DTE Energy

Amy Schultz

We all know leadership is essential in driving positive business outcomes. We know that leaders can make or break a company. Yet, leadership is not easily defined by a list of traits or techniques. It is not something that can be acquired by simply following a formula. Leadership is a mindset, a way of being, a practice of influence and impact. It is the sum of countless moments of decision, action, communication, and collaboration that shape the culture and performance of any organization. Leadership requires constant learning, self-reflection, and adaptation to the changing needs and demands of the people you lead and the business environment. And it’s hard.

I’m not the greatest at posting. No selfies, I forget to ask others to grab an action shot that I can use for LinkedIn, Facebook or any of the socials. But yesterday was a meaningful day and I wish I had captured it. It was a moment that mattered, an opportunity to pass on my leadership lessons to my son.

I invited him to sit in the back of a lecture hall where I spoke to a full room of undergraduate business students as a guest speaker about what it means to be a leader. It turns out that this class will be the first of his post-high school years as he heads off to college in the fall.

I procrastinated writing that talk. It swam in my mind for weeks before I sat down to put my thoughts on paper. It felt more like a dissertation on my adult life rather than a story about my roles, and once I sat down, it just poured out.

That’s the thing about leadership. It’s not about the jobs you’ve had. It’s about how you make decisions along the way, how you deal with and learn from them, and how you bring your team along.

If others are anything like me, we are moving fast. Juggling the world of corporate expectations and personal lives, finding moments of quiet few and far between. We move from one challenge to the next, hoping that one day we will figure out how to ‘get it right.’

I realized it had been some time since I reflected on my journey and as I sat down to write my talk, I began to consider the lessons I learned along the way.

"To be great leaders and have the most positive impact on others, we must reflect on the ups and downs, moments of pride and self-doubt, successes and failures, and big mistakes that we desperately tried to learn from"

We can’t control how fast business is changing or the headwinds heading in our direction. That is simply gravity. But as I began to write, I reminded myself how important it is to selfreflect. To look back and ask yourself the difficult questions. To reflect on the words we use, the shadow we cast, and the care we show to the people we work with every day. Because, in the end, this is all we can control.

Organizations build systems and processes to drive outcomes. Leaders try to manage human capital in the same way. We develop HR policies and programs to drive performance, engagement surveys to gather feedback, and onboarding practices to orient new employees to the company’s culture. We need these systems and experiences to ensure the workforce is heading in the direction that will create the right financial and human-centered outcomes, both of which are needed for business success.

We all know that the art of leadership is in ‘how’ we do this. The question is, do we take time to critically self-examine how we show up? Do we stop and ask ourselves the difficult questions that enable us to lead more effectively? Do we question how quickly we are going through the motions and ask ourselves if we missed opportunities to inspire others? Do we slow down long enough to transform a mandatory practice such as a performance review into a conversation that empowers our employees to keep going even when times are tough? Do we take time to encourage a growth mindset and reinforce and support the development of individuals on our team? Do we question if we are showing up for others as that positive coach who believed in us when we didn’t believe in ourselves?

 There is no road map for leadership other than self-reflection. We truly don’t see ourselves if we don’t look back and honor what we’ve learned and what we want to do differently in the future. John Maxwell said, “If you ever look back at something you did 5 years ago, and it still looks good.... you’re not growing”.  To be great leaders and have the most positive impact on others, we must reflect on the ups and downs, moments of pride and self-doubt, successes and failures, and big mistakes that we desperately tried to learn from.

Self-reflection is the mirror we hold up to ourselves to assess if we are leading in alignment with our core values.

Don’t wait until you have time. Make time. Ask the hard questions and be willing to grow as a result. It is our greatest lever for success - for us, our organization, and those we have the privilege to lead.