Always a student...

Last week I spent an incredible 5 days in Virginia for the first session of the AACP Academic Leadership Fellows Program (ALFP). The ALFP is a year-long program designed to "develop the nation's most promising pharmacy faculty for roles as future leaders in academic pharmacy and higher education." The sessions focus on self assessment, peer assessment, in-depth leadership development, team building, exploration of legislative and public policy issues critical to pharmaceutical and higher education, administrative competencies development, and application of leadership experiences. 

The first session primarily focused on self and peer assessment. And boy did I ever assess myself!! I have often considered my "personality traits" (such as overachieving, structured to a fault, etc) as faults. This week, particularly through our discussion on our StrengthsFinder results, demonstrated that those are my strength that I should not hide from, but recognize and utilize. I started the week wanting to not always feel "guilty" about my "weaknesses" (aka those talents I see in others that are not my talents). In reality, "weaknesses" should only be addressed if they cause a problem. We all have different talents. That does not mean that one set of talents is better or worse than another. We just need to recognize our talents in order to maximize them.

The ALFP cohort is divided into 5 groups of 6 fellows plus a dean mentor. My group included a very diverse group of individuals - a group that I might never have picked for myself. By the end of the week I knew these people better than I know many of my dearest friends. This is in part due to our appreciation of and recognition of each others strengths...and maybe also in part to our 6am walks and 11pm pub time. I miss them already and can't wait for our conference call in 2 weeks and our next session in November.

It would take me pages to tell you everything I learned and felt (especially when I was at the top of an 80 foot pole!!) last week and hope to continue to carry in my heart for a long time to come. So, I will just share some important (at least to me) ideas that I have been reflecting on:

1. Do not look at leaders as their titles

2. Communication, trust, and relationship building are key

3. Avoid technical answers to adaptive problems

4. Is it lovely or lonely at the top?

5. Focus on weakness prevents failure; focus on strengths leads to excellence

6. All "strengths" have a balcony and a basement

7. You can't do it all! You may need to give up something that makes an impact in order to make a bigger impact.

Oh, in case anyone is wondering, my signature themes are: strategic, learner, achiever, individualization, and context.