Name: Girl Scouts CEO on why you can 'have it all'
Uploaded: 2024-04-05
Duration: 7 min 26 s
Description: Bonnie Barczykowski didn’t know much about Girl Scouts when she first joined a local board 14 years ago. Today, she’s CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, which boasts more than 1 million members and 750,000 adult volunteers.

Bonnie Barczykowski didn’t know much about Girl Scouts when she first joined a local board 14 years ago. Today, she’s CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, which boasts more than 1 million members and 750,000 adult volunteers.

Girl Scouts CEO on why you can 'have it all'

Leadership

14 years ago, I was invited to join a local girl scout board and I really didn't know that much about girl scouts. And during the interview for the board position, the individual said, you know, would you be interested in coming on to the girl scout board? And when I shared with her that I didn't really know anything. She said, actually, that's perfect. We want people on our board who know a little of everything and we want people who know nothing. And I fell under the, I really don't know that much at all. I fell hook line and sinker for the organization a few months on the board and actually asked myself how in the world did I not know all these amazing things that girl scouts does? So what started as getting into an organization that I really didn't know that much about has brought me today to the national role of national CEO. I think when we're looking at any organization including girl scouts, it's so important to have really strong succession planning and to really make sure we're looking within, to say, where do people go next within their roles? Where do they want to self develop and what's the plan for if tomorrow they're not here. So, internal succession planning is incredibly important and it doesn't always pan out the way that it's expected. So also thinking what transferable skills can come from the outside to help an organization is important to always be assessing as well. I'm a strong believer that an organization can have somebody come from the outside and do amazing things and can have somebody from the inside do amazing things. I say that a little personally because when I came to girl scouts in the local council, I came from the outside. My entire background had been on the corporate side and I always look back and hope that I was able to bring the value that was needed at the time with the lens that I brought, coming into the organization. Now, coming into my role here, I'm very grateful that I come with the experience from within girl scouting. And I feel like at the time and the place it was needed and I believe it's appreciated. I hope to actually establish a foundation that we can consider in the longer term future, what's needed next, maybe what will be needed next is internal, maybe it will be external, but we'll know better as time goes on. My team today consists of folks who come with inside girl scouting and those from outside. And I think that balance really helps us when we're looking at each and indi individual situation and the decisions that we make. I have been fortunate to have amazing mentors in my life. And one of the things I always go back to is very early in my career. I had a mentor who said it won't be what you know, that will help you be successful, it will be your willingness to acknowledge what you don't know that will help make you successful. And I have carried that with me my entire career when I hire someone now on my team, I'm quick to tell them, I don't expect you to know everything. It's actually impossible. It's not humanly possible to know everything. What I do want and expect is that you acknowledge what you don't know and you help me, help us bring other people who know what you don't know to help us when we're making decisions, creating plans, developing strategies. So that acknowledgment of what individual team members don't know will get us much farther than necessarily what they do know. The worst advice that I ever received was actually very, very early on in my career. And it was from a woman who said to me just no, you can't have it all. It's actually not possible. And I can remember that just stopping me in my tracks thinking, what am I going to have to give up? What am I going to have to say no to, I also want to go back and find her because I feel very blessed that I, I have been able to have it all my faith, my family, my fitness have always been important to me and my career. And I would say that creating that balance has allowed me to be able to have those things that matter most. So I want to encourage young girls. Don't let somebody tell you, you can't have it all because you can at girl scouts, we want to make sure that our young girls are taking care of themselves and their mental health to make that possible. That means that we need to create the shadow of the leader, which means we need to be doing the same pausing and actually saying to our folks, you know, how are you, how are things going and being able to make sure that our, our our employees take their time that they need to be able to create the balance that they strive for there in their life, whether it be making sure they're getting in their physical fitness, making sure they're getting time with families, making sure that they're doing the things that bring them greatest joy. It's why it's part of the benefits program. There's the ability to take vacation time. So the one thing you'll hear me stress to folks is please make sure you take it, take all of it and make sure that when you are taking it, unless it's an emergency that you completely disconnect, it's one thing that I think they have to hear from me so that they know I do it and I'm expecting them to do the same. One of the biggest things facing young girls today is being able to make sure that we're helping them build all the skills that they're going to need to be able to have success in their life. And that can be everything from financial education to mental well being to making sure they have variety of experiences and career paths. Um And for us at girl scouts, we know we offer that variety. Uh We also know that we depend greatly on our volunteers to carry out that variety. One of the things that we've taken into our own hands is to be able to help our newest leaders, which are our girl scout, kindergarten, first grade leaders. There are Daisy troop leaders to actually help them provide the variety that we all know we want our girls to have. So watching this fall, any young adult who decides they're going to be a troop leader, girl scouts of the USA will be helping by shipping a box to those troop leaders that have everything they need to lead to girl scout troop meetings. And we can help by rotating the subject matter, financial education, outdoors, civic responsibility, community service, stem education. So we can create that variety that we know is so incredibly important starting as young as our five year olds that girls have so that they have the skills they need to be successful in their lives. The advice that I would give to young girls today is to do what you're doing today and do it that the best you can. I watched that there was a portion of a generation that was always thinking about what's next, what's next. And the advice that I would always give them is when you're doing the very best you can today in whatever you're doing today, often you're going to be the one that gets tapped to do what's next, whether it's a stretch assignment or something new or different or the potential for a different role. So if you put your energy into doing what you're doing and do it really well, a lot of opportunities will open up.