What the Leadership Forum and Silver Bay means to me....
johnha...@comcast.net
Committee for next year's Leadership Forum - our 90th! As a team we
are in the midst of identifying the 3-4 key, inspiring messages that
will grab someone to attend next year's conference. The challenge is
that LF means different things to each of us. Below is my reflection
on the meaning of Silver Bay to me. Take a few minutes and share what
it has meant to you - you can be as lengthy as me, or simply share the
words that come to mind when you think of the Leadership Forum @
Silver Bay. Thank you in advance for your help and safe travels -
John 862.216.2425
Human Issues/Leadership Forum for me? Be careful of what you ask for!
While the Leadership Forum has provided distinctive value every year I
have attended - the "golden nugget" has always been leading through
meaning (to borrow from Mike Morrison). Admittedly, this is much
clearer to me today then when Denis Masar first invited me to be part
of this community in the early 1990's. Hopefully, Denis saw something
in me rather than fulfilling a need to add delegates!
Regardless, the benefit of my first few years of participation was
knowledge and camaraderie with people who, in one form or another,
were seeking something similar to what I was seeking - finding meaning
in my life. It was eye opening to me - let's say the start of my self-
exploration.
The second phase of my participation at Silver Bay was the period of
gaining my grounding and confidence as a developing leader - my Amex
years and taking a stand that led to my role as a corporate refugee.
If it hadn't been for the knowledge - about the possibilities and my
self, I would not have had the confidence and courage to leave the
"secure" world of the giant hairball. As meaningful, the Leadership
Forum community provided me with the guidance, support, and
encouragement that energized me and mobilized my confidence.
Courtney, Alicia, Dick, Greg, Steve, Megan, Mike Morrison, David
Oldfield, Mark J, Kim & Danny Vismale, Delorese Ambrose and so many
others were incredible sources of energy and knowledge for me.
The third phase of my Leadership Forum involvement is what I will call
chaos - navigating the turbulent, white water of personal and
professional transition. Silver Bay gave me the opportunity to
publicly share what I had been hiding - depression, humiliation, that
fear of being lost- with people I trusted as I knew we had similar
intentions.
I was in bad shape and needed help - and I am not really good at
asking for help. The post corporate period of being "neither here nor
there" threw me for a loop. So again the community lifted me up.
There were a couple of years in this period when I decided I could not
be at Silver Bay - yet, I never felt like I was disconnected from
either the people, the knowledge, or the support.
Finally, is my re-emergence - my "new" beginning. I am so connected
today with who I am, what I have learned about myself, and the sources
of energy that will define my outside story. Next to my wife, Helen
and my four kids I owe so much of where I am today to the Leadership
Forum community. I am uncertain about where the future will take me,
but I know if I continue to learn and change it will be a good
place....and a good life. I now believe that learning, sharing, and
changing are at the core of my effectiveness as a leader in life. I
expect
the Leadership Forum will continue ue to be a prominent source of
energy to help me on this journey.
I did not intend for this to be so long but I realized as I my fingers
kept moving that the Leadership Forum experience - to be meaningful,
needs to be profoundly personal. This is why it is so hard to define
"the mission" clearly for everyone - and why some people choose not to
return after the experience. It is also why, I believe, we each need
to "market" the
> experience based on what it has meant to us personally, and what we know about the people that could find value in the experience.