Interviewer: Nice to meet you, Senator.
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: Nice to meet you.
Interviewer: Hi Senator Farnham, thanks for your time and contributing to my master’s project today. Thanks for your contributing to the Maine Veterans Leadership project. Today I have about 12 questions, I’d like to ask you. I threw in a couple extra on the side where I already emailed you that was something that my advisor recommended, to see if you can catch them on the spot with something.
I would like to go right into the questions that I have: What does leadership mean to you?
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: Means purposeful guidance, while allowing others, or you know the person people you’re leading to do what they are capable and trained to do.
Interviewer: Through these leadership roles that you’ve provided to me: What knowledge, valuable knowledge and skills have you learned as a leader that you could educate others with?
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: What I kind of found having my background in, you know, starting at the Air Force Academy and then in the Air Force.
It was kind of nice to find a way to use that leadership training in our communities. You know, serving on, as you mentioned boards and committees and commissions is a way to kind of expand and share the experience that I already have and the education that I received.
So, as far as different skills gathering from that, I think, what I found most helpful is just being willing, like for instance in the legislature, you know, being there to listen and to process the information, do homework, do research, prepare properly, ask good questions. And most importantly, listen to the answers. And I think a combination of all those skills together is the way to, you know, to really, I guess, implement all the training and education that I had.
Interviewer: Absolutely.
When did you realize that you wanted to be a leader in your organization?
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: Well so I kind of I changed up your question I mean just a little bit. Just kind of said. I don’t know that it ever occurred to me. You know that I wanted to be a leader, but someone else saw that first in most of the cases when I’ve been able to lead. For instance, when I was at Girls State. And in my city, some of the girls in my city asked me to run for governor, and it hadn’t really occurred to me, you know I didn’t go to Girls State to run for governor. And I would say the same was true when I became a squadron commander at the Air Force Academy. Again, the person, kind of in charge of our squadron saw something in me and asked me to do that.
Yeah, I’ve had a similar experience, you know, when I was asked to run for the legislature. I didn’t really think about running for the legislature, but you know was asked, someone saw my background and thought that I would be a good person to have in the legislature and following that Bangor City Council and the school committee.
Again, another opportunity that came from running for things earlier, but community members had seen my experience and asked if I would run or thought again, they saw me as a city councilor, I think before I did so. So, yeah, so you kind of asked like how I knew I wanted to be a leader I think a lot of times I was asked, and when I got into the Senate since our party was the majority party, we automatically ended up having to run committees or be a chair of a committee. And so that was another opportunity it wasn’t one that I necessarily went in there thinking I was going to be doing but had the opportunity to then chair a committee.
So, I guess the summary is oftentimes you didn’t go in thinking you wanted to be a leader, but someone else saw you as someone who could, who could lead at one to see if you could be in that position.
Interviewer: So that leads into the next question. How has your knowledge and experience helped you lead others in the state of Maine? Through your experiences, and what have you learned in these positions that you held, how has it helped you lead others in the state of Maine?
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: The opportunities that I had prior to, you know, moving to Maine, you know, in the Air Force and at the Air Force Academy, definitely prepared me to be able to, you know, to listen to opportunities to be able to lead in the state of Maine.
I think the confidence from being, you know, one of the female squadron commanders at the Air Force Academy, or in my case, you know, one of the first classes of women at the Air Force Academy, you get, you know, pretty good confidence from that.
And then, you know, being like on the Bangor City Council, one of the first female mayors or council chairs, you know, so that was kind of a neat opportunity and so, and then from that being on the school committee. And I guess the reason why I think this was an experience that might have given other people an idea to do something like this, is that I was fairly early in my life doing some of these things you know I have young children at the time, I had my third child while on the Bangor City Council, literally. (Laughs)
And a lot of times you think councils and your boards is, you know, a lot of times it’s when people are later in their lives or in their careers, you know you always say, don’t have time for it. But I often thought being on the Bangor City Council with young children was the perfect time to do it because I could bring a perspective to the table that hadn’t been represented in a real long time, you know, so I appreciated it, like, doing some of these things maybe out of cycle, you know, and I’m hopeful that it inspired others to do some of these things sooner than later.
You know, bring your perspective earlier in your career so that you’re at the table at some of these boards and commissions and committees that are taking place in our cities in our towns and in our state, because we need perspectives from all ages from all areas of our community, all backgrounds. So, yeah, we just kind of great to be able to share that and hopefully give others the confidence and the idea to do the same.
Interviewer: What do you think was the most effective leader skills that you have used while you were leading others in your organization? And is there something that when you’re leading that you would want to be aware of?
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: I think I don’t know if the word is modeling. Leading in a way that I would want to be led, I guess, being consistent. Setting the right tone. Having a certain amount of maybe repetition and building trust. So, with our consistency and repetition, and helping people see kind of a consistent pattern with my attitude and with my mannerisms toward leading that then that eventually builds trust.
I’ll kind of give you an example. I’m helping with payroll at a company right now. And when I first started with that. It didn’t seem like there was a consistent payroll prep email that went out, you know, so that the preparation for the putting the payroll information and has to come ahead of time as you can imagine, that so just now as I started doing it. Every Monday at around noon time I sent out the payroll prep email, and just ask my same questions every week. And I think just them having the consistency of someone they know you know every week they might answer and say, everything’s fine.
Everything’s the same, there’s a consistent person, leading this, you know, part of what needs to get done. I tried to do things in ways that I would want to be led and respond quickly to emails. Make sure that I fully understand what the person is saying and value the employee, or the volunteer who I’m working with because that’s, what I would want.
Interviewer: Absolutely. That is what anybody would want to be led.
So, I am going to jump right into the next question: As a leader what leadership traits, would you apply while leading others in your organization?
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: I think, patience with others. You know patience while others are growing. Sometimes I think we don’t have the patience you know we say, do this task.
Here’s how you do it. And then I don’t know that we always have the patience to sit back, and guide as needed as someone grows.
I think listening is a really good trait. I think developing trust is another great trait that you need to have consistency again and yeah just showing that someone, that someone matters or what they do matters, it may be a small piece of the larger cast that needs to be done but making sure that everybody knows that they’re part of what we’re all doing matters.
Interviewer: No, that’s great, I like the way that you put that. Thank you.
Question number nine: Has there been a leader that has inspired you to where you are today?
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: I would say my mom. I think parents are our first leaders, you know when we are growing up, I think, you know, the first leaders we’re exposed to are our parents and my mom passed away but I kind of wish I could have kind of told her this when she was living just how much she really did some things when I was growing up that I had no idea how they would set me up later in life things that normal moms don’t do.
I grew up in northern North Dakota, and there was a lot of farming going on around us.
But anyway, my mom drove a sugar beet truck to the sugary beet factory at different times during harvest to make a little extra money.
She also picked potatoes during the potato harvest again three have two sisters so three girls and she wanted a little extra money for our family, so she was like, do some of these kinds of side hustles that were just incredible.
And at the time I mean it was just the way we grew up but I’m thinking like drove a beat truck, and she worked at a hardware store, which is just kind of crazy, but she pieces together all these little kind of side hustle and things in addition to being, you know the mom and just was really willing to do anything and everything and I really think that inspired me, you know, to go to the Air Force Academy or to do some of the things that at the time were brand new opportunities that you may or may not you know try but see my mom did some of that stuff.
And then after I had graduated from the Air Force Academy. My mom’s like in her mid 50s and decides to become a flight attendant. And, yeah, it’s just crazy. And, you know, kind of was in North Dakota her whole life and wanted to get out and see the world and kind of looks up my dad goes “hey!” At the time seemed like they always hired younger gals and at the time I suppose there were a few minutes of time but not many but definitely they weren’t hiring women in the middle of their lives you know so again she kind of convinced them that she was a good hire (laughs)
Interviewer: Wow.
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: Yeah, my mom yeah just really was a great leader. As I was kind of making my way in the world.
Interviewer: That’s great. Your parents are the first. You know, a lot of times parents are your first initial leader.
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: My dad was a school administrator I mean so he was a leader in all those ways that are, you know, kind of typical and traditional which is great I mean my dad was that consistent rock of a school administrator that every school needs. I mean, so he was the foundation also. But mom was the one who just was doing some really outside the norm stuff.
Interviewer: Have you inspired others while leading them in your organization? And how did you recognize this and what did you do in the situation to continue to further inspire them?
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: Example: I might use for that is when I was in the State Senate. I had the one term in the State Senate as you saw in my resume. During that time as I mentioned earlier, I had to chair a committee for the first time. And so, I drew a little bit on my city council experience thank goodness I had already chaired the committee, but I didn’t really have a good idea of how the committees run, you know, in the Senate and in the Legislature, so I had to learn fairly quickly.
So, I observed as much as I could and watched all the other committee chairs were doing things. And I also had kind of known the reputation for some of these public hearings, and the other meetings that I would have to chair. And one of the things I knew was that the public hearings, the people that present, oftentimes, speak for a really long time. And I knew that probably wouldn’t be really productive for the committee.
So, I decided in the committee room I was in that they could speak for three minutes, and I had my running watch on. And I said, you know, three minutes and my alarm are going to go off and I said we’re doing this for several reasons. First of all, you know in two minutes or so, you’ll notice your committee members are tuning out. So, there’s that. And I said, the second thing is oftentimes if you go longer than two or three minutes, you’re probably repeating what someone else has said. And so, you know, help them understand why it was important to stay to three minutes.
Then a one pager I said and if you do have to print it out if you could have it on one page, I said I think that’s plenty for us to review.
So, I kind of set the tone in the committee room for my expectations again as a brand-new committee chair but expectations that I think would respect everybody’s time in the room and respect the time and attention of those of us sitting around the horseshoe is what they call it at the legislature and those of us having to listen and tune in to all of these public hearings.
So, by setting the tone of the room and setting kind of some expectations in the room.
It started out and there was some pushback and, you know, and people weren’t used to that, and you know you can’t do that. And let’s say, it took a couple different times of public hearings.
The other expectation I set was to start on time. Traditionally those legislative public hearings, don’t start on time so that was my other military thing I was bringing I was like; I want to start on time I know there’s legislative time but we’re starting on time. So.
Interviewer: Absolutely.
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: I kind of heard whispering in the hallways about you know this particular room, a committee room, having, you know these sets of rules. But I must say, after a couple times with public hearings on bills. When people came into the committee room, they’d hold up their one pager and they’re like I have it one page today and when they were speaking, they started to tell us really concisely tell us what the issue was or, you know, what their point or opinion was and why they were there.
The presentations became more concise and way more helpful as you know and legislators for us to be able to organize our thoughts and organize all that we’re hearing in an afternoon of public hearing. So anyway, so yes, I recognize that I put something out there I recognized that eventually they were starting to follow. At some point respected the rules that the expectations were in the community room. (Laughs)
Interviewer: That’s great! That is a great example. I like how you used that example and added that. Thanks for sharing that with me.
Do you have any advice on how members or individuals could best lead others moving forward into the 21st century?
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: I mean, I think, you know, good leadership is timeless. You know when we look at all the leaders, I think at some point you recognize when there’s a good leader. (Laughs) And you recognize when there’s a leader that could use a little more training.
You know there’s a difference I think between, you know managers and leaders.
Managers, you know there’s a decision that oftentimes they are helping with decision making, they’re helping to gather resources and make sure the resources go to the right people and making sure that the task gets done.
But leaders are, I talked a little bit about it before with my previous example, need to, you know, set the tone, set the expectations, set the guidelines in place, and the culture and climate of the organization as a whole, and how you expect things to go under your leadership.
And I can kind of give you another example of something that I experienced with the Race for the Cure. That’s one of those leadership opportunities that I had I could run the Race for the Cure one of the first ones they had in the Bangor area. It wasn’t organized very well, the running part. I mean they did a great job with the forums and getting you know getting donations and all that, but the actual running of the race on the racecourse, it wasn’t done very well. So, I as a runner was like, oh my gosh, they need someone on this committee, who is a runner who can help them organize. You know the running part of this race. And so, I had you know, so anyway I volunteered my services to be able to do this.
And in that case, I thought it was important. I guess to, you know, help them see that I can bring something to the table and some skills to the table in my background with running, and help them with that aspect of what they needed to have done.
Interviewer: I really appreciate you sharing all the information that you have and I’m great that you’ve been a part of this. You have been a valuable resource for me to use as this and I really appreciate your time today and being part of this project.
I do have one more question for you. Do you have any recommendations for future leaders of Maine? I will end with that question.
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: Oh, I think you know what the recommendation is to consider every opportunity, you know, as I mentioned when we very first started, a lot of times you get asked or you wait to be asked for something, and we can’t wait until it’s the right time.
You know, a lot of times you want to wait until it’s the right time in your career or it’s the right time you know depending on where you are in your life cycle. And I hope that, so yeah, my recommendation to people would just be to consider all the options and how it can fit into your life balance.
Take on some of these volunteer opportunities or community opportunities to share your expertise and bring your perspective to the table.
Because so many times in our communities we miss perspectives that we just don’t get on our boards and committees and leadership at our tables. And in my case being able to bring a military’s perspective to the table I think was very helpful.
Maybe again it was just my organizational skills are my expectations for having a meeting, run smoothly and cleanly.
Interviewer: I think that is the military in you.
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: Yeah, I’ve had people say oh you run a good meeting, or I had some board members recently on the Bangor Nursing and Rehab and since I’ve become chair of that board. They said, oh thank goodness you’re the chair, because the meetings are run so smoothly and they’re so well organized now, and I take pride in that. And so, anyways it does, it’s really interesting on these boards and committees the great mix of people that you meet.
I think, as much as I volunteer and give to these organizations, I always take away what I’ve learned and bring away with me knowledge from the other people on the boards. There’s always something I learned when I’m at these gatherings or meetings with these other people in the community you learn so much, you know from them also.
So, it’s just a great exchange of information and I’m so happy to have had the military background to share with a lot of these groups, and hopefully the training I had, which allows me to learn as much as I possibly can and sometimes you know use the leadership piece of it to better organize these, you know, meetings or to kind of better set the expectations for some of the gatherings so that what we’re there to do actually gets done.
Interviewer: That’s what you need for a good leadership position. You know what you’re doing. I think that’s probably the military training in the background of you with the organization skills as a military member in you that’s just my opinion with it. (Laughs) I really appreciate your time ma’am, I really do.
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: Wonderful.
Interviewer: Mrs. Farnham I really appreciate it and I will be sharing the link!
Capt (ret) Nichi Farnham: Sounds great, good luck!