Personal Narrative: A Career As A Bridge Leader

Someone who builds bridges is someone who looks to connect people. They embrace diversity and inclusion and build relationships. Collaboration means working together as a team and not going it alone. We are stronger together is not just a campaign slogan, it means when we reach out to others from various backgrounds and work together as a team we get better results.
When working together as a team, it is common to have teammates who have differing opinions. A bridge builder will try to reach consensus within the team. They seek to make sure every team member has had the opportunity to contribute.

I have had many opportunities to collaborate and build bridges throughout my career. At State Farm, I always was part of a team, and I
know the importance of working together to accomplish goals.

Outside of work, I also have had opportunities to build bridges, and collaborate. Eight years ago I joined my community’s local civic organization, the Wolfsville Ruritan Club. The purpose is to give back to the community, and it does this by holding fundraisers and then using those funds to give back to the local community. We support the Wolfsville Elementary school, scholarships for graduating seniors who attend full-time college, the local food bank, fire department, after school program, youth sports leagues, and unexpected needs that arise in the community due to house fires, natural disasters, or health concerns.

When I joined the Ruritan I was thirty-five and the youngest member, I worked to recruit younger members and was able to bring in our first high school students as well as half dozen members in their twenties.
In my second year in the club, I was recruited to serve on the board, and in my third year, I was elected president. I served as president three years as well as secretary for one. When I was first elected president we had a membership of fifty-five with thirty of them being over the age of sixty. Our club had tons of valuable experience and knowledge, yet was lacking in the energy of youth. As president, I needed to reach out to our oldest members who had the knowledge but not necessarily the health to contribute the way they used to; then I needed to build consensus within the club to come up with new ideas. It was important that we reached consensus because many members had a strong resistance to change, but a significant number also expressed a desire to reduce the number of labor-intensive fundraisers given the advancing age of the volunteers. The challenge was to balance respecting traditions while introducing new ideas without risking the amount of income that we brought in. We wanted to be able to continue to support the community at the same levels we had in the
past.