Annise Parker on “Exercising our Leadership Muscles”

On Thursday, March 21st, 2019, BLAZE and PRIDE, two of PROS' Employee Resource Groups, welcomed former Houston Mayor and President and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, Annise Parker, to speak on “Exercising our Leadership Muscles.”

Annise Parker’s message to us was one of courage, introspection, and inspiration. Through vulnerability and humor, she vividly described the journey of failure and disappointment she had to endure in order to be successful and to finally win the mayoral race. Even after winning, she explained that the voice of fear remained resilient, whispering thoughts of inadequacy into the development of her political career — which she humorously tied together with a story of her sky-diving — but that with time she has learned to overcome fear through constant self-reflection and asking herself hard questions.

To further illustrate her message, Annise used the metaphor of leadership as a muscle. She encouraged the audience to strengthen their muscles by picking up some dumbbells, working with them until they are no longer a challenge, and stepping forward to bigger dumbbells. “What is your dumbbell?” she asked, “What is the tool you’ll use to grow as a leader? It could be stepping up in a work group, taking on more responsibility, or saying ‘I want to do something extra’,” she added.

In just a short hour, Annise taught us important lessons, that learning to lose is just as important as learning to win, that leaders ought to take action but also inspire others to action, and that we cannot be a half way leader but must instead be “all-in.” To close, I’ll leave you with what Annise believes are the key attributes of a leader: courage, grit, outward communication (being able to communicate a mission/ goals), and inward communication (messages we tell ourselves). May we take these lessons and apply them, observe these traits and develop them, and like Annise Parker, be bold enough to step out into leadership.

Pictured: Former Houston Mayor and President and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, Annise Parker, accompanied by PROS' CMO, Celia Fleischaker, and some of the PRIDE & BLAZE committee members.