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Get to know Marian Young This year’s Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award winner talks about what makes her a great leader. P R O F I L E
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
G iven each year to someone working in an architecture, engineer- ing, planning, or environmental firm, to someone who has made tremendous impacts on their company through courageous leader- ship, this year’s Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award went to Marian Young, president, BrightFields Inc. (Wilmington, DE), a 42-person environmental services firm. We wanted to learn more about what makes Young tick, so we chat- ted with her about the ins and outs of what it’s like to be a leader and more.
A CONVERSATION WITH MARIAN YOUNG. The Zweig Letter: Were you surprised that you were nominated? Marian Young: I was speechless. I was not familiar with the Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award and was extremely surprised that I was nominated for it. I was even more surprised to hear that I had won. BrightFields’ CFO, Don Short, wrote the nom- ination, and never said a word about it. TZL: What does this award mean to you? MY: I am very humbled to receive the Jerry Allen Award, most of all because Jerry was such an im- portant mentor to Mark Zweig. Mark’s creation of this award was a very inspirational act. It places a person, and an ideal, up on a pedestal for others to look up to and aspire to. It gives the rest of us a reason to stretch beyond our perceived limitations. It provides for real-life role models. The Jerry Al- len Award causes both winners and observers to pause, among the fast pace of our clients and our companies, and to reflect, and think about how we can become better leaders. Winning the Jerry Al- len Award put BrightFields in the spotlight at the Zweig Conference, and gave me a platform to talk about how the BrightFields’ team helps to coach each other through our fears and dig deep to sum-
most part. It’s kind of hard to write this and sound humble. I’m highly competitive and fast-paced. I see oppor- tunities everywhere. I’m good at networking and sales, and I feel like time’s a wasting. So, I’m always trying to do too many things, and I struggle with impatience and over-committing. The good news is that these traits turned out to be a good engine to grow a company, as long as there are enough proj- ect managers ready and willing to take on new proj- ects. We’ve grown some wonderful project manag- ers at BrightFields who are very technically capa- ble, great with clients, and who are better planners, delegators, and managers than me. For those interested in Myers-Briggs, my type is ENFJ. At BrightFields, each new employee com- ONE COLLEAGUE’S PERSPECTIVE ... Jenna Harwanko, vice president, BrightFields, says that Young is a great leader because she cares. “She cares about her employees, clients, community, and in making a difference,” she says. “This caring nature is exemplified by believing in her employees, building relationships, sharing information across all levels, striving for continuous improvement, and hard work and determination.” Seventeen years ago, Harwanko was hired as an intern. Since then, her manager and mentor has been Young. “I have learned so many things from her over the years. In the area of leadership, one thing she has taught me is to take a risk and grab the leadership role even if it seems scary or will put me out of my comfort zone. If you act like a leader, people will recognize you as one,” she says.
mon the courage within each person. TZL: What type of leader are you?
MY: I would say I’m an inspirational and enthusi- astic leader. I strive to be a transformational lead- er. I’ve done pretty well developing some of the traits, and I continue to work at others. I have high integrity and high emotional intelligence. I’m self- aware, authentic, empathetic, and humble – for the
See MARIAN YOUNG, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER NOVEMBER 2, 2015, ISSUE 1126
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