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earlier this week the Kansas Leadership Center hosted an open house in its new
home in downtown Wichita
as part of our continuing partnership with Fidelity Bank we focus now on an
individual and an organization
dedicated to moving this community bravely onward
Ed O'Malley is the president and the CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center
we learned over the years is that leadership is a really trendy subject
people like to talk about it and its really easy to create
nice little conversations about it it's a different thing to create an
environment where people can learn leadership
actually learn how to engage differently with others that's what we try to do here and
it's hard really hard
at the core the Kansas leadership center are leadership principles
beliefs that
leadership is an activity not a position and that
anyone can lead anytime anywhere we need people
in certain roles and positions in organizations in the community
but we need people to understand is that there is a difference
between leadership and simply having a role
and we all know it right there are sometimes we say gosh I wish those
people in those positions would
would exercise a little more leadership so people know there's a difference but
we need people to understand that more
leadership is an activity it's something that happens and specifically it's about
engaging with other people
to work on tough problems in 2007 the Kansas Health Foundation created the
Kansas Leadership Center
with an initial investment of ten million dollars
the KLC has been at work long enough now to see some success
and even a measurement. We can measure a lot of success in terms of how
individuals
take in these ideas and how they change their behaviors
based on their experience we've done a lot to measure that I'll tell ya the harder thing to
measure is
the impact on the state and this is a long-term game we're after here
our belief is we do our job really really well
over 10 15 20 years and beyond
Kansas will be stronger, it will be healthier, and it will be more prosperous
because of this investment leadership just like companies invest in building
their leadership talent
it's the same thing here. In today's impatient culture there is so often a
demand for immediate results
O'Malley says the need for more and better leadership is urgent but
it takes time to produce. Leadership development or or leadership training i
think is really one of those things that
is vitally important for a company
for an organization for a state but it might never feel
urgent it might be one of those things that might not feel
urgent we think it is urgent we think it's vitally important
and we're proud to help more people think about how to increase their own
leadership capacity
we're thankful for the investment for plunder and helping allow that
opportunity to happen
the Kansas Help Foundation our funder, because it is one of those things that if you
neglect to build the leadership capacity in your company
for your community the future doesn't look bright
we're looking here now we've got a lot of effort in Kansas to build the
leadership capacity of the state we think it will pay off
in time. The old proverb admonishes us that too many cooks can spoil the broth
but O'Malley says kansans need to be ready and willing to step forward
when they encounter problems and come to the realization that
I may be the somebody who needs to do something about it. We need many more
Kansans
believing that they have a part to play
in mobilizing their neighborhood their church their organizations their
companies their families
their community to make progress on our toughest challenges
what we find is that most Kansans wanna assume it's somebody else's job
to solve those tough wicket problems like education or water resources or
the environment or building a better economy
we need more Kansans involved in making progress in those tough issues and not
assume somebody else can do it
some say leaders are born others say they're made
O'Malley believes everyone can benefit from leadership training. What happens is so
often
the the formal leadership training is reserved for a hand
full of students and high school or
college to your student body president or something like that and
that was certainly never me
I think we need to make the opportunity available for everyone
whether you're an adult or student to learn about how do you best work with
others
to mobilize people to make progress on tough challenges that's something that we
all need to learn
perhaps right now the biggest cry for leadership is focused on Washington DC
but O'Malley suggested many solutions to really tough challenges
can be found right here at home. Those big messy challenges
that we read about taking place in Washington DC
the symptoms are those challenges are alive and well right here in Wichita
Kansas
or any place in Kansas you can work on those challenges here
and the temptation is to want the united states senators
or the congressman or the CEOs of those big banks
or whatever it might be to take care of those problems and solve them there
we believe leadership for the common good means we all have to take some
responsibility
and figure out what we can do here whether it's growing jobs
engaging across different types and groups in the community
we can do it here in for example there's no reason big green
about how
factionalized congress' if we are just as factionalized here in our own
community
so we can engage across those groups here in wichita in our neighborhood
just like we want them to do more of out there in washington. The leadership
centers new building at 325 East Douglas includes a 200-seat auditorium and many
conference and meeting rooms
the building adjacent to the Kansas Health Foundation has been part of the
plan
from the beginning. We think of this as a living room for the state of Kansas
a place where kansans can come together dialogue together
maybe even debate some of the issues an- discover ways forward
discover what it looks like to make progress on tough issues
There's not another place that I know of in Kansas
where people can come together on common ground to work for the common
good
that's what this building is and we're sure excited to begin holding more more
events here
introducing the space to more more Kansans. The thing that keeps Ed O'Malley
most excited about the work at the Kansas Leadership Center
he is his confidence that the center can be successful in transforming civic
culture in this state
to make progress on some really tough challenges
I have been doing this long enough to believe it's possible it's gonna take
some time
It's going to take a lot more people to be involved but it can happen
we're getting attention from other states
because they're beginning to see something happening in Kansas that they
want to happen in their state
so we have a long way to go but I'm I'm excited because I believe it can happen
and with the with the living room up like this
for Kansans to come together in I think it can happen quicker
on one hand it's just a building on the other hand it's a very special place for
Kansans to come together on common ground for the common good
and that's exciting