The Leadership Summit - 2015

When you run a small organization, often times you have your day scheduled to be productive and efficient and then reality kicks in and your day goes sideways. You don’t plan for the mini-crises that affect your staff, members or business. 

Large organizations have several layers of Lieutenants that can handle a crisis and often times these crises don’t even filter up to the top. But the leader of the small organizations must be the master of constant changing of directions and speeds.

There is that old joke of how to make God laugh – tell him your plans. Sometimes I think God is sitting and laughing, “Oh you think you’re organized today, well what if the pool heater breaks? Or one of your staff just did something stupid? Can you deal with a mad member or parent? How will you keep on task when a bus breaks down taking kids on a field trip?”

Over the next three days I get to spend time with a group of leaders and we just work on making each of us better: better leaders, better bosses, better spouses and better parents. Some of these friends run larger Y’s and some run smaller Y’s yet we come together and find common ground. We help each other to see the leadership opportunities in front of us.

For most of us, the reality is we thrive on the constant changing of directions and the dynamic it all brings. The next three days often brings a personal energy boost not only to us but to the Y’s we lead. This truly has become “THE BEST THREE DAYS OF THE YEAR!”