He declined and went home. The next day, the young intern came in at 9:00 am as the office opened. He peaked in to see me in my office — I had been at my desk since 7 am so I could brief the Congressman on local issues — note this weekly call was always at 6 or 7 AM West Coast time to ensure the conversation took place well before the Congressman’s DC schedule got away from him. I asked the intern if he wanted to shadow me again today, he politely declined and asked if he could work with our congressional staff instead, saying it was too much for him. I returned him to my colleague and advised her that the young intern wanted a second chance. It turned out to be his best decision, as my congressional colleague taught him about the inner workings of Congress and how a one staff person can make a difference in a constituent’s life through service. He became one of the better interns that summer and yes, he did receive a letter of recommendation for his hard work. If you work in a leadership role at your business, your company or department, take a moment to reflect on all those around you. There is no job too small that a leader should take on when necessary and no job is more important than to teach another colleague. That is leadership. One way to learn about leadership is to ask positive questions and listen to a leader’s answer. Come join us and listen to our keynote speakers and a panel of local leaders as they share their stories. See you at the upcoming April 4th Leadership Forum
How do you lead? Often, I am asked how do I lead the Chamber and what specific skill sets do I bring to promote the Chamber’s Mission? I always respond with the same message — I lead by example, never asking a colleague in the office, a board member or an associate to do something that I would not do myself regardless of the task.
One of our Leadership Forum keynote speakers wrote this blog about her experience early in her career, it inspired me to think about one of my leadership roles. Take a look and read this thought-provoking piece from Shellye Archambeau about risk and opportunity.
https://shellyearchambeau.com/blog/2018/3/16/risk-and-opportunity
Years ago, as the Chief of Staff to a US Congressman, my colleague stepped into my office, almost in tears and said, I can’t work with the new intern we hired. I paused and asked why because during the intern’s interview everyone who spoke to this young man believed he was the most qualified, articulate and best dressed intern of the bunch.
Every year, especially during the summer months, Congressional offices in our Nation’s capitol and in district offices hire interns to do the day-to-day administrative work in a busy office. The tasks are not always glorious, but the learning experience is worth gold because if you perform your internship duties well, it can lead to future employment or a letter of recommendation from the Congressional office.
As my Congressional colleague and I spoke — she alerted me that “this young man thinks he is too smart to file paperwork or answer the phone.” After listening to my colleague’s plight of frustration I called the intern into my office. He sat down at the conference table and I said, “Do you know why I called you into my office?” Looking puzzled he had no answer. I explained to him it was his lucky day, he gets to work with me. His eyes lit up as if it was a Christmas gift from the Congressional internship heaven high above, thinking how special it would be to ‘work side by side with a Congressman’s COS. Trust me, it was not glamorous, it was the requirement of my leadership role.
I told the young intern we have a busy day so let’s get started. First things first, let’s bring a cup of coffee for the senior volunteer at the front desk who comes every morning 9 AM sharp to answer phones and open the day’s mail. (That was when mail was delivered daily in a huge USPS tub as Congressional offices received hundreds of letters each day). Shortly after delivering the coffee, I advised the intern, our next job is to sort through the mail and hand deliver it to the respective staff person responsible for the topic — social security, health care, veterans benefits, immigration case work, IRS tax complaint, local city, county issues, etc. all would be handled locally by the district staff. The second batch of letters relative to legislative policy would be sorted again by issue, logged into the spread sheet and then mailed by pouched Congressional mail to our Capitol office. After an hour of sorting the mail, I asked the young intern if he had any questions. He nodded no. I said great, now let’s help the staff with filing their congressional correspondence in our archived file system by category and date. This filing process was manually done — there was no I-cloud or Google file system back in the 1990s. As we finished the filing, the young intern asked if he could take a break. I said yes, but to be back here in 10 minutes as it was time for him to shadow me as I embarked on the rest of the day’s meetings outside the office: A presentation to a senior citizens center; a rotary luncheon speech; afternoon briefings with local government officials on two highway improvement projects in the district and a late afternoon meeting with an environmental organization about a policy issue that was coming before Congress the following week.
The time was nearing 4:30 pm when the young intern asked when me when does my day end? I said that it was just beginning with a 5:30 pm reception for a retiring Veterans officer, followed by the annual Chamber dinner starting at 7:00 pm that would most likely end about 10 pm. I asked the intern if he wanted to continue with me for the evening’s events. He declined and went home.
The next day, the young intern came in at 9:00 am as the office opened. He peaked in to see me in my office — I had been at my desk since 7 am so I could brief the Congressman on local issues — note this weekly call was always at 6 or 7 AM West Coast time to ensure the conversation took place well before the Congressman’s DC schedule got away from him. I asked the intern if he wanted to shadow me again today, he politely declined and asked if he could work with our congressional staff instead, saying it was too much for him. I returned him to my colleague and advised her that the young intern wanted a second chance. It turned out to be his best decision, as my congressional colleague taught him about the inner workings of Congress and how a one staff person can make a difference in a constituent’s life through service. He became one of the better interns that summer and yes, he did receive a letter of recommendation for his hard work.
If you work in a leadership role at your business, your company or department, take a moment to reflect on all those around you. There is no job too small that a leader should take on when necessary and no job is more important than to teach another colleague. That is leadership.
One way to learn about leadership is to ask positive questions and listen to a leader’s answer. Come join us and listen to our keynote speakers and a panel of local leaders as they share their stories. See you at the upcoming April 4th Leadership Forum