What we leave behind: true success is measured in a leader’s absence.
In 2018 and 2019, students attending the UCLA Leadership in Action Summit had the opportunity to hear from Christine Simmons, COO for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, on topics related to leadership. Prior to her 2019 keynote, she sat down with our team to share her insights. Catch up on our Keynote series by clicking here.
Students who attend Ambassador Leadership Summits come from all walks of life. From across the country and around the world, they bring to the summits an array of ethnic, religious, socioeconomic and regional backgrounds. Despite these differences, our students all have one thing in common; they’ve been recognized in their home communities as leaders or individuals with great leadership potential.
That students arrive to the summits hardwired for leadership is both their greatest asset and the biggest challenge they’ll face during their experience. Why? Because most who attend are accustomed to being a leader to their peers, not a leader among leaders. Navigating this new dynamics often causes growing pains, but it also provides students an opportunity to cultivate crucial leadership skills.
Christine Simmons, a longtime leader in both volunteer and business capacities, is no stranger to building dynamic and productive teams. Listen below as she shares her knowledge on creating lasting change as a leader.
In her interview, Christine articulates the leadership lessons many students learn through their teamwork at the summits. Let’s take a closer look at these takeaways.
GOOD LEADERS ASSESS A CULTURE
During their first team meeting, students learn about the roles people commonly adopt in team settings and assess which roles they most often play. Are they Initiators who propose new ideas, Information Givers who offer facts, or Listeners who ask clarifying questions to help the team in their thinking?
By naming and explaining the roles, students can think about which ones they tend to assume and take a chance to try something new. It also allows the whole team to assess what roles they have in overabundance and where their gaps are. Through this activity, students learn that a major key to their individual success is forming a well-rounded team.
GOOD LEADERS EMPOWER OTHERS
Students often tell us that the most valuable discovery they make during a summit is how powerful it can be to empower others — that leadership, ultimately, is about knowing when to step back so that others can step up. This refrain is echoed by Christine’s insight that, “being a leader means...knowing when to listen to other people in the room and empower others.”
As a leader among leaders, our students learn to negotiate the give-and-take of working in a team. For instance, students must collectively decide on team names and slogans as well as the topic of their team’s community action plan. This collective action is a chance for students to celebrate the input of others and build consensus.
The understanding that teams succeed when everyone succeeds — that success requires leaders to lift others up, not just themselves — is often the most meaningful lesson students take home.
GOOD LEADERS LOOK FOR SMARTER
Christine puts it this way, “You should never be the smartest person in the room.” And it’s true. When leaders are convinced they’re the smartest and best at everything, their team suffers. Not only does it diminish a team’s potential (and morale), it means that leader doesn’t trust their teammates to get the job done.
We say it like this, “No one succeeds alone.” We believe in and teach students that leaning on their teammates’ various skills is the only way to bring their community action plan to life. We encourage students not only to share their perspectives and talents at the summits — a vital first step for leaders is learning to use their own voice — but also to seek out the strengths and talents of others.
In her interview, Christine says, “you’re not really a great leader if something fails if you’ve left. So when you leave, it should thrive and be even bigger and better than when you were there.” That kind of success only happens in teams that are well-rounded, motivated and empowered to dream BIG dreams. At the Ambassador Leadership Summits, students practice building such teams by being leaders who can assess a culture, inspire others and showcase their teammates’ talents.
By Corie Bales
Corie is the Academic Affairs Manager of Ambassador Leaders. As a lifelong educator and avid traveler, she believes in empowering students and teachers to learn and lead through experiential education.