Sufia Farha, President of Women In Business in 2009-2010, attended our 10th Annual Pearls of Wisdom conference as the leader of one of the six development workshops. She was accompanied by Erika Loja Barahona, our current Executive Secretary--and together--they presented an interactive and informative segment called “How Do You Define Your Leadership Values.”
In preparation for the event, Sufia placed 20 neatly clipped tiny sheets of color coded papers on our chairs. Each stack contained exactly four blue, pink, green, orange, and yellow slips of paper. Their purpose? For the differentiation between the various leadership categories that you value.
We were given two minutes to jot down our top 4 most prized material possessions onto the blue sheets, another two minutes for our top 4 most important people onto the pink sheets, and the process continued in the same manner until we had filled out our most prioritized memories, goals, and landmarks--in that order.
After this was all said and done, Sufia dropped a bomb on all of us. We were now expected to start eliminating things from our list of priorities—and unlike before, the time we were allotted for the elimination was whittled down to just one minute.
Erika was very helpful in her management of timing the elimination portion of the event, and with her help, we were able to narrow down our list of priorities from the original 20 to 3. At one point though, I will admit, we were so rushed for time that in a haze of panic, I almost eliminated m
y own mother.
In the end, Sufia’s exercise really helped place our goals and values into perspective. Her workshop paralleled the type of high level prioritization we must do in everyday life as students and as future Corporate America shakers and movers.
~ I highly recommend trying this exercise on your own. ~