Alec Kirby

In the early stages of my career, I was encouraged to develop a student mentality. In my years of practice, I have preserved this mentality as it promotes adept learning, humility, and curiosity for knowledge. I don’t claim to know everything. I do, however, commit myself to continual learning and seeking advice from those with a different background and/or more experience than myself.

Through personal experience, I have seen leading by example as a highly respectable management style. I firmly believe that strong leaders are the ones who serve their subordinates as well as their customers equally. Regardless of title, income, or status, a good leader serves their team. This is why servant leadership is so important to me.

Asking informed questions to better understand problems allows tasks to consume considerably less time and significantly increases the quality of the deliverable. Along with productivity, general problem-solving is part of my self-starting personality and aids me in finding long-term solutions to even the smallest of problems. Studying Lean methodologies such as Kanban has also aided me in optimizing the people, resources, effort, and energy of my department. 

Playing soccer for 9 years throughout elementary, junior high, and high school really helped develop my understanding of teamwork. From a young age, I observed what it meant to have a common goal with my teammates. This skill was further refined in my 6 years of college as I participated in dozens of group projects, presentations, and assignments. Collaboration, communication, and interpersonal workplace skills are all part of my teamwork abilities that I continue to grow and develop. 

As a communications specialist, this was a soft skill I had to put into practice very early. Writing, negotiation, persuasion, and presentation skills are all important. One skill that stands out from the rest in this category is active listening. Since much of workplace conflict is a result of poor communication, practicing active listening allows me to listen first, speak second which usually results in properly aligned expectations and less confusion later on.