|
The Time is Now for Sustainable Leadership
“In closed mechanical systems, sustainability is the prolongation of useful life, designed for low maintenance, easy repair, or replacement of components. In living systems, sustainability has more to do with feeding the system, nurturing, protecting, and ensuring fitness and well-being, maintaining identity and integrity. The former requires good engineering; the latter requires leadership. Such leadership may depend ultimately on the flair of a single individual but, at the same time, needs to be diffused throughout the system so that everyone shares responsibility for sustaining the whole.”
With over 100 elected official seats up for grabs in Marin, there is no better time than now to adapt the concepts of sustainability to our approach to leadership development. But what is “sustainable leadership”? Sustainable leadership is a concept that advocates for a system that a) identifies and recruits new leaders, b) nurtures and supports an enduring leadership vision, c) promotes leadership succession, and d) gives responsibility of leadership to all community members. With this concept, leaders are not seen as individuals in charge of followers, but as members of a community who practice leadership together.
Leadership training and development programs play a vital role in developing a pool of potential leaders who have the necessary knowledge and leadership skills. In sustainable leadership, it is important to grow this pool of candidates so that the community is appropriately represented as existing leaders move in and out of the system. Preparation becomes a key factor in leadership succession. Responsibility is another key element of sustainable leadership. When the community is involved in leadership, the entire community benefits. Our task, as community members, is to meld everything we learn from leadership training with our own experiences and to develop a sense of personal leadership, organizational leadership and finally leadership in the community. Leadership principles acknowledge our own values, experience and skills, and forge them into a strong leadership vision.
Graduates of the San Rafael Leadership Institute leave with the skills to develop their own leadership vision, an essential component to leadership development.
"The San Rafael Leadership Institute was an excellent opportunity for me, as a small business owner and the current San Rafael Harbor Rotary President, to learn about Marin County , it's officials and all of the people who give countless hours to help people in the county."
The Institute meets once a month from October through June. Each monthly session is held at a different location in and around San Rafael and Marin, exposing participants to local businesses, community centers and government facilities. Each month offers a program designed with Leadership Institute graduates, and addresses current events and issues. Participants are actively engaged throughout the program, as they respond and debate with local leaders about “cutting edge” topics for San Rafael and Marin County.
At the heart of the program is the opportunity to experience a group of dynamic, diverse individuals from many industries and disciplines. Team-building is a critical component of the Institute’s leadership development philosophy. The skills achieved in this group setting, which include leadership vision, facilitated debate and conflict resolution, are geared to assist future leaders in mastering collaboration and collective problem-solving. These skill sets help develop a sense of personal leadership, organizational leadership and finally leadership in the community.
Be a part of “sustainable leadership” in Marin by applying for the San Rafael Leadership Institute today. The following applicants have made the nine-month Leadership commitment to understand the needs and concerns of their community, and to learn how to become active and effective particpants to work towards a path for change.
San Rafael/Marin Leadership Institute
Yaqinah Abdurrahman: Administrative, Skillings Chevron
Aref Ahmadia: Owner, West End Café 900 Larkspur Landing Circle, Ste 125 Larkspur, CA 94939 Phone: 925-2414 Fax: 461-2594 email: pamela.d.ashley@bankofamerica.com Van Bach: Accounting Supervisor, City of San Rafael 275 Corte Colina Novato, CA 94949 Phone: 458-5001 Fax: email: van.bach@cityofsanrafael.org
Thomas Barron: Loan Administration, Barron Mortgage
Katherine Beacock: Owner, Seadrift Realty, Inc
Mark Carrington: Investment & Leasing Specialist, Orion Partners, LTD
Gaik Chan: Community Relations Associates, Bank of Marin
Brian Crowley: President, Brown & Brown Insurance of N. California 851 Irwin Street San Rafael, CA 94901 Phone: 526-6512 Fax: 526-6519 email: pestebes@tambank.com
Lauren Grayman: Mgr. of Marin Programs, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the North Bay
Donna Hamilton: Caregiver, IHSS
Terri Hardesty: Assistant to City Manager, City of San Rafael
Lisa Max: Associate Planner, Tobin + Associates
Nan Moon: Mgr, Employee Wellness, Kaiser Permanente 700 Irwin Street, Ste 103 San Rafael, CA 94901 Phone: 454-3644 Fax: 454-1405 email: tim@barronmortgage.net
John Poppin: Principal, Poppin Consulting
Katrena Prior: Assistant Dir./Annual Fund, Dominican University
Robyn Sembenini: Exalted Ruler, San Rafael Elks Lodge 1108
Deirdre Sheerin: Executive Director, Image for Success
Tamela Smith: Financial Planner, Salient Financial
David Starnes: Police Lieutenant, City of San Rafael
Jeff Stoffer: Portfolio Manager
Doris Toy: Sr Civil Engineer, San Rafael Sanitation District
Cyndi Weingard: Director of Development, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the North Bay The San Rafael Chamber would like to thank the following Leadership Day Sponsors who are making this year's Institute a success:   Sponsors of: Economic Develeopment & Transportation, Education & the Canal Community,
Public Safety & Justice, Media/Diversity and the Arts.
|
Sponsoring Orientation 
Sponsoring both Leadership Development and Graduation
Sponsoring Affordable Housing & the Environoment 
Sponsoring Health & Human Services 
Sponsoring Government Day