Marisa Black Neal

I attribute my success to transparency, over-communicating, and really just caring about my team on both a personal level and a career level. I try to be very vulnerable up front with my team to make them feel like they can be vulnerable as well, and we can just talk through things honestly and transparently with each other. Defining and sustaining the culture of my team is something I'm very intentional about, because it could make or break everything - the work that's being done, the team dynamic, all of it. Culture means a lot to me. I would describe my leadership style as servant leadership, where my credibility to lead is in direct correlation with my ability to serve.

Your credibility to lead is in direct correlation with your ability to serve. This quote really resonates with me and captures how I think about leadership. It reminds me that being a leader isn't about being in the spotlight or having authority - it's about how well you can serve the people you're leading. I also live by the perspective that we're all on a floating rock, so what are you worried about anyways? Life is short, and that helps me not take things too seriously or too personally.

I would say a couple different things. First, find your voice and use it. Don't be afraid to speak up and contribute your perspective. Second, give yourself grace on the failures, the mishaps, and the journey that you're on of learning. This field requires continuous growth and adaptation, and you're going to make mistakes along the way. Be kind to yourself through that process and remember that the learning journey is part of what makes you better at what you do.

I see two major challenges right now. First is accountability on leaders and their teams. We're doing a lot of development with our leaders, but I still don't think they quite understand how big of a role they have on pretty much everything - any systems we implement, any change that comes along. Leaders really make it or break it. The second challenge, especially with so much AI and technology, is that I don't want us to lose our human element and what makes us human. We need to remember what drives humans, what motivates us, what makes us feel connected, what makes us want to continue working where we're at. There are so many dynamics to us as humans, and I don't want that to be lost. We need to maintain human identity and meaning under technological pressures. The biggest opportunity is teaching people how to stay themselves in an AI workplace. When AI is going to take care of the cognition, we don't want people to lose that competence and those neuropathways that are developed from being able to start from ground zero. We need to keep people from becoming dependent or hollow, unable to critically think. Developing that critical thinking in people is the opportunity.