Lead from Where You Are: Finding Your Leadership Style

ID: WMA2026_552

Track:

You don’t need a title to lead. This session brings together three museum professionals at different stages of their leadership journeys — from influencing without authority to running an organization. Through honest conversation and guided reflection, you’ll explore your own leadership style, discover what it looks like to lead from where you are right now, and walk away with real tools to grow yourself and the people around you

Session Information

Format: Regular session/panel (roundtable, single speaker, etc.)

Uniqueness: Three panelists. Three career stages. Three types of organizations. One session that brings it all back to the individual finding their style.

Objectives:

1. Drawing from three distinct leadership journeys — leading without formal authority, growing an organization, and stepping into executive leadership — participants will see that there are many ways into leadership and walk away with practical strategies they can use from wherever they are.

2. Through a guided discovery exercise, participants will gain real self-awareness of how they lead, communicate, and make decisions — and leave with a clearer picture of their natural strengths and how to build on them.

3. Through peer dialogue and applied discussion, participants will identify concrete next steps they can take back to their organizations — leaving with tools, language, and the confidence to lead with intention and lift up the people around them.

Engagement: A facilitated panel explores how each presenter defines and practices leadership, modeling diverse approaches. Participants complete a guided reflection through a “find your leadership style” discovery session. Panelists then lead peer exchanges centered on participants’ unique experiences. A concluding discussion builds on these insights, helping participants refine their leadership style based on their current career stage and goals, and identify practical next steps for applying what they learned in real-world contexts and ongoing professional development.

Relationship to Theme:

Audience

Audiences: Other 

Professional Level: All levels 

Scalability: Leadership looks different at a one-person shop than at a sprawling multi-department institution — but the core questions are the same: How do I lead well? How do I grow others? This session is built for that range. Whether you’re the only staff member wearing every hat, a mid-level manager navigating a large org, or somewhere in between, you’ll find strategies and language that fit your context.

Participants