One thing I have noticed about my Netcare boss throughout the summer is that she keeps THOROUGH records of previous sponsors, grant applications, grants rejections, and grant donors. She has mentioned before how difficult it was for her to begin her job, as her successor did not document much of her work. My boss, instead, keeps excel spreadsheets, binders, online folders, bloomerang entries, and more. She even prepared a binder at the beginning of my fellowship detailed with all my upcoming tasks, their priority levels, due dates, explanations of the company, explanations of each task, and MUCH much more. Though she never explicitly defined all this work as succession planning, I see how all her record keeping, note taking, and directions are already preparing the next Director of Development and Public Relations. As the Summer Fellows discussed how critical succession planning is to social profit work during the Columbus Foundation Learning Session, the future planning my boss constantly completes gave me yet another reason to awe at how amazing my boss is. Though this thorough note-taking is not a requirement of her job, she recognized something lacking during her transitions and works daily to ensure that does not happen during the next transition. She sees how critical record-keeping is to a one-day transition of leadership and thus to the success of Netcare. I respect her tremendously for this (and for many, many other things as well). 

Record-keeping has never been my strong suit. However, after the discussion with the fellows this week and witnessing the benefits of it firsthand, it is definitely a trait I would like to continue to develop. 

In addition to succession planning, we discussed leadership. Elizabeth and Nicholas emphasized the importance of “not exclusively reading the books that you author.” This idea is something I will take with me after the fellowship, and I will try to actively seek credible information that contradicts my beliefs.

The speakers also discussed the importance of taking care of your own mental health first. It made me think of a reminder flight attendants tell their customers every time they fly: if oxygen levels are low, put your mask on first before helping others. Just like on planes, leaders cannot provide for others if they themselves do not have the resources or mental well-being to survive. My life path will undoubtedly hit some rough patches where my mental health hits a low, and I hope I remember this important lesson from Elizabeth and Nicolas when it does.