Lessons Learned

1. Lessons Learned …To Lead Mercedes McCormick, Ph.D., LP American Psychological Association 2013 - Division 52, International Psychology Presidential Address Honolulu, Hawaii August 2, 2013

2. Lesson I: Past to Present • Historical Account of Leadership • Adolescence- In a private high school, I was elected the Junior Year President. My responsibility was to lead the class and to plan and organize and an annual social event. The event was a Hawaiian Luau. Hmmm….What goes around comes around! • Late Adolescence- I worked as a Kindergarten teacher in urban school district (JC). If you ever want to develop organizational skills, flexibility and creativity, you need to put yourself in a room with 30 young 4 to 5 year olds. I did for one year. • Early Adulthood- I worked for 9 years as a elementary teacher at the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. I collaborated with faculty and educational staff and parents during this time, Classroom teaching requires the essentials of leadership, listening, consistency, planning and patience.

3. Past to present….continued Adulthood: Mid-70’s. I studied at Pace University in MA program and earned credentials to become a school psychologist (At this time I joined APA as a student member). In late 70’s I was appointed as school psychologist in JC school system. My role lasted till the early 21stcentury (29 yrs). Here I developed skills to assess, problem solve, concentrate, counsel, and network with diverse students, teachers, special education teachers, social workers, learning consultants, speech therapists, parents and administrators. Other benefits of this career experience was a further advancement to collaborate, express empathy and listen to all. During this time period I demonstrated proactive behaviors (task forces, mentoring, supervising) and joined the NJ State Scholl Psychological Association and the National School Psychological Association. • Middle Age: Earned Ph.D. at Seton Hall University (1995)..continued to work in JC as a school psychologist, acquired the psychology license in NYS, and in 2000 started to build a private practice in NYC. Currently developing marketing and management skills in working with medical and insurance organizations. • Senior Adulthood: In 2005 joined APA Div. 52-International Psychology and soon became proactive in the D52 community.

4. Building the Bridgesto international psychology I began teaching at Pace University as an adjunct professor in 2004 and started building a professional relationship with Dr. Velayo. Through our collegial relationship, he introduced me to Harold Takooshian who in turn invited to get involved in Division 52. I worked with Dr. Takooshian and Dr. Velayo in various programs, became a member-at-large, and under Michael Stevens’ leadership, I worked on a project called TOPPS where I developed a PowerPoint presentation to put on their website about International Psychology. I presented this at Mexico City, where it was used as an informational tool. I also presented at St. Petersburg, Russia and engaged professionals and students to learning about international psychology and consider membership as an international affiliate at Division 52 Attended a Positive Psychology conference (2006) in Braga, Portugal. Here I presented a poster about Yoga Therapy. I was trained as a yoga therapist in the 90’s. Recently I attended Life Design Conference in Padova, Italy. I was there as an Ambassador for Psi Chi Int’l and representative for Div. 52 to speak about Building Bridges with faculty and students at Padua University and University of Bologna. I encouraged them to join the Div. as an international affiliate, send submissions to IPB, and journal.

5. Past and Present – Establishing partnership at the Local, state, and international level Three years ago, I was nominated to become the Eastern Region Vice President. After I was nominated, I was chosen to serve as president elect. These are all on national level and on the state level, I’ve been the president of New York State Psychological Association in the Academic Division and Division of Women’s Issues. As you can see, these positions require participation in events such as conferences, and building partnerships. My proactive work with Psi Chi enabled me to interact with students to strengthen their leadership style and to motivate them towards academic excellence. Psi Chi leadership responsibilities included reviewing chapter applications from national and international universities/colleges. Currently International Psi Chi Chapters may be found in: Guatemala, Russia, Canada, Ireland, Egypt, et al. (see www.psichi.org ) to search for the entire list of international psi chi Chapters. Currently I am President of Division 52 International Psychology. I felt there should be more of a connection with Division 52 and Psi Chi, so my main initiative has been building bridges with Psi Chi and like-minded partners or organizations.

6. Lesson I Outcome: Leadership Style

7. Lesson II: Pathways to building bridges Building the Bridge between APA Div. 52: International Psychology and Psi Chi International Honor Society Of Psychology…… How this Partnership can be Formed to Accomplish Shared Goals?

8. APA Division 52 and Psi Chi Internationalshared goals

9. Clear benefits to the partnering approach • Shared Resources: Div. 52 and Psi Chi International have resources that are available and accessible to the international community. • Cross-promotion of Issues through Div. 52 and Psi Chi publications, 21st century technology tools that includes websites, webinars, Skype, social networks (Facebook, twitter, etc.) • Div. 52 Webmaster is Ji-Yeon Lee who is terrific in keeping the membership current with important announcements, events, etc. Psi Chi likewise has a strong IT team that keeps the Psi Chi officers and membership informed about important announcements, reports, etc. Both organizations resources are available and accessible to the international community.

10. Clear Benefits---(2) • Strength in Numbers: The greater numbers supporting similar efforts can influence international psychology/global concerns. Such concerns may include diversity, immigration, educational leadership, peace-building, etc. • Expanded networks: Div. 52 and Psi Chi often participate in each other’s events such as annual meetings and conferences. For example, Psi Chi and Div. 52 are annually part of APA programming and connect at times at regional conferences such as EPA and WPA. • Value to Membership: Building Bridges between Div. 52 and Psi Chi and other compatible communities and organizations adds value to the membership by creating visibility and opportunities for psychologists to network. Both communities share common ideas about promotion of students in the field of psychology and they encourage students to become members

11. Lesson ii: outcome • Leadership Competencies to Build Bridges • with Communities and Organizations

12. Leadership competencies to Building Bridges with communities and organizations

13. Lesson III: FUTURE pathways to Building Bridges • Building Bridges initiative to continue forward….

14. leading forward-one step at a time.. Change in communities and organizations is slow yet may be steady…… so let’s go… take small steps moving ahead with partnering with Psi Chi and like minded organizations. Future organizations interested to join this initiative on the International level is the Inter-American Society of Psychology (SIP) who looks forward to partnering with Div. 52 and Psi Chi. I look forward to hearing from other organizations who are interested to partner with Division 52. Such discussion is in keeping APA Good Governance Program. See…. http://www.apa.org/about/governance/good-governance/index.aspx Building Bridges Initiative will be implemented in my role as Past President in 2014.

15. Summary • Today’s Presidential address focused on my vision for Div. 52 to Build Bridges with Psi Chi International and future like-minded partners interested in the enhancement of the field of international psychology. • As the (2013) President of Division 52, I presented to you my leadership role from a career developmental and positive psychology perspective. My goal was to lead this Presidential term with a clear vision. This Clear Vision includes ingredients of Self Awareness, Descriptiveness, Curiosity and Appreciation. • As Div. 52 President I appreciate collaborating with you---Div. 52 members of the EC Board, Chairs, and committees members. You were outstanding in meeting your responsibilities for Div. 52. You made my role much easier than anxiety dictated. I appreciate strengthening my relationship with Psi Chi, and other members of APA divisions. • In summary, today’s presentation emphasized the lessons learned in my life’s journey to lead. I emphasized the importance of my past experiences in developing and shaping the skills and competencies to become an effective leader. I hope to be remembered by the Division as initiating building professional relationships with other like-minded organizations. I’d like to continue as past president, to advocate, promote, and strengthen this endeavor-to Build Bridges.

16. References • American Psychological Association (2013, May). Maximizing Engagement in the American Psychological Association and Its Affiliated Professional Associations. 2012 Annual Report of the Policy and Planning Board. American Psychologist, Retrieved: DOI 10.1037/a0033030 • Bushe, Gervase (2010). Clear leadership: sustaining real collaboration and partnership at work. Boston: Nicholas Brealey Publishing • Marujo, H. Aqueda and L.M. Neto (eds), Positive nations and communities, cross-cultural advancements in positive psychology 6, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6869-7_6, Springer Science+Business media Dordrecht