January 29 , 2008

Springfield OH –Barbara Fowler, ’75, returned to her alma mater on a snowy Tuesday afternoon to speak to Wittenberg business students about leadership.  Fowler’s keynote, “Leadership Lessons Learned the Hard Way,” addressed the topics of taking risks, learning from failures, leading a team well, and building on our strengths.

Barbara Fowler began her keynote with an old Chinese proverb and then said that people do not learn much from their successes, but rather it is failure that teaches and allows one to grow.  A good manager is one who can take 100% responsibility for the failures of his or her team.  Why is this so difficult?  Fowler went into several points about how to be a successful leader/manager including: facing your fears, taking responsibility, learning to have difficult conversations constructively, the power of teams, making dreams into reality, and being a magnet.  Fowler believes that to be successful, people need to evaluate what they are doing and form healthy habits that help them to reach their long term goals.

 

 

by: Zach Rinker and Katie Barsan