Emerging Leaders 2022: Our (Almost) Last Hurrah!

In our last class before graduation, we spent time reflecting on our time in the Emerging Leaders Program and discussing our values. As we emerge with refreshed leadership knowledge and updated language, it’s important we each reflect on our values and align those values with the way we approach life and work. Our wonderful mentor, Pete DeLisle, PhD, Hon TxA, led us in our discussion, focusing on what we would risk our lives for. For each of us, that looked different: family, fun, self-expression, home life, friends, health, fitness, spirituality, emotional wellbeing, love and romance, money and finances, career, and many more.

Pete emphasized the importance of continued self-reflection via an illustrative exercise in which he lead us through two reasons for why we might cross a tight rope strung between two high-rise buildings. In the first story, we were asked if we would cross the tight rope for $1,000,000. Very few in the class were willing to make that walk. Other values in our lives outweighed the desire for money and financial comfort. In the second, a bad person held our children (or for those without children, our nieces and nephews) captive on the other side and would push them to their deaths if we didn’t cross to save them. In that exercise, almost everyone was willing to put themselves at risk to save those they loved.

Our values became increasingly clear when the stakes became higher. What if, in lieu of extreme circumstances, we could simply take that hard look at our values regularly? How much would we benefit from revisiting this exercise often?

As we step away from ELP, that’s exactly what we’re tasked to do, become increasingly critically reflective so we might become better versions of ourselves and thereby better leaders.

We left this conversation with a final thought on conflict. Conflict is the relentless pursuit of excellence while trying to maintain relationships.

The group then began discussion on finalizing our class project with an upcoming final client meeting and graduation.  Most of the remaining tasks were making final tweaks to the floor and site plans as well as updating renderings once those are made. We’re excited about the direction of the project at White Rock Lake and the teamwork that’s gone into making it a true group effort.

Closing out our final session together was a discussion panel on Leadership Engagement featuring Derwin Broughton, AIA, NCARB, Principal at KAI; Amy Holzle, AIA, Principal at Stantec; and Beverly Fornof, Senior Associate at Corgan. Having two ELP alumni, Derwin and Amy, on our final panel was a treat as they understood the emotions of the day. Our conversations with all panelists were enriched by the questions our classmates provided.

We’re now looking forward to graduation and are excited to continue connecting with our ELP classmates regularly graduation.

Cheers to ELP 2022!