“I”ll be a good surrogate to your baby.”
These were the words spoken by Sarah, Lead(H)er’s newly minted Executive Director as I handed her a green folder stuffed to the brim with six months of important documents and brainstorming scratch pieces of paper. I felt a sense of relief and pride–this thing that I dreamed up and worked so hard to make a reality was real. But in that moment, I also felt a tiny bit of loss. My “baby” wasn’t just mine anymore. And despite complete trust in Sarah’s ability to make it something more than I can ever imagine, I felt loss.
In sharing these feelings with a dear, wise friend, she left me with these words:
“The true test of your leadership wasn’t in leading Lead(H)er. It was in letting someone else do the leading.”
So my message to Sarah is this:
Thank you. For listening, guiding, questioning, and supporting.
Thank you. For putting up with a lot of “Oh, and one more thing…” emails at midnight. And five am. Did you get that one I just sent you a minute ago? I haven’t heard back yet, so…?
Thank you. For taking on a task filled with unknowns and what-ifs.
Thank you. For being a risk-taker and a story-teller.
Thank you. For having faith and and a vision.
Thank you. For adopting Lead(H)er and running with it.
Go fuel careers and community engagement for young women, but just as importantly, fuel yourself with this mission and the people you encounter along the way. If you do that, I have no doubt Lead(H)er will be successful.
If you need me, I’ll be emailing you a list of things I forgot to mention about our website platform. And our Facebook account. And our survey questions. You haven’t gotten rid of me yet.
Oh, and thank you for not making me let go completely.
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