MBA Leadership Academy ’22 Focuses on Personal Development and Member Engagement

Each year, the MBA selects a group of its best and brightest young lawyers to join the prestigious Leadership Academy. The Leadership Academy is a year-long course, run by Nancy Walsh, that lets a selective group identify their individual strengths and weaknesses while working through a project intended to better the bar association. This year, leadership academy tackled the issue of membership attraction and engagement, presenting their recommendations to the MBA Board of directors at their October 20th meeting.

Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin, a leading law firm in the MBA, sent two of its lawyers to be part of the 2022 Leadership Academy, John F. McCaul and Annie L. Neamand.

Here is what John McCaul had to say about Leadership Academy this year:

“Going into Leadership Academy I thought I knew what my strengths were and that this would be a great networking opportunity. The networking was exactly what I expected and I met a lot of great people. But the real value was the day

Nancy broke down everyone in the class with various tests, like Meyers-Briggs. You got a pretty clear composite of your strengths and weaknesses, down to a T. The project almost becomes a caricature of everyone’s composite, particularly the strengths because we’re encouraged to maximize those and stay away from our weaknesses as best we can.

That advice—maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses—is gold. It sounds so basic but, for a long time,

I had always tried to focus on my weaknesses so as to raise the floor. In reality, it’s wasted energy to think like that. For one, if you’re working on your weaknesses, you’re basically working harder to be average. But, more obviously, you aren’t enhancing your strengths, the things that can set you apart from everyone else. If you surround yourself with others whose strengths make up for your own shortcomings, you can really advance far. When you realize everyone in your group brings different strengths (or added value), it’s a lot easier to row the boat, so to speak. But until you uncork your group’s individual strengths and weaknesses, all the motivation and communication in the world won’t matter because assignments are disjointed and there is little cohesion. That was the value, to me at least, of the Leadership Academy. Know your own strengths and weaknesses and then find your teammates’ and delegate accordingly to accomplish the goal. That is true leadership and those are lessons I can carry with me to my own practice.” Annie Neamand viewed the past year similarly but also shared additional insight on her experience: “We joined LA to meet new people, to learn about the MBA, and to learn about ourselves. We learned everything we set out to, and more, thanks to the gentle guidance of the MBA and especially, Nancy Walsh.

I’ve made great friends, I’ve become more confident as an attorney and as a leader, and I’ve learned that I’m lucky to be barred here in Montco, where I am surrounded by likeminded attorneys who wish the best for those around them.

Throughout the last year, I have been continuously impressed by the support and encouragement of the MBA, especially that of Nancy Walsh. Nancy pushed us to the outer limits of our comfort zones and held our hands as we grappled with some interesting self-truths. At every step of the way through our project, people in leadership positions at the MBA extended genuine offers of assistance and made us feel like we were truly a part of something bigger. I enjoyed my time in Leadership Academy and am sad that my time there has come to an end. I am certain, though, that the friends and connections I made will last.”

All of the members of this year’s Leadership Academy (Elena Baylarian, Marni Berger, Jessica Chapman, John Higgins, Megan Knoll, Chris Manno, Brian Newman, and Elizabeth SchmidtJerdon) wish to extend their heartfelt thanks to Nancy Walsh and the MBA for their support and guidance this past year. The MBA’s future looks bright, thanks in part to the contribution of these young, hardworking attorneys!