Waltham Girls Leadership Project

Interview Guide

Your name: ______

Interviewee’s name: ______

Introduction

Thank you for coming here today to be interviewed as part of our leadership project. Before we get started, I’d like to let you know what this interview is about and why we are doing it. We began this project by interviewing each other, then we interviewed an adult we know, and today we are interviewing people who are leaders in the community or have accomplished a lot in careers that interest us. We are eager to learn what your story is about how you got to where you are today. We will be asking you some positive questions that can help us learn more about leadership and that can help us on our journey.

  1. Can you tell me about a time in your professional life when you were most excited about the work you were doing and were really proud of yourself and your work?
  1. What was it about you that made it possible?
  1. What did you learn from that experience?

2. We were invited to be part of this leadership program

because someone saw a “spark” of leadership in us. We would like to learn something about the qualities in you that have helped you become who you are, so please feel free to brag.

What are your special gifts that you bring to your work?

What is it that you admire most about yourself?

What do you value most about the work that you do?

  1. Can you tell me the story of how you came to do the work that you do?
  1. How did you discover that this was your passion?
  1. Is there any one else in your family doing what you do?
  1. How does your family support what you are doing?

4. One of the themes of our leadership project has been the words of Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world”. Can you tell me about a time when you have seen things or experienced things that you believed needed to be changed, and you took some steps to be the change you wanted to see in the world?

a. What made it possible to take those steps and what happened?

  1. What have you learned in your lifetime that you wish you

would have known at my age?

  1. What hopes do you have for the future of my generation?

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me.