An Opportunity of a Lifetime

Date: Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Time: 06:15 EST (12:15 SAST)

Place: Still in bed, listening to the sounds of DC waking up

So once again, I'm sitting here, wide awake in bed during the early hours of the morning. But today it's not because of jet lag. Today it's out of the sheer excitement and anticipation of what lies ahead in the coming hours.

From my last few posts, you already know that I'm currently in Washington. I also mentioned that I'm here in the US for four weeks as part of an incredible program that I've been selected for. Well, it's this very program and the potential that it holds, that is the cause of my excitement and the reason that I'm up blogging right now instead of indulging in my tenth dream.

When I returned to South Africa in December 2012, after living in Germany for just under two years, I was absolutely thrilled to be appointed as MD of SAWomEng. Anyone who knows me, knows what a significant part of my life the organisation occupies. And in my new role, I wanted to make sure that I could deliver on providing sound but innovative leadership and really take the organisation to the next level of functional, operational and strategic excellence. As such I decided that this would be the year to invest in my personal leadership development and equip myself with the adequate skills set to help me in my agenda. Little did I know that an opportunity would come along so soon, and let alone one of this magnitude.

Towards the end of March I received a call saying that I have been selected to participate in the Fortune 500/U.S. State Department Global Mentorship Exchange Program! The program brings together about 25 high-potential woman leaders from around the world, between the ages of 25 - 45, and partners them with a senior female executive from a Fortune 500 company for a month long internship in the US, focussing on mentorship, leadership skills development and social responsibility.

As if it wasn't hard enough to contain the enormous wave of excitement that I was engulfed by, I was further notified that I was to be partnered with... *takes a deep breath and does a quick reality check to make sure I'm not dreaming*... the Senior Vice President Global Business, IBM - Bridget van Kralingen (Yes, I will certainly be writing more about this incredible woman and IBM soon). It took me a good few days to really digest the information and what was actually happening.

Fast forward to a month later, and as I sit here now, halfway across the world from home, in my hotel room in Washington, D.C., it all still feels so surreal! This is indeed, an opportunity of a lifetime and one that I am so incredibly honoured and humbled to have bestowed upon me.

In a few hours time the program officially commences. I will get the opportunity to meet the other mentees and we will spend a week in Washington on an orientation program hosted by the program's facilitating company Vital Voices, before we each depart for individual mentorship assignments across the US - being partnered with IBM, I will be based in... *wait for it* ... New York City!!

Now as you may have gathered from my writing so far, I am beyond excited to be a part of this esteemed program. But more than that, I am also fully aware of the level of responsibility and social obligation that comes with embarking on a program of this calibre. For me, my objectives from the program are not just limited to my personal leadership enhancement and business skills-set building, but more so, sharing my learnings and really living the message of Paying it Forward.

I am incredibly fortunate to be able the have the exposure and learnings that I will be obtaining as I engage with a number of amazing leaders, business women and social entrepreneurs in the coming weeks. But it would be selfish to just keep this information and use it only for self enhancement. So as I go forward on this program there are a few things I commit to doing:

1) Go in with a beginner's mind and thirst for knowledge and growth so I can really maximise the learnings to its full extent

2) Remain humble, but at the same time exude with the right amount of confidence and poise to be able to build a reputation as an emerging leader with potential to make a difference and leave a legacy of positive change

3) Share my learnings and enable the knowledge and skills transfer to have as greater reach as possible. I currently foresee myself doing this by bringing my experiences back home to South Africa to first make an impact in a local context - by making myself available to mentor future leaders, by training and enabling the SAWomEng teams to become leaders in their own right and simply by writing about my experiences and sharing them with whoever may be interested. If even a simple interest is sparked, which results in a positive chain reaction of any sorts, then that is already progress.

I'm sure as I embark on this incredible adventure, so much more will come through. So I look forward to sharing this journey with you and have you be a part of my own growth and development as I strive to establish myself as The Passionate Change-Maker!