making the leadership choice
Maicharia Weir Lytle describes her life as a series of choices - some minor, some major, but all crucial in leading her to one of the most important decisions she has ever made - choosing to be a leader.
"When I accepted the executive director position at the Organization for a New Equality, I accepted the role of leader, but I did not fully appreciate what it meant to lead. I now understand that taking on real leadership is a choice - and deciding to get my MBA at the Simmons School of Management helped me to make that choice."
A student in the part-time MBA track, Weir Lytle juggles her academic coursework with her responsibilities as a mother to a two-year-old daughter, as a wife, and as full-time executive director of OáNáE - a nonprofit civil rights organization that expands economic opportunities for low to moderate income individuals and families. "It is definitely a delicate balance; thankfully I have the support of my husband and of my outstanding staff and board of directors at OáNáE," says Weir Lytle. "And though the two-year program at the SOM is rigorous, it offers me flexible class scheduling. That was an important consideration when I researched business schools."
Her staff and OáNáE's board members can attest to the changes in Weir Lytle and her leadership style since she's been attending the SOM. "After completing just my first year in the MBA program, I already saw a tremendous impact in my ability to lead this organization. My staff saw changes in me immediately in terms of how I managed them and approached challenges. I have become more effective in guiding our board meetings, which has enabled me to gain the respect of board members and to establish myself as a valuable leader and asset."
Weir Lytle recently secured multi-year funding for OáNáE that she deems particularly rewarding. "This program proposal involved the wants and needs of various constituents, including the funding agency, my colleagues, and most importantly, the people we serve. I demonstrated a new and better approach to managing both project tasks and the project team, which created an end result of everyone feeling good about the final product and their own contributions to our success at OáNáE."