Washington –
Defense Intelligence Agency Chief Information Officer Janice Glover-Jones was the keynote speaker for the Eighth Annual Leadership Summit for Women in National Security Careers sponsored by Working Mother Media on May 18 in Crystal City, VA.
The Leadership Summit was a one-day forum that brought more than 450 women together with senior leaders and experts in their field to share their experiences, insights and expertise. Ms. Glover-Jones started the morning with an inspirational speech entitled “Resilience: We Can Do It!”
She explained to the group that you cannot discount the importance of resiliency in coping with challenges, sharing a personal anecdote to emphasize her point. She described her experience of working with colleagues 10 to 12 hours a day for almost a month on a major transformation project. The meetings resulted in the Director of DIA buying into their eventual plan. During implementation of the plan, she began to face resistance from the most unlikely of places … her peers who had spent hours with her creating the plan. Faced with obstacles she asked the audience: ‘What do you do?’
The first priority for Glover-Jones was to remain authentic. She did that by keeping a picture of Harriet Tubman in her folder to remind her of courage and core values. “When I looked at that picture I saw Integrity and it reminded me not to go low even if others were going low,” said Glover-Jones. “Always be true to who you are and stand strong in your beliefs. Never be a people pleaser operating the way someone else wants you to operate,“ she said.
Her second tip was to focus on being objective. Next to her picture of Tubman is a copy of the oath she took when she became a member of the Senior Executive Service. The oath reminded her to check her biases and to keep the mission in mind. She explained in order to accomplish the goal you cannot take things personally and always remain above the fray.
The third point was to write a benefits and purpose statement in order to remain objective. The document included statements such as: “I will facilitate stakeholder transparency” and “I will serve as an independent auditor.”
Ms. Glover-Jones explained it should be the goal for each member of the audience over the course of the day to begin to think and develop their own benefits and purpose statement. This document is critical because “in the midst of a struggle, even in the midst of the chaos, if you can find your purpose it will help you to be resilient.”
Finally, she said emotional intelligence was critical in helping her deter those trying to prevent achievement of her goal. “You need self-awareness and introspection,” Glover-Jones said. “What am I doing to contribute to the drama?” By having emotional intelligence you can always stay objective.
Ms. Glover-Jones concluded her speech by noting that being resilient is not easy and sometimes requires you to stand alone. It also requires you to move out of your comfort zone and take calculated risks. Further, you need to be willing to face your shortcomings and do something about them. Even when faced with challenges and opposition, if you are determined to be resilient Ms. Glover- Jones concluded, “You may bend, but you will not break! And you will be able to achieve your goals.”