Tara Bielinski

When I was just starting out and still pretty young and naïve, I was given the opportunity to be in leadership. I quickly learned that the leader isn’t necessarily the smartest one in the room. Hard work, honesty, communication and humility are truly the hallmarks of a leader. It doesn’t matter what rank you are, you don’t want to be the smartest one in the room. Always hire people who are smarter than you. When I was that young leader, I thought I could lead by example and change others to make them better workers, but quickly found out that is just not the case. People have to choose to change on their own. I learned quickly that if what I was doing wasn’t working, I needed to change my approach and could inspire others to do the same. 

Through my mentor, Donna, I learned that self-awareness and ownership are the best ways to inspire change in others. In our weekly calls she brought so much clarity to my life by explaining that leadership is an art and management is a science. Leadership is about people and management is about things. This requires us to rely on behaviors and values to lead, while using skill and knowledge to manage. Leadership is about being and management is about doing. 

One of the best lessons I’ve learned is that as a leader you must learn from your past, live in the present and focus on the future. Every day is a clean slate for you to continue to motivate and inspire others. Don’t just hang on, climb. Being in end-of-life care makes me think of the poem about living in the dash that exists on your tombstone between the dates of your birth and death. It’s all about what you leave behind and whether that continues to inspire and guide those that were along with you during that dash.