Lelia True has a spent a lifetime successfully navigating, leaping, or bulldozing challenges, or whatever else it takes with a steely resolve that has earned her amazing success. It started at the tender age of 13 when she became the first girl to ever play in an all-boys baseball league, earning all-star honors.  Success continued with an invite to the United States Olympic field hockey team tryout camp, and then an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where Lelia lettered in two varsity sports (softball and tennis) and excelled in other endeavors in a challenging male-dominated military environment.

And it doesn’t stop there.

She went on to a storied military career, earning a Bronze Star in Operation Desert Storm, commanding a company of 160 soldiers that installed, operated, and maintained tactical communications for the XVIII Airborne Corps Rapid Deployment Force.  Lelia continued success in the corporate world with leadership stints at McKinsey and Company, U.S. West, and COMCAST, before landing at her current position as Head of School of the prestigious Washington (D.C.) Waldorf School.

“I was going to figure it out,” True explained her approach to life’s challenges.  “That is one of my strongest points—I’m gonna figure it out.  I’m looking, watching, and seeing.  It doesn’t matter what it is, I’m looking to win.  It may sound crass, but that’s what it is."

Not crass, just bulldog determination we can all learn from.

Join SPARK hosts David Udelf and Peter Lawson Jones for a scintillating discussion with Lelia True.