Updated: February 25, 2022
Ask ACE
Ask ACE: Where to find help in Maine for building leadership skills
By Dana Morris-Jones and John Shorb, The Delphi Group
Q: My business is growing, and I’m realizing I need to up my leadership skills. Are there any resources in Maine that could help?
ACE Advises: Leadership is the ability to take advantage of opportunities to develop yourself and rise to the challenges.
Jim Collins, an expert on leadership and author of “Good to Great,” says that under the right circumstances — with self-reflection, a mentor, a significant life experience — the seeds of leadership begin to develop. The problem is, how do you create those circumstances if they have not come to you?
Here in Maine, a program launched in October provides an answer. The Visionary Leadership Program is a collaboration among the Maine Center for Entrepreneurs, Bangor Savings Bank and the University of Maine Graduate and Professional Center (the Maine Center).
Through monthly virtual meetings, the Visionary Leadership Program builds a strong peer group for growing business leaders, develops leadership skills and tools for today’s business challenges and introduces participants to experienced Maine business and thought leaders. The sessions, facilitated by Skip Bates of Bangor Savings Bank and Alexa Dayton of the Maine Center, feature a lineup of leaders from the Maine business and leadership communities.
The pilot cohort has 16 members. Many are former MCE Top Gun alumni representing a range of sectors and businesses from across Maine.
“Strong leadership drives the economy, and leadership can be cultivated through a combination of information sharing and experience sharing,” Dayton says. The Visionary Leadership Program “is an approachable program, designed for growing Maine businesses. It’s responsive to what the participants need to know to be successful Maine leaders and for their businesses to excel.”
For more on this topic, see “Learning To Lead” at consultexpertise.com/blog/9391702.
Dana Morris-Jones and John Shorb have been principals of the Delphi Group, an organizational effectiveness consulting firm, since 1998. They will be Visionary Leadership Program guest presenters in February 2021. Reach them at jshorb@thedelphigroup.com or dzmorr@thedelphigroup.com, or 207-883-2333.
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