Toni, a project manager assistant for a general contractor in greater Seattle, Washington, told Session 3B of the Leadership Development Lab (LDL):

“In 1998, while I was a sophomore at Texas Christian University, I got summer intern job at a large oil company. I was excited to have a job and was looking forward to the practical learning experience. Within the first week, I realized that there was only enough work to keep us (several college interns) busy for a few hours a day. The other interns were all Texas Christian University (TCU) football players. They enjoyed getting work done by 10 or 11 a.m. and then surfing the Internet, listening to music, and playing solitaire on their computers for the remainder of the day. I was uncomfortable with not having enough work to stay productively busy, but our supervisor was never around to ask for more work. She came in early in the morning while there was still work being done and said “Hi” to everyone. We didn’t see her again for the rest of the day. It was a difficult decision to initiate a conversation with her. I didn’t want to rock the boat and upset all the other interns. If she knew that I didn’t have enough work, I was sure she would change the workload for all of us. After about a week, which seemed like an eternity, I screwed up the courage and went down to her area of the office to talk about my lack of work and see what else I could do to help out. After talking to her about how I needed to be challenged, she said that she would take my concerns into consideration. We

didn’t discuss it again.

About a week later, I got a call from a different department supervisor. He wanted to offer me a permanent part-time job, working around my class schedule. They usually didn’t hire anyone part-time, but really liked me and my drive. The other football players got to keep their comfy setup and didn’t hold anything against me. We had lunch once a week and my old supervisor would join us. My new position was challenging and kept me busy all day!

The lesson I learned from this experience is to not be afraid to speak up. When I approach management with my concerns, they become aware. If my heart is in the right place, my message comes across as intended and everyone wins.

The action I want you to take is operate from personal integrity, never be afraid to stand up and speak out. The benefit you will gain when you stand up and speak out is you will be counted. You will make a positive contribution to the success of your organization and your own career will prosper.”

Check out this link to see an article about Larry’s children’s book, The Great Baseball Cap.