About Forging Leadership
Forging Leadership seeks to create a strong foundation and provide experiential learning opportunities for ascending leaders. We believe that sharing diverse perspectives and experiences provides more equitable tools for individual and team leadership development. Working in a cohort, or within your team, the workshops are designed to facilitate meaningful conversations, identify personal leadership values, stimulate self-reflection, and develop team building and coaching skills, so you can become the leader you want to be.
Values
Growth Mindset: We strive to never stop learning and always keep an open mind. When you stop learning you limit your capacity as a leader and the capacity of those around you.
Shared Experience: Everyone has a different life experience, perspectives, and ways of thinking. By sharing these experiences, we help each other grow into better people, teammates, and equitable leaders.
Self-Reflection: This is key to leadership and team development. We need to evaluate and reflect on ourselves, more than anyone else. Through meaningful self-reflection we identify where we have room to grow and celebrate our personal accomplishments.
Playfulness: We find joy and happiness in helping others succeed, and we should be able to have fun while doing it. Fun experiences and environments bring positivity and enjoyment to work and life, embrace it.
James Gerrard, MLD
Founder
Welcome to Forging Leadership and thank you for taking the time to learn more about me and why I want to support others leadership development.
Like many people, I was introduced to leadership when I grew into a position that was responsible for a team. At the time I had no idea what I was doing, I just tried to teach people how to do their job like I did. Needless to say, I made numerous mistakes and learned leadership through trial and error. Thankfully, I met some amazing leaders and mentors in my personal and professional life that really helped me grow into a better leader and taught me how to genuinely support my team, colleagues, and even friends and family.
After working for 18 years in a combination of sale and business management, I felt like I needed a change and to serve a purpose in my community. This led me to going back to school and earning a bachelor’s degree in Social Policy & Public Service, from the University of California, Irvine (UCI). During this time, I learned a great deal about the issues facing my community and began working for Habitat for Humanity of Orange County (HHOC). As Government Relations Coordinator, I worked with state and federal elected officials, community stakeholders, and local families to support affordable housing in the community. This experience taught me a great deal about what it meant to be a leader in the community. During the COVID pandemic I had to make a pivot from the non-profit world and went into higher education. Using the leadership and public service skills I learned from UCI and my time at HHOC, I spent 4 years as the Community Relations Manager at Chapman University. During my time at Chapman, I was the liaison between the community and the university where I worked to connect the community with campus resources. This also provided me with the opportunity to take my leadership to the next level and earn my master’s degree in Leadership Development from Chapman University. I came away from this experience with a strong passion for teaching and sharing diverse experiences in an effort to help myself and others grow personally and professionally. I hope one day soon we can share our experiences with each other.
Personal Leadership Philosophy: Leadership takes responsibility for the environment and wellbeing of everyone; guided by a commitment to learning, self-reflection, and critical thinking in order to determine the right course of action.
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