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| I have chosen to interview Jennifer Wright, a director of the accounting firm in which I am currently employed. I have chosen Jenny because she is a highly respected member of our community and is an inspiration to myself and excellent role model and mentor.
Jenny was born in Bridgetown in 1949 and went to school in the area until Junior High, which currently still is the highest schooling we can achieve in Bridgetown. Jenny then went on to Manjimup Senior High School to complete her high school diploma. Since then she has achieved a range of qualifications such as; Bachelor of Arts with a major in Geography, Bachelor of Business with a major in Accounting, CPA, various Financial Planning courses with a P146 qualification. Jenny is also a Justice of the Peace. Majority of these qualifications require ongoing training to keep up to date with the rules and regulations which govern her current occupation. Jenny has had a variety of leadership roles over the years which have all helped to shape her views on leadership and have encouraged her to develop her skills further. Jenny�s first role was a member on the hospital board which she remained on for twenty years, and four of those years were spent as chairperson. Jenny is currently still a member of Geegeelup Incorporated(Retirement Home) which she has been on for thirty years; twenty of these years she has spent as the Treasurer. Although, there have been other boards that she has been a part of, these two have helped her greatly in developing her leadership skills. To remain part of a team for so many years, Jenny would have worked with an extremely diverse group of people. Many would have come and gone in her time there and this helped her to understand that to be a good leader she needed to treat each person as an individual rather than addressing the team as a whole. When Jenny completed her Bachelor of Business she started at a local firm Church and Mcneil as an Accountant. In 1986 Jenny bought into the partnership which was now called Church, Mcneil and Wright. This was a huge step for Jenny as the accounting industry was very male dominated, and it was extremely hard for her to gain the respect that she deserved, however her hard work certainly paid off. After finally gaining the respect as a Professional Accountant in the area, she turned her focus to the Shire Council, which at the time, only consisted of one female member, who happened to also be the first female board member. Jenny decided she would be the second female board member, and after a few years was elected as the first ever female Shire President within the area. I have worked with Jenny for over five years now, and was never aware of the huge milestones she had achieved. This suggests that she shows characteristics of a servant leadership style whereby �A servant leader places service before self-interest, being more concerned with helping others than acquiring power, financial reward and status.� (Dubrin, et al, 2006) In 1991, Jenny went into sole practice; this was a big step for her as she now created the only competition in the area for her previous partners. For her business to be successful she needed the support of the town, and her presence as a member on many community board meetings gave her the competitive advantage. This would suggest that Jenny also displayed characteristics of a transformational leader. She was a Professional Female Accountant in a male dominated industry and branching out on your own would have almost been an unthinkable move for a female. However, Jenny�s determination and hard work saw her remain in sole practice for twelve years before she made the decision to incorporate three of her long time work colleagues which are all still in the company today. Whilst interviewing Jenny, I asked her who inspired her, expecting a one person answer, I was surprised when she started listing off a range of names. This gave me a very good insight into her leadership qualities. The fact that she was inspired by such a range of people shows me that she understands that in order to be a good leader she must incorporate parts of many different styles in order to achieve the best results. Majority of people that inspired Jenny were local members of the community who have contributed greatly to community affairs and made changes around the town. Another person who inspired her is Norm Hoath, who was the Manager of Bunnings for a number of years. Jenny remembers a quote from Norm which she uses in her leadership position today. �I manage my staff so that things can work when I am not there.� This is evident in Jenny�s leadership style whereby she has started to implement working outside the office one day a week, she is contactable if needs be, but it helps staff to come to solutions on their own, as they think twice about asking her. This helps to show that she also uses characteristics of a participative leadership style, she aims to make herself invisible and for the office to �tick along to the best ability with the least interference, and the greatest enjoyment.� Jenny is consistently striving to be better; she questions her leadership skills everyday in order to the best she can possibly be. A large part of Jenny�s leadership role now is to �coach� and encourage her work colleagues and staff members to be the best leaders they can be. �You don�t need to do the job yourself if you know it is being done right.� Jenny believes in letting people learn on there own, and she does not like to see the �obvious controller� whereby a leader tells people exactly what to do every step of they way. This is evident in her leadership style whereby Jenny will plant the seed of an idea, and staff members and work colleagues will make that idea work. �This way the staff thinks they have come up with the idea or at least have contributed to it.� It gives them a sense of importance, and encourages them to come up with more ideas. Whilst interviewing Jenny I asked her for her views on the ten laws of leadership. Jenny does not believe a leader has to have vision, they certainly have to have an idea of where they are heading before they can lead others. However, it is only an idea which has to be continually evolving over time. Jenny does not believe a leader has to have wisdom, they do not always know what to do next, they spend hours gathering information and researching the correct path to go down. They never automatically know what do and which path to take. Jenny believes that a leader does have to have courage, they need to be tenacious. Jenny believes a leader does have to be a decision maker but they need the courage to be able to make the hard decisions. It is evident in Jenny�s views to the above few laws that she certainly agrees a leader has to have humility. Although Jenny could have done ninety nine percent of the work, she would still believe it was a group effort and would acknowledge and thank the whole office at the next staff meeting. Jenny agrees with a leader having to exercise tact and diplomacy, but it has to be in an acceptable way. Jenny is a strong believer in treating each staff member differently as an individual, and therefore the tact and diplomacy that you exercise for one staff member may not be the same for another. Jenny believes it is highly important to learn what motivates your staff members and use different leadership styles in different situations. The tenth law of leadership is that a leader exudes inspirational power. To help to get an understanding of this to form Jenny�s leadership style, I asked work colleagues if they believed Jenny exuded inspirational power. A spark lit up in people�s eyes when the talked about her, the respect she has earned from staff members is incredible. It made no difference if the person had been working with her for ten years or three months, they all highly respect her and she motivates and inspires each person in a different way. To hear what my work colleagues have to say about her was truly inspirational. The last question I asked Jenny was what advice she had for others to become better leaders. Her answer was �learn to be a good listener, and notice people�s reactions.� Jenny explained that when you are talking to someone you already have an expectation of their reaction, if how they react is not what you where expecting, then there may be a problem there. A simple task, however, it is an extremely important one. Jenny also advises to continually reflect and review yourself, your approach to situations and people, and continually evaluate the outcomes, your leadership must be evolving and you often need to change your approach. From Jenny�s views on the above ten laws of leadership it gives me very good insight into her own leadership style. Jenny is very modest; she does not believe she always knows what to do, even if all her staff members think she does. This would suggest that she combines a range of leadership styles such as servant, participative and transformational to achieve the best results. References Dubrin, A.J, Dalglish, C, & Miller, P, (2006), Leadership 2nd Asia Pacific Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Australia Wright, J, (2008) Interview conducted by Tenille Bosley on 28th March 2008 at Hampton Partners Bridgetown |
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| Jennifer Wright, BA, BBus, CPA, JP By Tenille Bosley |
| Local Leader Interview
Questions - conducted by Tenille Bosley on 28th March 2008 Where were you born and what year? A brief history of your education? Leadership roles - past and present? Where do you believe your leadership skills developed from (have you had to work hard to develop them, have you had to earn respect)? Who inspires you? As a leader, what is the main thing that you don�t like to see? How would you describe your leadership style? Do you believe leaders are born or developed? Have you ever questioned your skills and therefore developed them further? What are your views on the following so called �10 laws of leadership�? 1. A leader has vision �The biggest mistake is to have sight but no vision� (blind man) 2. A leader has discipline - �Without discipline we can solve nothing� 3.A leader has wisdom �A leader knows what to do next� 4. A leader has courage �The courage to hang in there, there is no courage without fear� 5. A leader has humility �If I can see further than others it�s because I stand on giant shoulders� 6. A leader is a decision maker �A leader needs to master the art of decision� 7. A leader develops friendship �Success in life depends on other people� 8. A leader exercises tact and diplomacy �What we have done for others and the world stays around forever, what we do for ourselves dies with us� 9. A leader develops executive ability �Leaders are not satisfied with themselves, they always strive to be better and try things beyond what they have already mastered� 10. A leader exudes inspirational power �Leaders have the ability to inspire people� What advice would you have for others to become a better leader? |
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