When Shekinah Glory Macalanda stepped into leadership, she didn’t try to become the loudest voice in the room. She didn’t rely on authority, job titles, or the instinct to take control of everything. Instead, she leaned on something she had learned early in her career: people deliver their best work when they feel understood.
“Connection starts with empathy,” she says. And that simple belief has shaped every decision she has made as a leader.
Today, as a marketing director leading cross-functional teams and steering both digital and traditional strategy, Shekinah’s leadership style looks nothing like what she imagined when she began. Back then, she thought leadership meant giving direction and pushing for results. But over time—and through a few difficult turning points—she learned that real leadership isn’t about control. It’s about clarity, communication, and the willingness to listen even when the truth is uncomfortable.
Her biggest evolution came when she shifted from being hands-on to leading collaboratively. In her early days, she relied on being highly involved in every detail. It worked at first, but it didn’t scale. It also left her team dependent instead of empowered. Eventually, she realized that if she wanted people to grow, she needed to step back and let them take ownership.
“I learned to trust people’s ideas and give them space to contribute,” she shares. And that shift changed everything. Teams became more confident. Campaigns improved. And performance grew—not because she demanded more, but because she made people feel capable of giving more.
Conflict management became another defining point in her leadership journey. While handling friction in corporate teams and, later, in academic settings, she saw the same pattern unfold: people rarely want to oppose each other; they just want to be heard. So she learned to listen first, respond second, and act only when she fully understood the context.
“Listening before acting builds trust,” she says. “And trust is the foundation of every high-performing team.”
Her leadership philosophy is simple: lead with empathy, follow with integrity, and support people with consistency. It’s a style she believes works across both the workplace and the classroom, where she also teaches and mentors the next generation of marketers.
Inspiring exceptional performance, she adds, isn’t about pressure. It’s about purpose. When her team understands why their work matters—to the company, to the brand, to the customer—they become more invested. When they feel valued, they push harder. And when they know their leader will mentor rather than micromanage, they take risks that lead to better ideas.
Striking the balance between organizational goals and employee well-being is where she spends most of her energy. She believes both can co-exist—but only when leaders communicate openly and treat people like partners, not subordinates. “Expectations should be clear, but there must be room for flexibility and care,” she says. “A healthy team will always outperform a pressured one.”
Her toughest leadership moments, she admits, are those that require choosing long-term growth over short-term comfort—especially when decisions impact careers or standards. But she learned that leadership isn’t about being liked. It’s about doing what’s right.
What keeps her grounded is the same value that built her career: continuous learning. She invests in herself the same way she invests in her team—through curiosity, mentorship, and consistently questioning how she can lead better. That mindset led her to pursue the Certified Marketing Professional (CMP) credential, which reinforced her belief that leadership today demands both technical expertise and emotional intelligence.
Looking back, Shekinah sees one truth clearly: leadership isn’t a destination. It’s a practice. And the leaders who succeed aren’t the ones who know everything—they’re the ones who never stop listening, learning, and growing.
“Leadership evolves with every experience,” she says. “And the more we grow, the more our teams grow with us.”
