“The long-standing joke in my family is that you place me anywhere and within an hour, I’ll be running the place,” Carr says.
“I have never been happy sitting back as a spectator. This is not because I want to be in charge. Rather, I want to feel as if I am making a contribution, making a difference.”
She’s off to a running start. Carr, who graduated from the University of Tulsa with a bachelor’s in deaf education and a master’s in industrial/organizational psychology, moved to the Ozarks last year to become director of human resources for Jordan Valley Community Health Center.
“Being an effective leader means something different to me today than it did early in my career,” she says. “I believed being the leader meant being the decision maker. I now know that, in many ways, the most powerful way for me to demonstrate my leadership is by empowering others and allowing them to be accountable for their own endeavors.”
Carr has myriad responsibilities within a growing organization. She considers a partnership with St. Louis-based outside industrial and organizational psychology consulting firm CMA Consulting LLC one of her most significant accomplishments since joining Jordan Valley.
“We held focus groups with employees asking what is working and what could be improved,” she says. “Now, employees are seeing the fruits of their efforts. Employee committees have formed to tackle the issues that arose from those focus groups.”
Carr takes seriously the ways in which a leader can influence the lives of people, both at work and in the community.
In the little more than a year since Carr moved to the area, she has seized the opportunity to volunteer.
Because of her interest in helping women and children, Carr is involved with Female Leaders in Philanthropy, which runs service projects including Suit Yourself Boutique’s, gently used business attire for women in need and Ozarks Food Harvest’s Weekend Backpack Program that helps feed hundreds of children. Carr volunteers at her children’s school in Nixa, and she is a member of several professional associations.
As a mother, Carr believes teaching philanthropy to her children is one of her most important roles.
“My proudest moment was when I realized that I had successfully passed on my passion for volunteerism to my children. My children enjoy privileges that I did not have as a child growing up in rural Oklahoma, so it is important to me that they understand not everyone is as blessed as our family,” she says. “As I continue to grow my roots in this wonderful community that my family now calls home, I look forward to more opportunities to give back to Springfield, which has already given me so much.”[[In-content Ad]]
