General Reflections on Collaboration

"As a result of the fellowship, I discovered that in the United States many people are interested in doing service, but lack information on the necessary building blocks of partnerships and collaborations. In addition, we oftentimes don’t come to a consensus regarding our goals and objectives. There are many organizations beginning and doing because the need is great, yet there is that dichotomy of opinion regarding the real goals and objectives.

Consequently, you may have an individual saying, ‘Okay, this is what I want to do personally. So I will go form my own organization and my own partnership based on my experience in previous relationships.’ Or other individuals, to satisfy their own needs, lead the group in a direction that they want it to go, however, their perspective perhaps may reflect a narrow minded point of view.

In the United States, I believe, we are still learning how to collaborate. I believe we are still refining that skill. Rugged individualism pervades the culture. And that is one reason why the fellowship was so important for me. I believe that more attention needs to be given to educating those of us who have the interest regarding the skills required to build, develop, maintain, and sustain collaborations and partnerships. And so I’m thankful for the experience and I’ll continue to use the tools that I’ve gained in my future work.

Let me close by saying that service to others and mentoring have been integral parts of my life and in reality I have been involved with similar activities all along. These interactions and activities help to define who I am. They are my love and my passion. As I continue in my leadership role, I will hold firm to the values that I espouse, particularly, honesty and transparency, because for me, these are the marks of a true leader."