Times Standard (Eureka)

Our region has a new leadership academy

- By Loren Collins Loren Collins is a lifelong local and the director of academic advising at Cal Poly Humboldt. He recently joined the first cohort of Leadership Redwood Coast, our region’s newest leadership academy.

I once heard that the best way to get confidence is to have it imparted to you by someone who has it. I’ve also been told that confidence is a choice, and you just have to choose it. Now, at 42, I believe both statements to be equally true. When I entered college as a first-generation college student, the confidence that I would succeed was not imparted to me, nor did I know how to choose it. Imposter syndrome, the idea that people will find out I shouldn’t be there, was strong, and it took years of experience to earn, or choose, the confidence I needed to succeed.

I eventually overcame it enough to become part of the Cal Poly Humboldt academic community many years ago. Recently, I took on a leadership role on an interim basis. Although I have led before, stepping into an official role meant that every once in a while, imposter syndrome rears its ugly head again. With new leadership roles, the challenges come on day one but the knowledge and experience you need to address them have to be earned over time. The role I stepped into, like many leadership roles, did not come with any training or special impartatio­n. Like many readers, I quickly had to choose confidence and hope that everything else would follow. I find myself turning to many of the places new leaders turn: Books on leadership; workshops wherever you can find them; leadership podcasts; mentors; lunch dates with other leaders; and trusted advisors.

All things I would recommend, but I still wanted more, I needed more. That is why I jumped at the chance to be in the first cohort of Leadership Redwood Coast (LRC), a new leadership academy hosted by the Arcata Economic Developmen­t

Corporatio­n (AEDC) and supported by a number of regional partners. The effort is led by Nancy Olson of the Eureka Chamber of Commerce, Allie Jones and Melissa Blanford of Illuminate­d Marketing, and Susan Seaman of AEDC and is described as, “a five-month regional leadership program centered on empowering diverse individual­s throughout Humboldt, Del Norte, and adjacent tribal lands with the tools, connection­s, and insight they need to effect equitable and innovative change in their communitie­s and across the region.”

In the first session, I knew I found what I needed. I spent a weekend sitting in a room with leaders of all stages of developmen­t hailing from nonprofits, government, education and private industry who, like me, were hoping to gain the skills, confidence and knowledge we need to become better leaders. Establishe­d leaders and members from all over our community came to impart exactly those things to us in hopes that their investment­s in us would ultimately build up our region.

For most of us, when we step into a leadership role, we have to dig deep into ourselves to find out if we have what it takes, and we often do so with few outside resources to help pass the test. I write this in hopes that if you are out there in a new business or role, you can know you are not alone, and there are many leaders out there who want to support new and emerging leaders. The LRC is an incredible option, and maybe their next cohort could be what you are looking for.

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