Leader Interview Paper

Addy Mohorcich

October 5, 2022
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Authenticity as Leadership

Spending time outside has been a crucial part of my upbringing and has provided me with

unforgettable memories of mountain lakes, the smell of ponderosa pine trees, and yellow and red

leaves scattered on the trail leading me in the right direction. I grew up in a family that not only

had access to the outdoors, financially and geographically but also prioritized adventures. I’ve

taken this passion and made it a priority by working in the outdoors at summer camps and

becoming a trip leader for GU Outdoors. Building community through these shared experiences

is what makes the outdoors feel like home to me. However, stepping into leadership roles in the

outdoors has also had its challenges. Being responsible for ten other people while being at least

an hour away from the nearest hospital, can be intimidating. I interviewed Tasha Block, the new

director at GU Outdoors, to hear about the way she has navigated the challenges and joys of

leading outside and receive some wisdom from her and all of her involvement.

Tasha has eight years of experience at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)

alone and has been part of the office team as well as an in-field instructor. Our conversation

revolved around her stories from this organization as it was clear how much of an impact the

place has had on her. Her views on leadership were obvious from my first question where I

wanted to know a little about her background in outdoor leadership. She speaks of her past and

the people she has been surrounded by fondly and with a sort of compassion that is unique in

leadership positions. I had no doubts that she follows a servant leadership method, also made

clear to me by the fact she was excited to do the interview with me despite actively having covid.

We were on zoom, of course, and even though I expressed to her that there was no pressure to

carry out the interview if she wasn’t feeling well, she joined zoom with energy and made me feel
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like she truly wanted to speak to me and get to know me more. I asked about mentors she has

had or people she has looked up to and she quickly came up with an answer. She reflected on

her time as an intern at NOLS and a moment when she had a question for her boss’s boss, aka the

person who was “large and in charge”. She nervously approached them asking if they had time

to answer a few questions, and they immediately dropped what they were working on to meet

with her. This philosophy of giving everyone the “equal time of day” has stuck with Tasha. I’m

sure this is the reason Tasha made time for our interview and why she has been so successful in

her past, and here at Gonzaga when it comes to creating community.

It is obvious that Tasha does not lead in an authoritative manner, but I still wanted to raise

the question of how she avoids authoritative leadership. She gave me another wonderful

example from her time at NOLS explaining how the organization has four aspects of leadership.

They use these four points in the office, as well as in the field with their participants. The

company focuses on designated leadership, following leadership, peer leadership, and

self-leadership. These aspects expand the definition of leadership and help create a community

that is trusting. A designated leadership position can look like holding the map and being the

physical person leading the group. As we learned in our first semester of CLP, another crucial

position is being an active follower. Without followers, leadership is nothing. Oftentimes, it may

be harder to be the first follower than the leader themselves. Being an active follower is similar

to peer leadership, which is the third realm of leadership in this model. It goes beyond being a

team player and describes a position of support for the people around you. Peer leadership

strengthens the community as a whole and builds trustworthy relationships. Finally, the aspect of

self-leadership ensures that an individual is taking care of themselves and is ready to be part of

the group, no matter what that looks like. It is learning about yourself and knowing what you are
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capable of that day. This aspect also connects to the chapter in Leadership Edge that spoke to

the importance of understanding your vulnerabilities as a leader. Knowing what aspects of life

put pressure on you as an individual and developing a plan of how to navigate these pressure

points is important for every aspect of leadership. If each person on a team is truly coming as

their authentic and full self, these vulnerabilities are an active, and welcomed, piece of

everyone’s identity.

Understanding yourself and how you react in certain situations is not as easy as it sounds.

Though we may have studied certain types of leadership through our time in CLP, we have spent

the most time learning more about ourselves so we can become more effective leaders. My

definition of leadership has drastically changed as we learned about emotional intelligence and

reflected on our own actions. When I asked Tasha what her definition of leadership is, she spoke

to this ideology of authenticity by explaining that to her, leadership is leveraging the way that

you show up to allow other people to show up as their truest selves. Seeing leadership framed

this way is extremely refreshing as it allows space for conversations around mental health and

other “difficult” conversations that are not usually welcome in organizations and businesses.

When looking at leadership in the outdoors, Tasha’s definition of leadership holds even more

value. One of the many reasons I love being outside is how quickly a community can be built.

With no other distractions, people must turn to each other for conversation and for help. It is

also an extremely vulnerable environment to be experiencing. There is a unique set of challenges

that come with being outside, so creating a space where these vulnerabilities are normalized and

discussed can be essential to creating a safe and adaptive atmosphere for every person in the

group. It is clear that Tasha is aware of how challenging being outside can be, but also how

rewarding it can be when the group forms, potentially storms, norms, to then perform as in
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reference to Tuckman’s model. Looking deeper into the atmosphere that Tasha has already

begun building in the GU Outdoors office, I can notice moments where Tasha has been

transparent about her life and emotions that bring a sense of openness to the office. She was

eager to get to know everyone within the organization, not just the people who work in the

office, but also trip leaders, like me, who she does not see often. This effort of vulnerability has

not gone unnoticed within the office along with other aspects of her leadership philosophy that

she wasted no time incorporating.

Tasha has been excellent at tackling adaptive issues in GU Outdoors, as well as in her

past work experience. I didn't even have to raise questions about adaptive leadership since Tasha

was explaining challenges she has tackled in the past. She mentioned one of her teams had an

extremely quick turnover time of employees due to burning out so the company could never

progress. People entered their positions with a desire to help and change the organization, but

due to high work demand, the group could never get around to fixing their problems since no one

stayed long enough to implement changes. We then discussed what changes she was able to

make within that organization despite the difficult environment and what changes she wants to

make within GU Outdoors. On campus, GU Outdoors has a reputation for not being the most

inclusive group which is disappointing since my personal mission with working in the outdoors,

along with many other people in the organization, is to increase accessibility and inclusion.

Tasha and I discussed potential collaborations that the office could have with other groups on

campus and what action we would need to take to make this happen. While I was able to be part

of a snowshoe OUTing last year which was an event put on with the Lincoln center, there is

much more that can and should be done. The most interesting part of our conversation followed

this when discussing how to increase more involvement with people of color within the outdoors
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when Tasha explained that before we expect to be able to work with the Black Student Union or

the Asian American Union, we need to look at the space we are inviting them to participate in.

This is clearly an adaptive challenge not only with the outdoors historically being a place only

for straight white affluent men but also with Gonzaga being predominantly white and GU

outdoors being even less diverse than the overall campus population. We know representation

matters so before we expect to have collaborations with these affinity groups, we need to

examine and improve the space they are inviting them into. While it is incredible that we have

so many strong women leaders within our organization, many of whom are also part of the queer

community, this can only get us so far. This is an adaptive issue of inclusivity that has no clear

solutions and is something that should always be worked towards. We are never done when it

comes to creating a more welcoming environment where everyone feels like they have a place.

Holding people accountable is also a form of leadership, as Tasha made sure to mention

when we were discussing some of the lessons she has learned. If we hold GU Outdoors, as well

as everyone participating in the organization, accountable for mistakes we have made, we can

continue to progress towards creating a healthier attitude around inclusivity. Tasha has also been

actively working to unlearn that leadership is “hard and emotionless”. Since this is the type of

leadership that is typically shown, it can be difficult to break these expectations that have been

programmed into society. From a personal standpoint, I believe this can also be difficult for

female leaders to gain respect and to be taken seriously without being perceived as bossy or rude.

However, I believe that this also shows how powerful leading with emotion can be. By

continuing to implement methods of peer and self-leadership, leadership can be seen in many

more places. This was a large aspect of what I took away from my time talking with Tasha. By

acknowledging the different ways leadership is present within groups, each member can become
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more motivated to participate in the team. It fosters community and creates a space for people to

be their authentic selves and create much more meaningful experiences. Tasha left me with the

wise words: Wherever you are is where you are meant to be, you are already enough, and

continue to celebrate who you are. These words perfectly sum up Tasha as a leader as well as an

individual. She is an inspiring human who will continue leading with emotion and authenticity

to promote genuine environments where everyone is welcome to come as they are.

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References

Egolf, D. B., & Chester, S. L. (2020). Forming, storming, Norming, performing: Successful

communication in groups and teams. Nota.

O'Malley, E., & Cebula, A. (2015). Your leadership edge: Lead any time, anywhere. KLC Press,

Kansas Leadership Center.