Leadership Anchorage Recruiting

This is an unpaid recruiting ad that I'm putting up because I believe in the program and the people running it. Leadership Anchorage is run through the Alaska Humanities Forum. Its aim is to help groom people to take important roles in the community. I've known a number of people who have gone through the program. They mostly are working hard, many with families, even going to school part time - busy people.

But the chance to be in a group of interesting people, examine who you are, what you want to be, and develop strategies to get there makes taking even more time to participate in this program worth it.

Photo from Leadership Anchorage page on the Alaska Humanities Forum website. If you click there, you can read the names of the people in the picture. And a lot more about the program. Besides the people this year, some of the people who have gone through this over the year include:
Janie Leask, First Alaskans Institute
Nils Andreassen, Institute of the North
Liz Posey Urban League of Young Professionals
Bill Wielechowski, Alaska State Senate
Guadalupe Marroquin, Municipality of Anchorage (she works in the Clerk's Office and spared no effort to overcome my fax problems so I could vote in last April's Muni election from Thailand.)
Macon Roberts, Anchorage School Board
Angelina Estrada Burney, State of Alaska


I'll tell you not to be put off by the word Leadership. I have some real heartburn with that word and maybe I'll do a post on it. It doesn't mean you have to be ready to lead your army into battle on horseback. We lead in lots of different ways. Even shy, quiet people can be leaders. If you secretly want to do great things, here's your chance to get a big boost.

Disclosure: Jim MacKenzie, the director of the program, was a student of mine in the public administration program at UAA. (Some of my former students turned out ok.) He's really, really smart and thoughtful. He spent about ten years in Japan and speaks Japanese well enough to have acted as an interpreter for all sorts of business and political exchanges while working for the Anchorage Japanese Consul. (I had trouble communicating to Doug who speaks actual English English.) I promise you that the participants of this program do not work harder than Jim does.

So, if you ever thought that you should be doing more good work than you are now, or that you could use a group of eager peers to help you make Anchorage, Alaska, or the world a better place, go check out the rest of this post and the website.



Leadership Anchorage Now Accepting Applications!

Leadership Anchorage applications for the 2008-2009 class are now
available. As applications are received, interviews will be
scheduled, with the final application deadline being September 8,
2008. [The program year begins with an overnight retreat at the end
of September.

Leadership Anchorage is a nationally recognized, rigorous program for
adults. It is designed to expose the leaders of non-profit,
neighborhood, business, and ethnic organizations to the larger power
brokers of Anchorage and Alaska. After eleven years, more than two
hundred graduates, and recognition as one of the top civic leadership
programs in the country, the program continues to grow and expand its
reach. Program participants over nine months experience a two-day
retreat and nine rigorous, full-day sessions (mostly on Saturdays).
These sessions include speaker presentations from established leaders
in the community, readings in the humanities and on leadership as
well as group dynamic learning exercises designed to facilitate the
development of critical leadership skill sets.

The cornerstones of LA's curriculum are a one-on-one mentorship
program, and a civic service related group project designed to
address an expressed need in the community. The goal: more effective
community leadership with a wider and more diverse network of
connections.

Open to individuals who have already demonstrated a commitment to
their community, have already shown leadership skills, but who would
benefit from intensive leadership training. Anchorage residency is
not required. Diversity is crucial; there is no ceiling on age.

For further information, contact Jim MacKenzie at 272-5324 or
jmackenzie@akhf.org.

2008~2009 Program Links
http://www.akhf.org/programs/leadership/leadership_applications.html