AWL Alumni Spotlight

Describe the benefits of the AWL Experience.
As part of the AWL experience, I learned to turn off auto pilot and get curious about the world around me. Much of my leadership experience involved adapting to systems and cultures that felt broken, uninspiring, and duplicitous. The AWL experience equips me with ways to amplify my voice, help change the broken systems, and make a meaningful difference in the world.
 
Describe the benefits of being a part of the post AWL community.
The AWL community is a lifeboat for the uncharted waters of life.  This community gives you something to rely on that can help you navigate any situation knowing that you aren’t alone, and others will be there to share their knowledge, experience and support like a beacon in the dark night.  It’s a lifetime sisterhood that will provide just as much as you dedicate to it.  There is a bond in common experience that unites us! 

What did you get out of the Executive Coaching sessions?
The Executive Coaching sessions were an invaluable part of the AWL experience.  I have had the privilege of experience with a life-changing coach prior to the AWL experience, so I was pleased to continue that important work through AWL, too.  The coaching sessions gave me the opportunity to meet the experience where I am and peel back a few more layers of the discovery onion.  They were important to my continued development and ability to stay connected to the content.

What would you say to someone else considering this experience?
Do it! Now! My only regret is that I didn’t have this resource and knowledge 10 years ago.  I know that I would have been a better mentor, colleague and leader with the insight gained through AWL.  No matter your role, the work you accomplish through AWL stays with YOU no matter where YOU go!  It’s an investment that pays dividends for life!

What is the greatest ROI for this investment you made in yourself?
The greatest ROI on the investment made in myself through AWL is self-forgiveness.  I think there was a time in my life where I felt great leaders were born that way.  Perhaps some are, but the insight and applications gained through AWL provide the tools and perspective I needed to understand that leadership is a craft that is sharpened through knowledge and tools.  I have learned to tone down the problem solver and turn up the curiosity!

I feel like I am fulfilling my purpose when I am… helping others. I’ve always enjoyed the opportunity to help lift someone else up. 

My favorite way to spend an afternoon by myself is… working on a home improvement project!  I’m a home-improvement junkie and I love the “before” and “after” of those projects when finished.

To me, leadership is… investing your time in lifting others up.  The best leaders I’ve had were definitely not the ones interested in getting ahead.  They were the ones putting others on the lifeboat first. That’s the type of leader I want to be. 

The values/behaviors that are most important to me are… valuing others.  Nothing gets my hackles up more than a bully!

Something that makes my life ridiculously fun is… getting an opportunity to travel to Las Vegas with my best friends every year.  It’s no gamble that we’ll have an awesome time no matter what!  I’ve been at least once a year since 1994 and it has become a fun tradition.