Working to Be a Leader

“Are you a teacher?” a woman who was sitting on the sidewalk hollered at me.

“Are you a teacher?” the cashier at West Side Supermarket asked me politely.

Is my role in life so apparent that complete strangers are able to pinpoint what I do for a living?

I wanted to be a teacher since I was seven. Today I do what a teacher does: translate and impart knowledge for leaders to learn and apply to their own careers.

In that capacity, I want to introduce you to the philosophy of Carla A. Harris, managing director, head of Equity Private Placements, Financial Sponsors and Retail Capital Markets Coverage for Global Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley in New York. Here’s a link to an article about her in the Harvard Gazette.

I first heard Carla speak at the “Women on Wall Street Conference” in 2005 and was taken by her passionate energy to share with others her tips for success. Last week I attended the Women’s World Banking Women’s Leadership Conference luncheon where Carla was one of the panelists. Carla’s energy was still at a high level when, like an effective teacher, she imparted her tips for career success or as she calls them, “Carla’s Pearls”:

1. Authenticity. The power really is you. Be true to yourself. Somewhere along the way you started patterning yourself along someone else’s style. Be the best at being you.

2. Perception is the co-pilot for reality. You can train people to think about you in a certain way. Think of three adjectives you want others to use about you when you are not in the room. Start using those adjectives about yourself. In another month or so, you’ll hear others use those adjectives when talking about you.

3. Find a mentor and a sponsor. A mentor is someone who will give you the good, the bad, and the ugly. A sponsor is a passionate advocate who “carries your papers for you” – they are the ones who fight for you when you are not in the room such as at a performance review.

4. Be willing to take risks. Be willing to take risks. Be willing to take risks. Remember: FEAR is False Evidence of things Appearing Real.

5. Balance. Balance. Balance. What’s fueling your professional platform? Keep that on you calendar and also make time to give back to others.

You can read a lot more about Carla’s accomplishments and how she lives the words of her “Pearls” by clicking here and here. You can also go to Amazon to check out the CDs she has recorded.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Career, Leadership, NYC life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.