Hello
My name is Gloria Walski
I can help you become an inspirational leader by showing you how to lead yourself authentically. Leadership isn’t easy, and while it comes more naturally to some than others, I believe anyone can get better at it through introspection, self-awareness and practice. It all starts with leading yourself first because if you want to be an inspirational leader, you need to be able to lead yourself authentically.
My leadership philosophy
I have a three-part philosophy on leadership, and when you put your efforts into the first two parts, the third will come easily:
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Grow future leaders
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Empower people to lead well
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Take pride in the work accomplished
But it all starts with you - you have to be able to lead yourself authentically and commit to the above in order to see results.
I have over 20 years of experience as an Air Force officer leading and coaching people throughout my career. I am passionate about leadership development and personal growth, and absolutely love helping people unlock their potential to achieve their goals.
But the road to where I am now wasn't an easy one to travel. When I started out, there were people who either implied or outright said I wasn't good enough to be a leader because I am:
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Too quiet
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Too nice
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Too shy
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Too young
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A woman
Yes, I exhibited these attributes. But what did any of them have to do with being a leader? Nothing. Yet I still fell into the trap of believing these were the things that would prevent me from becoming a strong leader.
Even as a child, I preferred reading novels to interacting with other people. I never spoke up in class and deflected attention away from me as quickly as possible. It was easy to agree with them. Why would anyone use the word leader to describe me?
I believed I had to be someone different in order to be an effective leader:
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Behave older
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Exhibit more masculine traits
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Be more outgoing
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Be abrupt and abrasive
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Speak to make my presence known
Since I couldn't bring myself to be someone I wasn't, I decided I was not destined to be a leader.
But why are there so many bad leaders out there?
Over the years, I witnessed a scary number of people placed in positions of leadership who did nothing but crush the hopes and dreams of their subordinates. They were the kinds of people who sucked the energy out of a room. They pulled people back when they should have been pushing them forward. They angrily blamed others for their own shortcomings. They were selfish, short-sighted, insecure, spiteful, envious, resentful and indecisive people, and it manifested in their leadership style. They were toxic leaders.
There are many reasons why people become toxic leaders and I won't go into them here.
The opposite of a toxic leader is an inspirational leader. These are the leaders who know their strengths and embrace their flaws. They are comfortable with where they are in life. They have their personal lives squared away. They lead themselves authentically and it shows in the way they lead others. They lead by:
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Being transparent
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Taking care of others
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Finding authentic ways to show they care
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Appreciating people for who they are
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Finding ways to bring out the best in others
I knew I had it in me to be an inspirational leader.
I promised myself I would be a leader who lifted others up and cultivated their hopes and dreams. I embraced my introverted personality and capitalized on its qualities to make them my among my strongest skill sets in my leadership arsenal.
Instead of changing who I was, I found my path to becoming a successful leader by:
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Refocusing my mindset on being comfortable with who I was
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Living my best life the way I wanted to
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Learning from and observing others in positions of leadership
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Reading leadership books and sharing my knowledge
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Leveraging hands-on practical experience and learning from my mistakes
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Being real with with people
By learning to lead myself authentically, I was able to find what works for me to lead others well. I am proud of the leader I have become and best of all, I did it without having to change who I am. To this day, I continue to explore ways to improve myself and will keep learning.
Now, I am dedicated to developing others who will lead themselves authentically to become an inspirational leader.
"Creating positive change is the best way to test whether a person can lead well...and everyone deserves to be led well."
- John C. Maxwell
Gloria Walski is a Maxwell Leadership certified team member and has successfully completed the Maxwell Method of Coaching course. She is passionate about transforming people into inspirational leaders by showing how they can lead themselves authentically.
Gloria has over 20 years of experience as an Air Force officer and health care administrator. She has held positions of leadership in various assignments to include a deployment to Iraq as an Air Advisor, an assignment with the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General at the Pentagon and two assignments as a squadron commander. Through these experiences, she has been able to help people achieve their personal and professional goals and becoming highly effective leaders in their respective areas of expertise.
Gloria is board certified with the International Association of Emergency Managers as a Certified Emergency Manager. She holds a Masters Degree in Military Operational Art and Science through Air University, a Masters Degree in Disaster and Emergency Management from American Military University and a Bachelor of Arts in Chinese Language and Literature from Washington University in St. Louis.
Theodore Roosevelt
“People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.”