Recently, I saw a quote that said that adulthood is not one crisis after another, it’s multiple crises, simultaneously, forever.

Is anyone else feeling that way lately?

We had a little bit of a breather this morning when we found out that our Ukrainian colleagues are making their way from Kyiv to safety, but the war for too many continues and the choice to have to leave their homes is a terrible and heartbreaking one. One they shouldn’t have had to make. Should anyone wish to contribute to a reputable NGO, the ILN’s chair recommends this one, which has a long track record – they have been embedded in Ukraine since 2014 and are already supplying Lviv and other places with humanitarian aid.
Continue Reading Leadership Lessons: Navigating a Crisis

I’m a new leader in my organization.

It’s true that I’ve been in a leadership role for a number of years, and held leadership positions in other organizations, but when my dad (our former Executive Director) stepped down in December, all eyes were on me to take the reins and steer the ship (forgive me the mixed metaphor).

And then a pandemic happened.
Continue Reading Leadership in a Time of Crisis: Lessons from Quarantine

As I mentioned last week, I had the good fortune to attend the LMA’s 2014 Leadership Conference, which was a whirlwind of sessions and networking. I was able to meet some great people, and really get down to brass tacks for planning for next year (LOTS of exciting things to come!). 

But in among the planning and networking, we also had a couple of leadership sessions, which were incredibly valuable. I took away some great information, that I hope to be able to incorporate both in my work with the LMA as well as with my clients (ILN Specialty Groups, I’m looking at you). 

So today’s Two for Tuesday involves leadership lessons I gained from last week’s conference, and some tips on how to use them. 

Lesson One: Play to Your Strengths

Prior to the conference, we’d all taken a strengths assessment test called StrengthsFinder, which provided each of us with five themes and what makes us stand out within each of those themes (more on my results later).  On the first afternoon then, we welcomed Alycia Sutor of Akina Corporation, who walked us through how these strengths can lead to creating great teams. Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Leadership Lessons