9. MVR (Most Valuable Resource).
10. Do You Have The Time?
11. Relationships That Endure.
12. Look Outside The Box.
13. Take The Obvious To Heart
Staff liaisons are an important resource with a
wealth of information and data and can help
you and guide you in the right
direction.
Member involvement is vital to the structure
and function of APA. However, volunteering
in the APA governance structure is a very big
time commitment, so make sure that you have
space in your personal and professional life
for such an involvement.
Working with APA governance not only can
make a broad impact on the profession, it can
benefit you personally by giving you opportu-
nities to meet leaders across all fields of psy-
chology and build meaningful personal and
professional relationships that can have a pos-
itive impact on your career.
Seek out leaders in other professional fields
and learn from them and use that knowledge
to strengthen our profession.
and be proactive.
26. Never Burn A Bridge.
27. Lead From Where You
Are.
28. Think Systemically.
29. Getting Started.
30. Gratitude.
You will never know when you will run to that
person again or when you will need his/her
help.
Express your voice in your workplace and pro-
fessional organizations and you will begin to
discover what you have to offer as a leader.
Learn how organizations work and what impact
you can have on multiple levels of a system,
whether your workplace, your community, or
your professional organization. Check online for
books and resources on leadership that can be
helpful in this regard.
If you are unsure and don’t know how to get in-
volved think of it as traveling in a country where
you don’t speak the language: first read the travel
guides (websites, newsletters, listservs, etc.); then
immerse yourself (attend business meetings, so-
cial events and other activities where you connect
with people in-the-know) and last, but not least,
ask multiple people for directions (how to get
involved) so that you find your own path.
When you get involved in your professional or-
ganization, you may feel grateful for the oppor-
tunity but others in your group will be even more
grateful for your time, expertise and hard work!
Leadership in this realm is extremely reward-
ing.
Visit the Early Career Psychologist
website for more information
About leadership when I
received my Doctorate
What I Wish
I Had Known
From the Committee for
Early Career Psychologists
19. Use A Multi-Prong Approach.
18. Find A Niche.
17. Have Confidence.
16. Leadership is leadership.
15. It is better than you think.
14. Listen to others.
8. Network.
7. It’s Complicated.
6. You Need More Than One.
5. Don’t Give Up.
4. Prioritize and Balance.
3. You Are Not Alone.
2. Reach Out For Support.
1. It’s Never Too Early.
20. Make The Connections.
21. Know Your Limit.
22. Try And Try And Try Again.
23. Be Proactive.
24. Some things cannot be rushed.
25. Be Organized.
Although psychologists are trained to listen, the ability
to really listen is a skill that can always be improved.
Legislators are more accessible and legislation is more
moldable than appears to be the case. One visit to
Capitol Hill or state offices will allow you to experi-
ence this schema-shattering perspective.
Use your APA leadership experience to help position
yourself for leadership opportunities at your work
place.
Your perspective as an early career psychologist is
valuable, although different, but not less than that of
your more experience colleagues.
Position yourself as an expert in a certain area (e.g.
website design, video editing, public education, mar-
keting, etc.) that can help maximize opportunities early
in your career.
Broaden your perspective, have a three prong
approach to building relationships: other early
career psychologists, more experienced profession-
als as well as students. This will help strengthen
your leadership skills.
Connect with leaders who have similar roles in their
organizations to exchange ideas, brain storm and
problem solve.
Don’t overcommit (no matter how tempting). There
are long memories within the governance structure
and it is far better to do a few things well than it is to do
many things poorly.
Perseverance is critical if you want to be a part of
the governance structure. You may not get elected
the first, second or third time. As such, use the
emotion that follows to propel you to keep trying
and network with other early career leaders; their
personal stories will help to keep you encouraged.
Early on, during your doctoral training, be proac-
tive and ask many questions regarding leadership
opportunities and how to put a plan of action in
place to attain leadership goals. Cultivate and de-
velop the necessary leadership skills and look for
opportunities at your institution and at the local,
state, national and international levels.
Be mindful that some leadership skills, like therapy
skills, take time to develop. They must be nurtured
over time and practice does help to make them per-
fect.
Develop a strong and adaptable system that will
help keep you organized and allow you to carry out
your responsibilities in an efficient manner.
This Brochure is brought to you by the Committee on Early Career Psychology
Start learning about APA and engaging with
divisions and state associations as early as
possible. There is always a place where your
voice can be heard at any level.
If you are in academia, especially in a tenure
track research environment, engagement in
any professional organization may not be
fully supported. However, there are many
opportunities to connect your work to your
leadership involvement in APA. It is im-
portant that you reach out to and gain the
support of other tenure-track, early career
members who are involved in APA.
Expect that it will take time to learn about
the APA governance structure and know
that you are not the only one in learning
mode.
Two critical skills are the ability to prioritize
your work load and balance your life.
Start with small expectations and hang in
there.
Find multiple mentors both within APA,
your division and your state association.
Learn as much as you can about the APA
governance structure, find mentors, read the
Bylaws and Association Rules and ask as
many questions as possible.
Get to know and network with the represent-
atives on the APA Council of Representa-
tives (CoR) that represent your division and
your state association.
