What does it take to show you are an extraordinary leader? Sometimes it takes understanding what it means to be “qualified versus qualifiable”. A qualified executive does what others do: follows best practices and looks to do what it takes to meet job and role requirements. A “qualifiable” executive knows that he/she must do more if he/she wants to stand out in the crowd, set themselves apart and keep learning and growing as a leader.
Recently, Becky Dannenfelser and I had the pleasure of delivering a two-hour interactive Extraordinary Leadership workshop at the Q2 Symposium for Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) at the Loews Atlanta Hotel. ITSMF is an exceptional organization dedicated to preparing African-American IT professionals for senior-level responsibility by offering executive career development, mentoring, and networking opportunities for career advancement. Event attendees included IT executives and senior managers representing an impressive roster of Fortune 1000 companies, business owners and C-suite IT executives.
The focus of this particular symposium was “Candid Conversations: The Corner Office View of Leadership”. Committed to professional growth and advancement of its members, ITSMF offered numerous opportunities over the 3 days to indulge in leadership development, including workshops, C-suite panel discussion, keynote presentations and small break-out sessions. To our delight, the Clearwater workshop on “Extraordinary Leadership: 5 Keys to Corner Office Attainment” was well attended with over 80 registered participants!
Our workshop offered participants actionable exercises and tools that focused on the development and practice of Clearwater’s 5 Keys to Extraordinary Leadership: Vision, Belief, Network, Communication, and Team Engagement. We came away incredibly impressed with how engaged the audience was and how committed they were to embracing the tools necessary for extraordinary leadership. We were impressed with both the seriousness of the participants and their desire to pave a path of career advancement.
We were extremely grateful for the positive feedback we received, as it is one of our firms’ values to work with organizations committed to tapping the potential of leaders of all levels. To quote one executive from the Coca-Cola Company, “it was a career changer”, and another participant said, “This was one of the best workshops I have attended with ITSMF”. Humbling feedback that strengthened our desire to serve this organization at future conferences.
If you are looking for a great pool of IT professionals who understand the difference between what it means to be qualified versus qualifiable to connect with, recruit, or learn from, this is your group. We can’t say enough good things about this organization. Thank you ITSMF!