A message from our President

Welcome to a program new year at MNISPI! In the words of Warren Bennis, a pioneer of the contemporary field of leadership studies: "The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born - that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born." The theme for this year is "Living at the Intersection of Performance and Leadership.” No matter what your role in the Performance Improvement arena, leadership plays a big part. If you are a consultant, you influence leaders and help them understand that improving the performance of the organization impacts the bottom line. If you are an instructional designer, you consider how leaders need to support the solutions you create. As a manager, you expect that performance improvement professionals will help you achieve your goals. We can all be leaders, no matter what our formal role is.

This program year, we will look at the relationship between performance improvement and leadership. In our first monthly meeting in September, John Bailey from Carlson Hotels Worldwide taught us about “employee engagement” and how great leaders can increase performance by developing an engaged workforce. Our October program featured Rich Braden from Thomson West. Rich, a great leader himself, shared best practices that his team established to gain credibility with the executive community and establish themselves as important business partners.

As a member of MNISPI, we value your leadership and welcome your ideas on how to make MNISPI an even greater organization. Along the way, you will hopefully gain the knowledge and skill that will help you become a stronger leader.

Craig