Relationships with Leaders

I have learned quickly in the last eight weeks interning at Charter that in a large corporation such as this one, it becomes easy to feel lost within not only the company itself, but also the department you’re in, especially as an intern. As an intern, I know that the work I am doing is done purely to make the lives of those above me easier, and doing the work that I know the rest of the team has no desire to do. In such a large company, I know that attention does not come easy to someone such as me, and I don’t expect to have large amount of attention paid to me, I fly under the radar so to speak and mind my own business.

I have learned however, that the leaders that I respect the most within the company are the leaders who are willing to put aside time for those who work below them. It’s a very unbecoming characteristic of a leader in a large company especially, who feels as though they do not need to take the time and put in the effort to get to know their subordinates. I have found that those who get to know their employees and listen to the worries, questions, and successes of their employees, are generally liked more by those who report into them. This week I experienced this first hand. The director of the Marketing department, took the time out of her packed schedule to meet with the three marketing interns. She has over 150 people indirectly that are reporting to her on a daily basis, and she has a constant flow of meetings, outlook invites, and emails, that take up her hours in the office every single day. However, she took a full half hour out of her day to talk to us, and answer any questions that we had for her. Not only that, but she asked about us, and how we were liking our positions, if we could see ourselves wanting to come back to the company after graduation, and what we had learned so far. More than that though, she asked about our personal lives and if we liked our school and college experiences, as well as about our majors and classes.

After meeting with Sharon, not only was I inspired by her work ethic, and the way that she got herself to the position that she is currently in but also by her taking the time to do this and listen to us talk, and at least act as though she cared about what we liked and disliked. Since she did this, I have worked even harder than normal because not only do I see what I can become in the future, but the idea of impressing her is an incentive for me to work even harder.