Lynda Perring, former CEO and current Director of Programs of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Orange County, a non-profit organization that trains community volunteers to serve as powerful mentors and advocates for our community’s most severely abused, abandoned and neglected children recently held a round table leadership discussion with emerging leaders at Taller San Jose.

\nFounded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange in 1995, the program provides undereducated and unskilled young adults who have gotten off track in life with the job training and life skills necessary to find employment at a living wage.\n\nLynda shared her personal leadership journey and some of the key lessons she learned along the way with the management team.  Here are a few of the highlights:\n

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  • Make sure you have the right staff
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  • Never settle when you hire
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  • Be direct and transparent
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  • Admit your mistakes
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  • Keep professional boundaries clear
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  • Listen to all sides of an issue openly and ask a lot of questions
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  • Take time to think through possible solutions, don’t rush decisions
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  • Know when good enough is good enough – then move on
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  • Don’t ask anyone to do something that you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself
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  • Know yourself – especially your hot buttons
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\nThe team was also joined by guest speaker Tom Honan, CIO of Capital Source Bank and TSJ Board member.  Many of his experiences in for profit corporations mirrored the lessons shared by Lynda.   Both stressed the importance of empowering others, holding team members accountable and being a servant leader.\n\nThis was the third in a leadership series facilitated by Janine McDonald on behalf of OneOC.\n\n