Nearly thirty community leaders from across the county gathered in August to bond and start their journey in the year-long Hardin County Leadership program. Organized through the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce, the program connects and
inspires local leaders. The 2018-19 class represents various sectors from business and industry to nonprofits.
The two-day retreat at Barren River Lake State Resort Park was a chance for us to get to know one another, have fun and learn about our community. Megan Stith, dean of advancement at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College and Kenny Rambo with ECTC Workforce Solutions led the class through icebreakers and team- building activities. We interviewed each other about our work, personal life and weekend plans.
Then, we built a community timeline of what we viewed as important moments in Hardin County’s history as well as a person timeline of when the class joined the community. Our class is a mix of native Hardin Countians, transplants and boomerangs — people who born here, left and then came back. Rambo, who is a senior vice president at Heartland Communications Consultants, explained to that class that communities are a result of actions and decisions by leaders such as ourselves.
“Communities don’t happen by accident,” he said.
Later in the day, we discussed the future of Hardin County and what three issues should be the priority over the next five years. After a lengthy discussion, we settled on drug abuse, workforce and education. We also heard leadership lessons from Jeff Peden with Culture Docs. He walked us through some keys to creating organizational change. He shared examples from other leaders. Many of those leaders found success by talking to the people who were doing the work at the ground level.
Dayna Fentress, the family and consumer sciences agent with the Hardin County Extension Office, helped us learn about ourselves through a personality test. Fentress walked us through the True Colors test that separated us into orange, gold, green and blue groups. Our leadership class is overwhelmingly blue. Time will tell what that means for our group. Throughout the two days, we pushed through challenging team-building activities, making marshmallow towers and trying to move a quarter through the group. Overall, the retreat was a great way to kick off Leadership.
Katherine Knott
Education Reporter
The News Enterprise