Young Professional Leadership and Career Development in North ...

But this was a very important lesson for me personally. The truth is
that when you set a vision, not everyone will want to follow it, and
that’s all right. You only really want people who believe in your vision
following you anyway. Given the amount of pressure I was putting
on this individual, I actually applaud him for saying no. He knew
what he wanted, and he communicated it even though it wasn’t what
I wanted to hear.
Thankfully, the next two individuals I asked were more excited than
I could have imagined. I was expecting tentative agreement at best,
but instead Jeremy and David responded that they thought this
was exactly the kind of thing ECCU was missing (Jeremy was the
remaining lunch associate from my original lunches four years prior).
I was pleased to learn just a few months later that their involvement
with the CDN had revitalized their passion and commitment to the
organization.
After getting the key boosters on board, I moved on to step 4,
finding a sponsor. Because of the busyness at my credit union, the
recently short-staffed status of our HR department, and the desire
for the group to be self- directed and autonomous, I decided that
our young professionals network would not have one chief corporate
sponsor. Instead, we would ask for small forms of sponsorship
from speakers who came to share with us. Some were kind enough
to provide a free lunch, others offered free books to which they had
contributed, but all were gracious enough to share their time and
personal experiences.
After deciding what sponsorship should look like, we began planning
the first meeting so that we could begin spreading the word (step 5).
We wanted the first meeting to make a big impression on our young
professionals segment, so we asked a young and recently promoted
vice president to be our inaugural speaker for the group. Our vice
president of Strategic Services gladly accepted, becoming the first of
what would be many executive and senior management staff members
to joyfully participate in these lunches. In fact, many of our
speakers have thanked the CDN leadership team for giving them a
venue in which to share their stories.
Once we had a confirmed speaker, I asked my boosters to start
spreading the word about the lunch meeting, and I drafted an
announcement to be posted in common areas and on ECCU’s internal
electronic message board.
However, I started to get cold feet. I didn’t want to upset anyone in
the business with our announcement, since individual career development
blends the lines between work and personal life. So, despite
our focus on developing individuals and not the company, I decided
that it would be prudent to pass the communication piece by our
18