Understanding
Weekly Update 11/13 to 11/19 #147
What is your understanding of the topic? Before I expand on this though, let me share some of my recent week as mayor of the best smalltown in America.
Even without the weather cooperating, the Great American Smokeout, or Breathin’ For a Reason, happened on the third Thursday in November. The event is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, and the local organizer this year was Tyler Henkle. The event is designed to help encourage smokers to kick the habit for good. About one in five deaths in America are caused by smoking. Thank you, Tyler, for your work educating the community.
This week, the Oktoberfest Committee provided lunch for the crews who worked setup and clean up at the 2022 festival. This was a thank you for all the hard work they put in. Thank you to the committee for showing your appreciation to our crews.
I had a chance to speak at the Global Leadership Summit Next Gen event. This event was a chance for area young adults, eighth to 12th grade, to improve their leadership knowledge and prepare for the future. As I listened to speakers, I couldn’t help but think about the benefit that events like this could have on the future of our community. Hearing a positive message early on and expanding the message of possibilities is wonderful for the next generation. Thank you to everyone involved in bringing this event to Seymour and thank you to The Point for hosting.
Back to thinking about our understanding. As I prepared to speak at GLS Next Gen, I found myself narrowing down a list of words to discuss and looking for a way to put them together. I decided to use a word puzzle and have some fill-in-the-blank fun. One of the words I chose was understanding, and as I worked, I found an article discussing how our understanding affects our view on the topic. As I told the participants, when we don’t understand something we should want to learn more. Talk to those who know about a topic. Often, we have many around us that might have more knowledge. For example, this week someone asked a question about road selection when it comes to paving. During a brief discussion, I was able to share how we have used a rating system since 2014 to help put data to our selections for road repairs. I was able to explain funding sources and the timelines that go with them. For example, a Crossroads Community Matching Grant is typically wrapped up in less than 18 months from being awarded. A Federal Aid project, on the other hand, is 60 months from award to completion. This means that even though we receive more funding for our match dollars, we have a longer timeline before we get the project done. While having more understanding may not help when you want something fixed right now, it does help us understand why it may take longer. As I have used learning to help improve our understanding, I will connect it to the overall message of the GLS Next Gen by sharing a quote that President John F. Kennedy was prepared to deliver on the night of his death. “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” If we are to understand, we must learn. If we are to lead, we must also learn. Keep learning and keep working on your understanding of the world around you to become the best leader that you can be.