‘Anyone can lead anytime, anywhere’: Greater Owensboro Leadership Institute hosts inaugural Leadership Summit
The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum welcomed the Greater Owensboro Leadership Institute’s inaugural Leadership Summit on Thursday. More than 200 community members seeking to learn tools and gain insight on how to succeed in their respective organizations and communities attended.
The institute is a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization established in the fall of 2022 to “equip people, organizations, communities and networks with the tools to bridge divides, build capacity and tackle shared challenges to become a collective force for change.” The summit was created in hopes of growing “leadership capital and engage leaders for the greater good.”
Under the title “Becoming a Collective Force for Change,” Stacy Edds-Ellis, the institute’s executive director, said she and her team were “super excited” to get the event off the ground and having a wide range of attendees.
“It’s a great representation of our community (with people) from lots of businesses and industries, and nonprofits, government and education,” she said. “It’s great to have all these people come together to hear about the topic of leadership and community.”
Edds-Ellis said the idea for the summit, which was presented by Owensboro Health, “really germinated” before the institute started.
“For a number of years, different entities in the area had talked about having a leadership summit (and) to have something here that motivates, inspires and brings us together,” she said. “As part of a leadership institute, it seemed like the perfect fit to host it … and the thing that we kick off for the year.”
Adam Burch and Logan Robinson, both with Domtar Paper Co. LLC, found the event to be a great opportunity for networking.
“Business is a lot about relationships, especially in smaller towns,” said Burch, a transportation analyst. “With the trucking industry being as volatile as it is sometimes, it’s good to have a good network of business colleagues.
“Networking is kind of the sole reason why I’m even where I’m at now.”
The event included a “diverse lineup” of guest speakers, panel discussions and community building activities and breaks where attendees were encouraged to learn and network with one another.
One of the speakers was Racquel Thiesen, director of community partnerships at the Kansas Leadership Center — which Edds-Ellis said the Greater Owensboro Leadership Institute is modeled after.
Thiesen’s session, titled “When Everyone Leads,” hit on topics discussed in KLC’s newest book,”When Everyone Leads: How The Toughest Challenges Get Seen And Solved,” written by Ed O’Malley and Julia Fabris McBride.
“I love the possibility of connecting or linking the book to the leadership development work that the institute is doing, and how they think about building their capacity of folks from Owensboro and around the area,” Thiesen said. “(This) is about Owensboro residents, business owners and community members thinking about what the biggest challenges are in Owensboro and helping them imagine their spot and their responsibility in that work.”
Edds-Ellis and Thiesen believe, regardless of background and upbringing, that anyone can become a leader.
“With the leadership institute, our programming is really designed to believe that anyone can lead anytime, anywhere,” Edds-Ellis said. “You don’t have to be a CEO, or grow up in a certain family or be a certain ethnicity to be a leader.
“We think we showcase that … and it’s really connecting a passion and desire to be involved in the community with (this) opportunity.”
“KLC believes at its core that everyone can lead and everyone should lead when it’s not work relegated or reserved for the people at the top of the organization … or the usual voices in a community,” Thiesen said. “(Leadership) is not about a position, it’s not a title; it’s activity — it’s things that you engage in that help you and others move the needle on issues that you care about.”
By Freddie Bourne Messenger Inquirer