Two Minutes with the District Governor
This Week’s Highlights
- Club Visits: This week's visits included Elizabethtown, Myerstown-ELCO, and Hummelstown - three more opportunities to see Rotary's impact in action.
- Leadership Challenge - Experiment Constantly: Change can be difficult, but Rotary's Action Plan challenges us to increase our ability to adapt. What's one thing your club could try (not forever), but long enough to see what you might learn?
- Coming Up: Hope to see you at RLI this weekend or Rotary Means Business at Dickinson College next Wednesday!
Hello, District 7390!
Another great week of club visits took me to the Rotary Clubs of Elizabethtown, Myerstown-ELCO, and Hummelstown. Thank you to each club for the wonderful welcome, the conversations, and the opportunity to see the different ways you are creating impact in your communities.
This week, I’ve also been thinking a lot about change. In my professional life outside of Rotary, I’ve been experiencing some of the adversity that can come when we try to do things differently. And I’ll admit—it has reminded me that change can be hard. Even when we believe a change can move an organization forward, not everyone is going to be ready for it at the same time. But that’s also where leadership comes in. Thinking back to our President-Elect Learning Seminar in February, I am reminded of the Savannah Bananas’ Five E’s of Leadership, especially Experiment Constantly.
Experiment doesn’t mean changing everything just for the sake of change. It means being willing to ask, “What if we tried this?” That feels very Rotarian-like right now. Our Action Plan challenges us to increase our ability to adapt. And adapting doesn’t always require
a massive strategic shift. Sometimes it means trying one new meeting format. A different kind of service project. Inviting people into Rotary in a new way. Or taking something we’ve always done and asking whether there might be another way to do it. An experiment doesn’t have to work perfectly to be worthwhile. We try. We learn. We adjust. And sometimes, we discover something better.
So this week, I’ll leave you with one question: What is one thing your club could experiment with? Not forever. Not because the old way was wrong. Just long enough to see what you might learn. And the next time someone in your professional life has a new idea, don’t hesitate to be the brave individual who says, “Let’s try it out,” because leadership isn’t always about having the new idea yourself. Sometimes it’s being the person willing to give someone else’s ideas a chance.
Have a great week, District 7390! I hope to see you at RLI this weekend or Rotary Means Business at Dickinson College next Wednesday!