Lifelong Learners: Robin Robeson, on Leadership

SBJ photo by McKenzie Robinson

Robin Robeson says she never set out to become a leader. But she realized it at her first professional job at a bank in St. Louis.

“I got my first performance evaluation,” she says, “and I remember this because it was kind of life changing for me. My supervisor wrote, ‘Robin is a natural leader.’

“I never thought of myself in that way, but hearing my manager say that at such a young age, it impacted me.”

Now, she helps lead Guaranty Bank as a member of the senior management team and serves as the president of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

In just the past couple of months during the COVID-19 pandemic, she says the bank has processed 654 Paycheck Protection Program loans representing almost $54 million and impacting 7,631 jobs. And the chamber has quickly shifted its events online and added educational seminars to help businesses during this economic and public health crisis.

“I've never been more proud to be a part of the Guaranty Bank team, the chamber team, but also to be a citizen in Springfield,” she says. “There's nothing like a good crisis to bring people together and really show the strength of a team.”

Robeson’s advice on leadership

Relationships are key
"My grandmother told me that you can't wait until you need a friend to make one; you've got to build goodwill and trust before you actually need it. As a leader, you can't wait until you're in a crisis situation, like we're in right now, to collaborate with other people. The trust and the goodwill already has to have been there for that to be successful.”

Be a voice, not an echo
"You can't surround yourself with an echo chamber. You've got to actively seek out other points of view. I have a sign here in my office that says, ‘Be a voice not an echo.’ I specifically have it in here because I have a lot of meetings in here and I want it to be a reminder to people that I'm meeting with that if you don't agree with me, I want you to tell me.”

Pass it on
"You are not really a leader until you have developed another leader who can develop another leader. The highest purpose of a leader is to develop other leaders. Just having a title doesn't make you a leader.”

Be vulnerable
"Showing your vulnerabilities does not make you a weak leader in the eyes of others. It makes you even stronger. It’s saying, ‘I don't know what the answer is to that, but we can figure it out together.' ‘This is scary, I haven't been through this before.’ I remember saying that when we were figuring out what we were going to do here at the bank, and even at the chamber, with the pandemic.”

Never stop developing
"I am a work in progress. I am not a finished product. I most appreciate being around people who have that mindset. I don't hire finished products.”