With its reliance on teamwork, organization, communication and coolness under pressure, there’s little wonder why corporation often require their CEOs to undertake mountain-climbing training to sharpen their leadership abilities.
Such exercises also offer the built-in benefit of reaching the top and savoring—if only momentarily—the view, a parallel few companies can resist.
Locally, we’re short on mountains that we can bring business leaders to (unless you count Hobe Mountain in Jonathan Dickinson State Park). But we can still bring the summit to them. That’s the intent with our 2023 BDB Leaders Summit from 8 a.m. to noon April 12 at Indian River State College’s Chastain Campus.
The Business Development Board of Martin County is blessed with easy accessibility to a sizeable and dynamic network of business leaders. In addition to our accomplished board of directors, we assembled the Partners Council—composed of our colleagues in the chambers, trade associations and Economic Council—as well as our Champions Council, Corporate Council, Talent Advancement Team, and the numerous small-business owners we’ve connected with through our Pulse visits.
The bonds that exist across these alliances form the foundation of our network which were also forged and fortified during the pandemic. In a movement we dubbed, “United Economic Leadership,” we came together to share information, strategize responses and advance initiatives that upheld public safety while prioritizing the needs of local businesses.
The BDB Leaders Summit will give us a chance to come together again, sharpen our own individual skills and learn from respected voices about how we can tackle the challenges and embrace the opportunities facing our community.
The event will feature Peter Kageyama, an award-winning author and speaker who’s written several well-regarded books about the power of place, its effect on people and how to incubate and grow vibrant communities and strong economies.
The subjects in his book, Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places, struck me as most likely to resonate with Martin County residents. The book explores how communities can effectively navigate contentious issues and challenging circumstances in a fashion that respects and incorporates the input of a broad range of stakeholders and produces outcomes all participants can appreciate.
Kageyama’s other titles include For the Love of Cities Revisited and The Emotional Infrastructure of Places.
Our Leaders Summit aims to promote dialogue and thought leadership. In addition to an economic development conversation we’ll have addressing trends, opportunities and ways to better compete for jobs and business investments, we’ll hear more about the flurry of activity in the Martin County Innovation Hub—a region near Witham Airport hosting some of our most dynamic enterprises, entrepreneurs and innovators.
While Martin County’s economy encompasses the ideas, efforts and contributions of numerous business leaders, its strength—as we like to say—is everyone’s business. When we’re all pulling in the same direction and helping each other along the way, there’s really no limit to the heights we can reach.
This article can also be found in the April 9, 2023, Friends and Neighbors of Martin County Newsletter.
