Truth be told, as I am writing this article I realize what a bad case of Leadership Tallahassee withdrawl I am having. Based on my own experience from last year (Class 32 – Better Than You: Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop!) I know it’s that time of year….Class 33 is thinking about their Closing Retreat, Class Project and having constant “Where Did the Year Go?” conversations with each other. Ahh, good times. I love this program! As I was in the thick of it, I wanted to tell EVERYONE how cool LT was! I told my friends, I told my colleagues and eventually had to stop myself from telling the bagger at Publix.
And what wasn’t to love? I learned more about my hometown in one year than I did during the 30+ years I was growing up here. My Classmates are AMAZING. One of them was my contractor for a massive home renovation project (side note: the process is painless when you admire and trust your contractor), one of my Classmates joined a committee I was Chairing just so we would have regular “dates” by seeing each other at the monthly meetings, there’s another one that I go to the same conference with every year – he is officially my Conference Husband for a week. Our Class has regular meet ups and lunches….it is not the same as seeing each other for a full day (and sometimes late into the night) every month, but does provide a moment to connect and catch up.
As Class 33 joins the rest of us, let’s think about Class 34 and what that Class will bring to LT and our community. As I share the link to applications with the short list of people I KNOW would do great; I am also thinking about the people that I may not know as well but have a good feeling that they will soak up the LT experience. Soak it up, then turn around and make our community better. Of course, there are the usual suspects – friends, neighbors, your kid’s friends parents, that bagger at Publix….but there is also this whole realm of people I may only see a couple of times a year in passing but they have an undeniable specialness about them. That specialness would; benefit from LT and will in turn benefit our LT community and our lives in Tallahassee.
In many ways this LT family (those of you who’ve actually made it to the end of this article), are responsible for the legacy of leadership in Tallahassee and have a role in forming Tallahassee’s future with your contacts that apply and are invited to enroll in Leadership Tallahassee Class 34. Every new class is a magical combination of these applicants (even if it is not their first time). And before we blink Class 34 will be heading out into our Tallahassee world feeling that they too are special and responsible for making a positive difference. I encourage each of you to dig deep and think of those special people you know and encourage them to apply for Class 34. Meanwhile, Class 33 – you’re almost there. We’ll see you on the other side!