Interview With Heather Mercer, December 2, 2018

Heather Mercer Interview

Me: Okay, so my first question is how would you characterize your leadership style?

Heather: Um, good question. Um, that's a good question. You know are you asking consensus leadership, directional leadership?

Me: Yes, so would you describe your leadership as more of a servant or more of delegator. Like what are components that you put into your leadership style that best function for what you do?

Heather: Um, you know that's a good question, it's a little bit hard to answer. I think my leadership style has changed. I think natural personality and bent is um sort of a more assertive leadership style, more of a directional leadership style, but I don't know if that's always works as well. So, I have come to learn how that can be a flawed approach if it is not balanced well so over time I've shifted more to um because I value people feeling like they are a part of a team, so I try to move more towards a census style. Um but not to the point where we are going to stall getting a job done. I want to hear what everybody has to say, and I want people to feel like they have real ownership or objective or ultimate mission that we're working towards. Um, but if we get stuck and we need to make an executive decision I have no problem doing that. And once I kind of hear where everybody is at and what everybody is thinking ill sort of synthesize that information and feedback um and then I'll make a final decision. But there are more areas of management where I am more of a delegator. Um, I want to be able to give away tasks and responsibilities and aspects of admission that are best suited for people individual passions and skillsets so where those people are on the team and where those aspects of the mission can be delegated, I like to delegate but not abdicate. So, there's delegation, there's ownership, but there's still oversight. And I think the honest truth is um a lot of times its finding the right people for the team. I've been through a lot of experiences where I haven't had the right people on the team, so you can delegate but if you have the wrong person on the team or in the wrong place on the team then still that can create disaster. So that's why I say delegation without abdication, because there still needs to be oversight you know in the midst of that process. So that's probably how I would explain, and I would say the final sort of angle on this question is you know how much buy in does the individual person on the team have? Like, if somebody in the mission gives 110% their gonna have more say than the person who's kinda just showing up to do an administrative job and it's kind of like this is what I do to make a living but I'm not owning this mission. You know what I'm saying? It's also based on how much people have stepped up to own the mission and the vision, that's how much responsibility and authority they are given.

Me: That was a great answer, you said it was a hard question, but you did great on answering it. Um yeah so, I guess this question kind of goes along with that one, but basically what are your professional strengths and weaknesses?

Heather: um, yeah, I would say that my strengths are that I can see the vision. Like I can, it's at the core of who I am, I'm a visionary pioneer. So, um I can see things that other people can't see, and I can step into places where things have not been done and I can start them, and I can get them built and get it moving. And then in that sort of particular leadership space I think it is important to be preserving and someone who doesn't quit easily because when your mission is to climb the mountain, you have to know that sometimes climbing the mountain can be very very difficult. And so you have to have the fortitude and the resolve, the clarity of sight of what's ahead to not give up part way. So, um, so I don't quit. And I think with what God has called me to do that has probably been one of my greatest assets. It is kind of a double-edged sword, sometimes you need a terrible end rather than an end that is terrible, you know there are times when letting go might be the right thing to do, but when you talk about trying to implement a grand vision or to do something that hasn't been done before having a persevering spirit is really important. So, I would say those are my strengths. My weaknesses, I am not a very good manager. I have been known to kill things as fast as I start them, once I get things going I like to be able to put strong managers in place that I can trust. Strong managers that have experience, have vision ownership and have strong management skills. You know I want to put those people in place and I go start something else. So, um, yeah that particular people side of management can be a challenge for me. I mean I love people and I am great with the relationships ya know but when it comes to actually managing people, tasks and responsibilities I think I am too independent in how I function to really manage other people well in that sense. So, having a good people manager with me is really helpful.

Me: yeah that's really good, that's really good thank you. So, the next question is how have you learned from challenges and obstacles faced? I was so excited to ask you this one because I am excited for your answer. I know you're so good at the perseverance part, that's something I really look up to when I think about you. So, I just really felt this one on my heart specifically to ask.

Heather: I mean think yeah it kind of goes back to the perseverance. I think I've learned that you know having a clear sense of what your assignment is, is really critical. Because if it's just a whim, if it's just a good idea, if it's just an opportunity, I mean maybe there are some assignments and some missions that's enough, but in the world I live in if I didn't have a rock solid, unshakable confidence that God had called me to this and that this was is his assignment for my life, I wouldn't still be here. And um so I think having that settled is so critical to living out a long-haul vision. And I think the other part of that is you know playing the long game, not the short game. Maybe there are again my context is very different than the western, north American environment so talking to somebody that's leading a business or a mission in America maybe they will have a different answer, but for here we have to play the long game. And the dream that I have is to see a nation changed and a people group changed in the region that I live in through holistic ministry and the power of the gospel. So that's a long game, I can't think about that vison in terms of five years of ten years. I'm thinking about that vision in terms of fifty years and after I'm gone. And you know our center is just a little sort of snapshot of that larger long-haul game. I mean I started the center and thought it was going to take me two years and it took me ten, well if I didn't have a long haul, a long game mindset I would have walked away and lost everything part way through. Um, and so you know I think that's critical, I mean I often viewed this whole journey like I was standing at the foot of mount Everest and I had to push this boulder up this summit and there were times I thought I am never going to see the summit, I can't, it just seems so impossible. But then when challenges would come in times I thought the vision was sure to fail I had to remember that the summit was there, and I had to look back over my shoulder and recognize how far we've come. And so, I think it's both, its like don't forget how far you've come and keep your eye on the summit at the same time. And play the long game not the short game.

Me: That's such a good answer wow. That's amazing, that's so inspiring thank you for sharing that with me, wow. I'm blown away by that wow. Okay so this kind of goes along with that question as well and this can be positive or negative experiences, but um, what experiences have most shaped you as a leader, looking back?

Heather: Um experiences or people or just experiences?

Me: Anything, any aspect of the past that has brought you to this place that has just completely shaped why you do what you do.

Heather: Um, well I mean I think there are leaders that I have followed um, that have shaped me for good and I have had experiences that have been negative that have made me want to not do what I saw. You know so, um, I think, I mean a lot of what has motivated me and inspired me throughout my life and since I was very young you know in elementary school, in high school, college were leaders like mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln. As I look back over my life, the leaders I was most attracted to were revolutionaries and reformers. And so, the people that went into the hardest situations and sought to change things to bring about rescue on behalf of those who were voiceless. And so, I think those are the people that have shaped me the most in a positive way. And you know when I read about them and have read about them in the past, I try to look at what makes them tick and what made them quote on quote successful. And maybe not even successful, but what allowed them to leave a legacy. You know cause success, that's kind of a hard word to define, but if I were to define success, I would success is when you leave a lasting positive legacy and all those people did in the areas that they worked. And so, um, so I think those stories have certainly shaped me. I think on the other side my own failures have shaped me. You know I think when I was in my twenties I was full of ambition to change the world. And I remember one time telling my mom we were talking on the phone one day and I said to her, cause I was just on fire with this desire to change things and make the world better, and I asked her and said don't you wake up every morning or didn't you wake up every morning and wish that you could just change the world. And she says no I did and I think that was one of the first times I realized not everybody thought that way, but I literally woke up every morning and still do with this, like I have to change things. Like I am not content if I am not changing things. Like um, and I think there was, that at the core is a good thing, I think that's how God made me and how he makes some of us, but I think I was also driven out of the fear that I wouldn't change anything, so I made mistakes. You know, and I had in times where I hurt the people around me because they felt like I cared more about the task than I did about them. And that doesn't work as a leader and so um, you know and, in my twenties, and in my thirties, I lost a good bit as a leader because I didn't manage that well. So now I think I'm my late thirties and early forties I care less about what other people think about how successful I am or how successful I'm not and I want to work faithfully and diligently and love people along this journey and I trust that ultimately that's going to change things. That's going to change the world, you know so um, yeah.

Me: As someone whose about to be in her twenties and is extremely ambitious that was really great advice because I was like woo, because I often get so caught up in the every morning waking up and I have to make change I have to do this and I have to do that that I have started to realize how much God wants us to focus on these small individual moments you know rather than putting all these pieces together all at once and I definitely needed to hear that. That was amazing thank you for sharing that with me.

Heather: And I think might just be maybe for you specifically but search out what is that specific thing that drives you. Cause God made you that way and God will use you to change the world for sure. But where ever that is motivated by your own need to feel something or to be someone let the lord kind of speak into that and make you ambitious for all the right reasons.

Me: That's really good.

Heather: Cause the ambition is not wrong, I mean God wires us like that, but you want to be driven from a place of love and contentment for who you are and not out of fear, does that make sense?

Me: Yes, that makes perfect sense yeah. That's really good. I actually had a question for you but I'm going to save it because I have another question that I would rather ask. Um, so when you were younger you talk about being a visionary, did you ever, like how did you overcome the overwhelming feeling of this is what I am going to do how am I going to make this happen? Um, just putting A and B together of okay this seems really big, did you ever have moments of where like I'm just too small to make this happen, moments of self-doubt and how were you able to overcome those moments?

Heather: Oh, I still have them. All the time. Yes, yeah, I mean absolutely I mean I still feel them. When I think about what I still want to do, still want to accomplish what I want to see done in this place, what I want to see changed I think who am I, I don't have a penny to do what I want to do, I don't have a penny, or political stock or some place of tremendous privilege in the realm that I feel called to work in. Um, but I think the thing that's helped that is I haven't been afraid to try. You know, I think one of the biggest killer of the dream is that we are afraid to try, right? So, you try and fail, okay so yeah, it's never fun to fail but maybe you won't, you know? Think about what you might learn in the process that might help you in the next round. So, I mean yeah, there's a lot of times that I'm like I'm not qualified for this, um but I'll try, I'm not afraid to take the risk so um I think that helpful um. And then again it just goes back to being willing to persevere because ultimately pretty much anything is possible if you are willing to keep working at it. You know? And the other thing I'd say that I haven't always been good at is get the right people around you. I'm wired to just do things so independently and I have a lot of my life, um, but I don't think that's always a good thing. I think especially at this stage that you're at in your youth, I think if you can learn to rally good people around you now you know you will exponentially multiply what you can accomplish. Um, so, and I think letting other people sort of get as much credit for what your accomplishing will allow you to have good people around you. Right? Like, it really is a shared vision, a shared mission um, yeah. And then again, I always go back to Jesus, the twelve that he called were just normal folks. And um, you know the people, with exceptions, the people who in history have changed the world have not always been the most well-funded, the most talented people, they've just been people who are daring to dream that change is possible. You know?

Me: That's amazing.

Heather: I love, I think it's, just let me double check this, it's this quote. Okay I'm just pulling this up, my internet is slow. Okay you know this quote I'm sure, but I love this quote and I think this quote speaks to this question but its Teddy Roosevelt, do you know which one I'm talking about?

Me: Mm-hmm

Heather: It's the quote where he says "it's not the critic that counts, it's not the man that points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better, credit belongs to man who is actually in area, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strides valiantly, who hires to come short again and again, but there is no effort without error or short coming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasm, great devotions, who spends himself at a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew not either victory or defeat.

Me: Wow, I love that. That is really good.

Heather: So yeah, I'd rather live there. I'd rather fall and fail than not to attempt it.

Me: Yeah, that's amazing. So, I have one last question for you, that way I don't take up too much more of you time. Basically, the question is just another one I have not planned, but what is the most exciting leap of faith you've ever taken that just exponentially exceeded your expectations for it?

Heather: Yeah that's good, well this is more anecdotal, but I think it was the first time I ever really jumped out there and saw sort of the impossible happen and it was totally exhilarating. So I was in college, I had a friend from Africa, his name was Felix Cheota. Did I ever tell you this story?

Me: No

Heather: So, Felix went to Baylor and he was studying to be a pilot and I remember it was the end of my sophomore fall semester and we were all getting ready to leave for Christmas and it was the week of final exams and I think we had three days left at school before everyone had to be out. And I went to, I had a final that morning and I went to the cafeteria for breakfast and I saw Felix sitting at the table sitting by himself, so I went over and sat with him and we were chatting and stuff and I asked you know Felix what are you gonna do for Christmas and he's well like I'm just gonna stay here. And because he was Africa and from a village he didn't have any money to return to Africa until after he graduated and started making a living. Um, and so he wasn't going to see his family for years and so I felt bad for him and I was like Felix what are some things you want for Christmas, I was thinking we'll put some presents under the tree and whatever. Well he looks at me with this cheeky grin and he's oh like I'd like to go see my family for Christmas. And so anyway I left breakfast and I was like oh my gosh what if we could actually send Felix home for Christmas? Well I mean Africa, I mean when I was in college I was penniless, I didn't have ten bucks to my name, Africa might as well have been the moon ya know? It was that far away, and it cost that much money. So, I thought you know this is out there. So, I went back to my suit to my best friend who was also someone who would trust God for anything and I said Sarah what if we try to get enough money to send Felix home? Well again we've got three days, and everyone is in the midst of final exams, she's like let's do it, let's try. Well we needed like 2500 bucks, which once again in three days when I was in college in the midst of exams might as well have been two million it was just so far outside of my capacity. And so, we had lunch that day with twelve of our friends and we pitched this idea and we said you guys, what if we all rally and see if we can raise this money in the next couple days and lets surprise Felix and lets send him home. There was 12 of our friends, they all thought we were completely nuts. They were like this is not happening and I was like no seriously, lets divide it up, everybody has to get like 200 bucks or 150 bucks and we come back 48 hours from now and see where we're at. So, they sort of agreed half heartily but agreed. So, for the next two days Sarah and I with our friends went around like crazy people trying to raise 2500 bucks. And we called to find out how much a ticket would be, and we found out we could get him to Africa and um, we started selling things, selling everything we had. I mean I even asked the doctor at the health center if they would like give to this cause. Anyway, word started spreading around campus that night and people started stuffing money under our dorm room door in the middle of the night because they wanted to be a part of this. Well we had a little jewelry box and we were literally stuffing dollar bills and coins and I mean like a kid's piggy bank. And I called my mom and I was like mom this is what we're trying to do, and I was like would you help us, and she said to me you are never going to get that money. And she said but if you I will give you last twenty bucks. And I said okay I'll be calling you back in a little bit for that twenty bucks. And In less than 24 hours we had all the money, we walked over to a travel agency and bought him his ticket, it was like an old-fashioned paper ticket. And we made all of our friends, all of our friends got together, and we made these huge posters and we drew African animals and everything and we said Felix you're going home, you're going home, and we piled into one car like an Indian rickshaw and we drove over to his apartment and we snuck up the stairs and knocked on his door. We had balloons and when he opened the door we all jumped inside and we you know yelled surprise, surprise Felix you're going home, you're going home, and he was like what, what are you talking about I am home, and we were like no Felix you're going home to Africa, you're going home to Africa for Christmas.

Me: Oh my gosh.

Heather: And it was awesome, and I called my mom in 22 hours and I said I want that twenty bucks and she ended up having to give the last twenty bucks. And in less than 24 hours, Felix went home.

Me: That's amazing.

Heather: And so that was really like, that was a defining moment on a lot of levels. One, the power of vision, right? Um it was something that was bigger than all of us and people rally to that. Um two, it taught me that God provides, we never lack where he's leading. And that God can do the impossible.

Me: That's amazing, wow I love that. Well I'm going to turn off the interview so I'm just going to do an introductory and then I will actually say goodbye to you. Well thank you so much for doing the interview with me today.