On July 1, 2008 Dr. Leah Jamieson, John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering & Ransburg Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, inspired ABI’s 2008 Senior TechLeaders participants with her keynote address on life strategies that have led her to become the successful leader she is today. In her preparation for her talk Leah observed that her path to leadership was not necessarily planned but was comprised of five distinct patterns which showed up throughout moves in her career. She found that those patterns were rooted in things she valued her own personal core values and were formulated by her growth points. Interestingly, some of those patterns were not traditional to the typical career path of an academic.
Balance – Leah stated that she is a researcher through and through but she was also involved in teaching and curriculum development. She also included components of service into her career. Her interests and experience did not give her the typical profile when she was up for tenure as one of her colleagues pointed out to her and noted that because of it he wasn’t sure how the decision would be pan out. Leah did receive the promotion and her career path opened the department up to discussion around the profile of an academic.
Leah’s commitment to balance is also what led her to create her award winning and highly regarded EPICS program and balance allowed her to not feel guilty about her attention being divided between her projects. Additionally, keeping staying connected to her family helped to ground her during her career. She never separated her work from her family. When she talked to her daughter about her job she brought it to a level that she could understand. She takes time to meet her husband for lunch and do New York Times crossword puzzles with him. When she traveled as her daughter was growing up she made sure that she either called or emailed her because she knew that her daughter’s life was ever changing. She shared a wonderful anecdote about how when their daughter was ready to go to college her husband asked their daughter what was her plan for communication while she was away. Their daughter remarked “I thought I would call everyday because that is what mom does”. Sure enough there isn’t a day that goes by where her daughter (who wants to become a professor herself) doesn’t either call, email or text her parents.
Other balance tips that she shared with participants included:
• Making sure she sleeps! She has realized that she is much better with it so she takes the time to get the rest she needs.
• She loves to travel with her family and tries to leave work behind so that she can celebrate the time she has with her family.
• When she travels for work she and she has extra time she doesn’t put any expectations on her time. That allows her to use it to do the things that make her feel the best whether it is shopping, resting or working.
• She makes sure that she keeps an eye on her time management and plans for “a crisis a day” so that when things come up unexpectedly she is ready for it.
Change – Leah has always valued change. She has a willingness and passion to envision future. She developed a reputation as a person who would ask what is next and how do we do this which is clearly tied to the notion of being visionary. This type of thinking has lead to her being regarded as a leader.
Big Picture – In addition to change, Leah has liked to look at the big picture and see the connections between pieces of things. One of her colleagues remarked that Leah has the great skill of being able to synthesis in real time.
Excellence – Leah is inspired by things that people do extraordinarily well. This has allowed her to garner respect for others who might not necessarily share her own core values and build connections with them.
Community – Leah also values to notion of personal community. Her connections in the community space come from her joy and need to be in a community setting. She also finds that being a part of community leads to other opportunities.
Leah’s life strategies are not just terrific strategies for technical women but for everyone who strives to become a great leader in their career.