by President & CEO, Kris Valerio Shock

"The promise of spring's arrival is enough to get anyone through the bitter winter."

-Jen Selinsky

“The beautiful spring came, and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.”

- Harriet Ann Jacobs

Who couldn’t use a few optimistic springtime quotes?

As Colin Powell stated: “Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.”

No matter the challenges we face – global, local and everything in between – it is the responsibility of community leaders to inspire optimism.

Feeling a quart low on your optimism?

This article explains why leaders who actively choose an optimistic approach are much more likely to lead adaptive, successful and innovative organizations and practical things you can do to help increase your optimism.

Another practical approach to increasing your optimism, is surrounding yourself with leaders who positively impact our community. That’s where LAA can help.

Emerging from a long cold winter, we look forward to a whole new season of opportunity. Flagship and Neighborhood Leadership Academy relationships planted in fall and winter months will blossom into lifelong connections.

We invite the LAA community at large to join the Flagship class in their Environment Day exploration with a Flagship Talk on Hope and Resilience for the Chesapeake Bay led by Kate Fritz, CEO, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay on Wednesday, April 20^th at Homestead Gardens.

And we look forward to celebrating a robust roster of New Leader Honorees together at the 2022 New Leaders Celebration Breakfast at Carroll’s Creek Café on April 27^th.  (Stay tuned for an announcement featuring the 2022 Honorees!)

“An optimist is the human personification of spring.”

-Susan J. Bissonette

I hope you’ll join the LAA community as we welcome the new season, together!

by President & CEO, Kris Valerio Shock

I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions. I am however inspired by the sheer potential a new year brings. There's something about the passage of the bustling holiday season and transition to a new year. It seems to beg for reflection and reprioritizing.

When I think of 365 days stretched out ahead, I am deeply inspired by the sheer potential of Leadership Anne Arundel. LAA is the nexus of leadership in Anne Arundel County. As we approach 30 years of Flagship and more than 20 years of Neighborhood Leadership Academy, LAA is more than 1500 graduates strong. Many of these graduates are currently in key leadership positions across our county. Some have retired from their professional careers with a depth of insight and experience to offer. Tapping into the collective resource of the LAA community of past, present, and future community leaders is an awesome opportunity for the year ahead.

Key drivers of potential are structure and ownership. We provide the structure and the network. You bring the sense of ownership.

Over the last several years, LAA has developed an organizational structure to tap into the vast network of community leaders throughout Anne Arundel County. A couple of years ago we invested in an online community platform to make connecting to your classmates and the broader LAA community easy and rewarding. Standing LAA committees offer deeper connection and relationship development with alumni.

Last year we launched a process for LAA grads to champion Alumni Development Events on key topics that face our community; and recently we kicked off the LAA Lifetime Members Club to gather and learn from the most invested LAA alumni. Moving forward, the possibilities of how we leverage the collective experience and wisdom of our most effective and successful leaders are quite endless. 

If you seek greater possibilities in the coming year, I challenge you to take ownership of your LAA experience. Wherever you find yourself on your leadership journey, there are countless opportunities to leverage the LAA network and structure to expand your impact in the coming year.

We saved you a spot!

Did you know all LAA graduates already have a profile page in the online community? Claiming your profile in the community is the first step to owning your LAA experience and tapping into the full potential of LAA in the New Year.

Here are a few simple steps to drive connection in the New Year:

·      Sign into the LAA Online Community (Need Help? Contact Us)

·      Update your profile: Add your current community engagement and a profile photo

·      Hop on the next LAA101 virtual meetup to learn more about the structure in place to drive opportunity in the New Year.

Let’s realize the full potential of the Leadership Anne Arundel community together in 2022!

Photo by Kimberly Valerio @moonshadowh27

by President & CEO, Kris Valerio Shock

If you want to go fast, go alone
If you want to go far, go together
- African proverb

Calling all hands on deck. The giving season is upon us and we have a couple of wonderful opportunities to "go together" with the LAA Community in the next couple of months.

First up, we ask for your help:
The 2nd Annual Food Collection event, scheduled for Saturday, November 20th, has turned into a "Collection-Palooza" as we embrace initiatives driven by LAA Alumni this giving season. 

The "Blood, Sweat-ers and Food" Collection joins forces with Anne Arundel County Food Bank (Susan Thomas, FLG21), Feed Anne Arundel (Monica Alvarado, FLG09), Luminis Blood Bus Champion Ellen Shiery (FLG21), #justonesweater founder Lisa Seborowski (FLG07) and the Greater Parole Community Association (Lon Powell, NLA19, FLG20; Beryle Downs, NLA20, FLG22; Sherry Hutton, NLA20; Lisa Wilson, NLA21; Dawna Alexander Powell NLA17, FLG18).

TWO WAYS TO PARTICIPATE:

DONATE - Any and all community members are invited to DONATE food and supplies, blood and/or sweaters per the instructions available here.

VOLUNTEER - LAA Members are invited to REGISTER for a Volunteer shift* to help direct, collect and sort donations. *Please note: We are accepting volunteers for both morning and afternoon shifts, however AFTERNOON IS MOST NEEDED at this time (Noon - 2:30p).

Click here for all of the details and to register to volunteer.

Next up, we invite you to celebrate:
In December, we will gather LAA Alumni together to celebrate the Season of Giving, including a Toy Drive to benefit the Boys and girls Clubs of Anne Arundel County.

Please join us for a COVID sensitive Holiday Party on December 15, 2021 from 5:30 to 7:30 at The Golf Club at South River in Edgewater. The Golf Club is an indoor/outdoor venue, so bring your coat and relax with your colleagues in a COVID-friendly atmosphere next to the warmth of the firepit outdoors or cozy up next to the fireplace inside. 

Festive fare, beer, and wine are included. You do not want to miss this wonderful opportunity to connect with your LAA colleagues to close out 2021.  Spread the word among your classmates and invite your friends.  We hope to see you there.

Advanced registration is required as space is limited. Click here for more information and registration.

Finally, as we approach #GivingTuesday on November 30th, we know so many LAA stakeholder organizations will be running support campaigns. We invite you to join the conversation in the comments below and share a link to your #GivingTuesday initiatives so that we all might "Go Together" in support of the #GivingSeason.

The LAA Connector 
Managing Flux: Lean into Leadership with Flagship 2022
by President & CEO, Kris Valerio Shock

I am thrilled to share that on September 9th the Flagship 22 class kicked off their program year with the Opening Retreat at London Town. The full roster of the 2022 Flagship class (pictured above) is available here and photos from the Opening Retreat are captured here. We are deeply proud to provide forty-six public, private, for profit, government, non-profit and citizen community leaders with the resources and networks needed to help our community weather the current and future challenges.

The class of 2022 is the third Flagship class to adapt to the challenges presented by the global pandemic. While we had hoped to be "back to normal" (whatever that means) by the start of this Flagship year, the Delta variant requires that we continue to adapt our sessions to meet current health recommendations. Leveraging all of the tools in our tool kit - vaccinations, rapid and easily available testing, outdoor spaces whenever possible, masks, distance, sanitizer - we will provide in-person experiences as much as possible and if/when we must be virtual, we will provide interactive, robust opportunities for the Flagship class to learn and bond and grow, together.

Leadership Anne Arundel remains deeply committed to providing people of diverse backgrounds with the education, resources and networks necessary to become successful proactive leaders. We do this because we need these leaders to persevere and thrive through these ever challenging, (and yes,) relentless times. 

Have you heard of pandemic flux? It's a thing. I recently listened to Brené Brown's podcast with Amy Cuddy on Pandemic Flux Syndrome. They discuss Cuddy's recently published Washington Post article, “Why This Stage of the Pandemic Makes Us So Anxious,” and how working through this collective, constant pandemic flux affects us as individuals and as leaders. 

Spoiler Alert: Leaders need other leaders to inspire them to get back up and persevere through pandemic flux. Following 18+ months of global pandemic, social justice reckoning and political unrest, providing our local leaders with the understanding and networks needed impact positive change in our community is more challenging and more rewarding than ever.

This morning I had the pleasure of hearing David Marriott in a Fireside chat with the BWI Business Partnership. When asked how he manages to "fill his cup" as a leader who so many rely on to stay optimistic in the face of unprecedented adversity, he stressed the importance of taking the time to reconnect with colleagues and recharge the batteries.

Fortunately, LAA has exactly that opportunity on the horizon. If you're looking for a dose of inspiration, a shot of optimism or just a little breath of hope for the future coming out of the last 18 months of extraordinary challenge, you must join us for the Program Kickoff and Homecoming Celebration on Tuesday, September 28th from 5:30p - 7:30p (outside) at the Annapolis Maritime Museum. Full details are available here.

In the meantime, if you're looking for a quick boost, treat yourself to the Flagship 2022 playlist on Spotify filled with loads of inspirational tunes to get you going and past a moment of flux.

Comment below to share how you are managing through flux and let us know how we can be of support in this next leg of the journey.

In recent weeks I’ve been marinating on how to navigate LAA’s return to in-person gathering. Then, I popped my earpods in my ears and set out for a power-walk accompanied by Brené Brown’s recent Dare to Lead podcast episode featuring Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters.

Eureka!

“Gathering again, including returning to work is going to be complicated and possibly uncomfortable. Naming the elephant in the room is the most powerful tool we have. We need to make the implicit explicit. Even if the elephant is just awkwardness, naming what’s happening and making it explicit allows everybody to take a breath.” - Priya Parker

So, can we name the elephant and take a breath together?

While we’ve been toggling between virtual and in-person as we’ve been able for our program sessions, the New Leaders Celebration in April was the first in-person event for general membership and the community at large since the start of the COVID crisis. It was as perfect a day as one could imagine. Perfect location, stunning weather, top notch roster of New Leaders and LAA alumni; and yet, positioned early in our reopening and surrounded by evolving health recommendations, it was laden with mixed emotions.

In many ways we can’t wait to gather together again (so many expressed pure joy at being together again in-person), and in many ways we’re scared to death (masks on? even outside? what do we even wear for in-person now?  juggling coffee and a mask...). There is a whole spectrum of comfort levels to accommodate.  Now that restrictions have eased even more, some boldly reach to shake hands in greeting (are we doing that again?); while others shift to offer an elbow. 

We weren’t out of sync for a week or two or even a month. We’re reckoning with more than a year of covid-fatigue. Before we rush back, there is an opportunity to pause and ask: What have we learned? How do we want to do this now?

As we chart the course of LAA’s return to gathering, we will be asking these questions and more. You are invited to join in the conversation as we endeavor to inspire, develop and connect our local leaders with meaningful and necessary gatherings.

The next such gathering is the Tribute to Community Leadership & Graduation, scheduled for Monday, June 21st from 5:30p - 8:00p at The Hall at Live! Casino and Hotel.

Why is this gathering necessary?  

The purpose of the Tribute event is to celebrate the newest graduating classes of community leaders. It’s about welcoming them into the broader LAA Community and Celebrating their Flagship and NLA experiences. The 2020 and 2021 Flagship and Neighborhood Leadership Academy classes leaned into their program experiences in spite of the obvious challenges the COVID-19 crisis presented. They powered through intense zoom sessions. They gathered outside when possible, masked, and sanitized. Sometimes they picked up materials and meals curbside prior to a session. Frankly, they deserve a great celebration. They’ve been there, done that with the virtual substitutes and with the full spectrum of eagerness and anxiety - they want to gather and own their unique experience. 

Tribute will celebrate the 2021 Flagship and NLA graduates and recognize the 2020 classes who graduated virtually last year. We will also recognize 2021 Excellence in Leadership and Distinguished Graduate, and Bertina Nick Scholarship Honorees.

The broader LAA community is cordially invited to join us to support and celebrate these resilient leaders. 

Not sure how you feel about attending an indoor in-person event?

That’s okay. Given graduates, honorees, LAA Board members and guests of honorees, we expect roughly 200 people in a space that can accommodate more than 800. In partnership with Live!, we will be taking every precaution to ensure a safe and uplifting in-person event. Even so, you may want to sit this one out, and that’s okay.  Or you may choose to attend, with mixed feelings. Either way, we hope you will join us in acknowledging the elephant in the living room. Post-covid in-person is awkward. But gathering in-person can provide an essential connection to wrap up a most uncommon program experience for our Flagship and NLA classes. 

And then...

Following Tribute, we will take the summer months to lean into questions about our future gatherings as we remain committed to providing relevant and meaningful in-person and virtual gatherings to inspire, develop and connect Anne Arundel County’s diverse community of leaders. 

If you are interested in exploring this terrain with us, send me a quick note and we’ll be sure to include you in the conversation.

#embracetheawkward

#meaningfulgathering

#returntogathering

#elephantinthelivingroom

#breathe