PALOS VERDES, CA – A glorious California sun greeted attendees on day one of Construction Super Conference. The three-day event at the seaside Terranea Resort began with new insights on leadership at The Women’s Leadership Workshop: Influential Leadership with Courtney Lynch, a former Marine Corps Officer and New York Times bestselling author.

Defining leadership as the ability to influence outcomes and inspire others, Lynch encouraged a packed house to recognize their own “blind spots” and work to overcome them. “Self awareness is an accelerant to your growth as a leader,” Lynch said. “Beliefs lead to behaviors which lead to better results.”

Lynch specifically outlined four traits that all leaders should strive to cultivate: 1) Be credible in your dealings with employees, by ensuring that they understand and meet standards, communicating vision, intent, and expectations, and holding people accountable when they fail to meet standards; 2) Be accountable by creating a climate where mistakes are openly discussed; 3) Make decisions that matter by boldly seeking “to say no to leave room for valuable yeses”; and 4) Be of service by seeking to identify unmet needs and shifting focus from self to others.

“I think we all have the opportunity to lead no matter where we’re at,” Lynch said. “We want to be that person people seek out, because they know what they’re going to get with us—consistency credibility, and strong performance.”

Leaders with a “growth mindset” believe:
• I can develop;
• I’m ready to learn;
• I’ll take a risk and confront challenges;
• Failure is a setback—it doesn’t define me; and
• Winning is good, but greater value is found in the journey.

With more than 30 educational sessions planned for the three days of CSC, attendees in Palos Verdes, Calif, will have many more chances to gain valuable wisdom to use in the new year.