Leading Thoughts: Sounding the Alarm
Author’s note: I’m fortunate in my role to regularly find inspiration from business leaders, rising stars and professional development experiences. Recently, a younger participant in one of our training programs said in front of the rest of his class that leaders need to communicate with energy – a concept I’ve been talking about for years. But then he added, “and not leave a vacuum.”
Like many lessons, this reinforced a concept that was not new to me and served as a reminder that I can always do better. In that spirit, today I share with you Leading Thoughts, a new column that will borrow from my experience as a business journalist to share ideas. While I don’t think there is a vacuum when it comes to Main Line Chamber of Commerce communications, we can always do better.
In that spirit, I hope you enjoy this first installment of Leading Thoughts. While this one is Chamber specific, that will not always be the case as I seek to share concepts that help me on my path and hopefully will help our readers on theirs.
- Bernard Dagenais, President & CEO, The Main Line Chamber of Commerce
I’ve shared the story in person but not in writing until now. When the Board of Directors selected me to become President & CEO of The Main Line Chamber of Commerce, I was told that the Chamber’s Leadership Main Line (LML) program was in crisis. It was August of 2010 and there was no facilitator on board for the program set to begin in January. The prevailing thought was that we should take a year off to evaluate its future.
Having participated in Leadership Philadelphia Inc., I knew Leadership Main Line was unique and important. Offering quality programming to our members is essential to a membership organization such as ours. I believed that, if we took a year off, the program might never return. I pledged to the Steering Committee they would have my support in recruiting a class and revitalizing LML. I tapped my network to identify a new facilitator, speakers and host venues. With their help, we would not be taking a year off.
Fast forward to Jan. 13, 2024, and our recruiting for this year’s programming was falling woefully short. I informed the Chamber’s Board of Directors and other regular supporters of Leadership Main Line that we might need to pull the plug on it for this year. Among my key points:
• If we cancelled the program, it would be a business decision as we would reallocate resources to other initiatives that businesses more readily support.
• While many Chambers have given up on this type of programming, we have so far bucked that trend and continued to invest in Leadership Main Line.
• LML is time and resource intensive. It made no sense to produce it if all we could do was break even. No margin, no mission, as they say.
• I was hearing from companies that training dollars had been cut, or that a freeze was in place as professional development spending was under review or dollars were being re-allocated to internal learning initiatives.
Worst of all, some of our friends and supporters just weren’t responding to requests asking whether they would participate – something I attribute to reduced bandwidth that appears to be part of an extended Covid hangover.
Last but not least, I told the board and LML supporters that we would risk giving up on a program that has made a positive difference. Several past participants have risen through the ranks of their organizations and, having witnessed their growth up close, I sincerely believe all 374 alumni are better for the experience. Class projects for nonprofit organizations have been transformational for organizations that include Teachers’ Teammates (providing classroom supplies), Tyler Arboretum, Today is a Good Day (for families with premature babies), Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health and the creation of the Chamber Foundation’s Volunteer Emergency Responders Scholarship program to name a few.
I had to admit to myself that my passion for Leadership Main Line was not enough. A Chamber is made up of businesses. If businesses don’t want to invest in this program, I thought, then perhaps it had run its course after 22 years and I was going to have to be OK with that.
The response surprised me. A board member from a company that had identified two participants got two more to apply. We went from having 8 participants to 13 over the weekend. Four companies that had not stepped up yet this year were able to identify eight applicants. In about 10 days, we had added 12 participants, bringing us to a healthy-sized class of 18 as we shoot for our maximum of 25. In our final week of recruiting this week, we still may see additional applicants.
This positive outcome confirms for me that companies in our region value Leadership Main Line and we will have a class this year. “Sometimes, folks just need a reminder of how important these programs are,” wrote one business leader as she submitted an application for one of her direct reports.
Takeaways/lessons reinforced: Communication matters. If you clearly communicate what you truly believe, you can remind others that they believe with you. And once told of a potential negative outcome, stakeholders step up.
No one can do this sort of work alone. I’m fortunate to have help in the form of board members, friends and supporters, fellow staff and program facilitator Dana Riker Jackson, who helped redouble our outreach efforts to alumni and influencers.
Next year, we will sharpen our outreach to key influencers. While we had marketed the program considerably, we can always do better.
To find out more about the remaining slots available for Leadership Main Line, beginning with an orientation on Feb. 1, visit www.leadershipmainline.com.
About the author: Bernard Dagenais became President & CEO of The Main Line Chamber of Commerce in 2010 following a career in journalism in Vermont, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. MLCC is the top-ranked suburban Chamber in the 2024 Philadelphia Business Journal Book of Lists and focuses its efforts on connecting its members with business, leadership development and talent.
