Avoid Closing Doors to Your Future, You Might Surprise Yourself
The morning of May 20thwas accompanied by a swarm of butterflies in my stomach as I parked my car in the parking lot of Lowe, Brockenbrough & Company. As the excitement, and nervousness, continued to creep in, I gathered my things, walked to the front door of the building, stopped, and took a deep breath. I was about to step into an environment where I had little to no knowledge of the firm’s primary function, financial advising and investment banking. However, I knew that I needed to do this internship to take a step into the business world and to fine tune what I wish to do with my career path. From day one of my internship search, I wanted to push myself outside of my comfort zone with an internship with the hope of experiencing growth and a better understanding of what sort of career will best suit my skills. I thought, what better way to do so than have myself, a double major in Leadership studies and Rhetoric/Communication studies, enter the world of finance through a summer internship. This internship with LBC did just this by teaching me more about myself, as well as the overall structure of the business world. The greatest take away from this experience was to never close yourself off from something that you might not be good at because it does not perfectly correlate with the degree you are receiving. In order to reflect on my experience at LBC, I am going to revisit the goals and expectations I set when writing my personal plan paper back in February.
To reiterate, when I was tasked with writing my personal plan paper, I felt I needed to find an internship that aligned with what others would presume were of interest due to my current studies. While this is likely true for majority of students pursing a certain major or minor, I kept finding myself curious about positions that go beyond the classes I was taking. Thus, when I met David Lyons, COO of Lowe, Brockenbrough & Co., at the student athlete etiquette dinner, I found myself intrigued by the work the firm does and the traits upon which the firm is built. When asked to submit my resume, I knew I had nothing to lose by applying so I went for it and thought if I get an interview, great, if not I will continue to look for a summer internship. Therefore, when I received the call from David saying they would like to hire me for the summer, to say that I was shocked was an understatement. On paper, there were 25 other applicants more qualified than I was in the world of finance. As I learned through this application process, and the internship itself, it is perfectly fine to not limit yourself to one box based on the degree you have. I realized that a major in leadership studies has given me a broad base to work off of and to remain versatile in any sort of work place environment. As long as you are willing to work hard and are open to learning, the sky is the limit. I am thankful to have experienced a glimpse of this during my time with LBC because while I am still unsure of what I want to pursue as a career, I was able to cross off some ideas and to recognize areas I found most interesting.
Looking back on my initial goals expressed in my personal plan paper, I remember writing them not knowing where I would be interning and unsure what sort of work I would be doing. Therefore, I was not sure if I would be able to tackle all of my goals set in such a short amount of time. However, from the first day I stepped in the office, until the day I left, I was constantly learning and challenging myself. For instance, one of my original goals was learning to adapt to different leadership styles. Having this opportunity to work at a small company allowed for easier exposure to senior executives. Being able to sit down with them and pick their brains about leadership and to observe the way they interacted with employees and clients was valuable. They taught me that if you embody the traits and ideals established by the company, you will be successful. I learned ways to communicate with others that is respectful even if there is disagreement among two or more people.
Another valuable tactic I learned was how to navigate different people and their personalities to get the best work out of them. Austin Borckenbrough IV, son of founder Austin Brockenbrough III, helped me see this consistently by giving examples of scenarios in which he needed to use different tactics to reach different people in the company. This was interesting for me to observe and I find it helpful as I began thinking of ways in which I can reach the girls on my team that function differently than I do. In other words, instead of being content in that I might not share the same goals or motives as some people on my team, I learned ways to not give up and figure out an alternative to have them produce their best work. We also discussed the importance of understanding yourself and what traits you embody most. This can be interpreted by doing assessments such as Myers Briggs, or the DISC assessment etc. These sorts of assessments help individuals recognize how they function as a leader and how best to adapt to people that function on the opposite end of the spectrum.
When entering this internship focused summer, another goal I set for myself was to become more confident making decisions, either for myself or for a group of people. While the decisions I was making were seemingly minor, I realized this summer that this goal can apply to anywhere from a legitimate decision for project production, all the way to choosing to conduct a certain attitude towards a particular project. Some of the tasks we faced as interns were monotonous and would be difficult to maintain an enthusiastic attitude. However, working with the other interns and finding a positive spin really allowed for us to continue working hard and motivated to produce good work. I also found that learning which decisions to make requires a decent amount of trial and error. It is important to not be discouraged by the errors, but rather to learn from them. I recognize now that I am afraid of making the wrong decision but the only way to understand a wrong decision in a particular scenario is to be confident and be open to learning
As a leader, delegating tasks to other team members has always been a challenge for me. I struggle with this as I want to contribute to every project and see it all the way through to the end. The woman who oversaw us interns, Vanetta, truly exposed me to various ways to effectively delegate. Vanetta is an incredibly busy woman, but would always have time for myself and the other interns to ask questions to be sure we were tackling tasks the way she wished to see them completed. Her ability to recognize the interests of my co-interns and I and to assign us projects we will benefit from was incredible. She rarely gave us mindless work like scanning documents, but when something like that needed to be done it was followed by a project that was intriguing and thought provoking.
When reflecting on this internship, I realize this experience was a great way for me to be able to apply what I have been studying for the past three years into a real-world environment. This was comforting as I was able to see the impact studying leadership has had on my perspective and the overall way I tackle a challenge. Leadership studies has exposed me to the tools needed to be a versatile employee in the workplace. In other words, taking classes such as critical thinking and theories and models has taught me how to observe a situation and determine the best course of action. Also, leadership studies caused me to continue to open my mind in an uncertain environment and trust that I can use critical thinking skills to best accomplish a project. Another aspect of leadership studies that I have begun to recognize is the importance of speaking your mind. The classroom environment in the Jepson school does not allow you to hide and for the most part harnesses an accepting and conversational tone to many discussions. I think being used to speaking with a group of people and hearing others opinions allowed for me to step into the environment at LBC and observe the culture of the company and to adjust my work style.
At first, taking a chance on myself and my interests by stepping into this role as an intern for a financially focused firm was incredibly daunting, I was able to associate majority of my nerves were due to my lack of experience in any sort of financial realm. When I took my initial steps through the doors of Lowe, Brockenbrough & Company I was uncertain how this summer would pan out and if I bit off more than I could chew. I quickly came to learn that a positive attitude, hard work ethic, and an openness to learning can prove to be just as beneficial as prior specific knowledge. Throughout my time here, I was able to expose myself to financial jargon and to ask questions so I could try and follow along. Much like learning a language, I felt that being immersed in this environment and being encouraged to ask about topics I am unsure about really helped me to succeed during the internship. As I continued to grow more comfortable each week at the firm, I began to realize how I can be of influence to a team by bringing an outside perspective and insight on leadership and efficiency towards completing projects.