Carla D. Bailey, ECCP, MBA

First and foremost, I attribute my success to my faith. That's my guidepost because my faith teaches me to value people and to add value to people. My family and my parents have been instrumental - they've been married for 56 years and will celebrate 57 years this year. They provided a firm foundation of core values about valuing people, being able to add value to people, and leading people better than we found them. That is my dare in every interaction, whether personally or professionally - to always leave people better than I found them. My parents instilled in us the principle that whether it's the janitor or the CEO, get to know their name, their story, and genuinely care about them and value everybody the same. Beyond that, it's always been hard work and being driven to growth. I'm committed to growth and to staying in that growth zone, always challenging myself to grow, evolve, and become better. I believe anytime a leader stops learning and stops growing, you stop leading and lose your effectiveness and ability to impact.

The best career advice I've received is being true to my authentic self and not imitating others. To imitate others would be a disservice and would be to sell myself short. I learned to always be authentic to who I am, knowing that who I am is enough, and that I don't have to emulate other people. To emulate someone else is to sell my own self short and not believe in my own greatness. I also received powerful advice that leadership is not something we do to people, it's something we do with people. Leaders develop other leaders - we don't just want followers. We need to empower and inspire people so they can act and become leaders themselves, because everyone is a leader. Everyone's leading something, whether it's a people leader or leading life, a career, a project, an initiative, or a family. When you can empower people to lead from anywhere they are and show initiative, that's pretty powerful.

I would tell young women to know that they're enough and that they're capable. Develop that self-trust and the ability to act without needing the validation of others. Know that sometimes people will look at you and wonder why you're in the room, and you can just look at them with quiet confidence and know that the room is better because you're in it. You belong there.

I would say one of the biggest challenges is that everybody still doesn't see the value of coaching. Even though coaching has become more socialized within the last 10 years, some people still don't see the value of having a coach. I was just having a conversation with someone this week, and I told them that if you look at our NBA players and sports, no athlete, no matter how great they are - take Steph Curry and the Warriors, or LeBron James and the Lakers - they are still led by very effective coaches. They're not out there on their own just trying to win at the game. They have a coach. Even me as a coach, every coach needs a coach. I'm not out here rogueing on my own. A coach is a partner and a guide. The coach is not going to do the work for you, but a coach is going to come along and honor you as the expert, help you lead on this journey of self-discovery, and help you unearth and uncover the answers that you already hold within you. People still don't see the value of having a coach and the power and impact that coach can bring to enhance and accelerate their goals and aspirations.

My most important values are my faith, integrity, respect, honor, being humble, valuing growth, and serving others. I'm really passionate about women because I was very blessed in my career in corporate America. I was in corporate for 20 years before I came to higher education, and I became a vice president at the age of 32. Being a vice president at that age, you experience a lot - being the younger one sometimes, sometimes being the only one. I'm a woman of color, and I was in the world of finance, which is typically a good old boys club and male-dominated. One of the values my mother taught is how to uplift and celebrate other women and how to reach back. No matter where I may be blessed to get, it's not just about me obtaining a certain level or reaching that, but who can I bring along with me? Who can I leave the door open for? Mentoring has always been a very key value for me. Who can I mentor? Who can I lift up? Who can I create an opportunity and space for them to come alongside me? I understand being uniquely in certain situations - being young, being a woman, and a woman of color in certain positions. Being able to help women navigate has been very important in my coaching too, not just to hear their stories but to share experiences and be empathetic because many times I was in those shoes. As women, we have different experiences from our male counterparts in the workplace, and teaching women how to navigate those in a way that allows them to be competent and bold enough to unleash their greatness so they can be unstoppable regardless of the barriers they may face.