Cynthia D’Amour on Leadership and Life

   With five things about us.
Maddie Grant over at Socialfish tagged me for a round of the “Five things you don’t know about me” game.

It’s something bloggers do.
To help build relationships.
And spread a little link love.

Since she tagged me as Raindrop’s mom, I’m going share three things about me and two about Raindrop.
Here we go…
1. [...]

Filed under: Adventures of Raindrop, Getting More Members Involved | 4 Comments »

  
And the skunk won.
Raindrop here.
Thanksgiving is usually one of my favorite days - this year was a different story.
We started out at Grandma and Grandpa’s.

Lots of good food.
Got to play with my cousin Tootie.
Life was good.

Then we went over to Aunt Angie’s and Uncle Dave’s.

No other dogs or little kids.
I was the center of [...]

Filed under: Adventures of Raindrop, Savvy Leadership | 2 Comments »

   May be closer than you think.
With Thanksgiving less than 24 hours away, the holiday excitement is growing by leaps and bounds.

Facebook updates bubble with happy expectations.
The grocery stores are jam-packed.
The planes are stuffed to the gills.

And yet, according to Carol Kivler of Courageous Recovery, it’s important to remember holiday time is not happy time [...]

Filed under: Board challenges, Savvy Leadership | 2 Comments »

  I recently renewed my dues.
(You can guess with which association)
On Thursday afternoon, I got an email thanking me for renewing.

Form letter.
Links to a variety of “benefits”
Included my member number (which I never use)

On Friday, I got another email thanking me for renewing.

It gushed more - BUT did not use my name.
Urged use of “plethora of [...]

Filed under: Savvy Leadership | No Comments »

  Misconstrued.
Saturday morning I went to a Unversity of Michigan office to get my flu shot.
It was early - and I was not quite awake.

Waiting for my turn, my eyes toured the office walls.
I didn’t want to watch others get shots.
Plus, they had some interesting stuff.

I saw a bumper sticker saying “Washed Up and Proud of [...]

Filed under: Getting More Members Involved | No Comments »

   Raindrop here.
Mom has been spending too much time working.

Leaves me behind with Dad for days.
Makes me be quiet while she teaches online.
Lets the machine sit in her lap - instead of me!

Enough is enough.

She’s in Ann Arbor this weekend.
Dad is going to be at meetings both days.
She’s mine!

It’s time for a girls’ weekend.

Just me [...]

Filed under: Adventures of Raindrop, Savvy Leadership | No Comments »

  According to the news.
But I don’t want to buy it.

James and I have been there.
And got the t-shirts.
It’s not the space to find solutions.

Early in our business the ups and downs were rough.

We were learning the ropes.
We made some mistakes.
We teetered on the edge more than I would like to admit.

In the beginning we embraced [...]

Filed under: Board challenges | No Comments »

  I was totally shocked!
Hasn’t happened in a very, very long time - and wasn’t a professional call.
A woman called me wanting advice.

She heard me speak several years ago.
Thought I could help her out.
I took the call.

Seems she was booked to facilitate a chapter retreat.

Focus: Getting more members involved.
Issue: She doesn’t know a lot about [...]

Filed under: Getting More Members Involved, Savvy Leadership | 6 Comments »