Execs Draw on Life Experiences to Strengthen Leadership Skills

St. Mary’s County Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Joseph “JR” Beavers, left, and retired Navy CAPT Maggie Wilson, participants in the Leadership Southern Maryland Executive Program, reflect together on their leadership journeys.

The Leadership Southern Maryland Executive Program recently met at the College of Southern Maryland Prince Frederick campus for a day-long session about … each other. The aim was to explore how to apply important lessons from their own and each other’s life experiences to the further strengthening of their leadership acumen.

Retired US Navy RADM Bert Johnston, LSM founding member, set the stage for reflection on the different ways we lead with his keynote on “Dealing with Gray Issues.” RADM Johnston urges leaders to consider, for example, whether or not organizational issues that appear to be gray really are.

Griff Hall and Derek Matthews of Griff Strategic Leadership facilitated probing group activities related to dialoguing across differences to guide teams toward better understanding of each other as they work to achieve organizational mission.

LSM Board of Directors joined the class for lunch to discuss their own leadership journeys as well as their commitment to volunteering in the community.

“Southern Maryland is rich with astonishingly talented and committed leaders, whom we rarely have opportunities to really get to know,” shared LSM Executive Director Sybol Anderson. “This annual session enables busy executives to sit down with each other and listen not only to each other but also to themselves – to reflect on how and why they came to lead, what they’ve achieved as leaders, what they’ve had to overcome in order to lead, and how all of that informs the ways they lead others today.”

Leadership Southern Maryland’s flagship Executive Program is an interactive and life-enriching nine-month, tuition-based “behind-the-scenes” experience designed to enhance the collaborative abilities of the region’s top senior professionals.

LSM is now accepting applications for the Executive Program Class of 2027. Mid- to senior-level executives representing diverse geographic locations, industries, professions, and other backgrounds who are committed to addressing the community needs of Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties are encouraged to apply.

Learn more by attending one of three upcoming LSM Executive Program information receptions. Two in-person receptions with networking will be held 5 to 7pm Thursday, March 12, at Farming4Hunger at Serenity Farm in Hughesville; and 5 to 6:30pm Thursday, March 19, at Call Signs Restaurant in Lexington Park. A virtual information reception will be held 5 to 6pm Thursday, April 2, via Zoom. Advance registration is required for all sessions. Register here.

The LSM Executive Program application deadline is April 15, 2026.

For more information, go to www.leadershipsomd.org.