Beth McCann
Representative
Colorado
1. What do you think is the key to effective leadership?
Some keys to effective leadership are having confidence in your ideas and the ability to inspire others to want to work for your ideas and follow your lead. Good leaders listen and gather ideas from others and then work hard to make everyone feel that they are part of the solution so they feel vested. Good leaders surround themselves with good people, they are able to delegate to others, and they give credit where credit is due. They generally have creative ideas although they may get these from others and they excel in the execution of ideas or they inspire others to do so.
2. What is your favorite leadership quote?
"Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools." - Napoleon
3. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Concentrate on a few areas in the legislature - don't take on too much - from a former state senator. Unfortunately, this is not easy for me, and I struggle with it.
4. What do you hope to get out of your Toll Fellows experience?
I hope to learn how others address the partisan nature of legislatures and still do what they think is the right thing to do for the state. I am interested in how others handle a situation when the party wants a vote one way, and you feel you should vote another way. I often find the political part of this job difficult. I am not as much of a party person as are many of my colleagues. I am interested in finding solutions and getting the job done for the state. I welcome the opportunity to talk with others from outside my legislative body about how to handle this dilemma.
I also hope to get tips on leadership skills and the opportunity to practice some leadership skills. I look forward to hearing from others how they are tackling the crisis in government budgets and hope to learn ways to look for efficient government. I also would love to get some new ideas about legislation - particularly dealing with higher education, health care insurance exchange, and criminal justice reform. I am really looking forward to sharing experiences and creative ideas with others in government in this time of distrust of government and deep budget cuts.
I thrive on discussing problems and potential solutions with others. Generally, I get my best ideas from stimulating and thought-provoking discussion. I am sure I will come away from this program energized and with some new creative ideas and best practices for tackling the many issues we face.
When we are in session, we are so busy handling the 600 or so bills that must be addressed in 120 days, there is very little time to think deeply about the issues we address and discuss them in depth with others. Once we are out of session, we return to jobs and busy lives. The opportunity of having a week to focus on problems and solutions for our challenges, without distractions, is very appealing.
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