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Above: Mayors Meet. Through the 1998 RCGA Leadership Exchange, Mayor Clarence Harmon and Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke of Baltimore had the opportunity to meet and compare notes.
The fourth annual Leadership Exchange Trip incorporates a new Leadership Summit in St. Louis with a three-day visit to Denver.
By Liese Hutchison
Hundreds of business leaders throughout the region visited Cleveland, Seattle and Baltimore in the last three years to discover each region’s “best practices.” These best practices include approaches to revitalizing downtowns, to attracting employers, to improving images. Each successive city visited through the Leadership Exchange offers St. Louis civic leaders unique insights and valuable advice on what this region can do to maximize its potential from Cleveland’s, Seattle’s and Baltimore’s past successes and failures.
The trip this year focuses on Denver. On Oct. 10, a chartered plane will fly more than 100 regional leaders to the mile-high city to take part in an ambitious three-day whirlwind of ideas. The five chairs of the Leadership Exchange are John Bachmann, managing principal of Edward Jones and chair elect of the RCGA; Dick Beumer, chairman & CEO of Sverdrup and chairman of the RCGA; C. Ray Holman, chairman & CEO of Mallinckrodt; Sr. Mary Jean Ryan, FSM, president & CEO of SSM Health Care; and Dr. Donald Suggs, president and publisher, the St. Louis American. Delegates are invited by the RCGA. The organization sends invitations to individuals throughout the St. Louis region, attempting to represent a broad cross section of the community on the westward flight to Denver. The invitations are extended to corporate, banking and development executives; arts and cultural leaders; civic planners; education and elected officials; charitable and philanthropic group heads; and representatives of the St. Louis media.
The yearly Leadership Exchange Trip has three main purposes:
- to observe best practices in another community, usually one with important similarities to St. Louis
- to provide an opportunity to spend quality time with others from a different region, creating new alliances, networks, business relationships and partnerships
- to introduce leaders from our own region to one another, strengthening the region’s network of civic leadership.
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Above: Leadership Legacy. More than 100 St. Louis regional business, civic and elected leaders participated in last year's Leadership Exchange to Baltimore. This year's trip to Denver will take place Oct. 10, 11, 12.
When the delegation arrives, the factfinding mission begins with a presentation on the importance of airports to the regional economy, complete with a special overview of the Denver International Airport. Former Denver Mayor and Cabinet member Frederico Peña, along with the editor of The Denver Business Journal, will discuss what makes the greater Denver region work.
“Every year those involved in the Leadership Exchange marvel at the wealth of information we uncover, the relationships we build with our civic counterparts and the strong bond we develop amongst ourselves,” notes Dick Fleming, president and CEO of the RCGA. In turn, St. Louis has served as host to delegations from Charlotte, N.C., and Jacksonsville, Fla.
A new opportunity for Leadership Exchange delegates to learn from previous trips and prepare for the upcoming trip will be offered this year. “To maximize what we can accomplish on the Leadership Exchange, we’re convening the inaugural Regional Leadership Summit that provides everyone with an opportunity to reflect on what we have learned from our previous three trips and prepare for our trip to Denver,” Fleming says.
The Regional Leadership Summit will be held Sept. 9 and 10 in various locations throughout St. Louis. The Summit will review and discuss best practices discovered from earlier exchanges. It also will highlight what the St. Louis region is doing in creating its own best practices via the Technology Gateway Alliance, Workforce Initiatives, St. Louis 2004 and Downtown Now!
For more information on the Leadership Exchange Trip, contact Cheryl Marty at the RCGA at 314/444-1141.
This article was written by Liese L. Hutchison, assistant professor in the department of communication at Saint Louis University and a free-lance writer.
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