Building Communities for Tomorrow article on community development by motivational speaker and leadership development expert Pam Shipp. Support citizen participation and explore structural change to ensure community sustainability through group facilitation, executive coaching, program design, event planning.

A few weeks ago, I had lunch with an enthusiastic young man. We talked about The Colorado Springs Preparatory School, a new charter school he co-founded that is opening this fall…

Her hair often has a pixieish swish, a flip that reminds me somehow of Doris Day. There is a sweetness to her disposition, too. But you shouldn’t mistake that easy smile for weakness. I’ve seen her wade fearlessly into group situations – she works almost exclusively with non-profits – where emotions are on edge and nearly everyone else is ducking for cover. Everyone except for Pam Shipp.

In an increasingly competitive business environment, the ability of organizations and their leaders to recognize and employ every available advantage is critical to success. Leaders often confine their attempts to gain a competitive advantage to the obvious nuts-and-bolts areas: product design, manufacturing, technology, marketing, distribution, customer service, and so forth.