It's Our Business

Your Voice is Needed

12/19/2023

This is my last blog for 2023… can you believe it? Next week we are all hopefully sharing time with people we care about, and recharging for 2024. So today I want to reflect back on 2023 and talk just a bit about what’s ahead for 2024.

Our 2024 Annual Meeting theme is “Building a New Table.” Last year we talked about “Investing in Tomorrow.” The themes build on one another – this idea that future economic success for this region and state depend on us finding ways to work together as we usher in tomorrow, and doing so with new ideas, new voices, new approaches.

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Kurt Zellers of the MN Business Partnership. We talked about this as well, in the context of policy work. As we prepare for the 2024 legislative session, it is critical that the employer community align ever more intentionally. And find ways to connect productively with our legislators. Because we have much to wrestle with: rent control, environmental permitting reform, employer mandates, a potential fifth-tier tax increase, and more. Your chamber and regional/state partners will work on this together. And the new table? Inviting YOU to join us. More than ever, your unique voice will be critical in communicating your priorities and concerns. Those of us who would prefer to leave the tough conversations to “someone else” no longer have that luxury. So look forward to being invited in, asked to contribute your voice to our work in 2024 and beyond.

Wishing you all a blessed holiday season, and looking forward to more important work together in the new year!

See you in the trenches,

B

Building a New Table

12/11/2023

First off, a tremendous shout-out to everyone who celebrated with us at our annual Holiday Chamber Connect last week! Yes, I’m sure holiday elves are trending on social media….. (you had to be there). We had a great time, and I was especially gratified to see our chamber partners engage as well.

Which brings me to my thought for this week: Building a New Table. It’s also the theme of our Annual Meeting on Feb 29, and we already are gearing up!

In my conversations with you, some of you have expressed this sense of, “where do I belong anymore? I’m not sure where I fit in….” You could be referring to the political landscape, or even your Chamber environment where you are seeing so many new faces. I get it - economic swings, demographic shifts, rapidly changing technology, partisanship in politics all challenge us to redefine the meaning of belonging and gathering. I hope you know that all we do is intended to build a new table for the future – for everyone. In the words of my friend Mike Burbach, we want to organize around the good things that we want. What we want is a vibrant and equitable economy, celebration of business success, a future with room at the table for all who want to participate. We have an innate need to belong; please know that your voice makes a difference. Your input, experience, and engagement make a difference.

And your Chamber is the great convener. I really hope you’ll join us at the Annual Meeting, and stay connected. Find an initiative that resonates with you. Find your own seat at the table. Because we all want to have a lasting impact, to do something that matters.

See you in the trenches,

B

Leadership on the Line

12/4/2023

Before I talk about anything else, I wanted to be sure you know you’re invited to our annual Holiday Chamber Connect tonight, December 5, at Landmark Center! This night truly is our gift back to you, “St. Paul’s Holiday Party,” so to speak, supported by sponsors and the wonderful food and beverage vendors you’ll be sampling. I really hope you’ll join us to celebrate this past year together.

For this week, I want to share a book I’m reading, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading, by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky. If you haven’t yet read this book, I’d recommend you do so. Why? Because leadership is tough, and right now we need it more than ever.

Every day the opportunity for leadership stands before you. Each day brings you opportunities to raise important questions, speak to higher values, and surface unresolved conflicts. Every day you have the chance to make a difference in the lives of people around you.

And every day you must decide whether to put your contribution out there, or keep it to yourself to avoid upsetting anyone, and get through another day. You are right to be cautious. Prudence is a virtue. You disturb people when you take unpopular initiatives in your community, put provocative new ideas on the table in your organization, question the gap between colleagues’ values and behavior, or ask friends and relatives to face up to tough realities. You risk people’s ire and make yourself vulnerable. Exercising leadership can get you into a lot of trouble.

To lead is to live dangerously because, when leadership counts, when you lead people through difficult change, you challenge what people hold dear – their daily habits, tools, loyalties, and ways of thinking – with nothing more to offer perhaps than a possibility. Moreover, leadership often means exceeding the authority you are given to tackle the challenge at hand. People push back when you disturb the personal and institutional equilibrium they know.

It’s no wonder that when the myriad opportunities to exercise leadership call, you often hesitate. This book is about taking opportunities to lead, and staying alive.

I do believe that leadership at any level is worth the risk because the things we care about extend beyond material gain or personal advancement. By making the lives of people around you better, leadership provides meaning in life. It creates purpose. This book offers a series of “action ideas” and one resonated specifically for me: “Getting on the Balcony.” The idea here is to step back to get perspective on a topic while remaining engaged. I want to listen more, first. Really hear what someone is saying, let it sink in and perhaps change how I’m looking at an issue, and respond rather than react. There’s a difference.

Of course this book was timely for me because each year offers new challenges. I continue to practice the art of hard conversations, of building bridges between people who may agree on a goal but who have very different ways to achieve it. How can we find our way to move forward together? Leadership. It’s on the line.

See you in the trenches,

B

Your Voice is Needed

Building a New Table

Leadership on the Line

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