Candy Johnson became the President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga in January 2021, taking the helm of an organization dedicated to equity, empowerment and inclusion for African Americans and disadvantaged people. A native of Clarksville, Tennessee, she was 25 when she became the youngest council member ever elected to the city council in 2008, after previously working as a City Hall intern while at Austin Peay State University. Johnson has served as executive director for the Clarksville-Montgomery County Education Foundation, where she helped boost both fundraising success and the programs offered by the foundation, and as education policy director for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. She moved to Chattanooga four years ago with her husband, Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Bryan Johnson, and has worked as a senior advisor for Mayor Andy Berke.
What books have shaped your approach to leadership and the development of your career?
My interest in reading leadership development books began during my undergraduate years at Austin Peay State University while minoring in leadership studies. In one of our courses we took the Myers Briggs leadership inventory, which inspired my search for ways I could grow in my role as a student leader since I was already pretty involved on campus.
One of the books that I read during these years and has shaped my approach as a leader was “Unlimited Power” by Anthony Robbins. This book also provided me with some of the strategies I needed to produce results- and later the confidence to run for public office while in graduate school. A few key takeaways from this book that I still implement today are:
Aligning my passion with the work in which I chose to engage. (I have not always done this, but when I have, that is when I see the best performance).