Kennesaw, November 22, 2013 ─ On November 7, VJI Senior Tax Consultant Chris Wiggins and Business Development Coordinator Courtney O’Connor attended the Cobb Young Professionals Luncheon. Cobb Young Professionals is dedicated to promoting and encouraging young, savvy, and diverse professionals in their Cobb County workplaces by holding monthly meetings where they hear speakers discuss influential topics. The guest speaker at this event was Steven Wagner, the development officer and manager of the Grateful Patient Family Program at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Wagner’s presentation offered three leadership lessons he learned at Children’s Healthcare: Know your role and then expand it, lead yourself before you lead others, and leadership is a two-way street.

Starting as a doctor’s assistant, Wagner’s physician mentor encouraged him to go beyond his required job requirements and to acquire more education to become well-rounded. “This was my first luncheon and I have to say that I was impressed by Steven’s upbeat and informative presentation, which reinforced my opinion that a successful leader’s work ethic and dedication sets the performance benchmark for his or her followers,” says VJI’s O’Connor. “I really took to heart his lesson about why a leader should always explain ‘the why’ when assigning a task or explaining a situation so that the audience will be inspired to listen, learn, and achieve results. I’m grateful that VJI has encouraged me to participate in these career-building activities and I can’t wait to go to the next luncheon.”