LESSONS FROM THIRTY YEARS OF GOING FIRST
The Real Work of Going First
Moving before confidence arrives.
For more than thirty years, I’ve learned leadership from being in the room, being the only woman in the room, getting things wrong, finding my voice, and making room for others. I’m still learning. This is where I share those lessons, the wins, the mistakes, and what I wish someone had told me along the way.
Jen Brooks, CMAA
Leadership writer and storyteller • Founder, Global Community of Women in High School Sports
Stay in the Circle.
I’d love to keep in touch. Occasional reflections on courage, belonging, and the real work of leading. Sent when I have something worth sharing.
FROM THE JOURNAL
Leadership is rarely learned in the big moments.
Most of what I know came from ordinary days. Difficult conversations. Mistakes. People who trusted me. People who disappointed me. Moments when I spoke up, and moments when I learned to stay quiet.
These are the lessons I am still learning.
I learned about being outside the room long before I had words for it.
Some of my earliest memories of sports are sitting outside a locker room with a book while my father coached on the other side of the door.
I couldn’t go in.
Years later, I would spend much of my career walking into rooms where I was one of the few women. Sometimes the only one.
Funny how some lessons begin long before you know you’re learning them.
Courage creates permission.
Leadership creates belonging.
Confidence didn’t come first. Courage did.
NEW HERE?
Start with the idea you need today.
These are the lessons I keep coming back to. You do not need to read everything in order.
Courage. Move before confidence arrives.
Belonging. You don’t need permission to belong in the room.
Discernment. Not everything needs your reaction.
Making Room. Your seat at the table comes with responsibility.
The Days No One Sees. The work counts before anyone applauds.
Why I share what I’ve learned
I write for every woman who has walked into a room and wondered whether she belonged.
For every woman who realized she was one of the few, or the only one.
I know that feeling.
These lessons came from thirty years of doing the work — meetings where I stayed quiet too long, decisions I got wrong before I got them right, and people who saw something in me before I could see it myself.
Those lessons were never meant to stay with me.