Kristin,

As a Board Member of our Chamber's Economic Development Council, I was involved in our annual strategic planning session.  Yesterday, we were discussing the timing and theme of our Economic Summit, an educational conference held for the past 20 years for our local business owners.  It was all too familiar ... "Hurry up and get the planning committee going, figure out what workshops and keynote speakers we need to get on board because we only have a few months and we have get this done ASAP as we put it on in May."  HURRY!!!!  The theme is the unknown, planning without knowing, driving full steam ahead, but not staring in the rear view mirror as we are going forward.  Why are we having this conference in May?  (Yes, you guessed the response ... Because that's the way we've done it last year, the year before, the year before that ..."  Well, how about WE WALK OUR TALK??  Let's give ourselves a break and have it in October?  Let's not GUESS what we THINK the local business owners want, LETS ASK THEM.

To quote my reining horse trainer and very wise coach, Lance Shockley, "Sometimes you just gotta get in there and change things ... mix things up.  Not because changing something will fix it.  Sometimes, changing things just makes it different.  At least it's not the same mistake over and over again".

#5.  For Sure.  I'm going to share your WEdership Lessons with my fellow Board Members.  What a terrific resource!  Thank you for posting.
Christina