Humility has remained a buzzword for me ever since the Challenge Detroit interview trip in May 2013. \u00a0During our group interview session, Shelley Danner, Challenger Detroit’s Program Director, sent a question my way that caught me off guard. \u00a0I don’t remember the exact phrasing, but it was something along the lines of “if you are chosen as a fellow, and you begin to be viewed as a leader within the community, how will you stay humble?” \u00a0Knees trembling, I repeatedly awkwardly tucked and re-tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, I offered a weak smile, and an even weaker response. \u00a0I managed to string together promises of remembering the process of becoming a fellow, and remembering my path to success, with all its ups and downs, and remembering how nervous I was in that very moment. \u00a0My mediocre at best answer and the rest of the interview trip behind me, the idea of humility stuck in my mind.<\/p>\n
Of course, I was chosen as a fellow. \u00a0I don’t believe I’m anywhere near being seen as a leader in the community, but still, I’ve already eaten a couple of shares of humble pie. \u00a0To begin, my job at my host company thus far has consisted of tasks I originally deemed monotonous and robotic. \u00a0I was charged with data entry, scheduling meetings, and other various to-do’s I considered menial and below me. \u00a0During a leadership Friday, Deirdre Greene Groves, the Executive Director of Challenge Detroit, shared with us a story about one of her first jobs. \u00a0Day in and day out she literally found herself locked inside of a construction trailer filing. \u00a0She lamented to her mother, and her mother said to her “no matter what task you are assigned, be the best at that task. \u00a0If you are a filer, be the best filer they’ve ever seen. \u00a0Even if they ask you to sweep the construction site, take the broom, and be the best sweeper they’ve ever seen.” \u00a0These words resonated with me; they were the kick in the pants I needed. \u00a0Humility<\/em> popped into my mind once again. \u00a0Who cares if I was making spreadsheets? \u00a0I was going to make the\u00a0best<\/em> spreadsheets my company had ever seen. \u00a0 As a brand new employee, it was up to me to toot my own horn. \u00a0I had to prove myself. \u00a0I had to show them what I was capable of. \u00a0I had to earn my keep, and I had to show them what I was made of. \u00a0I wanted to be known as a hard worker who oozed positivity, determination, and integrity. \u00a0My goal for this month: be the best data enterer, meeting scheduler, and menial task completer ANYONE has ever seen.<\/p>\n My second (heaping) serving of humble pie came while providing hands-on support for the Detroit Design Festival (DDF). \u00a0On Fridays, the fellows come together to work on “Challenges” within the community. \u00a0Normally our challenges are five weeks in duration, and typically they involve creative collaboration and brain-power. \u00a0For our warm-up challenge, however, we were rolling up our sleeves and helping with setup for the DDF. \u00a0Finding myself in an abandoned lot picking up trash, at first I was put off. \u00a0What was I doing there? \u00a0I was a young professional. \u00a0I had an office chair to occupy, lukewarm coffee to guzzle, as well as data to enter and meetings to schedule! \u00a0I should not be surrounded, literally, by this filth, I should be mindlessly typing into a spreadsheet! \u00a0I’m not sure exactly what shifted in my mind, but as I walked towards the dumpster to empty my hands and go back to grab another armful of debris, I looked around me, and there it was again,\u00a0humility.<\/em> \u00a0There were three other fellows cleaning out the lot with me, and there were 28 other fellows dispersed along Livernois working on other similar projects. \u00a0This is the stuff that will revitalize Detroit, and we are the people who will do it. \u00a0Detroit won’t rise again from the ashes if all of its young, bright, professionals are content with drinking their over-priced cups of mocha-choca-frappa-shoulda-donated-this-5dollars-and-drank-the-stuff-in-the-office. \u00a0Detroit needs us to roll up our sleeves and clean its lots. \u00a0It needs us to re-finish its store fronts, to mow its lawns, to scrub its sidewalks. \u00a0Detroit needs us, and it needs all of us. \u00a0It doesn’t just need our brain power, it needs our man power too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fellows beautifying Livernois!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve lived downtown for 85 days now. \u00a012 weeks, and 1 day of feeling like I’m living in a North Face add; “Never Stop Exploring” ringing in my ears as my motto. \u00a0As a Challenge Detroit fellow, I’ve been given an opportunity to “live, work, play, give, and lead” within the city of Detroit for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"photo\"](\"http:\/\/challengedetroit.org\/elizabethmachesky\/files\/2013\/09\/photo-e1380490674671-225x300.jpg\")
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