AMS Early Career Leadership Academy

The American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) Early Career Leadership Academy (ECLA) is a leadership development experience for early career professionals, in particular women and minorities, who are employed in weather, water, and climate (WWC) enterprise. The purpose of the Academy is to build and sustain a diverse network of early career professionals who are effective in their professions, prepared to take on leadership roles; and support one another as effective collaborators and mentors. A diverse workforce with cognitive and affective competencies is needed to address the most pressing risks that underpin the interconnected systems (i.e., environment, societies, economies, and organizations) in an uncertain world. Although improvements to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education are underway, traditional academic preparation does not provide individuals with subjective skills that are required to lead diverse teams. Also, despite efforts to attract and retain women and minorities in geosciences, their overall numbers in the workforce remain low and often individuals do not advance to leadership positions as quickly as they should. Some factors that prevent women and minorities from leadership positions include lack of role models, feelings of marginalization and isolation, unconscious bias among managers, lack of work-life balance, gender bias, and sexual harassment. In addition to value-based imperative for retaining more women and minorities in WWC workforce, there is also an economic imperative for integrating these individuals more fully into the society and workplace. Through sustained interactions that will last several months, ECLA engages early career professionals, working in WWC fields, in leadership development through a series of webinars, peer mentoring calls, leadership dilemma calls, and an in-person meeting. Participants reflect on their leadership goals, view challenges using different analytical lenses, develop a systems-thinking approach to problem-solving, delve into strategic doing, and sharpen skills to deal with differences and diversity when making decisions related to thrive in a fast-paced, data-intensive, interconnected world.