Women's History Month blog Tour

Celebrate Women in Leadership Series
with Dawn McCoy

During the month of March 2010, Dawn McCoy, author of Leadership Building Blocks will highlight great women in leadership during Women’s History Month.

Rhonda: Thank you for allowing me to be a guest blogger today at Urban Christian Fiction. Today, in the Celebrate Women in Leadership series, I want to highlight Nannie Helen Burroughs.

What I most like about courageous Nannie Helen Burroughs was that she was a fearless woman ahead of her time. She was a civil rights activist, teacher, and noted orator. She was the founded the National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, DC in 1901. She was a pivotal force who made an impact as a leader through religious and educational efforts, particularly for African American women.

First, Burroughs shared moral values, such as a solid work ethic to help young women become self-sufficient wage earners. In 1896, she joined other women to form the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) to promote political mobilization of Black women. As her political partisanship ripened, she became a much sought- after participant in that arena, particularly by the Republican Party.

Also, in 1900 at the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention in Virginia, Burroughs gave a speech, “How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping.” Her speech gained her national recognition and led the served as a lightning rod for the formation of the largest Black women’s organization in the United States, the Woman’s Convention (WC) an auxiliary to the National Baptist Convention (NBC). Because of her hard work, leadership, and dedication, the membership of the WC grew dramatically, reaching one million members in 1903 and 1.5 million in 1907.

When Herbert Hoover was elected president in 1928, he chose Burroughs to head a fact-finding commission on housing. In 1909, she founded the National Training School for Women and Girls, which was renamed the Nannie Helen Burroughs School in 1964.

Nannie Helen Burroughs is often quoted because she was an amazing leader with unparalled courage. She once said that "What we need are mental and spiritual giants who are aflame with a purpose . . . We're a race ready for crusade, for we've recognized that we're a race on this continent that can work out its own salvation.”

TOUR GIVEAWAY: Blog visitors who leave comments OR radio callers with questions for Dawn are eligible to win an autographed copy of Leadership Building Block and a copy of the Effective Community Engagement CD.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dawn McCoy is author of Leadership Building Blocks: An Insider's Guide to Success. As one of the youngest elected African-American elected to the Sacramento City Unified School Board, McCoy shares seven leadership fundamentals in her book. Inspiring readers to be top in their field, Dawn shares her insights based upon twenty years serving as a nonprofit and government executive.

A motivational speaker, coach, and founder of Flourish Leadership Group, a leadership development and communications firm, Dawn is dedicated to transforming ordinary people into extraordinary leaders. In recent years, she has worked with organizations to develop their vision and create phenomenal results. Dawn has worked with hundreds of individuals to help them capture their spirit of leadership and truly become the effective leaders they were meant to be.

Visit Dawn online at FlourishLeadership.com.

Read an excerpt online and visit the tour schedule at http://bit.ly/LeadershipBuildingBlocks.

Mid-Year Inventory

The other day I was in a department store and I recognized those familiar cards they attach to merchandise during inventory time. Familiar to me because two careers ago I worked in retail. Twice a year – January and July we would go through the boring and painful process of conducting an inventory of the store’s merchandise. When I saw the cards I realized it was mid-year, July would be here in just a few days. I began to think about the goals I set for this year. Like the store, it was time for me to take a mid-year inventory.

I’m a fan of Stephen Covey’s earlier work. You may remember, the multi, multi-million copy bestseller “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” I’ve been a fan of the 7 Habits Philosophy since I attended Covey training about seven years ago. Covey’s habits are tied to principles that if applied impact one’s personal leadership style in a way that inserts values and character.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Covey’s philosophy, I’ll quickly share the 7 habits:

Habit 1: Be Proactive – this deals with the principle of personal choice
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind - the principle of personal vision
Habit 3: Put First Things First – a tough one, the principle of integrity and execution
Habit 4: Think Win/Win – the principles of mutual benefit
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood – the principles of mutual understanding
Habit 6: Synergize: the principles of creative cooperation (one of my favorites)
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw: the principles of balanced self-renewal

Back to my personal inventory. I’ve done extremely well at accomplishing my goals. With most of them I’m right on target or even a little ahead. Except the weight one – I’ve lost 19lbs instead of 30, but I’m not beating myself up on that one, because usually I’m in gaining mode rather than losing.

Where are you? Are you on target? If so, bravo. Are you lagging? Still at the starting gate?

Covey asks and answers the following: “If you were to fault yourself in one of three areas, which would it be: (1) the inability to prioritize; (2) the inability or desire to organize around those priorities; or (3) the lack of discipline to execute around them? … Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe that is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds. They haven’t really internalized Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind."

I agree. For years I prayed about my lack of discipline and asked the Lord to help me balance and prioritize. Once I "began with the end in mind", I mean really began the year with a goal that had to be attained, I accomplished it. I shared this in the first installment of my journey to publication series.

I don’t think you have to be a Covey follower to meet your goals. Stephen Covey is one of thousands of leadership gurus and life coaches out there. Pick any one and you’ll receive similar messages and they’ll all include a bit of strategic thinking and action planning. You can also find this in the Bible. It’s not new and it’s not rocket science, but it is something many of us struggle with. I’d love to hear praise reports in December from some of you, but we may need to do a mid-year check to make sure we’re on task.

How are you doing at the half-way point? What things have you done to reach your goals? If you’re falling behind, what things can you do for the next six months to put habits 1 – 3 into action? I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Rhonda McKnight

P.S. Felesia: You shared the 7 Habits tapes and purchased the Covey day planner for me more than 9 years ago. When I received them, I didn’t understand why you sent them to me. But as fate would have it I took the training a year later and completely understood the gift you were sharing. Thanks for being such a dear friend.