Through telling her story as an LGBT member of the military, Brigadier General Tammy Smith explained what it means to be a leader as the keynote speaker at the Women’s Leadership Conference. She delivered the address to an 40-person audience in West Hall on Friday morning.
Smith gave life advice as she described what it was like to work as a female and lesbian in the male-dominated military under the Don’t ask, Don’t Tell policy. She said people ask her why she even joined the military when it was largely uncharted territory for females and LGBT individuals.
“I did it because I love this uniform,” Smith said. “This uniform stands for those things that we hold highest in our nation.”
Here are the biggest takeaways from Smith’s talk:
1. There is a difference between ability and preparedness
Smith entered the University of Oregon on an Reserve Officers’ Training Corps scholarship program after finding an ad for it in a magazine. She described her struggle in college to adjust to a new type of learning environment.
“It wasn’t that I wasn’t capable of going to college,” she said “I was not prepared to go to college.”
As a leader, she said she understood the importance of understanding the roots of other people’s limitations when trying to improve them after she had faced some of those limitations herself.
“Are we judging them currently on just what they were prepared to do or are we looking truly at the potential in their capability and are we helping then move them along to that place?” Smith said.
2. Outcomes are more important than approaches
Smith said not every leader will fit the “cookie-cutter” model for a position.
As she took leadership evaluation tests through a training camp, she became aware of the variance in her approaches versus the expected military leadership methods. She said her style is “collaborative” in opposition to the “directive” model the military typically embraces. But later, a captain stood up for her and said she should be judged on her ability to reach the intended results.
“The captain then talked the evaluator into raising my score and to not put so much emphasis on my leadership style but on my actual organizational outcomes,” she said.
Smith said she took that lesson with her into her later experiences.
“When I see somebody in a leader role, even if they are approaching it different than I might have done it myself, it doesn’t mean they are doing it incorrectly,” she said.
3. Small acts go a long way
Smith said she had difficulty of living a double life: one where she worked for the military and one where she was able to be herself. It became stressful because the “alignment of values” was not consistent, she said.
Smith said her wife told their story to a supportive admiral, who had testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He met with Smith while she was deployed in Afghanistan and assured her wife she was safe, which taught Smith a lesson in leadership.
“You think about the power again of leaders. Those small acts that are huge to the family. And we all have the power to do that,” Smith said.
4. Bring your “whole self” to work
Even after Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed, Smith said she still lived her split life until she was offered the promotion to brigadier general.
“We knew that being authentic was so important in a post Don’t ask, Don’t Tell world,” she said.
She began introducing her colleagues to Hepner at a social event, and soon after Hepner stood by her side at the ceremony where she got her title.
She said three years later she has made it through her journey “between honesty and authenticity.” She said leaders should encourage employees to bring their “whole self” to work.
“We want them to be able to do everything that they are capable of doing to their potential regardless of their leadership style, regardless of whether they are prepared versus capable, regardless of all of those things that have now come together in my life after 30 years.”
