Summary of Ideas
There were four themes that were common among my reflection posts across the thirteen weeks of Q4R’s. These themes include leading with humility, connectedness, collaboration, and empathy.

Humility
In our second week of the semester we read Women Rising: The Unseen Barriers which identified that women are more likely to work in “behind-the-scenes” roles while men often take on roles that are more likely to be in the spotlight, therefore getting the credit for challenging work. The barrier here is that ofen the complex challenges faced in the background are often what leads to the successes of an organization. So how can female leaders gain recognition for their work? Perhaps instead of recognition as we are accustomed to, leaders can rise with humility and share acknowledgement for the creative strategies they employ.

This theme also came to light in week thirteen and the myths of leadership. Great leaders do not need to be the face of an organization, but can instead strengthen a team to work toward and achieve the company's objectives. The most effective leaders can lead without their ego getting in the way.

​Connectedness
In the first week, I reflected on the need for humanity to reconnect with nature in order to live fulfilled and whole lives. I said, “I think we need to reexamine how we got here in the first place, what were the decisions that were made and what were the motivations behind those decisions? From there, how can we redesign a way for humanity to reconnect with nature and to start seeing ourselves as a part of it, not separate or of higher value. We depend on our planet and its resources to survive, so we need to change our relationship with it to one that’s more symbiotic and nurturing.” This idea stands out to me because at some point throughout history our relationship with nature has changed from being a part of it, to being separate and better-than. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth and this disparity and lack of connection is what has caused the issues related to climate degradation. As our environment changes and adapts, we must do the same. We need to show compassion to each other and the ecosystem in which we live.

Along with connectedness to our environment comes connectedness to each other. This elevated level of understanding builds trust, and as we have learned some of the most successful teams are built on the physiological need for safety. Safety to take risks, to learn, and to fail. If we cannot fail as we cannot grow. Leaders must be able to encourage a safe, helpful environment for their teams and connect with their teams in ways that evoke and embody humanness in a tech and data-heavy world.

Collaboration
Just as we see in nature, it’s important to collaborate in our work. Not only across teams within an organization, but in order to make meaningful, lasting change for the climate we will need to build relationships across brands and across industries. In week four, I reflected on our desire for rapid newness with short-term, quick-turn goals that bring us the temporary satisfaction that we crave.

This need for more, faster is a dangerous cycle that has caused immense waste throughout the Industrial Age. Instead, it will be important to look to nature for collaborative strategies and lessons on cooperation and communication.

Empathy
The most common of these themes is empathy. Each week, some form of empathy comes up in examples of text and video content, but the ultimate meaning for this is that we are all human and we all want to be understood and ultimately cared for, no matter our roles and industry. Brene Brown discussed the importance of focusing on positive behavior at work, rewarding positivity, and confronting cynicism with clarity and kindness. As leaders we need to build our teams up, empower individuals to learn, take risks, fail, and try again. We can’t do this effectively without being empathetic leaders.

So, not only must we lead with humility and empathy, we need to foster connectedness and collaboration to build a more inclusive and thriving future for us all. We must be creative leaders.