We caught up with the brilliant and insightful April Randall a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi April , thanks for joining us today. Looking back on your career, have you ever worked with a great leader or boss? We’d love to hear about the experience and what you think made them such a great leader.
I have had several stellar supervisors throughout my career. In fact, I have maintained a relationship with each of them to this day. Not many people can say this. I have learned something from each of them, but there is one supervisor that stands out to me the most. Early in my career, I was blessed to have a supervisor who inspired and encouraged me from the moment she offered me the position. There is one occasion that I will never forget and has shaped me as I have ascended to a leadership position.
During my first mid-year evaluation, we reviewed my work and the projects that I had worked on. Everything was going great until she asked me “what I am going to do next?”. This took me off guard because I did not know where this was coming from. I wondered if I had done something wrong or had not done enough. She saw the bewilderment on my face and said, that as a supervisor, she wants to see her employees grow professionally, including outside of the organization. She did not want to see me plateau where I was, but rather soar. How remarkable! It was absolutely refreshing to have a supervisor who did not want her employees to feel compelled to stay with her or the organization throughout their career, but rather to take the experience and skills that they learned at utilize them in their next position. That is a leader!
As a manager myself, I have taken this same approach. I truly enjoy working with my team, but I want to see them soar like my former supervisor wanted for me all of those years ago. As their supervisor, it is not just my responsibility to manage their job duties, but to mentor them so that they can continue to excel in their careers. I want to one day say, “I knew them when and look at them now”. That is the epitome of a great leader!
April , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
From a very young age, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer. My mother was a paralegal at her brother’s law firm and I spent quite a bit of time there. I knew I wanted to make a difference somehow. To have an impact. I have also always been a rules follower becuase they provide guidance and structure. I believed that lawyers were central to that. They applied the law to their case. For many people, what they wanted to be as a child does not always come to fruition. I desires change as we grow up. That was not the case for me, but how I envisioned what I my legal career would like did change over time.
In middle school, I had a friend who was molested. That affected in a way that I you not imagine. I did not know how, but I knew I wanted to help others like my friend. After completing my judicial clerkship for a year, I joined a non-profit organization that represented survivors of sexual assault. In this role, I represented survivors of sexual assault and handled a myriad of matters, from protective orders, family law matters (e.g., divorce, custody, and child support), and immigration. This was rewarding work and I was honored to have had the opportunity to help my clients.
I have since left the non-profit sector and am in government. Although the work is different, I am still having an impact. I am being the change agent I wanted to be as young girl. I am helping others on a larger scale in my current role where I am involved in the the legislative and regulatory process.
What we fail to realize or tell young people is that the world really is your oyster. You may have an idea of what you want to do, but what it can manifest into is so much bigger.
So, I am the attorney that I always wanted to be, but what it looked like then is different from what is now and I am grateful for it.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson that I had to unlearn is that you cannot make mistakes. That is a farce! Not only CAN you make mistakes, you WILL make mistakes. The question is what will you learn from those mistakes to make yourself better.
All of my life I have struggled with low self-esteem. This has had a dire affect on me mentally, emotionally, and physically. To add to that I am Type A. I thought I had to be perfect. I could not settle for anything less. What this resulted in was my inability to pivot and adapt.
When I would make a mistake or not get an A on a test, it felt like the end of the world. It was almost debilitating. I would beat myself up about it for days aftewards.
It took me a long time to learn that is okay to make mistakes. It is a part of the learning process. Do I aim to make mistakes? No, not at all. Yet, I have learned to give myself grace and acknowledge that I am human. I am not perfect, and no one is. Unlearning the lesson – “that I cannot make mistakes” – has opened so many doors for me and presented new opportunities and challenges that I did not foresee. In essence, I have gotten out of my own way and am I am allowing myself, not to make mistakes, but to grow and learn from the journey.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Attorneys often get a bad rap. We are perceived as untrustworthy or only out to make money irrespective of our clients’ needs. Although there are untrustworthy attorneys, but there are untrustworthy people generally. I have been successful in my career because of my ability to gain people’s trust and respect. These attributes are critical regardless of what industry/profession you are in. This something that I learned early on in my career and have continued to exercise today.
Contact Info:
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/april-randall-114