Meet Marya
Marya Wilson, PhD is the Principal and Organizational Dietician for MW Advising.
Marya has an extensive business and industry career in the areas of manufacturing, information management, telecommunications, ISP, and the semiconductor industries of the Silicon Valley, CA at the companies 3M, Imation, and Pentagon Technologies and various others.
She is also an educator in higher education. She teaches in the areas of organizational leadership and behavior, operations management, quality management, training and development, and sustainable management. Her research interests include psychological contracts, trust and emotions in the workplace, and organizational exit. Her current research involves the understanding of the lived experience for professionals who are pushed out of their career.
Marya serves the manufacturing, service, higher education, non-profit, and government sectors. She brings not only first-hand knowledge to the learning experience but also a clear understanding of the underlying emotional processes that drive behaviors and create individual and team success. She has a BA in Psychology, MS in Management Technology, MA in Human Development, and a PhD in Human and Organizational Systems. She is an also an ICF trained coach.
Leadership Philosophy
Leadership is defined as an “influence based relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes” (Daft, 2012). The key word for me is relationship. Leaders build relationships with people. Relationships require trust…a willingness to act on other’s words, actions, and decisions (Lewicki & Wietoff, 2000). I believe that leaders create environments for others to grow, learn, and participate in the success of an organization. Leaders are transparent in their actions to increase confidence in their abilities. Leaders value the people around them: their opinions, their contributions, their individuality. This value, a leader knows, creates a diverse, exciting, and rich team that strives for high-performance in everything they do. A leader cares about the individual: their well-being, their learning, and their success. A leader takes responsibility for her actions, admits her mistakes, and ensures there is growth and learning when she is wrong. A leader will also confidently and gladly say, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”
I build relationships. I create trust. I believe in and support people. From there, I know the individual, team, and organization will be successful.
Daft, R. (2011). The Leadership Experience (6th Ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning
Lewicki, R.J. & Wiethoff, C. (2000). Trust, Trust Development, and Trust Repair. In. M. Deutsch & P.T. Coleman (Eds.), The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (p. 86-107). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Teaching Philosophy
Image: https://www.gardenswartzrowe.com/why-g-r
I believe the classroom is a place where all individuals should be able to learn and grow, personally and professionally. It is a living community of ideas, questions, and theories. This living community is supportive and does not shame. It is an environment where dialogue and reflection are allowed to be brought in the open and civilly discussed and critically reviewed. This living community will also have a sense of humor. Humor allows us to laugh at ourselves and also break down barriers to hard, scary, and unknown topics. The last thing that should ever happen in this living community is the breakdown of discussion and willingness to share; the day that happens is the day we all stop learning.
All of us are students in the classroom, and I will utilize the best methods for the individuals who come to learn. Those four layers of diversity the learner brings to the environment are an opportunity for insight and growth for all.
Gardenswartz, L. & Gardenswartz-Rowe, A. (2008). Diverse teams at work: Capitalizing on the power of diversity. (2nd Ed.). Alexandria, VA: Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Coaching Philosophy
I always thought of a coach as someone who led sports teams. I love sports. I have always loved to watch the great ones motivate, inspire, push (respectfully and with compassion), and help individuals and teams maximize their strengths and opportunities, as well help them reach their potential…their great…their best…and be proud of who they are in their own strengths and opportunities.
What I know from life, experience, education, research, training, and mostly from falling down is that all of us need a little help from time to time. Life throws us some good curveballs from time to time. Even the best of us can get knocked off course. You don’t have to get knocked off for good, and even if you get knocked hard, the new path can be so much better than you might have imagined.
I want to help remind you of the strengths and opportunities you bring to the world. I want to support you in finding the change or transformation or new journey you are looking for to maximize the best of you. This is your journey. It is one of great success, potential, and evolution.
Supportive, compassionate, kind, fun, and energetic space is what I believe helps us all on this journey. Whether you are looking to grow or find a new path, together, we will empower your choices for evolution.