Become a Leader

< Back to Engineer Executive – Paula Harris

Become a Leader (1:56)

“It’s important that you learn how to inspire people and get people on board with your mission. Because it’s one thing to manage someone, to supervise them, be in charge of their review and their employment. But it’s another thing to inspire someone to get on board with what you’re trying to accomplish.”

Role models in order of appearance: Andrea Smith, Paula Harris, Hillary Theakston, Kathryn Kranen, Susan Baxter, Tiffany Wilson Karp, Pamela Alexander, and Helene Gayle, M.D.

Quick Start

1) In the video we learned that leader knows their team members’ strengths and weaknesses. Why is this important?

2) We learned that a leader brings out the best in everyone. Tell about some ways that you help everyone to be his or her best.

3) Leaders don’t just tell people what to do. Leaders inspire others to join in with their goals and visions. How do you inspire others to become excited about your ideas?

4) A good leader easily shares her opinions with others. How do you share opinions without looking like a know-it-all?

5) In the video, role models told us that a leader listens carefully to other people’s opinions about her ideas, even if they disagree. Why is it important to listen to others, even when they disagree with your ideas?

6) A strong team includes members who are “smarter” in some ways than the leader. Why is this important to include smart people on your team?

7) A leadership mentor is someone willing to help you by sharing what she knows about becoming a good leader. Who would be an ideal leadership mentor for you? Why?

8) Listeners learned that an authentic leader is able to be herself when she leads others. What are some ways you can be yourself when you lead? How will this help you to be a successful leader?

Video Transcription

Tips to being a good leader and to leading a successful team is being able to look at the individuals that are on your team, to look at their strengths and weaknesses and what they bring to the table.

I think of leadership as service. Leadership really means that I’m going to have a team, and I’m going to make this team successful. And how do I bring out the best? How do I get the best out of everybody that’s around me?

It’s important that you learn how to inspire people and get people on board with your mission. Because it’s one thing to manage someone, to supervise them, be in charge of their review and their employment. But it’s another thing to inspire someone to get on board with what you’re trying to accomplish.

If you can’t speak effectively, you’re not going to be a leader. So having conversations, sharing your opinion, showing that you can incorporate the ideas of others is really, really important.
Being a team leader requires taking a lot of feedback from a lot of different directions and setting the team up to still meet a goal.

And building a team full of experts and people who are smarter than you is really important and then listening to them. But then not being afraid to speak up and take control of situations.

You have to think of yourself as a woman leader, as a female leader, and how you’re going to react to certain situations so that you can plan for how you want to lead and the leadership example you want to set. And get a good mentor, because you should always have mentors and advocates.

As people say, get comfortable in your own skin. I think there’s a lot of literature about what makes a good leader. And the one thing that stands out is authenticity, that sense of knowing who you are and being comfortable with it.

Discussion Guide

Independent Learning Guide: This all-purpose guide can be used by educators, parents, and mentors to jumpstart a lively discussion about developing leadership skills.

Classroom Lesson Plan

What are some ways you make a difference at home, in your school, or in your community? Leaders are people who make a difference. Learn more about the leader in you with this video!

Classroom Lesson Plan: This step-by-step lesson plan is available to guide a more in-depth “before, during, and after” learning experience when viewing the video with students. This lesson plan is also suitable for use in after-school programs and other educational settings.

Empowerment Activities

Use Empowerment Activities as a fun way to reinforce the video topic and build community with your students.

Fun Page Activity

Fun Page Activity: Make a mini-poster that will remind you every day of your own leadership potential!