Notes from your Association Manager

Nevada RNformation, May 2006 by Norris, Dawn M

Leadership

Each year, through NNA's Nominating Committee a Call for Nominations goes out to members. It is an official activity that requests by a specific deadline the nominations forms of those members interested in being perspective candidates for association offices due to be open on the next ballot. The Nominations Committee-a standing committee of NNA and itself comprised of elected members from throughout Nevada-finalizes a slate of candidates for the official election ballot. Ballot vote by eligible NNA members is how the various offices are filled.

When reviewing perspective candidates for office, the Nominations Committee adheres to policies and criteria directed in the NNA bylaws. But there's something about leadership capabilities that are not as concrete as bylaws direction. Desire and willpower have a lot to do with it as does the attributes of values, beliefs, ethics, character, knowledge and skills.

Perhaps you don't think of yourself as a leader, but you are. By definition, every nurse who belongs to Nevada Nurses Association is a leader. You are not required to belong to this organization-you belong because you care enough to allocate your professional resources to shaping the future. You care about the profession, the environment in which you practice, the health care system, the lives of those whom adequate care is only a dream. Whatever you may think, you are a leader in professional nursing. There are many ways to be a leader in professional nursingmembership in organizations, talking with colleagues about current issues, mentoring, volunteering to serve on committees and task forces, running for office. The right level of your leadership will depend on the stage of your career and your other obligations-but every level is valuable and necessary.

Let me turn to another aspect of leadership-heroes and role models. I love the story of Florence Nightingale. I love her intelligence, her single-mindedness, her courage, her ability to influence change. Consider Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1926). America's first black professional nurse known for her exemplary contributions to professional organizations. Consider Mary Breckenridge (1881-1965). The founder of the first modern rural comprehensive health care system in the United States. Consider Lucile Petry Leone (1902-1999), the first woman in the United States to serve as the chief nurse officer and assistant surgeon generals. And, in 2000, after previously being stuck by a needle and acquiring with both HIV and Hepatitis C, Lisa Black worked tirelessly to secure passage of the Nevada safety legislation and related workers' compensation legislation which was part of a three-pronged approach leading to the U.S. Congress passing the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act which President Clinton signed.

I stated in this message that each of us is a leader. Most of us are ordinary people. We juggle families and jobs, cook, garden, shop for groceries, decorate our houses, and try to live healthy lifestyles. How could we accomplish what these leaders have done? We do it one day at a time and we do it together. We have a vision, we trust each other and we keep moving ahead. And once in awhile, we take a moment to be inspired by our nursing heroes.

I hope that interest and desire will be expressed by you for serving the nurses of Nevada through leadership in the Nevada Nurses Association and that you will become a candidate on the 2006 NNA ballot. Members interested in seeking leadership opportunities should contact the NNA nominating committee.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

- Margaret Mead

"You are very capable, but that capability is not enough. You have the opportunity to do great things, and yet opportunity is not enough. You have the desire to make a positive difference and yet the desire is not enough. You have made great plans, but planning is not enough. What is enough is to actually step forward and do it. Action has far greater power than the most profound and well thought out intention."

- Ralph Marston

Be one who inspires us ordinary people to do extraordinary things.