Courage!

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Someone in the 2009 Class will be opening the doors to "this place"* (see photo) in Thunder Bay on Tuesday.

Changing careers takes courage...

"Only when we are no longer afraid, do we begin to live." - Dorothy Thompson

Mika Lees, Alumni 2009, who will be speaking to LTB's class in January about leadership courage, sends this special message as we begin the year:

As human beings, we are all courageous...everyday.

It may take someone to muster all the courage they have so stand up to speak in front of a crowd, to go for a job interview, to disappoint someone who is close to them just to be true to themselves.

It takes courage to be willing to share your life and be a leader in becoming a parent.

It takes courage to stand up for yourself or someone else who might not have that courage that YOU do.

It may be courageous for someone just to get out of bed in the morning.

We all face scary things that force us to be courageous.

What is courageous to one, may not require much effort at all for another.

What courage means to me is this:
NEVER be afraid to be yourself...ever.

Be comfortable with your company, when there is no one else around.

Try EVERYTHING...once.

Miracles happen everyday.

Don't look so hard for happiness that you don't recognize it

when it is right in front of you.

I hope that when I leave this world I have given more than I have taken. :)

Courage: From the French: Coeur - "HEART"

* Question of the week: It took courage to take this photo.

Where was it taken? Identify and send in a comment - first correct answer receives a surprise!

See you, with bells on and hot pots ready to sizzle, at the Retreat!

- Maggie

PS: "Courage" will be our Key Leadership Skill in January.

Welcome LTB Class!

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Welcome "Home"!

It's tempting to start off by noting that leadership is a lot like sailing - charting the course, reading the winds, watching the horizon - but I won't!

Welcome to the newest class...

Leadership Thunder Bay is more than a program for community leadership. It is a "place" for people with dynamic, world-changing ideas and actions. It is a community of change makers who are as diverse as our landscape and who believe that Thunder Bay has both potential and possibility - as well as a strong past.

As your Lead Facilitator, I welcome you. I am proud to work together with your Board, Committee volunteers, Alumni and Kari as our Management Staff to bring you the BEST of the BEST.

You see, the BEST emerges when we all cross paths - intersect - to uncover:

• insights into both your leadership style and the challenges leading our community forward
• ways to leap in new directions, especially if you are one of the more seasoned leaders
• insights into new fields because you are seeing our community's issues with new eyes
• methods to generate new followers and regenerate existing folks who are as committed to the causes which affect our city - as you are

Many of you most likely don't know that LTB is one of 17 Leadership programs nationally. Our umbrella organization is the Canadian Community Leadership Network. It serves to strengthen the quality of our programming and best practices.

Leadership is a collective effort: First the WHO and then the WHAT.

It's going to be a great year. Contribute. Question. Grow!

- Maggie

Stories

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Take a look at the detail...not just the beautiful winter scene...there are patterns in nature which can be extraordinary...

Stories emerge like the newly fallen snow, on every branch...our stories can come alive...if we take the time to really hear them.

Organizational Leadership: It's All About the Story

How does an organizational mission turn into a memorable story?



A colleague, Doug Stevenson, owner of Story Theatre International, explains what we have already observed during our Curriculum Days at Leadership Thunder Bay. Leaders who can connect to their audience through their passion - and emotion - are the ones who score highest on our evaluations at the end of the day. But even more importantly, they are the ones who attract a following of great volunteers, solid fundraising and continued community support.



How do leaders pack impact into their stories? What's the secret?



I'm going to quote directly from Doug Stevenson's website at http://www.storytheatre.net/. He's a master of scripting the ultimate story.


"Emotional Eloquence is the next step in leadership development for current and high potential future leaders."


Leaders who have developed emotional eloquence speak to people’s highest aspirations, gaining emotional buy-in. Emotional eloquence includes advanced presentation skills with a uniquely different focus - authenticity and presence.



Leaders at all levels, but especially executive and director-level leaders, need to know how to inspire and motivate – to be wisdom sharers.



Many of today’s leaders have relinquished their role as motivators and wisdom sharers in favor of standing behind lecterns and reading speeches that others have written for them. They have surrendered their power. All to often, mid to high-level leaders make boring PowerPoint presentations. They report on quarterly earnings rather than painting a picture of a hopeful future. In a speech where they should be charting a bold course and inspiring people to follow their lead, they bore people and fail to connect.



Emotional eloquence is a new and integral approach to communication skills for leaders which simultaneously refers back to a simpler time when leaders spoke from their hearts and inspired their employees to follow them forward towards a better future."



On January 15th, your CAP group - each and every one of you needs to be part of the presentation in some way - has 15 minutes to relate, inspire and connect your project with the rest of the LTB class. This is a "dress rehearsal" of sorts in preparation for your graduation in June. Design - don't write - the story with emotional eloquence.



Again, quoting from Doug:

1. Emotion is the fast lane to the brain

2. Speak from your head with your heart wide open

3. Use metaphors and stories to frame your content

4. Brand your message by weaving a theme

5. Design your speech yourself

6. Go deep, not wide

7. Appeal to people’s higher aspirations and moral convictions

8. Close your speech with a message of hope



Most of all, get excited about your project and your role. Tell us about the people...the connections... the challenges. (Remember the theory about community assets? Behind every asset, there's a real person doing something important.)


Finally, about the timing: You have 15 minutes. I find this stopwatch very helpful!

http://www.online-stopwatch.com/



Again, if you need some storytelling help, just ask! Need a clue, an angle, a finale? Call, email or ask me - or an alumni - or one of the Curriculum Committee mentors - out for coffee...Don't sit there scratching your heads (or other body parts)... we're in this together:)

January 15 is all about stories: Dr. Brad's, yours...and whatever happens along the way.

- Maggie

A New Year

A New Year, A New Sunrise, A New Day. Photo by Richard Chicoine. iCopyright 2008
Grand Marais, Minnesota.

A New Year...A New Sunrise...A New Day

"For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning."~T.S. Eliot

"One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things." ~John Burroughs

"We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential." ~Ellen Goodman

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

May this be the year that your leadership takes wings...a new year, a new sunrise, a new day!