Georgette Council

I am a person of faith, and I believe that my purpose has been aligned with opportunities that I have. I think that being someone that serves, is a servant leader, someone who serves with a great deal of empathy for others, and someone who derives genuine joy from seeing others succeed, have been very helpful in allowing me to be successful at what I do. My faith is the basis for everything that I do, and I believe that the Lord is responsible for all of the things that have happened in my life. I was blessed with breast cancer six years ago, and I used that to inspire the things that I do and the impact that I have.

The best career advice I received probably came from a gentleman I worked with at AFLAC early in my career, and that is not to be afraid to leave your comfort zone. I loved what I was doing and who I was working with, but financially, I wanted more money, and I wanted more influence, and I wanted a greater opportunity for impact. He said, don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and try to do something that stretches you. I have never forgotten that, and that has kind of been my guiding force for leadership. That is why I believe I'm a respected leader in my organization now, though I don't have a title that would say I'm still an administrative professional, an executive assistant. All of those that have all of the degrees and all of the titles still respect and come to me for my input when it comes to making decisions. So my influence is respected, and it is sought out in many instances. Stretching yourself and going beyond what is comfortable, because that's where you learn and you grow.

I would say, learn at every turn. Take every opportunity to learn and to grow. Just be open to opportunities, because it's there. Sometimes it's not evident, or it's not prevalent, but there are opportunities, and having patience and flexibility will be two of the best things that you can have in order to succeed and to really nurture your inner needs to serve, because most of us that are in this profession, as office professionals serve behind the scenes. But the impact that you can have is so great if you seek out opportunities to influence, like I said, being that 360 leader, where you learn to lead from where you are, but you also lead up and also mentor and lead down as well.

I think the challenges are the opportunity to grow, to grow up. What I try to help people I mentor and coach folks that are in this field is that you can grow the breadth of what you know, and you have to be willing to do that if you're in a position where you can't grow up. In other words, I've been at the top position in the district administratively, and there was nowhere for me to grow up. I had the top spot. And so, instead of growing up, I had to grow out. Sometimes our barrier in this field, where education is concerned, not as an administrative professional, because in other ranks, there may be the opportunity to grow up, if you're an administrative assistant to become an executive assistant or a personal assistant, but in education, there are just certain levels, and they kind of stop there, and so you have to grow out, and so sometimes that can be a barrier. The opportunities for impact are great. I don't work in a school, I'm at a district office, and so I don't work directly with the children, but for those that work in the schools, the opportunity to impact is incredible, because the students are always watching and learning. Knowing that you have the ability to impact our future is just incredible. There are many opportunities for that. In addition to that, if you are someone that wants to get into education in other areas, there are just so many ways that you can do that and change your trajectory and have an even greater impact on students and on staff, as well as the larger community. Once you overcome those challenges by either increasing your education, or increasing your visibility and learning to lead up, as well as to lead across, but to become a 360 leader, where you lead up, across, and down, your area of influence, then I think that you can have an even greater impact.

My faith is the basis for everything that I do. I am a Christian, and I believe that the Lord is responsible for all of the things that have happened in my life. Matter of fact, I was sitting here working on a book that I'm writing. I was blessed with breast cancer six years ago, and I used that to inspire the things that I do and the impact that I have. My faith has been a very big part of everything that I do. But I'm someone that serves with integrity, I believe in honesty, I believe in having a very high emotional intelligence, which allows me to read rooms and to assist where needed, to dial up or dial back whatever is necessary, depending on the room that I'm in and the opportunity that I have to provide impact. Those are the things, I think, that are the basis for my success and kind of define who I am.