How has your view of leadership changed?

at 4:27 PM Posted by cookleadership | 2 comments

After looking at leadership within ourselves and within our community my view of what it means to be a leader has changed greatly. Before these past few weeks I believed a leader was only someone who had the title of boss or a high position such as that. Now that I have reflected on the qualities I have used in my leadership experience as well as the qualities of many of the leaders in our community I realize it is not something that comes only with a title. Leadership does not only pertain to the boss' of big companies or the presidents of organizations, but it can also come from people such as a team member, or even just another person in the crowd that wants to make a difference. I have now come to believe that I can become just as much of a leader as any boss or president. I am also starting to view some of my peers as more of leaders where as before I would have never realized that they could even be considered as a leader just because of their age. 

Leadership Interview

at 6:04 PM Posted by cookleadership | 0 comments

For my leadership interview i interviewed my mom, Ellen Cook. She has been working in the advertising industry for the past 25 years and owned and ran her own botique agency in dallas for 17 years. She is currently the President of The Integer Group, a global retail promotion agency, where her primary clients are AT&T, FedEx, 7-Eleven, and BIMBO Bakeries USA. 

1. What qualities are essential to being a leader?

I thoroughly believe trust is the foundation of leadership. If people are able to trust you implicitly, you will have the ability to influence them and lead them. High integrity and character make trust happen. And, great leaders keep their promises.                                             

I believe other important qualities of a great leader are:                                                                    

  • Self-awareness: Being keenly aware of your strengths and, more importantly, your weaknesses  
  • Empowering People: Allow others to live up to their full potential                                          
  • Walking the Talk: Practicing what you preach                                                                           
  •  Defining Expectations and holding people accountable                                                         
  • Listening                                                                                                                             
  • learning from mistakes 
2. How do you get others to follow you

Capture people’s hearts and heads. When you can capture someone’s head, you have the ability to lead and influence their intellect completely engaging them with the decisions/outcomes of every business activity. When you can capture someone’s heart, they become evangelists, totally passionate about how they can contribute to your business positively impacting people and society.

3. What/who most inspired you to become a leader

Several people and events in my life…my father, my club and high school coaches, my competitive swimming, my Advertising professor at UT, my first internship at an ad agency, among others. I thoroughly believe that leadership typically emerges from our individual life stories. Consciously or subconsciously, successful leaders constantly test themselves throug h real-world experiences and reframe their life stores to understand who they are at their core. In doing so, we can all discover our leadership potential.

4. What experience leading has influenced you the most?

Just realizing the impact you can have on people’s lives. There’s nothing better than to be able to lead/mentor people and watch them grow and flourish to their fullest potential.

5. What is the biggest challenge you have faced as a leader?

Understanding and living by this truth: Real leadership is not a title. It is a responsibility. Also, remembering each and every day what I want to be remembered for and allowing this to guide my decisions in both my professional and personal life.

 

Personal Leadership Experience

at 12:03 PM Posted by cookleadership | 1 comments

One experience that comes to mind when thinking about past leadership roles ive played is my select baseball season. During the summer of 2007 i decided to play baseball for the same select team i had been playing on for the past 4 years. Over the past four years our team has constantly ended up either last in standings or second to last. It would be an understatement to say that we were bad. Coming into the 2007 season i kept telling myself that i was going to make a difference and that this season would be different than the past years. After the first practice i was elected captain along with my brother. Many of the traits that i showed during this season as the captain were enthusiasm, determination, vision, confidence, and passion. In order to finally have a winning season it was important that the entire team came to practice and to the games with enthusiasm. By being enthusiastic everyday at practice i was able to infect the entire team with the trait of enthusiasm. I also had to be very determined in order to lead the team. I made a decision at the beginning of the season that i would not miss one practice. Not only could i not miss one practice but i also made sure no other kids were skipping practice for any unnecessary reasons. Because of the traits i displayed over this season our team was able to finally finish with a winning record. We went from the last team in the league to the top 4. By the end of the season their were drastic changes in the team members attitudes. Instead of just showing up to practice and trying to just get through it the players would show up excited wanting to get better.

Leadership questions/people

at 3:45 PM Posted by cookleadership | 1 comments

The two people i am considering for my leadership interview are my mom, Ellen Cook, and Todd Wagner from Watermark. I am considering interviewing my mom, not because she is the role model for me and my siblings but because of her position as president at Integer, an advertising company. After only working at Integer for a few years she has obtained the position of president and has lead the company to be one of the best advertising agencies in the country. I am also considering Todd Wagner because of his position as senior pastor at Watermark Church. Although he is not the boss or president of a company, he has volunteered at Watermark Church to be a pastor. Every week he talks in front of over a thousand people teaching about the bible.


Questions i might ask:
1. When did you first get into the leadership role you have now.
2. What skills they use in their roles as leader.
3. what leadership experience has most affected their life.

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