December YP Connector

DECEMBER 2020
HIGH PERFORMANCE HABITS
To Cultivate Grit
Cris Houlihan
with

The The Dubuque
area chamber
Monthly Membership
Luncheon
Hosts
Positivity During Challenging Times
The Chamber's Monthly Membership Luncheon will be on Thursday,
November 19 from 12:00 Noon - 1:00pm via GoToWebinar. The
event will feature Don Sandel.
.
Don Sandel has a Master of Arts and
Bachelor of Science from Western
Michigan University. Since
graduation, he has amassed a
number of highly specialized
certificates in Human Performance
Improvement, Training, Leadership
Development, Coaching, Business
Acumen, and Applied Positive Psychology.
Find us on your favorite
social media app.
Don’s expertise is in the field leadership development as well as the
impact of shifting to a positive mindset. He is currently the Founder of
GoPositiv, but has spent a quarter century leading talent development
for such companies as Astellas Pharma, Allscripts, and United Airlines.
He has recently consulted for such organizations as Wintrust Bank,
Remarkable Health, Ada S. McKinley Community Services and Audentes
Therapuetics and has thrilled thousands with his energetic keynotes on
shifting to a positive mindset.
Where Business Belongs
300 Main Street Suite 200 | Dubuque, IA 52001
563.557.9200 | www.dubuqueChamber.com

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Contents
3 // Cris Houlihan
Looking ahead towards our December YP
Luncheon presenter
5 // Shawn K. Woods
Reviewing the impact of our November YP
Luncheon presenter
8 // Thanksgiving with the YP Board
Find out where your YP Board Volunteers
12 // Upcoming Events
View a list of the upcoming YP events
13 // YP Sponsor Feature
Dutrac Community Credit Union
Page 13
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AT THE YP LUNCHEON ON DECEMBER 16
HIGH PERFORM
TO CULTIVATE GRIT
Cris Houlihan
with
Our December presenter is Cris Houlihan, VP, Transportation Group at Cottingham & Butler.
Cris will be presenting, "High-Performance Habits to Cultivate Grit."
Cris has been called a "rare breed" when it comes to personal development and committing
to high-performance habits. As a young leader and successful sales professional, Cris has
learned the value of creating good habits, building strong relationships, and adopting a positive
behavior to live a personally and professionally rewarding life. Cris found his passion for
sales during his college career at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). He competed in
regional and national sales competitions during his time at UNI, and furthermore, created the
college’s first sales competition for business students interested in learning and refining their
presentation and negotiation skills. His collegiate experiences led him to a career in insurance
at Cottingham & Butler, where he began as a sales intern, and currently serves as a Vice
President in the firm’s transportation division. Cris helps consult trucking companies across
the U.S on their risk and insurance programs and, through the help of an amazing team and
his passion for serving clients, has built a
book of business in the top 1% of the industry.
He attributes his success to understanding
and applying self-discipline early on in
life and committing himself to actions that
are results-driven.
Cris is a native of Hawaii, but has lived in
Iowa from a young age. He currently resides
in Dubuque, IA with his wife Kaylee, two
young daughters, Evelyn and Mila, and their
yellow lab, Lyla.

ANCE HABITS

Recapping last m

onth’s Luncheon
with Shawn K. Woods
Building Resilience in the
Midst of Chaos
Last month's luncheon with Shawn was a very interactive and
engaging zoom! When Shawn was in 10th grade, he was told
the best he could be was to get through high school and work
at the grocery store. Instead, he had resilience and looked for
alternatives, so he went and played football at Purdue. This led
to him becoming a police officer, then a hostage negotiator and
then a homicide detective. After a while, he decided he wanted
to get into the corporate world where he became an
entrepreneur, property owner, motivational speaker and
owned a private detective agency.

Recapping last month’s Luncheon with Shawn K. Wooods
The first thing we did on our YP luncheon call with
Shawn was a "Why are we here activity". He
encouraged the group the entire time to participate
in the chat and to unmute our zoom and
speak up! Here is why you said you were on the YP
Luncheon...
I want to find tools to be successful in uncertain
times
To come out of COVID stronger and more determined
Motivation!
To change and grow
When building your resilience, you must accept
change and to do so you must break away from
the same old thinking, so you stop getting the
same old results. Shawn’s grandma used to say
insanity is doing the same thing every day and
expecting results to be different. We need new
things, and we need to overcome them. At this
time, we were all asked to make a change, just a
simple change, sit a different way, take a shoe off,
curl your hair, just do something different in that
moment. Then Shawn asked, how did it feel to
make that change? You all said...
Different
Great!!
A little refreshing!!
Silly
Everyone has had to make lots of changes this
year, even Shawn has had to. Since March, he has
done 119 virtual sessions, completely different
than last year, but he engages, embraces and is
willing to accept the change. Change is good and
something to get excited about. The problem with
change is letting go, to let you go you must know
the 5 aspects of change.
Do something that is uncomfortable
Give up instead of gain
Overwhelming
Focusing on the wrong things
Quick reversion
It is not the change that does us in, it is the transition.
The challenge of being successful in anything
you do is dealing with pressure, external and
internal pressure. Within those challenges and
change comes pressure and stress. Stress is found
within personal, work and lifestyle. The causes of
stress are change, uncertainty, loss and fear. It is
up to you to manage and change these things
with a positive mindset. If we work towards being
positive the rest of our mind will follow, and we
will overcome those challenges and change. Being
able to manage change will help you become
more resilient. The keys to being resilient are...
Coping with stress
Building a support system
Healthy habits
Practice mindfulness
Shawn kept us interactive throughout the entire
luncheon and left us with great tools to take with
us as we move forward in our everyday life! If you
missed the luncheon you can still use one of
Shawns tools to help you identify your purpose,
which will help you find your resilience!
TOOL KIT

Thanksgiving Favorites
Our YP Board wanted to share with you their favorite Thanksgiving traditions and/or their
Thanksgiving Feast dishes!
Olivia Burger
Made festive beverages to go with her Thanksgiving
meal, Pumpkin Pie Martini and Bloody Mary's!
Whitney Sanger
Loves to decorate. From table settings to
Holiday Charcuterie Board, a
perfect display for her
Thanksgiving celebration!
Anna Johnson
Her favorite thing to
make for Thanksgiving is
traditional Apple Crisp!
First Group of Ingredients:
- 10 cups apples, peeled, cored, sliced
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup water
Second Group of Ingredients:
- 1 cup quick-cooking oats
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup butter, melted
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 pan.
Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon
flour, and ground cinnamon together,
and sprinkle over apples. Pour water
evenly over all.
- Combine the oats, 1 cup flour,
brown sugar, baking powder, baking
soda and melted butter together.
Crumble evenly over the apple
mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 min.

Thanksgiving
Every year we get together
with family – delicious food,
laughs, games, and good
drinks! I got promoted to
Aunt in May, so this was
Gavin’s first Thanksgiving -
during a pandemic and time
of uncertainty these little
turkeys bring so much joy!
Digger Kurt
Nicole MensenDigger Kurt spent his
Thanksgiving with his
wife and adorable kids!
Jacob Wierzbicki
It's a tradition to make Oreo Bites
on Thanksgiving. Try them out
with this recipe!
Ingredients:
- 1 package of regular Oreos
- 1 8oz package of cream cheese
- 1 package of Almond bark
Directions:
Crush whole package of Oreos and mix
with cream cheese, mix, and roll into balls,
chill in the refrigerator for one hour, dip into
white chocolate almond bark (melted),
drizzle (melted) chocolate almond bark on
top.
Taryn Kafer
I have been Vegan for about 3 years now, so my Thanksgiving
meal looks a little different! Instead of Turkey I
enjoyed a Roasted Vegetable Mashed Potato Bowl
(https://www.ilovevegan.com/roasted-vegan-thanksgiving-bowl/),
Vegan Green Bean Casserole (https://www.-
knowyourproduce.com/vegan-green-bean-casserole/),
Vegan Apple Cider Maple Glaze Cake (https://wellvegan.com/dessert/vegan-apple-cider-cake-with-maple-glaze)
and Apple Cider Sangria (https://oursaltykitchen.com/apple-cider-sangria/)!
Still getting the traditional holiday
meal and flavors just minus the meat, dairy, and eggs!

Favorites
Scott
McGuire
Enjoyed the outdoors
and fresh air on a hike
at Mines of Spain for
this year’s Thanksgiving
festivities!
Justin Gonner
Enjoyed
Thanksgiving
Day with his
pup and started
Christmas
decorating!
Kevin Meyers
Brock Renbarger
Spent Thanksgiving celebrating with his son on
his 1st Thanksgiving. He loved all the food he
got to eat! Nice relaxing day celebrating
with family!
I’ve overseen cutting the Thanksgiving turkey
since I was 12 years old. It came about as I
was trying to snack before the lunch. My
great-aunt grabbed me, told me to stop
snacking, and informed me that I’d be cutting
up the turkey for the year. She previously
always did it, but she was getting to the age
that she no longer wanted to tackle the
monumental task. At that time, this was a
huge turkey as my parents usually hosted 65
to 75 people for the holiday. I had no clue
what I was doing but got through it. The next
year I was not snacking before lunch, but my
great-aunt tracked me down to hand me the
knife. After that I’ve come to enjoy the tradition
and have been doing it ever since.

Thanksgiving Favorites
Nikki Bauer
Nikki Bauer
Consisted of good food and
family time! Stella enjoyed
her 1st Thanksgiving!
McKenzie Kline
Spends her
holiday
cookie
decorating
with family!
Margaret O'Reilly
Cooked her first Thanksgiving meal
this year and she hopes that she
never has to cook one again... In the
futured she plans to stick to buying
things! Thankful she only ended
with two battle wounds this year!
Wes Hartig
Our Thanksgiving tradition is to go bowling at Cherry Lanes on
Thanksgiving Day! Unfortunately, we won’t be going this year, but we
arranged a little DIY bowling at our house.

Upcoming
Events
Join us at one of our
upcoming virtual events
YP VIRTUAL LUNCHEON
Cris Houlihan
December 16
YP VIRTUAL LUNCHEON
TBA
January 20, 2021
YP VIRTUAL LUNCHEON
TBA
February 17, 2021

Check out this YP sponsor!
DuTrac Community Credit Union is a full-service financial
institution serving the tri-state area since 1946. DuTrac
offers competitive loan rates- whether you are in the
market for an auto loan or mortgage – DuTrac offers
some of the best rates around. DuTrac’s concern is your
financial well-being and making your financial goals and
dreams come true.
As a credit union, DuTrac Community Credit Union is a
not-for-profit cooperative that exists solely to serve its
member/owners rather than to maximize corporate
profits. Although credit unions earn a profit like any other
business, the profits are returned to the members in the
form of lower loan rates and higher deposit rates – unlike
a bank where profits go into the pockets of investors/stockholders.
When you become a DuTrac member,
you also become an owner. Like banks, credit unions
accept deposits, make loans, and provide a wide array of
other financial services. But as member-owned institutions,
credit unions focus on providing a safe place to
save and borrow at reasonable rates.

For more information on YP Dubuque please contact the Dubuque Area Chamber at
office@dubuquechamber.com or 563.557.9200.
Young Professionals Dubuque is a program of the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce