Julie Kientz on leadership, impact, & being comfortable with being uncomfortable (Part 2)

Dr. Julie Kientz is a professor and Chair of the department of Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington in the US. In part 1 of our conversation, Julie reflected on how she made her own way from a small town geeky outcast, to get through college, and then on to a PhD and a faculty position and parenthood.

We continue here in Part 2 with Julie talking about some early roles that demonstrated leadership skills, her tenure process and finding a more focused path post-tenure. She also talks about how she came to take on the Department Chair role and then almost immediately having to lead her department through the COVID crisis and then the murder of George Floyd and ongoing racial justice issues. She role models leadership from a place of humility and care, working to her strengths, amplifying impact and being comfortable with being uncomfortable.

“Having the authority to really do those things felt really great, it was also scary right, but it was great to recognise that when you are in a position of leadership and you see something or people come to you with concerns, you can do something about it.”

“It was important to be open, communicative and timely too.”

“I don’t always know what to say but it is better to say something than to struggle with the exact right thing to say.”

“Those little things can have an impact on people. But they are hard.”

“Being comfortable with being uncomfortable, pushing outside your comfort zones”

“Don’t take yourself too seriously, take feedback”

Overview (times approximate):

02:35 How she became chair through her reputation for being an organized person, trying new things, developing new processes

03:57 A digression into her tenure experience

05:42 Finding her more focused path post tenure during sabbatical – topic & people & making impact through people

11:00 Getting back to the department chair story, being approached by the Dean as an interim chair

12:58 Attending a post-tenure mentoring program and deciding a PhD program chair was her ideal role which she does and implements lots of changes, with lots of positive feedback

15:04 Taking on interim chair role Fall 2019, creating associate chair roles for support, then being the sole applicant when they did the permanent chair search in Feb 2020

18:04 Navigating the department through COVID and racial justice issues, working out how to respond, getting and giving support, not always getting it right

25:51 Forming a peer support network, re-framing the role of department chair towards mentoring faculty

29:05 Managing the shift in relationship from peer to leader, and clarity about different roles/hats

31:45 Relationship with power

35:52 Her legacy/impact wishes

37:02 Encouragement to try out leadership and amplify impact

38:41 What’s hard about the job, and handling the hard decisions

41:01 Julie’s final thoughts

42:07 My final reflections on the conversation with Julie

44:56 End

Download a full transcript of the conversation here.

Related Links

Julie Kientz - Bio & Part 1 of our conversation