I See Myself - Do You See Me?
Have you ever felt truly seen for who you are? I recently read Erin Diehl's book "I See You." In it, Erin explores vulnerability, leadership, and the importance of connection. To say I enjoyed this book is an understatement. I laughed, I cried, I related to it all! This book challenged me to think about how important it is to be authentic in our personal and professional relationships. I could apply the book's messages to my work. As an event planner, vulnerability and visibility play a role in creating meaningful experiences. I always try to be visible to our internal and external stakeholders. For our upcoming event, I challenged myself by taking on new roles that took me outside of my comfort zone. I am a Certified Meeting Manager who can run an event with my eyes closed. I became a track chair (100% not my wheelhouse) to understand our customer's successes and challenges. You might wonder why I would do this with my full plate of event manager duties. The
answer is simple: I wanted to learn and be challenged. Through this journey, I learned that open and honest communication is important. This type of transparency can foster better trust and help you connect. And I have now connected with some amazing folks in our community! I am glad I took this opportunity.
Being able to tell stories and connect with your audience can be meaningful. Erin Diehl is a master storyteller. She painted such a picture of her work that I had a visual of the office space she described! But one of the takeaways I got from her book is that great leaders share experiences. I have come to enjoy it when leaders share personal experiences, as this makes them more relatable to me, and sometimes, in my head, I will say, "I can totally relate to that!" I have even learned that when leaders are vulnerable, I can empathize with them, and it inspires me to want to have a greater role on the team—being more authentic and showing up as your true self is essential for any personal and professional role.
Reflecting on what I read, I realize you don't have to have a leadership title to be a leader. Leadership to me is not about authority, it is about influence. Anyone can lead, regardless of their position. I see this every day in my kids who choose to lead in their college endeavors, but I also see this in my workplace with my amazing co-workers. We have leaders everywhere who inspire me. During our busy season, our team shows leadership by supporting each other and stepping up to take on more work to get the job done. I am on a mission now to try and do a better job leading by example. I have an excellent work ethic, and I like to be collaborative, but I know I can do a better job with receiving feedback - that is an area I need to work on. In my role, every detail matters, and teamwork is crucial to success. I am setting a personal goal to work on the feedback piece, which will enable me to grow. Other challenges I am setting for myself are empowering others, sharing my vast knowledge, and focusing on maintaining my strong connections through empathy, reliability, and authenticity. I want those around me to feel seen just like I do.
As I end this post, I can say that I see myself as a future leader, even if I don't have a formal leadership title. I have been working with a professional coach, and I am starting to see how leadership is present in my daily life, so in that spirit, I will continue to move forward, grow and learn about myself. I leave you with this last question: "How do you ensure the people around you feel truly seen?
