“WELCOME TO THE STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP PROGRAM”
This daunting introduction sends chills down the spine of anyone who knows what it is and clicks the links surrounding it on the Certified Management Accounting internal site dedicated to the SLP. In fact, my heart pangs at the thought of what the next two years have in store.
Over the next two years we are set to become leaders. There are myriad leaders in the world and its histories and I find it fascinating that accountants are no different. My journey into accounting began 2 years ago on a whim hoping to help the company I was working with tread some water until someone more permanent could be found.
Someone more permanent was found and no one was more surprised to find it was me. I chose to be a CMA because they didn’t care (at the time) whether I had a degree or not and now it’s invited me into a world of opportunity I didn’t expect.
And it’s also brought me fear. In the past month, this program has helped me look at myself in many ways. For one, I studied my DiSC profile in some detail and found I am a high C and medium D/S. And now I know where I am communicating from when I speak to others. For those of you who do not have this perspective either through feedback such as a DiSC model or some wonderful gift of intuition, there is no way of understanding what you are missing in terms of communication and understanding is just the tip of the ice berg. Succeeding in communication pays dividends that one has trouble imagining without experience.
I am looking forward to how this program will cause each student to exist on the edge of self and do it professionally.
Apart from communication, I’ve realized I have personal habits whose purposes are inconsistent with my being successful in this program and as a human being.
My study of science and philosophy taught me to think logically.
My study of religion taught me foundation of faith and my have even provided an avenue for exploration of my own innate yearnings.
And the study of leadership I have no doubt will teach me about humanity. The first step being an effective leader is to recognize that you are, in fact, human. One cannot lead effectively for the long term when you cannot relate to those following. That is a point so obvious but worth serious meditation.
And this rambling about leadership conveys only that I do not know fully what to expect from the SLP. That makes me uncomfortable. We shall see how it goes….