Meet Cindy Elizabeth

I’ve spent my whole life following. I mean, literally. I am the second-born in my family and spent much of my childhood following my sister and wanting to be just like her. We are polar opposites now, by the way. And then there was grade school, following all the “cool kids” so I could just be one with the system. The same really went for high school.

When I think about the first time I was a leader and probably had no idea, I was an awkward teenager kicking butt on the soccer team. There is massive amount of work that goes into having a successful sports team. You have to communicate, not let emotions get in the way of the goal and trust each other. I was always a shy kid (insecurity at its best,) but the second I found myself on that soccer field, I was yelling and screaming (sometimes to cheer on my teammates and sometimes as part of the game.) I don’t think it was until recently that I realized that was the first time I was a leader.

As a young professional in my career, I get excited over leading teams, or implementing new processes and ideas. As many of you may (or may not know and now you do) know I have done a lot of work around culture & inclusion in my organization and now I am working through the strategy to implement in the HR. ME. Okay, just to be clear, I am what algae feeds on in my organization if I am going to be completely honest. I am not a leader in the traditional sense.

There was an article written about me that was posted on my work’s internal intranet site. It was called, “Leading from any chair.” It talks about my journey from feeling small to feeling like it was okay to be who I am and step outside the box I had been put in at work. And being able to step outside that box has led me to greater things.

I am working on an overall strategy to start the culture shift that is necessary for HR as a whole to be successful in the future. The changes that will be the outcome are going to be amazing and I could not be more excited. A year down the road, when I can take a step back and look at what I have led the entire HR organization to do, it’s going to give me goosebumps.

Leadership to me, isn’t just about leading teams in which we have direct reports anymore. Being a leader is about setting an example, being a role model and allowing others to learn from you.