Leadership Spotlight with Jai Collier

By: Kevin Tuel July 13, 2023 [3-minute read]

I recently sat down with Learning and Development Specialist and author Kevin Tuel for a Leader's Spotlight Session. The questions were so thoughtful that I wanted to share his article with permission:

Jai Collier joined TDECU after a prestigious career in legal practice and healthcare. Her efforts to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion have left a lasting impression on each organization that has had the privilege of her partnership. Now, she leads such efforts for us with passion, positive energy, and a heart of empathy. I sat down with Jai to learn more about how she has been able to develop into the leader she is for this month’s Spotlight Sessions interview.

KT: Describe an impactful learning experience.

JC: Years ago,?I completed a poverty simulator where you walk through a day in the life of someone at or below poverty. I was faced with decisions like going to work or having childcare, affording groceries, or paying the bills. Everyone should have to do that. I thought I would know how to navigate these choices because I had only a dime to my name in college, but to be an adult trying to raise a family without a livable wage or affordable housing is extremely difficult. It took the high-horse judgment of “why don’t they just…” out of my vocabulary. I think every company?should have their C-suite participate in such an exercise. As we obtain more comforts in life, we can quickly lose sight of the difficult journey to get there. We begin to attribute our successes to our own will and skill and forget how much help we actually had in rising.

KT: Recommend something anyone could add to their own learning journey.

JC: The book, Think Again by Adam Grant. We tend to set things in stone once we think we’ve figured them out. We don’t revisit whether that’s the appropriate response for today. What got us to our role as leaders may not be what gets us to the next level or what develops the next generation of leaders. We chose this book for the TDECU Summer Learning series this year and gave it away for free! It is that good.

KT: What’s been the highlight of your career so far?

JC: I was a legal aid attorney for over six years. I got to touch all kinds of cases, but nothing stuck with me more than when the case involved the elderly. Abuse in a nursing home, unlawful evictions, financial manipulation, etc. There’s nothing like helping someone who spent 70-80 years contributing to society, building a family, and is now back to being at their most vulnerable. They’ve lost their support systems most of the time. Speaking for that generation deeply impacted me. If you live long enough, you too will be in that position of vulnerability, and you’ll want someone to go to bat for you as you did for others when you were your strongest. I still get cards from the families of the people I’ve helped.

KT: As we consider the value of our voices this month, what is one thing we can do when we feel we’re not being heard?

JC: This may seem so obvious, but I think one of the things that people don’t do enough is speak truth to power. This is to say, get into a meeting with the people who can affect change and tell them you’re not being heard.?Many of us?are used to working within the confines of the rules, head down, ruffle no feathers. We try to create indirect ways to get our points across. A lot of the time, those?subtle hints?are ignored. It is harder and scarier to have a direct conversation. We are terrified of being seen as "troublemakers." (Shout out to Luvvie Ajayi). Of course, there’s a right time-right place for it and a matter of civility to consider, but we have to find the most professional and kind way to say, “I am not being heard.” I think more of that directness is needed. Being nice is overrated, especially when you aren't saying what you mean. Direct and kind is better than nice and passive-aggressive. Clarity, as Brene Brown says, is kindness.