By: Cynthia Muñoz, Communications Chair
Our current focus area is “empowering girls
to be STEAM leaders of tomorrow.” Quite
frankly, it could be empowering girls to be political leaders, financial
leaders, or even sports figure leaders.
At the heart of it, they’re all related to one key aspect of the
League’s mission – developing the potential of women. The League is a place where women can
collaborate with each other, support each other, and lift each other to achieve
our inner greatness. We should embrace the League as a safe place to push
ourselves to try new things and not shy away from taking on leadership roles.
Taking on a leadership role in the League can
help you acquire numerous abilities, gain new skills, and try new things. No matter what stage in life we are in, it’s
never too late to grow, learn and challenge ourselves – especially if we may
not be getting those challenges in our day-to-day roles.
This summer our family headed to Mexico for
vacation. One of our activities involved
rappelling into a giant sink hole and in the bottom of that hole is groundwater
of varying depths. I was told the depth range of the water at the bottom was
anywhere from five to 120 feet. I don’t
swim, so that was a terrifying thought to me.
I managed to get myself down into the sinkhole, safely into the water
and onto a nice, stable platform with the aid of two tour guides, a life jacket
and an inner tube. I thought I was done
and was quite proud of myself. Unfortunately,
there was also zip lining off of a platform and dropping into the water. My husband took his turn, as did my typically
cautious 12-year old son. Good for them,
but I had no plan to participate. Then, I hear it.
“Come on, Mom! Try it! You can do it! It’s fun!”
“Come on, Mom! Try it! You can do it! It’s fun!”
Nope.
“Come on, Mom! You can do it! We’ll help you! Please, try!”
Ugh.
I started to think, what kind of role model
to my own son would I be if I don’t challenge myself to try something scary and
new when I know in reality, I was in a pretty safe setting with the right
equipment and people to help me.
Taking on League leadership is a lot like
that. Over the course of ten years in
the League, I’ve taken on various leadership positions – as a Provisional (now
New Member) mentor, Piper Editor, Board Secretary, Nominating Committee member,
Shop Treasurer - all leadership roles where I mostly managed myself and
ultimately reported to a higher Chair or VP, which I was very comfortable with.
This year, I’m serving as Communications
VP. I had huge reservations stepping
into this role– not only pondering if I could make the time, but realizing it would
be the first one where I would not just be responsible for myself, but would
also be responsible for coordinating a team of women looking to me for direction.
I am also barely literate with working my own Facebook account, I kind of know
how to Instagram, I don’t Snapchat, I still refer to the hashtag as a pound
sign (because Ladies, that’s what it was back in the day), Google Docs hates me,
and I had never written a press release nor had any idea of how and when to
distribute one. The only thing I had
going for me was that I was familiar with the Piper process. Otherwise, I felt
horribly underqualified for this role. I decided, however, this was the time to
push myself to try it. So far, I’m so
happy I did.
There are few places like the League where
you should feel comfortable to take on a position that you feel underqualified
for. That’s how you’ll learn the most
and find an incredible support system in the process. Just in the past four
months, I’ve learned so much from my awesome Communications Council, whether it
be about a new social media platform I’ve never used before, or honing my
skills in running a meeting, or most importantly, learning how to let go and
let those around me use their skills and interests to achieve their own
successes, which in turn lifts our entire team. These and many other
experiences are what will help me in my business and everyday life and I’m
proud to include every League position and every skill developed on my resume.
So, when Nominating calls to ask you about
taking the leap into that leadership sinkhole, and says “Come on! You can do it! We’ll catch you! Please, try!”
You should definitely consider jumping in. A fantastic team of women will be in there ready
to help you.
-->
