LIMA, OH (WLIO) - The finalists for the Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce's Athena Award not only are models of success themselves but strive to help others, especially women, be the best they can be. Jeff Fitzgerald introduces us to them.
"You know it takes transformational leadership," says Spiers. "And that means that I do a lot of listening. I ask a lot of questions about what is it that you want to do, where do you see yourself in a few years?"
Dr. Cynthia Spiers has nearly three decades of experience in higher education and the last four as president of Rhodes State College. She credits her parents for encouraging her to be the best at whatever she did, and her former teachers and professors who saw her potential, which is something that she does for the people she works with. But she has found that success both personally and for the college is a team effort.
"Bringing the think partners together helps everyone to take that next step to make a good idea a great idea," says Spiers. "I would never I work in isolation I work with my think partners here at the college and we have a lot of great people that do aspire to be better, and better, and better."
"The main thing that you can do to inspire people is certainly live by example," says Lehman. "Try and be that best person, that all-around person, you can be. When I look at, whether it's a person on our team or other leaders here just make sure they are in a role that plays to their strengths."
Ronda Lehman says she has had many mentors and people who inspire her in her life. The president of Mercy Health-St. Rita's says her parents and her husband's support helped her along the way, and the leaders she reported to at the hospital gave her the opportunities and helped her to succeed professionally. Now she is making sure that others have the same support and chances that she had.
"A lot of times women underestimate their ability and their impact," adds Lehman. "Because they have so many irons in the fire, in so many parts of their life. They are often reluctant to take that next step in their life. So, nonorally what I do, is just encourage them to go beyond what you maybe feel comfortable doing, go beyond what your capabilities are because chances are, 99 times out of 100, they are capable of a lot more than they give themselves credit for."
"At the Meeting Place we have values that we have written for our company," says Brogee. "Some of those values include, integrity, love, work/life balance, and also here at UNOH, when I teach I do try to encourage students to think about their values and to use those in their leadership positions as well."
Jennifer Brogee believes that business should be for the good of society as well as being profitable. She points to her mother and her grandmothers as models of leadership that she uses as both a small business owner and business professor. Now, she is seeing the possibilities of the students in her classroom or who she works with at the Meeting Place to become future leaders.
"I look for the potential in everyone and look for those opportunities to help them to grow and to practice leadership," adds Brogee. "I have noticed women, for the most part, have trouble advocating for themselves and often underplay their strengths. So, I really like to women identify their strengths and use them to their full potential."
Those are the finalists for 2023 Athena Award.
