League Leadership – Taking the Plunge

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!” 

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.

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