Kristin Sewak '15

Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, once said, “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is about growing others.” MSOL student Kristin Sewak is a great example of the truth of those words—noting not only her strengths as a leader, but also that her talents needed to be grown to be the most beneficial to others.

kristen-sewak.jpgKristin recently accepted a position as the first Executive Director of the Montana Watershed Coordination Council. And she cites the MSOL program as a major reason why she got the job. Her main role is to lead all efforts to build, unite and support water conservation efforts across the state.

Her unique path to Montana began in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where she and her husband owned a sustainable farming business. It was there that she was introduced to a leadership role as the founding Executive Director of Natural Biodiversity. “Because I had to grow professionally along with the organization, trial and error was a large part of this first leadership experience,” she recalls.

Enrollment in the MSOL honed her growing leadership skills, which were tested when she discovered the open position for the Montana Watershed Coordination Council online. She used lessons from a recent course in the MSOL curriculum to showcase not only her leadership abilities, but also her articulation and communication skills. She knew that the application process was crucial to making a good impression on them and she was able to do just that!

“I believe that the MSOL program gave me the competitive edge I needed to obtain this position, as the environmental field is very competitive right now,” says Kristin. “Plus, the Council did not know me, as I lived far away in Pennsylvania. Despite this, the Council′s selected me as their first Executive Director, which was likely due to their confidence that I would genuinely provide service to the Council.”

But one of the keys to Kristin's success as a leader in her new position is also serving those with whom she works. Because so much of the organization she manages is dependent on volunteers across such a large state, she realizes that the more support she can offer them, the more her organization will thrive.

She explains, “The knowledge I gained about intrinsic motivation will be important when we are helping watershed groups build their volunteer programs. When the groups develop an enhanced understanding of what motivates their volunteers, they have a better chance to retain community involvement, which is a unique challenge in Montana, as the geographically large state can only draw upon its one million citizens.”

“Because of the MSOL program, I am starting from a much more mature leadership perspective with this new role. With serving leadership, I can effectively serve the organization, staff and our many stakeholders across Montana,” Kristin concludes. “In line with the organization′s mission, everything I do should lift up others′ efforts.”

And although her new job opportunity has moved her physically far from her MSOL cohort in Western Pennsylvania, the mission to lead by serving others is very close to home.


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A Word from Dr. Dittmar

For the past month or so, I′ve been traveling each week to Johnstown, PA, to teach at our MSOL class site. A ride like this gives me the opportunity to get caught up on some phone calls, think about the upcoming class that evening and reflect on “things MSOL.” Often I find myself contemplating about all the wonderful opportunities I have been given over the years to gain so many wonderful insights through the dialogue and conversations that I′ve had in class with MSOL students. Each time I get to teach, that same thing happens again and again. So many times, someone in the class shares an insight that I haven′t heard or considered before—some new angle on a concept or something that one of our authors has written that is new to me. Not only are they continually learning, but I am as well.

I am also challenged each week to assess how I am doing in terms of what we have studied during that session. Do I practice what we are preaching? Am I “getting better” at what I do as a result of reading and discussing material that I have taught many times before? Usually these internal conversations take place on the ride home.

That′s the way it is in the MSOL classroom. Our emphasis on theory as well as application makes all of us learn together. The dialogue is rich with personal experiences that enlighten and clarify the meaning of all the ideas and terms and concepts and theories that we read and talk about each week. As a result, learning through the MSOL curriculum is transformational—it can change the way we think about those things and maybe even change the way we act as leaders.

I love the classroom experiences, and I trust that all of you MSOL students and alumni who read this either feel or have felt the same thing. For those of you who are considering enrolling in the MSOL program, the same thing can happen to you.

Jim Dittmar, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Leadership Studies
Geneva College

August 2014


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