My Leadership Story #CultivateLeadership
During this blog post I want to establish why my insights are worth your time and attention. In this blog, I will share my leadership story.
In brief, I believe that a good leader is a grateful person who cultivates thoughts, ideas and movements in order to positively benefit the people that they influence.
I will unpack that definition in a future blog entry. However, in this blog entry I want to share the stories and experiences that led me to this conclusion.
My story starts in Orangeburg, SC. My parents Alonzo (Sr.) and Glenda Middleton were my first leaders. They instilled a sense of purpose, hard work and an understanding that my life is a small part of God’s bigger story.
I also got an opportunity to “intern” and later work in their insurance office. My parents had a property, life, accident and health business. They retired at the beginning of this calendar year (2021). They maintained the business for over thirty years. I watched my parents care about the well being of their customers. They did this through carrying out their fiduciary responsibilities, assisting with claims, sales and through cultivating business relationships.
I did not take over their business. However, I learned many transferable concepts that have helped me in my entrepreneurial journey.
I have also learned much from the traditional school system. I was a pretty productive student during my K-12 days. However, I distinctly remember asking two lingering questions throughout my time as a student. Why don’t we have more opportunities to learn from practicing professionals? How does this stuff (learning) help us in real life? As an entrepreneur I try to answer those lingering questions through the vodast that I host ( the vodcast is called “The Imagine Exposure Vodcast” — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odXekU_wzQc&t=101s) and through a classroom motivational poster with is also the theme of my motivational speech. (the poster in entitled “12 Ways School Matters in Real Life” — https://grace-to-cultivate-llc.myshopify.com/products/the-12-ways-school-matters-in-real-life-1)
I graduated from SC State University (a Historically Black University) with a degree in Business Management. While I am grateful for my academic studies, some of my best leadership experience came outside of the classroom. I had an opportunity to be the SGA president (https://bit.ly/3mtCAUI) , a member of two MEAC Championship Football Teams, a nationally acclaimed stage play (Taking a Stand by Calhoun Cornwell — https://nyti.ms/3emxxRM ) and start a small non profit organization (that is now dissolved) called Changing the Perception.
While it has been over ten years since my college days that time was impactful. It was impactful because it helps to shape my story and business relationships today. In retrospect, I have also been able to see that those experiences would be an ideal example for parents and educators as they seek to cast vision for their students.
Since that time I have worked numerous jobs (my resume — https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-d-middleton-97425b54/) and I have several lessons about the workforce. Some of the primary ones are that money doesn’t always buy happiness. Moreover, just because a company has the ability to value its stakeholders it doesn’t mean that it always lives up to its capacity. Last but not least, no one human being is an island. I believe that we need help and provision from the triune God and many other people in order to truly make an impact.
I think it’s important to also share the work related events that led me to my current role. I am currently a Young Adult (YA) Fictional Author, motivational speaker and in 2021 I launched a life skills / publishing company called “Grace to Cultivate LLC.” I also work as a life advisor at a homeless shelter called Oliver Gospel in Columbia, SC.
I stumbled into writing about four years ago. During my vocational journey I started noticing a trend when I lived in the South Dallas — Fair Park Community in 2017. Fair Park is an underdeveloped portion of the Dallas, Texas inner city. I noticed that there were a lot of people that had a desire to serve urban communities. However, some people with the greatest passion did not always understand the context. I had the privilege of working with my church’s home group to write a project (other featured authors listed in the link) called the Learn to Serve South Dallas (Full — https://bit.ly/3EorsyJ Summary — https://bit.ly/3H2YO7O ) and later with another church to write a project called the Loving from Learning Project (Full — https://bit.ly/3mwBxTY Summary — https://bit.ly/3JddhAa ). With these two projects I felt like I found a home vocationally. Writing was a skill that I noticed many other people hated but I enjoyed. I would do it if it yielded no professional results and I never got paid for it. It was a skill that helped me to better understand my Strenthfinders (personality assessment) To quote Dr. Mary Jones Wilson’s (founder of RoseMaryLY) Imagine Exposure episode #8. My writing wasn’t just work it was also “fun”
These projects help me to cut my teeth at writing content for others. However, briefly working in education helped me to see that there was a way to impact the next generation with my writing. As a YA Fiction writer, I can help young people imagine how to work “smarter and not just harder”. As a motivational speaker, I can help with encouragement retention by helping the students connect the dots between their time in school and their professional lives. And as a publisher I can learn and share the business of cultivation and intellectual property.
The Cultivate Leadership Series will be one of three series devoted to creating value for my target audience. the “Cultivate Leadership” series will focus on leadership in general. I will also do a “12 Ways School Matters in Real Life” a series to help parents and educators cast vison for their students. I will also write the “Imagine Exposure” blog series as the written extension of the “Imagine Exposure” Vodcast.
Question for the reader — What is one leadership lesson that you wish you learned earlier in life?
Zachary Middleton (follow @zachdmiddleton on Twitter and or check out the Linktree link to explore other ways to support — https://linktr.ee/Gracetocultivate )
