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The Daniel W. Chancey Leadership Academy (DCLA) is hosted by BOMA Fellows as a mentoring program to provide guidance and support to BOMA members interested in leadership positions with BOMA International. During the 2023-2024 Academy, 12 future leaders were paired with a BOMA Fellow as mentor.
Many of the mentees are already leaders in their companies and BOMA Associations, but almost all were born a generation or two after the mentors. The irony of that generational diversity is that in addition to the mentors using their experience and expertise to motivate their mentees, mentees also provided inspiration and revelation to the mentors.
The mentees were given two primary tasks to create; a Mission Statement and a Vision Board. As the mentees presented their mission statements and vision for their leadership journeys, it became clear that most of the mentees had the insight to acknowledge needing to balance personal and professional lives with the obligations associated with participating in BOMA. Many mentors, on the other hand, realized that they did not understand that need for balance as young professionals and were subject to burn out.
This vision of balance is personified by one of the mentees in this year’s DCLA: Liz Despins.
Liz is a Portfolio Manager for Newmark a 10-year BOMA member, and is a member of the Executive Committee of BOMA Oakland East Bay. Liz represents those BOMA members who are ready to be more involved with BOMA International, but she states, “there are still so many new skills that I learned from the Leadership Academy, and it is a great first step in leadership within the organization, no matter what level you are in your career.”
Liz’s mission statement reflects on “finding balance between accomplishing the goals and taking time to slowdown and be mindful about life.” The mission statement was illustrated by the vision board. When asked about how the vision board helped her to think about the future, Liz responded, “The personal goals I set for myself were just as important as the career, local BOMA and BOMA International goals I set.” She goes on to say, “thinking about my goals and getting them all down in one place really helped me better understand how to get the balance while still working through achieving the goals and working out a plan to prioritize them.”
While many of us focus on our professional goals, Liz, along with other mentees, understand that the path to success is achieving balance for professional AND personal goals. Liz uses her vision board as a tool to reflect on her goals at the end of each month. (She checked off one of her goals; she was a 2024 TOBY International winner in the 250,000 – 499,000 square foot category.)
One of the personal goals Liz wants to share is to continue to heal from the death of her daughter, Alexa, from a rare disease. As her personal life took precedence during Alexa’s illness, so did the recognition that finding balance is important. The vision board helped Liz to reset priorities as she realized the need to slow down to allow healing, but still acknowledge her accomplishments.
Liz provides the following perspective of the differences between leadership types of the past and those of the future. She states, “adjustment to technology is probably one of the differences. While we all are adjusting to the changes, mentors of years past were experts of in-person leadership styles which now need adjusting. Second, due to a smaller workforce, future leaders are moving up quickly in the ranks. Most of our mentors spent many years learning a great amount at each level of their career before moving up to where they are today. Our future leaders are given a short time frame to learn so much more.”
Another generational development is that the technology which was not available as extensively in the past now helps to reduce that time frame for learning for today’s professionals, but that fast pace further underlines the need for balance.
Experiences in both life and the professional realm of mentors are still important influences on the leadership path. Liz’s mentor is Scott Jones who she says “helped her to dig deep to get her headed in the right direction. He pushed me when I wasn’t sure I was ready to leap forward and challenged me to have confidence from day one.”
The mentors provide value to guiding BOMA’s future leaders to acknowledge the skills they already have, but the insights the mentees bring to the DCLA will drive BOMA’s vision and its future. Liz provides the following perspective on the value of the DCLA: “Most importantly, I learned that I am ready to become Involved in BOMA international, and I look forward to what the next few years will bring me.”
Liz’s example should inspire all professionals to step back and focus on all of the important aspects of life including reflecting on their personal priorities and professional goals while celebrating their accomplishments in each.
Interested in applying to the DCLA? Click here to learn more and start your application!
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