A local community-building initiative had me sold right from the start, as its name consists of two words — lead and Michiana — that mean a lot to me.

Those two arrangements of letters resonate personally because one is the root word of our newspaper company that is working hard to live up to its moniker, and the other describes the region I have fallen in love with and have come to call home.

Lead Michiana, the brainchild of Granger’s Justin Maust, is a half-day personal development seminar from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. May 22 at the Century Center in South Bend. It was created to expose locals to the best leaders and most successful thinkers from around the country. The theme is “Live Courageous and Inspire Greatness.”

“Our nation needs leaders to do more than create great vision statements and hang them on the wall.  We need these leaders in the boxing ring, helping people thrive, mentoring, coaching and getting focused on doing and being their vision versus just saying it,” Maust said. “In a world of ‘selfies’ and ‘Instagram’ and ‘instatweets,’we need people to live their passion instead of talk about it. That’s what moves people. ‘Live Courageous and Inspire Greatness’ is more about a call to action and a call to focus on those things that matter most.”

The keynote presenter is Dr. John Maxwell, an author, pastor and world-renowned leadership trainer. He will focus on “Reaching the Pinnacle: The 5 Levels of Leadership.”

The rest of the slate stand out as well.

It includes respected experts who will LEAD the following sessions: “Success Is Not an Accident: Divide, Conquer & Focus” by best-selling author Tommy Newberry; “Finding Courage through Purpose & Intentional Living” by Louis Upkins, of the organization Well Placed Smile; “Inspiring Others: The Multiplier Effect” by Elise Foster, of Leadership Potential Consulting and “Pick Your Head Up! Live With Courage & Greatness,” by Maust and his company Leader Legacy, Inc.

It’s not too late to get a ticket or learn more about the event at leadmichiana.com.

Why do I think this is so important? Because leading people — or a community — is an easy thing to talk about, but it is a much more difficult thing to do.

Leadership starts with having a vision but must be supported by communication, action and integrity, just to name a few.

As a newspaper we feel it is our responsibility to be a community leader. The fact it is in our name makes this doubly important. As Maust put it, our goal when it comes to our audience should be to “challenge them, lift them, encourage them to think bigger than themselves.”

I couldn’t agree more.

I love quotes by people who are much smarter than me and you won’t find a better topic than leadership. Perhaps none resonate more than U.S. President John Quincy Adams’ words.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

Similarly, legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi said, “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”

That work starts with learning from the best and is at the heart of what Lead Michiana hopes to accomplish.

 

Michael Caldwell is the publisher of Leader Publications LLC. He can be reached at (269) 687-7700 or by email at mike.caldwell@leaderpub.com.