Leading with Passion, Agility and Resilience

FountainBlue's February 17 When She Speaks program, on the topic of 'Leading with Passion, Agility and Resilience'. Please join me in thanking our esteemed panelists:

• Facilitator Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue

• Panelist Sona Mahavni, Director of Software Engineering, Aruba

• Panelist Susan Norton, Senior Director, Human Resources, BOLD

• Panelist Karen Sun, Senior Director, Partner Marketing, Coupa Software

Our passionate, agile, and resilient leaders were inspiring and informative as they talked about their leadership paths to date and the challenges and opportunities offered to everyone in this time of great change. Below is a summary of their advice and suggestions.

Be Strong, Confident and Passionate, despite the circumstances.

• Know yourself and the value you bring through your own skills and experience. 

• Know your knowns and your unknowns and work backwards, forwards and sideways to plan for future scenarios.

• Be opportunistic and creative around problem-solving, so you can secure the resources you need to do a job well.

• Proactively create a strawman approach and fail forward, learning as you go.

• Become more comfortable with ambiguity, for change happens quickly, and one must assume some risk in order to respond proactively.

• With that said, do what you can using modeling and AI/ML to get clarity on current issues, so that you can plan and manage through challenging unknowns.

Build Strong and Deep Relationships, working with others.

• Ask questions, be curious.

• Work with people smarter-than-you so that you can get more done.

• Collaborate and connect with others in ways which benefit all.

• Develop and grow a culture embracing growth and learning.

• Be authentic, empathetic and transparent in your communications with others.

• Understand and respect the motivations of others.

Create an Ecosystem of Support

• Although nobody can see the future, everyone across the ecosystem may contribute and support others in unique and diverse ways. We are better together.

• Empower others across the ecosystem to reach higher and do more than they think they can, and provide them the support and resources they need so that they succeed.

• Know enough about your business, your industry, your team, your challenges, to understand how the ecosystem of people and organizations work together to deliver results.

Deliver Measurable Outcomes

• Listen deeply to the requirements and needs of your team and customers and deliver results which build momentum and add value.

• Understand the root causes for shared problems and work with the team to address issues/resolve problems.  

The bottom line is that leaders will always be the great difference-maker. We thank our panelists who inspire us to choose to lead, no matter where you're sitting at the table or in the org.