Transcriber: Mai Nguyễn Reviewer: David DeRuwe
I took this really interesting course, my first semester of college,
psychology of personality,
where my professor was talking about this theory of leadership
I found really interesting.
She mentioned how there was no right way to be a leader,
but it was more about the different qualities and mannerisms we bring
to make it our own version of perfect leadership.
She called it the “situational theory of leadership,”
where the type of leader is dependent
on the situations that you or I would be in.
She said that this leadership is more about learning on the job,
so the more exposed we are to varying situations,
the stronger our impact would be as a leader,
simply because we’re reinforcing our skill set.
So my question is: How can we learn from these qualities
and trigger these qualities in our daily lives?
I turned to some of the great leaders throughout history:
Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, and Indira Gandhi.
With these impactful people,
I wanted to see what exactly
was the key to their experiences that brought out their best qualities
and how we could be successful like them in our own lives.
I created the BRAVE leadership acronym,
which touches on the key attributes of a great leader who is self-aware
and who is able to bounce back from failures,
who’s able to face life’s uncertainties,
and connects and engages with people around them.
And this can be summarized to the key attributes of being BRAVE:
balanced, resilient, adaptable, versatile and engaged.
The BRAVE leadership acronym accounts for leaders who improve capabilities,
overcome uncertainties, and deliver exceptional results
where the heart and mind are focused.
Now, this leadership is not about the individual traits that are mentioned,
but in fact, the culmination of these traits to drive positive results
like the “I Have a Dream” speech
to vouch for a nation void of racism and segregation,
or being a conductor of the Underground Railroad granting slaves their freedom.
Or even being elected
the first female prime minister of India despite national discrimination.
I decided to test this formula out in my life
to see the advancements and limitations of these traits as a leader.
As a certified EMT, our mission is our patients’ safety
and compassionate delivery of quality care.
With every emergency, we find a way to work together
to save the lives of those when they hang in the balance,
whether it be at a major car accident or the need for resuscitation.
Their lives are in our hands,
and it is in moments like these where their survival
relies on the activation of our leadership skills.
So I had this one call during the pandemic
where our patient was having a diabetic episode
and needed to be transported immediately.
I decided to implement the BRAVE model here to test the advancements.
I had to make sure our team was balanced by making sure we all had
the knowledge and skills necessary to help treat our patient.
After assigning roles to each team member,
we checked the patient’s vital signs and glucose levels,
and to avoid diabetic shock, we decided to transport.
Now, once we were in the ambulance, we had to be resilient and adaptable
in making sure our patient was calm, conscious, and alert
by keeping them comfortable in the stretcher,
providing them with the proper medication,
and of course, preparing for any adverse results that could occur.
Next, we had to be versatile in adapting to the patient's fluctuating vital signs
and engaged with the patient to make sure they were communicating
all the information needed to better treat them.
Now, in this one scenario,
I was able to apply all of the BRAVE leadership traits
as I continued to learn to be a better leader.
Now, the BRAVE leadership traits can be applied
and cover all of the bases for personal success,
which can then be imprinted onto team success.
So the question you all probably have now is: How does this help me?
How can I be BRAVE in my life and still attain my goals?
The BRAVE leadership model can be applied to our current pandemic world.
A common challenge we are all facing
is the lack of time management and boundaries in a digital world.
There have been many conversations about working remotely, in person,
and even a hybrid format, which is disrupting our daily routines.
Not only that, but while working remotely has its benefits,
it is forcing our work lives to bleed into our personal lives,
illustrating a lack of differences between the two.
To top it all off
with the increased limitations we have had in our in-person interactions,
it has been very difficult to form meaningful connections
with our peers, mentors, and colleagues.
So let’s revisit these situations once again,
this time applying the BRAVE leadership model to make subtle
yet meaningful changes.
Now, the lack of consistency in a virtual world is difficult to change
because there are so many unpredictable circumstances,
however, we can be BRAVE by creating multiple routines that factor in
for the different working formats we are faced with.
This may entail taking a scheduled break in the morning or the evening,
depending on your schedule,
or having meetings earlier in the morning rather than later,
so you have more free time.
This allows you to be flexible yet approachable,
creating the perfect environment for all working formats.
Now we know that having a work-life balance is difficult,
but there are things that we can do to change this too.
We can create fixed working hours
or have new timelines when tasks are not done in a timely manner
and be present and engaged with every task we dwell in.
This allows us to be flexible,
yet it allows us to create boundaries
and attending to each aspect of our life equally and efficiently.
Now we know being virtual is difficult,
and these connections are even harder to form through a screen.
Well, we can be BRAVE
by having group FaceTime calls with friends and family members
or finding a hobby and volunteering with people who have similar interests
or being connected and engaged through video calls
and team building activities with our mentors.
The BRAVE leadership traits can be applied to so many aspects of our lives.
It is about expanding our mindset and playing an active role
in determining our approach to this leadership.
So I mentioned a few ways that we can use BRAVE in our daily lives,
and using these every day can open new opportunities for us
on a larger scale as well.
For example, I have a friend who suffers from major food allergies.
She and her sister are allergic to many ingredients in prepackaged foods,
but they're often not labeled correctly,
causing many health problems for both of them.
They were BRAVE in their approach to create a change
and have Congress successfully expand the definition
of a major food allergen to include sesame.
They did the “Got Your Back” initiative
to raise awareness their high schools and support,
and turned this self-advocacy into state advocacy by having meetings
with congressional members through a Congressional fly-in at Washington DC.
They were BRAVE in their approach to create a solution for this problem,
and although there are many factors that inhibited their success,
they went through all of it and became successful.
Oftentimes, when they were discussing their thoughts
with the congressional members and representatives,
there was a lack of understanding and their ideas were dismissed
because they didn't know why there was a need for this bill.
However, they were resilient and adaptable
by using their personal experiences to educate and show
how important and crucial this bill was for the food allergy community.
Even COVID 19 impacted them as they had to have congressional meetings over Zoom.
But regardless, they persevered through it all,
and they were successful in implementing BRAVE to pass this bill.
So as you can see,
the BRAVE leadership model can be applied to any aspect of our life
with any length,
from creating work-life balance to tangible differences in Congress.
We just have to find our passion.
Now, I’m not telling you that you need to storm the doors of Congress
and be BRAVE to create change.
There are so many things that go into creating a difference,
and I would know this firsthand as I go through this every day in my life,
from my classes to work to even my involvements on campus.
As humans, we tend to focus more on the negative
rather than the positive things in our life.
But really, it is these negative aspects that we are exposed to
that kind of focus and incline on the negative things.
What is important to remember is that we are in the driver’s seat.
It is about changing the perception of leadership
in that there’s no such thing as a perfect leader.
If anything,
it is the differences in our leadership
that make success more achievable and attainable.
Now, as a community,
there’s a general perception that there’s a right or perfect path
to becoming a leader
and that making mistakes and having flaws is what leads us to a lack of success.
But the reality is that it is these mistakes and flaws
that make our leadership more relatable and stronger,
because the truth is nobody’s perfect.
The BRAVE leadership acronym accounts for and celebrates these flaws
as we create our unique stamp on what a leader looks like.
Now, everybody is leading their own lives
and we become the narrators of our own stories.
It is about us taking an active role in our lives
and the lives of those we surround ourselves with,
whether it be our friends, family, or mentors.
We need to go out and create the stories that we set out to write,
to be the BRAVE leaders they can look to for role models, as for advice,
because we create tangible differences that they can see and look up to.
We now have the formula for success,
and it is time to take action and implement these changes.
Speak up at your next Zoom meeting to connect with your peers and colleagues
or create a meeting with your manager
to have boundaries in your work and balance.
Or teach your kid how to use an instant pot,
so they can make a meal for themselves when you’re unable to do so.
Seek out opportunities in your life when you can be BRAVE:
balanced, resilient, adaptable, versatile, and engaged.
Our differences are what make success more attainable,
and it is the BRAVE leadership model that we can use to be successful.
Are you ready to be a BRAVE leader with me?