What Happens When a Leader Says, “I Need to Think About This”?

Karen Corbett Sanders

Co-Director of the Regional Elected Leaders Initiative

George Mason University

“Be a Person for Others”

Leadership puts a premium on having answers.

A difficult issue emerges. Someone wants to know where you stand. The expectation is that you’ll have an answer, immediately.

Karen Corbett Sanders has learned to resist that pressure.

Her career has taken her from international business to eight years on the Fairfax County School Board and now to helping elected leaders across Northern Virginia learn from one another.

So I wanted to know:

What does it actually mean to listen, rather than simply prepare your response?

What changes when an elected official stops thinking like a candidate and starts thinking like a public servant?

And how do leaders build relationships across boundaries before they need something from one another?

Along the way, Karen took me to a boardroom in Rome where an entire group of executives unexpectedly walked out of her meeting at 10:30 in the morning. And she offered some wonderfully simple advice for leaders trying to work across boundaries.

That’s the conversation I hope you’ll join us for.

This episode is part of our ongoing series sponsored by RELI, the Regional Elected Leaders Initiative at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, strengthening public leadership and regional collaboration across Northern Virginia.

Listen now to “Be a Person for Others” with Karen Corbett Sanders.

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An Invitation to Share Your Leadership Story

Community Catalysts is built on the belief that some of the most valuable leadership insights are earned quietly, through real service in real communities.

If you serve in a civic leadership role—and you’d be open to sharing hard-won lessons from your own experience—I invite you to consider being a guest on a future episode.

You can learn more and volunteer by completing a brief guest questionnaire at:www.CatalystGuest.us 

Every submission is reviewed personally. Your story may help another leader see their own work more clearly, or feel less alone in the responsibilities they carry.

Thank you for the work you do—and for considering this invitation.