41: Leadership Through Listening with Rachel Harrison and Craig Bedard
Leadership Evolution
In the last episode of this limited edition series, Rachel Harrison shares her personal leadership journey and the lessons she has learned along the way. She also gives insight into her experience hosting the Leadership Evolution podcast and how it has shaped her own leadership style. Craig Bedard, Deputy Associate Commissioner for the Office of Strategy, Learning, and Workforce Development at the Social Security Administration, joins the show to interview Rachel and discuss the themes of service and self-awareness that emerged from previous episodes. Hear how the COVID-19 pandemic...
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40: Good Leaders Are Good Servants with Bryan Hissong
Leadership Evolution
The public library has played a major role in Bryan Hissong’s life for almost 20 years now. He started out doing story times and puppet shows at various daycares, and he continued to grow in his career within the library over the years. Eventually, Bryan stepped into his current role as the Community Engagement Manager for the Frederick County Public Library. This new position was created for him to develop vibrant and quality programming that would be engaging for adults of all ages within the community. Bryan always wanted to work in a service-based industry, and he believes that...
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39: Leading with Gratitude with Becki Delauter
Leadership Evolution
Not all of us will take the traditional path when it comes to our careers. Life tends to throw us curve balls when we’re least expecting it, and this was definitely the case for Becki Delauter. Her career path was very non-traditional - she found herself needing to get back into the workforce after going through a divorce. After being a stay-at-home mom for several years, Becki started supporting herself and her two boys by juggling multiple part-time jobs. Eventually, Becki landed her current role as the Philanthropic Services Manager for the Community Foundation of Frederick County. ...
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38: Taking Care of People with Margaret Simoneau
Leadership Evolution
Leadership isn’t necessarily something we all want to pursue in our lives, but sometimes we end up leading more than we realize. For Margaret Simoneau, her career path started in massage therapy, but the wear and tear on her body pushed her to do something different. After working with the Frederick County Workforce Services, she was introduced to Plamondon Hospitality Partners. Margaret has been with Plamondon for over 9 years and is currently the Senior Analyst. She helps to provide results-oriented support to Plamondon‘s hotels and uncovering opportunities to maximize efficiencies and...
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37: Never Let Success Get to Your Head and Never Let Failure Get to Your Heart with Christine Cambareri-Kay
Leadership Evolution
Sometimes those around us need a little extra support in their lives, and someone to advocate for them. That’s exactly what Christine Cambareri-Kay did when she began working with adults with developmental disabilities after college. Christine felt like her career ‘found’ her, because she wasn’t sure what her career path would look like after completing her Master’s degree. She’s held various leadership positions over the years, working in human services and the nonprofit sector, with her most recent being the Division Director for the Division of Citizen Services in Frederick...
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36: Magic Happens Outside Your Comfort Zone with Karan Kalantzis
Leadership Evolution
Leadership has always been a key part of Karan Kalantzis’ journey - it actually started for her back in junior high when she joined student council. Over the years, Karan was drawn to planning and organizing activities for others in school and with her career, and she’s gained a great deal of experience in the small business community working in program development. Karan learned about the Maryland Women’s Business Center during the pandemic, which then led to her current role as the Senior Business Consultant for Frederick County. Being collaborative, allowing others to let their...
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35: Be Prepared with Andrea Baker
Leadership Evolution
The arts have always played a major role in Andrea Baker’s life. Whether she was participating in dance and theater throughout her childhood or just living life in a more creative and exploratory fashion, Andrea has continually felt drawn to the arts industry. While she was very comfortable in her previous job, Andrea felt a ‘shift’ when the pandemic happened - especially with having 2 young children at the time. She was ready to come back to the arts, and she found her (now) current position as the Development and Community Outreach Manager for the Maryland Ensemble Theater (MET) in...
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34: There is No Change in the Comfort Zone with Mary Geasey
Leadership Evolution
Sometimes it takes another person to show us our true potential when we can’t see it ourselves. After talking with her high school counselor, Mary Geasey decided to go down the path of higher education and pursue a degree in education. Along her journey, she wanted to learn more about how she could better support her students with special needs. Mary soon became recognized as a special educator, and eventually, she was chosen to rebuild the special education services and programs at Walkersville Elementary School. She is now a special education instructor and has been an educator with...
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33: Leading with Emotional Intelligence with Andrew Moore
Leadership Evolution
When we’re young, we may not clearly know what we want to do in life - especially when it comes to our careers. This was the case for Andrew Moore; he didn’t find what he truly enjoyed until his early thirties, which ended up being aviation. Andrew previously worked in construction on environmental and infrastructure projects. After a few years of obtaining certifications and interviewing, he became an assistant airport manager, and is now the airport manager at Frederick Municipal Airport. Andrew really tuned into his intuition when it came to switching career paths - he had...
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32: Treat Everyone Like Family with Chris Mullendore
Leadership Evolution
The fire and rescue service world has been a huge part of Chris Mullendore’s life since he was a young boy. Both his dad and brother worked for the fire department, which eventually influenced Chris’ decision to become a firefighter. Over the years, he has worked hard and continued to promote through the various ranks of fire and rescue. Chris is now the Battalion Chief of Health and Safety for the Division of Fire and Rescue Services in Frederick County. Chris has always been very proficient when it comes to the skills training in fire and rescue, but he came to realize that...
info_outlineThe public library has played a major role in Bryan Hissong’s life for almost 20 years now. He started out doing story times and puppet shows at various daycares, and he continued to grow in his career within the library over the years. Eventually, Bryan stepped into his current role as the Community Engagement Manager for the Frederick County Public Library. This new position was created for him to develop vibrant and quality programming that would be engaging for adults of all ages within the community.
Bryan always wanted to work in a service-based industry, and he believes that good leaders are actually good servants. He enjoys going out and making connections within the community, and beyond. Bryan and the library staff want to continue to be an equitable resource, so everyone can have access to valuable resources they need. Learning and listening is one of the best ways to lead in the community, and truly serve others. Bryan has learned that failing is even more important than success; while it’s important to learn from our failures, we don’t need to dwell on them.
Bryan has found that embracing an iterative mindset versus staying stagnant in his career and life has been very important. He’s also seen that the ‘typical’ image of the public library has been shifting and changing for a while - it’s no longer a place to only study and be quiet. Tune into this episode to learn more about the innovative work Bryan is doing, and why the public library really is a fun and lively place for all ages!
About Bryan Hissong
Bryan Hissong has worked in public libraries for 19 years, and he is currently the Community Engagement Manager for the Frederick County Public Library. He practices servant-led leadership, and truly cares about serving the people he works with in the library, as well as the community and beyond. Bryan is a member of the Leadership Frederick County Class of 2023, and is an unassuming presence with a great sense of humor.
Episode Timestamps:
- Bryan’s story of working in public libraries for almost 20 years, and his current role as the Community Engagement Manager for the Frederick County Public Library {01:25}
- Finding and making engaging connections in the community and beyond {06:20}
- Bryan’s growth process into leadership over the years {07:48}
- Why failing is even more important than success {09:20}
- A valuable leadership opportunity Bryan experienced, which he now incorporates into his own leadership {11:10}
- How the ‘typical’ image of the library is shifting and changing {14:00}
- How the pandemic affected libraries {16:35}
- The importance of embracing an iterative mindset, and not staying stuck in your ways {19:40}
“It’s from our failures that we learn the most important lessons, and that’s difficult because it's not easy to fail. We can oftentimes be very hard on ourselves, but it's important we realize that growth and change is a part of life. We learn when we fail, so it's an important thing to keep in mind.”
Connect with Rachel Harrison:
https://traumaspecialistsofmd.com/
https://www.frederickchamber.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trauma_specialist/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064008974101&mibextid=LQQJ4d
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-harrison-81a4796/