{"id":21634,"date":"2021-06-09T16:22:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T16:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=21634&post_type=story"},"modified":"2021-07-08T15:45:50","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T15:45:50","slug":"leading-by-example","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/leading-by-example\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading by Example"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer<\/em> 2021 |\u00a0By Laura J. Cole\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Gerald Hector has spent a lot of time thinking \u2014 and speaking to others \u2014 about what it means to be a leader.<\/p>\n

As the host of the podcast It\u2019s Easy Son, he has interviewed a range of influential figures, including civil rights leader Andrew Young, eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney, former president of Spelman College Beverly Tatum, and managing director of Bank of America Private Bank Richard Nichols Jr.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery one of them to a T has said their career path was never a straight line,\u201d says Hector, who joined UCF earlier this year as senior vice president for administration and finance. \u201cEvery last one of them spoke about what they had to overcome in their formative years and even as adults. What they all had in common was perseverance and stick-to-itiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does being a leader mean to you, and how does it differ from being a manager?<\/h2>\n

Managers are simply that: They\u2019re managing something. They\u2019re given some outcomes that they have to get to operationally. They have to get it done.<\/p>\n

Leaders are visionaries, right? But everyone can be a leader. It takes just a small shift in focus to understand the difference between the two. Leaders are people who can get folks to see something they don\u2019t agree with but present a vision, a platform and a path that they can then finally see. I call it the bandwagon effect. No one wants to get into the bandwagon at the very beginning. Why? They don\u2019t know if this thing is going to work, but if as a leader you get that bandwagon moving, as soon as it starts rolling, everyone jumps in. Why? Because everyone wants to be a part of success.<\/p>\n

Same thing that comes through when you think about leadership in organizations. There are too many people I see who are leading, but nobody\u2019s following them. They\u2019re just out for a walk. Leaders always must have that presence of mind that they are to inspire but not necessarily push \u2014 and there\u2019s a big difference.<\/p>\n

As someone in a leadership position, how do you empower people to do their best work?<\/h2>\n

You never, ever as a leader want to have the unqualified leading the unwilling into the unnecessary for no apparent reason. I avoid that by ensuring that whoever is working alongside me, I am setting them up for success. My job is essentially to work myself out of a job.<\/p>\n

In terms of leadership, I use the mnemonic device OATE: ownership, accountability, transparency and empowerment. The \u201cE\u201d is the linchpin for all the others. If my employees are not empowered, they\u2019re not going to own their work, they\u2019re not going to feel accountable, and they surely will not be transparent because they\u2019re going to try to hide what they\u2019re feeling. So that\u2019s the environment that I try to build. It takes time because it\u2019s predicated upon trust, right? As a leader, I have to foster that trust and get them to see that they can be much more than they think right now.<\/p>\n

What role does mentorship play in leadership?<\/h2>\n

They\u2019re absolutely connected. No one is an island. We are built for relationships as human beings, and the right relationships will lay the groundwork for future success. I was the recipient of mentoring from so many people that it\u2019s only right for me to do the same. At the end of the day, life \u2014 and leadership<\/a> \u2014 is all about our common humanity and how we live and exist together. We can\u2019t succeed in anything without each other.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Gerald Hector<\/a> on UCF Today.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21771,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[1546],"class_list":["post-21634","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-gerald-hector","issues-1541","issues-summer-2021"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF's SVP for Admin & Finance Gerald Hector is Leading by Example<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UCF\u2019s Gerald Hector was 32 when he first became a chief financial officer. 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