Wow!

Daniel McCrobie
Salt River Project (SRP)

Wow…What a great last day!  It had seemed as if we had just gotten started with the program and had so much more to do.  Then, it was over.  The last class.  Our final time together wondering what was going to happen that day.  Our last time wondering if our cell-phone was going to ring and having to face the dreaded Moolah Mob and the inevitable fine that accompanied such an infraction.  Our last opportunity to network with someone new who walks in a totally different sphere of life than we do.

Was it over or was this just a beginning?  We spent some time during the day digging deeper into what being a leader really means.  Jay Scherotter took us through the evolution of leadership development from the initial production mentality through empowerment, focus on ‘principles and ethics’, and how ‘vision and strategy’ is the current norm.  We learned how powerful community engagement can be.  Todd Hornback explained how becoming a happier person is a direct correlation to becoming a better leader and showed us the power of positivity.

Margret Leichtfuss then explained the power of intention and gave us all an opportunity to exercise our personal commitment muscles by showing us what needed to be done within Scottsdale Leadership and how we could best commit to improving both ourselves and the organization.  Typical of Scottsdale Leadership, they set up something completely unexpected – a speed dating session for us to hear about the various board positions and volunteer opportunities.

Speed Dating to introduce board positions? What a great idea! 

The culmination of the day was a sharing circle where classmates were encouraged to self-report on the program.  I heard from my classmates that they became passionate, committed, learned new ideas, became more tolerant of others, and  how Scottsdale Leadership unlocked new opportunities.  This has been truly a transformational program in that the entire class has committed to helping out in their community and with non-profits.

‘We came here to serve, not be served’ is the background on the Scottsdale Leadership Facebook page.  When we first saw that it looked like a nice saying, but after going through the class we can now say that we embody that sentiment.

Thanks for everything, Scottsdale Leadership!  While we will miss going to class every other Friday, I think we are all looking forward to continuing the journey of servant leadership in new ways – Just watch and see what we are up to!