在领导和生活中要有远大的目标

For the second time in as many weeks, Foxcroft had the pleasure of hearing an Alison Harrison Goodyear ’29 Fellow address the community. 这一次 黛博拉·李·詹姆斯, 23rd Secretary of the Air Force and 作者 of Aim High: Chart Your Course and Find Success (2019), delivered the keynote presentation during our school-wide 领导 Day.

“Aim high is basically shorthand for my philosophy, 我的生活方式, 你可能会说, 在领导,詹姆斯解释道。, “as well as on finding personal and professional fulfillment. 作为一种哲学, it is really centered first and foremost on the value of people, 沟通的重要性, 我们生活中的人际关系, 以及我们自己的个人成长.”

Using lessons learned from her life and career, James offered the audience her Aim High formula for personal and professional fulfillment, presenting three essential actions and strategies for accomplishing each. 

Those three essential actions and her strategies for each included:

• Chart/navigate your course with purpose
  • 永远要有a计划和B计划
  • Focus on your relationships: Find a mentor (teacher, parent, neighbor, a friend’s parent)
  • Hang in there with positivity, especially during tough times
• 团队合作
  • Speak up and listen deeply – “Don't be afraid to challenge the status quo ever, 但是要有礼貌.”
  • Model ethical behavior – “Once you lose your integrity and the trust of others it is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible to rebuild. 这根本不值得.”
  • 发挥你的优势, but always recognize the team – “Know what you're good at but be self-aware and leverage the team in areas where you are not as strong.”
• 把事情做好
  • Five-step repeatable problem-solving strategy: Investigate, 沟通, 激活, 迭代, 和跟进. 

Our students were clearly engaged and inspired. 在她的演讲之后, James took multiple questions from students covering a range of topics, from challenges she faced in her different roles to what obstacles they might overcome themselves in pursuing opportunities in their professional careers or with the government or military. 

“My challenge to all of you is this,” offered James in closing. “I would ask each of you to think about what I've said and take one or two of those strategies and start putting them into practice in your life, 在你们的互动中, 在你的人际关系中. 然后退后一步，看看会发生什么. See if these strategies can help you find your voice for good at Foxcroft and beyond.”

 除了她的主题演讲, James spoke with our student leaders and Honor Council about using your voice for good and modeling the behavior you seek in others. 

“Her leadership experience was invaluable and the emphasis that she placed on human connections and successful leaders’ ability to communicate and inspire was incredibly helpful to me as a leader upholding the honor system at Foxcroft,” offered Honor Council Chair Claire H. ’21 when asked about the workshop with James. “She pointed out how important it is to be upfront and to make sure that we as Foxcroft members walk the talk and work to establish a community based on trust and respect.” 

The Alison Harrison Goodyear ’29 Fellowship program, offered through the generosity of the family and friends of Alison Harrison Goodyear, 威尼斯彩票游戏1929届, brings distinguished speakers and provocative performers to Foxcroft to deliver a keynote address and conduct small group seminars with students. Fellowship recipients during the program’s 50-year history include such remarkable voices as 五月a Angelou, 詹姆斯·贝克三世, 多丽丝·卡恩斯·古德温, 大卫•麦卡洛, 莎莉骑, 芭芭拉·沃尔99499威尼斯信誉斯, 科技企业家希娜·艾伦, 徒步旅行者, 作者, and National Geographic “Adventurer of the Year” Jennifer Pharr Davis, and most recently “Hello Fears” founder Michelle Poler, generation创始人Katlyn Grasso说, NPR’s Morning Edition host Rachel Martin, The Social Institute founder Laura Tierney, and Professor of 历史 and African American Studies at Georgetown University Dr. 玛西娅城主.