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Not everyone will be CEO, but anyone can be a leader. Leeds faculty and alumni share their stories.

What is a leader?

Leadership researchers say a leader is not necessarily someone with a high-level title or position in the hierarchy of a company. A leader is, however, anyone who can influence and inspire a group of people to accomplish a goal.

Leaders aren’t born with this aptitude­—they learn it. Leeds faculty and alumni share how they learned to lead at all stages of their careers.

Walking the Talk

Don Oest, Teaching Associate Professor in Organizational Leadership and Information Analytics

Lifelong leadership requires adaptability and a commitment to bettering yourself and others. Those traits came naturally to Don Oest, who led throughout his career at IBM and now teaches leadership to undergraduate students at Leeds.

Growing up in Long Island, New York, Oest planned to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an engineer. But when he realized he lacked passion for it, he switched to computer science instead—a decision that launched a 36-year career at IBM.

Not interested in a management role, he said he was “happy being a programmer, but the director noticed that I liked to work with people and solve problems.” Within three years he was promoted, becoming one of the youngest managers at the company.

He learned much about leadership in that role. Maintaining trust with his team while also developing his own leadership style was a difficult balance. But more challenging than that was laying off good employees. “There were some who were barely getting by,” he said, and there were breadwinners that I had to let go, and that was a really hard lesson.

“There’s no book for when you become a manager,” he said. “You can read all the organizational behavior books you want, but on-the-job training is a must. I didn’t always make the right decisions, but I made the best-informed decisions at the time, and I learned and got better over time.”

What he learned for sure was that the best managers prioritize three core attributes: integrity, authenticity and empathy.

“I would never ask anyone in my organization to do something that I wasn’t willing to do,” he said. “When people see this, they appreciate it and respond to it.”

Then one day, he transitioned from being a leader into teaching leadership.

“IBM really wanted us to give back to our communities since we were so fortunate,” he explained. “I started teaching in New York at an all-girls Catholic school and loved it—I loved teaching business.”

He got a job as an adjunct professor at Leeds, a recommendation from his IBM mentor. Soon after, he received an offer he couldn’t refuse: the opportunity to teach large lecture classes. He retired from IBM the next day.

“I love being able to see students grow,” he said, “not just memorizing theories and words but being able to apply and finally get it.” He tells them, “Love what you do and learn from others along the way. Always maintain your passion, keep an open mind, and be adaptable.”

Growing Fearless of Failure

Eyob Abai (Fin, InfoAnalytics’21), Senior Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company

As a student at Leeds, Eyob Abai always had a lot going on. Not only was he president of the student government, but he was also an active member of Leeds Consulting Group, the Diverse Scholars Program and Alpha Kappa Psi.

“As a first-generation college student, I came into college not knowing how to navigate different dynamics or how to be successful,” Abai said. “It was very important for me to fill that gap.”

Getting involved in extracurricular activities, from organizations to sports, helped him develop leadership skills and discover his passions. “I want to make sure that I am always actively engaged so I can contribute and develop as an individual,” he said.

Indeed, Abai found a cause he felt strongly about. In March 2018, he testified as a representative of CU Boulder for House Bill 21-1067, which removed the requirement for students to submit national assessment scores (SAT/ACT) on college applications. He was thrilled when the bill passed.

“Leadership comes down to what you’re passionate about and acting on it, vocally or silently,” he said.

Coming off that victory and starting his new job as an analyst at McKinsey & Company, his excitement became intertwined with challenges. He was a young professional at a large corporation—imposter syndrome and fear of failure had crept in. But he worked hard to embrace his mistakes and walk away from fear.

Soon, he became a leader on his team. He learned that, for him, the term “leader” meant someone willing to step forward.

“It’s scary to have the spotlight on yourself, especially when you want to be successful in everything you do,” he said. “But getting away from that mindset of constant success and letting yourself lean into failure is so important for your development as a leader. At McKinsey, I know that if I am comfortable enough to share my thoughts and opinions, others will be too.”

Anyone can be a leader, he said. “There’s nothing stopping them but themselves.”

Cranking up the Confidence

Stacie Loidolt (OpMgmt’16, MBA’21), VP of Product Management, Aqua Comms

Stacie Loidolt’s dream was to work for a Fortune 500 company, and right out of college, she did it.

She clinched a job at Level 3 Communications, which later merged with  CenturyLink. Working in the field opened her eyes to the potential for growth and global opportunities.

“The international side of telecom made me fall in love with it,” Loidolt said. “I get to go to conferences and meet people from all over the world. I knew I wanted to go into international business—so I just kind of landed in telecom—but it ended up being even better than I’d hoped.”

She’s now the VP of product management at Aqua Comms, based in Dublin, Ireland. She admits that jumping into a leadership position was a new challenge; there was no right or wrong way to approach it.

“Being responsible for others was a big shift, and I had to navigate the nuances of leadership to make my team effective,” she said. “When I was first asked what my leadership style was, my answer was simply ‘doing my best.’”

She did her homework. The book The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner gave her knowledge, and emulating the traits of her favorite managers and leaders gave her skills. A caring and selfless leadership style emerged.

Despite her VP title, she believes people can make an impact no matter what position they’re in, as long as they speak up about their ideas and realize they can contribute to a team regardless of experience. 

“I think one of the reasons I’ve had success in my career is because I just never shut up,” she said. “When I have an idea, I say it. Just because you don’t have 20 years of experience doesn’t mean you can’t bring something valuable to the table. I hope young professionals will have the confidence to do this from the beginning of their careers.”

She recently received the Under 35 Digital Infrastructure Talent Award from the Tech Capital Global Awards. It acknowledges a young business member of the digital infrastructure community who possesses the skills and personal qualities of a successful business leader.

“I was in a pool with a lot of other incredible candidates,” she said. “It’s amazing how many young people are out there in the industry doing incredible things.”

Getting to the Heart of It

Antonio Papuzza, Teaching Associate Professor in Organizational Leadership and Information Analytics, Leeds School of Business

It’s rare to find anyone with more international experience than Antonio Papuzza. Originally from a small town in Italy, the author, executive coach and consultant traveled and worked in more than 50 countries early in his career after earning a bachelor’s in ecology and, later, a PhD in anthropology.

He describes his leadership evolution as a lifelong commitment, and the path hasn’t been linear in the least. After coming down with a serious illness, he felt he had two options—either wait around without answers for a working treatment or completely change his environment and go on a journey of self-discovery.

“I wanted to really understand what the answers were to some of my fundamental questions: ‘Who am I? Where am I going in life? What do I want, and why?’” he said. “I started to travel around the globe to find those answers.”

While on his quest, he realized he wanted to help others do the same. Teaching would become his path, and he started teaching leadership at Leeds.

“Teaching became this whole new leadership experience for me,” he said. “I teach my classes with an emphasis on competent leadership—a mix of emotional intelligence, neuroscience, and quantum physics—an approach where leadership is learned through developed experiences.”

He believes you cannot be a leader to others without being a leader to yourself first.

And he emphasizes leading from the heart.

“There’s a scientific concept of heart intelligence: When working with people from different countries, it relates to our ability to feel our hearts and use it in any situation,” he said. “Coming back to the heart is probably the most profound experience that a leader can have and can teach others to have.”