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Good Day EWI!
One of our members posted this quote on her Facebook page this week and I love it! Stars have been guiding mankind forever. With any setback thrown your way, one has to stop, analyze where and why you fell off track and then "recalibrate" (as our GPS ladies love to tell us)!
I am going to think of 2013 as a re-calibrated journey for EWI, one that is navigated not only by where we have been but of course by what we learned along the way. Our destination? It goes back to "One Vision". We all want to be part of strong and healthy Chapters who are part of a stronger and more purposeful larger organization, empowering others for positive change.
We have new leadership in place...a COO who knows this organization better than many of us and can see the potential of what EWI can be once again. And I say again, because if the past did not matter, why do we have rear-view mirrors? We must be cognizant of our history, if only to not make the same mistakes again. How did we shrink from 5,000 members? Did we lose relevancy? Did we forget to focus on our member, which is the firm? Our employer that pays our EWI dues and that wants to see us, their employee, gain confidence, learn new skills and grow professionally, all while promoting their company?
As we stated on our Open Forum call today, those Chapters that are thriving, have heavy Executive engagement. They can be such an incredible tool for Chapter's to utilize! Please be sure that you are sharing your monthly Connects and the Annual Report with your Executives. Invite them to your next meeting and just see what they say! Remember...it is THEIR job to ensure that you, their employee, are developing and receiving a return for the dollars they spend with EWI.
Speaking of Executives, I am happy to report that we had six members of the Calgary Executives Association attend our Chapter meeting on Wednesday evening. They told me today that, "you can expect some applications!" They came, they witnessed what we had to offer and they get it. Your Chapter Executives will too if you give them a chance! Perhaps through Executive engagement we would experience more firms willing to renew?
I am working with the International board of Executives Association to determine our next steps for a reciprocal endorsement of one another's organizations. Very exciting for both EWI and IEA. Where both organizations have Chapters there can be great synergy and assistance in growth objectives. We have Executives. Their Executives have staff they want to develop. IEA helped EWI grow before, and they are willing to do it again, but we have to be able to provide them with our audience of Executives too. Quid pro quo.
All right, enough of my rant on Executive Engagement. It is late Friday, it has been a wonderful week with the launch of our very professional Annual Report and I now have to prepare my webinar for Tuesday!
I also want to apologize to a past representative of EWI of Baltimore, Tamara Coleman, who was actually the first black member of the Corporate Board in 1996-1997. Tamara unfortunately though was unable to complete her full term. Thank you to Sylvia Napper, EWI of Jackson and Pati Dahmen, EWI of Spokane for kindly pointing out my error in naming Benita as the first in my blog last week. Another perfect example of why knowing and acknowledging our history is so important.
Today, I sadly saw photos of the grave site of our Founder, Lucille Johnson Perkins. A tragic story really and it just keeps getting sadder. I am determined to honour her appropriately and I would like to thank the 75th Anniversary Committee for their due diligence on finding Lucille, especially Anna McCutheon, EWI of San Diego, for her exhaustive research. We hope we will have something very special to show you at Spring Conference in Chattanooga!
Remember, deadline for early-bird registration for Spring Conference is next week!
Have a wonderful weekend EWI and thank you to all those who took the time to attend our Open Forum call today!
- K
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