It has been a year since I was selected as a Bush Fellow I am amazed at how quickly time has flown and how much I have learned in one year. I can honestly say that I have spent more time in the past year focusing on my own personal development than I have spent in my entire lifetime, which is I suppose, how the Bush Fellowship is supposed to work.

I have participated in every leadership survey/test that has been provided by the Bush Foundation. I learned a great deal about myself from the CDR (Character, drivers and risk assessment) and the IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory). The good news is that based on my CDR results I am doing the right work in life and based on my risk factors I have some work to do on how I manage stress and how I manage decision making when I am stressed. With the IDI survey results I learned that I think I am more open minded than I actually am…so I have some work to do there too.

I hired a coach to work with me on getting the most out of my Bush Fellowship – her job is to help me maximize my leadership development opportunities and learnings and I have thoroughly enjoyed the deep dives we have been doing together. A major focus has been on creating more balance between my work and my personal life in order that I avoid burning myself out. I have been seeking ways to create balance and harmony and have come to accept that I am most likely not going to become a meditation expert but that going to a Pilates class has similar effects and as long as I can keep my body in motion and keep moving I seem to do better with focusing my mind.

In terms of my leadership capacity I think that the support that I feel from the Bush Foundation and the Bush Fellows network has assisted in giving me a stronger sense self-assuredness in the pursuit of my FINNovation Lab project. I have been venturing into areas of leadership and business that are new to me and quite honestly rather scary for me and I have seemed to run into past Bush Fellows that step up to support and assist and it has been wonderful. I had no idea how vast the Bush Fellowship Network really is! I have witnessed in the last 6 months the importance of working with and connecting to like-minded individuals and creating win-win scenarios in order to accomplish goals.

I am looking forward to the next 6 months and it is my hope/plan to have my FINNovation Lab project underway – I look forward to the new leadership challenges that will be coming my way!