Julia Rock

My success is rooted first and foremost in God. The only reason I get up every day is because of Him and His guidance. Beyond my faith, my success is heavily shaped by my parents, who were immigrants before returning to their home country. They came to the United States with practically nothing my mom had been a nurse in Barbados and my dad was a teacher, but they had to come to the U.S. and get their GEDs and literally start all over again. Witnessing their willingness to work hard, start from the bottom, and do whatever it took to build a life for themselves helped me develop my own work ethic and focus. I would also say I've had some fantastic mentors - people who didn't have to take me under their wing, but they were willing to share their knowledge with me, share their perspective, share unwritten rules, and help me avoid missteps. I've had some of the best mentors who were committed to my success and development as well.

I think the challenges and opportunities kind of overlap in my field. One of the biggest challenges is that people don't realize how much leadership impacts how an organization functions and what happens to the employees and their well-being. Organizations think they just have to give employees more money or perks, and while those things are helpful, they don't realize how much the health, longevity, and sustainability of an organization is tied to leadership effectiveness. This presents an opportunity for practitioners like myself to provide education and highlight where organizations can improve their leadership, and then show them what it can do - how it can improve retention, productivity, and ultimately profitability and sustainability. This also ties to burnout. We see so many people talking about being burnt out from their jobs, but they don't realize it's tied to leadership, because leaders are the ones setting the culture and delivering the workload. There are so many blind spots, and there are also outdated leadership ideas that worked 10 or 15 or 20 years ago, but in the new world we're living in right now with artificial intelligence and everything else, some of this advice doesn't apply. This creates opportunities for practitioners like myself to come in and provide insights and education and help organizations move into the future, and realize how their leadership actions can ensure that they keep the best talent within their organization and keep those folks motivated.

The most important value to me is integrity - doing the right thing, no matter what. I'm a Christian, and I was raised in a Christian household, so the idea of doing the right thing, even when it's not popular, is most important to me. The second thing is seeing the humanity in people. I think oftentimes, especially in the workplace, we forget that these are human beings, not just worker bees or robots, and so it's ensuring that you treat humans with the same kind of love and respect that you would want to be treated with. What goes along with integrity is also honesty. A lot of problems would be solved in society if people would just stop lying to each other and be honest about their intentions and expectations. In my personal life, honesty is a deal-breaker - when somebody lies to me, I end the conversation or end the relationship. The other thing is a willingness to expand your horizons and learn. That takes a little bit of vulnerability to say, hey, I don't know all the things, but that willingness to learn and have broadened horizons allows you to grow and develop. If you feel like you know everything, there's no room for growth. It's being willing to accept that there's so much that you don't know, and be willing to learn from others, so that supports your own personal and professional development.