Leadership Lessons from Yo-Yo Ma

Guest blog post from Kayte Connelly, Best Principled Solutions

As an avid supporter of Advocacy for the Arts, Best Principled Solutions has been a National Co-Sponsor for the march on Washington for all things Arts in the spring. We’ve been attending since the 1990’s; this year also serving on the Legislative Planning Committee.

One of the benefits of being a National Co-sponsor, is the ability to participate in the Nancy Hanks Lecture Series at the JFK Center and the invitation to attend Executive Office and West Wing briefings from the various cabinet officials on the integration and appreciation of the arts in developing cognitive skills, providing remedial benefits for Alzheimer’s and other diseases; offering healing to American Wounded Veterans from the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars suffering with physical challenges and post-traumatic stress disorder and much, much more.

I’ve witnessed the likes of Daniel Pink, Wynton Marsalis, and Alec Baldwin, in recent years, and this year, it was the wonderful Yo-Yo Ma.

You never know what to expect during the “performance.” There is sometimes a youth orchestra integrated – as there was last year, with Ben Folds and the Washington Youth Jazz Ensemble. There can be a narrated piece with demonstrations of timelines of the particular artist as there was with Wynton Marsalis.

Joining Yo-Yo, a favorite of the White House since the 1950’s, for the performance portions of the lecture were: Matt Sorum, drummer for Gun’s and Roses and Velvet Revolver, bagpiper and pianist Cristina Pato, jooker Lil' Buck, MusiCorps wounded warriors: Specialist Nathan Kalwicki, Lance Corporal Josh Cawthorn, Sergeant Rex Tharp, Corporal Marcus Dandrea, Lance Corporal Tim Donley, teaching artist Greg Loman and founder Arthur Bloom.

A full video of individual or complete performances can be found here. We can promise you that there was not a dry eye in the audience when MusicCorps took the stage. Never has there been a more dedicated command of music than that was delivered on that crisp April evening.

There were so many memorable moments both from the Lecture and from the compelling speeches the following morning. I wanted to capture some of highlights of Yo-Yo Ma’s speech to share with those interested in moving Leadership Forward in the Lehigh Valley.

With permission, Yo-Yo began quite eloquently. “One of the topics I’ve been reading about recently is what kind of work force we need in the 21st century. What will our graduates need in order to succeed?
The experts say we need four qualities in our students and in our work force. They need to be:

Collaborative,
Flexible,
Imaginative, and
Innovative.

According to the 2012 IBM Global CEP Study, ‘Collaboration is the number ONE trait CEO’s are seeking in their employees, with 75 percent of CEOs calling it critical.’ Leading Through Connections. The Council on Competitiveness says, ‘Those who learn to innovate will prosper in a global economy.’ (van Opstal,’ Thrive, The Skills Imperative’, 22). The Center for Public Education calls out ‘creativity and intellectual flexibility’ among other competencies. (Jerald, ‘Defining a 21st Century Education: At a Glance,’ Center for Public Education.)

We know that our present educational system encourages knowledge acquisition and critical thinking. But what about these other qualities? How do we develop those other qualities?
Let’s take my favorite example of creativity from science. In ecology where two eco-systems meet, such as the forest and the Savannah, the point of intersection is the site of ‘edge effect.’ In that transition zone, because of the influence the two ecological communities have on each other, you find the greatest diversity of life, as well as the greatest number of new life forms.

So that’s one way nature is creative!
The edge effect is something that has also had an impact on my life….” Yo-Yo continues.
So, the question I pose to you today is how are your companies being:

Collaborative,
Flexible,
Imaginative, and
Innovative?
How are you taking YOUR company to the edge?

The role of the Greater Lehigh Valley Leadership Consortium is to stay abreast of current leadership trends and best practices. To discover more about how your company might integrate practical applications, go to www.glvlc.com .

©2013 Kayte Connelly CCT. All rights reserved. Kayte Connelly, Best Principled Solutions LLC, is an award winning author, leadership coach and organizational development consultant specializing in personal, professional and community leadership. She facilitates retreats and conversations with dissimilar parties and helps individuals and organizations identify and eliminate what stands between themselves and their goals. The Greater Lehigh Valley Consortium is a partnership established with leadership providers throughout the Lehigh Valley. Steadfast and earnest, we are a think-tank of like-minded individuals. We provide enriched customized services that are designed to create and sustain generations of leaders for our community based on research and global development. Please “like” us at www.facebook.com/GLVLC or www.facebook.com/BestPrincipledSolutions Call 484.769.2327 kayte@bestprincipledsolutions.com for more information on how your company could become more collaborative, flexible, imaginative, innovative and/or discover your “edge.” Our next “Becoming Better Leaders” program is September 18, 2013.
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Reflections from International Women’s Day: “Women in Leadership”

Guest blog post from Kayte Connelly of Best Principled Solutions

The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Lehigh Valley, celebrated International Women’s Day with a power-packed panel of successful women. The conversation featured Fusun Bubernack, Eastern Telephone & Telecommunications; Ethel Drayton-Craig, PhD, lifestyle author and blogger; Dr. Samina Wahhab, plastic surgeon; Varsovia Fernandez, executive director, Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; and Maria Montero, Esq., PA Commission on Latino Affairs and Commission on Women Affairs.

The conversation was facilitated by Carmen Toro, Owner, Beauty Alibi who directed a series of questions as the audience eagerly absorbed compelling answers.

Here are my interpretations for key concepts that were shared. Some are familiar; some offered in a different manner. Each could be introduced into your annual goals and practiced to form a habit over the course of a year.

1. Thank God every day for giving you the gift of the day and welcome the opportunities that are presented to you.
2. Be a servant leader. Be a mentor.
3. Provide exquisite experiences to everyone
4. Always strive for higher altitudes.
5. When you have a lot of irritants and lose focus, ships often go to strangers.
6. Never give up on following your dream.
7. Push yourself to be uncomfortable and try different things. Break a habit, look at opportunities and expand new horizons.
8. Become a good community steward. Become a leader in the community to take care of what’s coming along, “Beyond Now.”
9. Discover who you are. Be authentic. Don’t let others mold you.
10. Use more grace and finesse to get better results, rather than muscle.
11. You cannot control time. Know what you want and pick it. You CAN have it all, but not at the same time.
12. Have a solid cache of contacts who are experts.

As a new member of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce this was a strong introduction into this program, and one I was very happy to sponsor. Other sponsors included equinox; RestoreCore; AmericaVen and Lanta. Well done Alvaro! Here’s to many more.

Kayte Connelly CCT, Best Principled Solutions LLC, is a leadership coach and organizational consultant. She was recently named to the National Legislative Planning Committee for the 2013 Americans for the Arts Advocacy Days and serves as Chair of Board Engagement Committee for Art-Reach, Inc., Philadelphia. She has been selected twice as a Woman of Accomplishment by the Women’s Yellow Pages of Greater Philadelphia; twice named as Member of the Year by the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and many other Small Business honors from the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Best Principled Solutions LLC is the founding member of the Greater Lehigh Valley Leadership Consortium who will be hosting the 2013 Chick-fil-A Leadercast on May 10 at DeSales University.
For more information, go to www.bestprincipledsolutions.com or write kayte@bestprincipledsolutions.com.

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Look Who's Coming to the 2013 Chick-fil-A Leadercast Greater Lehigh Valley

The next deadline for special pricing for Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce members and Nonprofit Representatives is April 9.  Make sure to get in touch with your Chamber Rep and Leadership Lehigh Valley to enter the right codes for discounts.

It's exciting to be part of the group bringing Leadercast to the Greater Lehigh Valley for 2013.  Best Principled Solutions LLC has helped to spread the word in Chester County, the TriCounty area and Delaware County.  This year, BPS designed the Lunch 'n Learn series for the TriCounty Area Chamber.

Here are some of the statistics to demonstrate the excellent folks who came out last year to become more engaged in being Leader-ful in their communities.

BPS, in conjunction with the Greater Lehigh Valley Leadership Consortium, is in the beta stage of creating a tool that will be used locally to identify these demographics. More importantly, information will be collected to ascertain the specific leadership skill-sets that are needed to support attendees and others in moving forward in their personal and professional lives.

To find more comprehensive information including what to expect, ticket prices and a list of speakers, go to www.glvlc.com/Services.html

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