Daily Inspiration: Meet Lisa Gates

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Gates

Hi Lisa, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I never dreamed I’d one day be a professor — it was so far from anything I would have imagined growing up in Lakewood, California — my father often called me “dummy” and “stupid.” Coming from a family who experienced domestic violence profoundly shaped who I am today, without question. In the midst of that, I was part of a large extended family so I was fortunate to learn what love, family, and devotion looked like. And I was certain our immediate family would overcome it all. I took an active role in disrupting my parents’ violence. One time, in the middle of the night, I woke up to my parents yelling and fighting. I ran into their bedroom and saw my dad restraining my mom on their bed with her begging him to stop. I jumped on his back and told him to leave her alone. I had no idea that this childhood experience and my reaction to it would define so much of my future life experiences: that getting into and taking an active role in what is hard can be something that may lead you to your goals and a positive outcome.

Decades later, I would use that same fighting spirit to enter into my educational journey. As a first-generation college student, and in light of my upbringing, I didn’t believe I was college material — I had no real vision for my life and entered into the community college at the urging of my high school counselor just a few months before graduation. After an unsuccessful start to my college education, I got real with myself: “Did I really give it my all?” I hadn’t. I decided to give it some real effort and get active in my education. Once I did that, I entered into a love affair with learning and all that was possible to know or become. At that same time, I had an influential professor in my life who believed in me. Cypress College communication professor, Dr. Donna Friess gave me positive feedback on my academic work and my presentation skills and she became the first adult I told about what was happening at home (she asked what was going on). She told me more than 40 years ago that I was a “winner” and that I would succeed. I can’t express how pivotal this was to my ability to keep going with my education: one person who speaks into our lives can have tremendous impact on how we see ourselves and on our ability to persist. I eventually transferred to San Diego State University and majored in Communication where, as a master’s student in Communication, I was offered the chance to teach presentation skills. Because of my own experiences, I understood that students were likely bringing in so many challenges into the learning environment. I wanted to be an instructor who had high standards, but who also met students where they were, offering them the same kinds of support that I received from Donna Friess. This has turned into my life’s mission: to build programs and courses that challenge students to be and do their very best and to realize their own potential while being supported and treated with the dignity they deserve. This mission, after earning my PhD in organizational communication and almost 40 years in the classroom, still gets me up in the morning. I have won numerous awards through the years including the Outstanding Professor Award on a number of occasions. And I will never get complacent about teaching–every student, every class is different and I will always teach the actual students sitting in front of me because excellence in teaching is about leadership: it’s about meeting students where they are, learning their stories, intervening to offer extra support where it’s needed, but most of all it’s about seeing them and finding the way to authentic human connection in order to be a mirror to them for their life’s potential — this is what I live to do. Success for me means that I show up with the best content I can offer, that I have role modeled what excellence in leadership looks and feels like, that I have worked to cultivate a culture of respect and gravitas, and that students feel seen and valued. I see the whole person in front of me and I teach to that. Today, I serve as the Director of a brand new Leadership Studies major at San Diego State University, along with the Leadership Studies minor.

I use my personal, educational, and professional experiences to pour my heart, intellectual courage, leadership, compassion, and hope into my work with students.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been a smooth road! As stated in the previous part of the story, there were enormous challenges along the way. In addition to the challenges of my home life, I suffered with the Impostor Phenomenon. I felt like an outsider in the educational and professional spaces I found myself in and made a decision to work harder than everyone else in order to perhaps one day belong. I persisted and earned a BA and MA in Communication from San Diego State University and a PhD from the University of Southern California. During my final semester at USC, my mother passed away, which to date is the hardest challenge I have faced. Every time I moved into a new program or institution, my Impostorism would kick into high gear. This led to many “all nighters” and severe overwork over many years. Because I want my students to avoid these same experiences, I speak early on about the Impostor Phenomenon and deliver workshops on this topic to managers as well as graduate students at SDSU.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in leadership development. I currently oversee the new Leadership Studies Major that I worked to build over the past four years. I am known on the SDSU campus for leadership and for bringing innovative and experiential learning into the classroom. I’ve presented hundreds of leadership development workshops to managers, faculty, staff, post-doctoral fellows, graduate, and undergraduate students through the years. Recently, I was invited to design and present a workshop on managing and overcoming burnout to professionals in commercial real estate. I have also served as an executive coach. My interests center around what holds people back from doing or being their best and how to support them in moving forward to be and do their best. I center empathy in my work and believe that when we meet people where they are, we can credibly offer the support that is actually needed — and that requires developing a high degree of credibility and trust with others. Someone on the SDSU campus recently referred to me as the “Brene Brown of SDSU.” I see that as high praise. I am so proud of my students who have gone on to graduate study at prestigious institutions such as Harvard, University of Pensylvania, and UC Berkeley and onto careers where they are currently making an enormous difference. I love when students reach out to tell me that what they learned while they worked with me is something that has staying power for the in light of where they are right now. I have a drawer at home with hundreds of cards and letters from students thanking me for the impact I’ve had in their lives. I am most proud of my family: my husband John and my three gorgeous adult children. One important thing to know about me is this: I don’t take my previous successes for granted. From student to student, class to class, or program to program, I never know for sure if I will have the positive impact I envision: because success happens from moment to moment. This means that I need to be ready for whatever emerges in the moment and this has been my level of commitment over the past 40 years: to show up ready to meet the needs of students with a no excuses policy. Success as an educator, at the end of the day, must be grounded in the love we have for our students, the hope we have for their futures, and staying current in our discipline so we can deliver the very best content — and then live it out as leaders with our students. This is my non-negotiable professional pursuit.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I’ll reemphasize the focus on love in the process. My aim always is to sustain or restore human dignity within each interaction I have — with students and with my colleagues. When people are treated with the dignity they deserve, they begin to stand taller and believe in what might follow. For me, this is sacred work.

Thank you for inviting me to capture this in one place!
Lisa

Pricing:

• I deliver keynote presentations and custom leadership development workshops for managers and leaders for a daily rate of 1,500.00

Contact Info:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-gates-phd-a337b0b/