How Has Life Prepared You for Leadership?
Diana Ruiz, founder and president of Women’s Global Leadership Initiative, knows a thing or two about overcoming life’s hurdles. A mother at 14, Ruiz entered the workforce, where she stumbled into relationships with people relegated to the periphery of society: domestic violence victims, prostitutes, alcoholics and the mentally ill. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she spent several years in Croatia, where she examined the lack of resources available to women seeking to initiate change in their communities.
Ruiz planted the seed of WGLI in the Balkans, but she returned to Sonoma County to hone her vision for the organization. She admits that developing the WGLI curriculum is complicated, but views her personal role through a perfectly-focused lens. “My job is to create responsibility between women, to help them give themselves credit and recognize their strengths.”
She is also an ardent believer that everything happens for a reason. “We have to undergo several breakdowns in our lives,” says Ruiz. “At times I didn’t think I had what was necessary to make it through. But my life had been preparing me all along.”
Ruiz presented her lecture, “How Has Life Prepared you for Leadership?", on Jan. 25 at the Santa Rosa Junior College Center for Student Leadership. In case you missed it, here are some of her tips for harnessing the power of your personal history to become a more confident and self-aware leader:
- List the influential people in your life to help you identify the character traits you value most. “The people we often admire have qualities that we have within ourselves,” says Ruiz.
- Acknowledge past hurdles as strengths, not weaknesses. “Overcoming adversity tells us what’s nonnegotiable, what we’re willing to stand up for,” she says. “Obstacles are an affirmation of who you are.”
- Reflect on how you made it through the rough patches. What personal qualities helped you over the hurdles? Courage? Humility?
- Notice any similarities between traits you value in others and personal qualities that have helped you face your own difficulties. These overlaps reveal your personal leadership strengths.
Final thoughts: “Take time to reflect periodically,” Ruiz adds. “People are running too fast and they’re always looking the objectives. But recognizing your personal history is the beginning piece for anyone looking to develop leadership potential.”
