Written by Kecia Bradley-Gadsden, participant in Leadership Discovery

Leonardo da Vinci once quoted that “learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears and never regrets.” On Wednesday, March 27th, Tonya McIntyre, Director of Community Outreach for the Charleston County School District shared with the Leadership Discovery’s 2024 Spring Class her journey of leading, learning and impacting and what each of those things mean to her. She shared many of the lessons she learned in hopes that we would be left motivated and encouraged on our own journeys of leadership. 

With many titles, hats, and accolades that Tonya has received over the years, her humility stood out. Tonya greeted us all by introducing herself before we entered the room and kept us moving and engaged the entire time. Her energy and storytelling was one of a kind as she spoke candidly about her upbringing and the mentors in her life who helped shape her into the leader she is today. She expressed that her mentors always created spaces and opportunities for her to grow and learn and continue to do so until this day. Leadership is more than a title but more of a feeling. It is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence. 

Along with ensuring we not only learn from the mentors before us, it is also important to pour into mentees and individuals who are interested in learning about our journeys. It is very important to share the successes and failures because we never know who may need to hear our journeys in order to shine a light on theirs. By passing on knowledge and investing time and effort into others, we continue the cycle of support that was once given to us by someone we trusted. Everyone leaves learning something and that’s the overall goal of leadership.

Tonya eloquently spoke about a topic that I do not always hear leaders talk about and that is the ability to recognize when there are gaps and inconsistencies in the work we contribute to. She expressed how important it is for leaders to have humility and understanding that in the end, it is essential for trust, growth, collaboration, and positive organizational culture. One of our goals as a leader is to cultivate environments where individuals and teams thrive and achieve their full potential and most of the time that starts with understanding that things can always be better. This resonated with me because it serves as a reminder that as leaders, we are not perfect, we do not have to be, and we can always continue to grow and be better. 

While Tonya emphasized her experiences around her ever-growing and changing leadership style, she left us with questions to think through what type of leader do we want to be. The question “Are you an influencer, relationship builder, executor, or a strategic planner?” really pinpoints these strategies in how we want to show up as a leader. It left me with many ideas about how I currently show up as a leader, how I want to show up and if there is a gap between who I am and who I want to be. Identifying this and growing into that leader while leaving space for change will make me the leader I want to be, and Tonya was huge in making me think through that. 

Tonya is a shining example of someone who has not only inspired me to look introspectively but also how to show up for myself as a leader continuously. She was a reminder that I must invest in myself and others, and not stop until I have checked all of the boxes I have identified as success. The work is there, and it is up to me and the other leaders to remember that relationships and people matter but it is all about us making sure those relationships are built and those specific people feel like they matter.