Rainbow Girls Leading The World

I thought it might be fun to take a look at some Rainbow majority members on this blog, and think about how they are leaders today. There are quite a few famous former Rainbow Girls. Let’s start with one of the most famous and accomplished of all: Sandra Day O’Connor, Supreme Court Justice of the United States from 1981-2006. She was the FIRST WOMAN EVER to serve on the Supreme Court!

Here is a little glimpse of Justice O’Connor’s leadership style, through a few of her quotes. I think we can all be very proud to be her Rainbow sister.

I think in this last one, some of her Rainbow foundations show through!

Discover Your Strengths

I introduced Strengths in this blog post 2 weeks ago. It’s my favorite tool for increasing your self awareness and is a great foundation on which to build your own leadership platform. I went on to further explain what Strengths is in this blog post last week.

The Grand Officers have had the opportunity to take the Strengths assessment through the StrengthsQuest website. At Adult Leadership in less than 2 weeks, the adults will hear more about the assessment, what the girls learned, and what more there is to learn in the future. They will each have the opportunity to take the assessment themselves and discover their top-5 Strengths, out of a possible 34:

I’ve worked with a variety of ages with the StrenghsQuest tools, from college freshman to retired professionals. Gallup organization created this program after their decades of business consulting and working with individuals and teams. I’m excited to talk to the Rainbow adults about it in Tonopah!

Adults, please email christina.schombs@gmail.com and I can set you up with the assessment. Gallup runs the program and charges $9.99 for the access code, and then you get access to the entire StrengthsQuest site of tools. I’ll direct you through everything.

Grandies, you can look forward to sharing your results with your adult volunteers in order to explore the many ways everyone can work together, and discovering the broad variety of Strengths your adults bring to the organization to support you.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Leadership

I hope everyone enjoyed their Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Not only because you had the day off, but because you had the chance to reflect on the life of a great leader. There’s a lot out there about MLK, his life, his thoughts, his speeches, actions, and deeds. I found so many quotes to share here. This one became my “winner” because… well, I think it’s obvious…

Here are some of the runner-ups:

What are ‘Strengths’?

Last week I talked about how StrengthsQuest is one of my favorite tools for leadership. It focuses on what you naturally do best, in order to become the best version of yourself. So, what exactly are your “Strengths”? How do they fit in with the training you’ve received, the talents you have, and the skills you’ve developed?

The best way to think about it is…

Your talents are the way you NATURALLY think or behave.

Your skills are your ability to move through the steps of a task.

Your knowledge is simply what you know.

Talents, knowledge and skills are what make up your Strengths. It is the combination of the natural talents you’re born with and what you spend your life learning about and practicing. Here’s a specific example:

For a basketball player, knowledge is understanding the rules of basketball. Skill is the ability to dribble the basketball. Talent is the inner drive to outperform the competition.

Could that same basketball player take her competition talent and apply it to being a musician? Or a lawyer? Or a film maker? Absolutely!

When learning about and discussing your Strengths, it doesn’t mean that you’re limited to being or doing certain things. It means that you have a foundation of Strengths, on which you can build anything!

Strengths are never limiting. The limits are only set by the things you want to do and how hard you’re willing to work. But knowing your Strengths, can help you focus on the right things to do and can get you there much faster!

Persistence

There is a lot of discussion about the traits of a leader: what traits and habits do different leaders possess, with the ultimate goal of how one can adopt those habits or traits and become a leader too. The world can’t seem to come to agreement on what those actually are, though.

I would argue there are only a few traits that are shared among the world’s notable leaders, and the rest is a very unique combination of personal attributes, experience, training, and strengths. One of the few traits that does seem to be common among leaders of all kinds is persistence.

It is a misconception that those who are successful haven’t experienced failure. It is the persistence and tenacity, the ability to take our failures, learn from them, pick ourselves up, and try again that leads to success. It’s very easy to fail and think, “Well, I just can’t do this. It’s not gonna happen.” But that isn’t necessarily true. Failure is a normal and regular thing for leaders. If you’re experiencing it, you’re on the right track. You’re on the road those ahead of you have travelled before.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at this beautiful infographic for just a few (MAJOR) examples. (I REALLY like infographics, by the way.)

So, what are you trying to do? How many times will you try?

For more on the subject as it relates to entrepreneurship, visit the designer’s original post here at Funders and Founders.

Leading With Your Strengths

As I stated in my last blog post, my goal in sharing what I know about leadership is to empower Nevada Rainbow Girls to be the very best versions of themselves by using their natural talents to accomplish goals and become leaders in whatever aspects of life they choose.

There are many books, programs, and tools to use to enhance your leadership skills. It’s almost overwhelming when you begin browsing. However, you will eventually come upon some favorites! I’m happy to share one of my favorite tools, the StrengthsFinder self-assessment and StrengthsQuest website.

The Strengths assessment reveals your top-5 strengths and promotes the idea that you focus on your strengths in every aspect of life, NOT on your weaknesses. After all, the best leaders know they can’t be the best at everything. They seek assistance from others and build a well-rounded team with a variety of strengths in order to accomplish a goal.

With a focus on Strengths and using the tools in the StrengthsQuest website, these are some of the skills to be gained:

• Learn to identify the strengths in others and understand your peers
• Communicate with different types of people
• Stand out without taking center stage
• Work better with those who do things differently from you
• Create a plan for accomplishing your goals using your Strengths
• Promote the positive image that you want

I love Strengths because it presents a very positive approach to leadership training. With Strengths we’re always talking about and looking for the best we have to offer! The grand officers have taken the Strengths assessment and we went over their results at Leadership in August. Look out for lots more insights using the Strengths philosophy here on this blog.

How do you define ‘Leadership’?

What is the exact definition of leadership? Go ahead, look it up if you want. If you don’t have the time (because who does?), here are a few I came upon:

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.

-Warren Bennis, US scholar & consultant

 If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.

-John Quincy Adams, 6th US President

 A manager takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to.

-Rosalyn Carter, former US First Lady

 True leaders understand that leadership is not about them but about those they serve. It is not about exalting themselves but about lifting others up.

-Sheri L. Dew, author

 As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

-Bill Gates, Microsoft

Which one is “correct”? Which one is your favorite? Is the definition you like best, one that your favorite teacher would also like best? Is it one a police officer would like? Or a nurse, grandfather, reverend, mother, grocery store clerk, banker, or politician?

When you think about leadership, do you imagine applying it at school? At work, Rainbow, home, church, your sorority, or band?

There are endless definitions of leadership and endless ways to apply them. That is why I enjoy the topic so much. It isn’t perfect. It isn’t the same for everyone. My goal in sharing what I know about leadership is to empower Nevada Rainbow Girls to be the very best versions of themselves by using their natural talents to accomplish goals and become leaders in whatever aspects of life they choose.

The question at the start of this post should be more clearly stated, “How do YOU define leadership?” We each define it for ourselves and there is no wrong answer. It will likely even change form throughout your life.

So… how will YOU be a leader today?

Welcome to the Nevada Rainbow Leadership Blog

In October’s edition of the NV IORG Adult Newsletter, you may have seen a segment about Nevada Rainbow’s Leadership Education Program. If you haven’t, then follow this link to check it out now. I’ll wait…

So, as you can see, I’m helping get a leadership program started! As a former Rainbow Girl, I’m very excited about it! You’ll be introduced to all of this in bits and pieces at Grand Officer leadership, adult leadership, and Rainbow Camp. We’re building the foundations now but the details will change to fulfill the wants and needs of the girls each year.

It’s important to keep these conversations going outside of the few opportunities to discuss them in person, and to keep the ideas fresh in your head. That is what this blog can accomplish! Look for new blog posts on Mondays and Wednesdays every week. You’ll find new information here, tips and tools, support from the group, things you can work on your own or with the girls in your assembly, a little inspiration, tidbits to think about, hopefully even a laugh or two. If you have any questions or suggestions, please post them in the comments. Blog posts will be shared on the NV Rainbow Girls facebook page as well!

I look forward to new ideas and engaging conversation. What better way to start the new year, right? Happy 2016, everyone!

Christina Williams Schombs – PGWA, 2000