Cynthia D’Amour on Leadership and Life

   Need help!
I’ve been traveling for 12 years.

Regularly bee-bopping across the country to speak at leadership conferences.
But never more than a three-hour time zone difference.

Last week I quickly flipped my body clock the five hours difference to Hawaii Time.

I stayed up late.
Often laughing about going to bed after the time I would normally get up.
“Piece of cake!” [...]

Filed under: Savvy Leadership | No Comments »

  Time to come home.
I spent the last week in Hawaii doing some professional development.

Heard from top speakers in their area.
Including Robert Bradford - THE strategic planner for mid-sized companies.
And Kirstin Carey - sales and marketing expert for creative entreprenuers who want to grow their businesses.

Had several adventures.

From seeing one of the prettiest beaches in the world.
To leaning into the delightful [...]

Filed under: Board challenges, Savvy Leadership | No Comments »

    Kept me on my toes!
The last 24 hours saw some of the fiercest storms Honolulu has seen in a while.
I woke up very early to:

No electricity.
No water.
Storms raging.

It put me in a bit of a panic.

My cell phone was dead.
I had no bottled water in the room.
And no food.

Did I also mention I was on the [...]

Filed under: Savvy Leadership | No Comments »

   This is it?
I’m still in Hawaii at the seminar.
Yesterday we went to lunch as a group.

A local guy offered to pick the restaurant.
We loaded in the car.
Drove all over Honolulu.

Pulled up to a place called Zippy’s.

Zippy’s???
It looked like a well-worn diner.
Generic food here we come.

I was even less excited as we walked to our [...]

Filed under: Savvy Leadership | No Comments »

  Joke was on me.
I’ve always heard Hawaii described as a slice of paradise.
I think I got off at the wrong airport when I arrived last night.

I didn’t get lei’d by anyone.
The traffic was outrageous.
My hotel felt like Las Vegas on mini-steroids.

Talk about feeling disappointed!
This morning was not any better.

My body was screaming about time [...]

Filed under: Board challenges | 2 Comments »

  And I don’t like it.
It’s Raindrop and I’m frustrated tonight.
They are ignoring me - I don’t get it.

Dad is hustling.
Mom looks tired.
What’s going on???

It doesn’t feel normal.

I can’t figure it out.
Do I need to worry?
Can you help me?

Who the heck is Hawaii?!
As Mom always says, makes me think of chapter leaders…do you realize your actions [...]

Filed under: Adventures of Raindrop, Getting More Members Involved | No Comments »

  On three sides of a truck.
I’ve seen trucks with advertisements on them for years.
In Ann Arbor, there’s a billboard truck.

It has a billboard in the back.
They drive around on busy days.

Tonight in Toledo, I saw a truck with fancy billboards.

They were surrounded by lights.
As if on a movie marquee.
And then the picture rolled - [...]

Filed under: Board challenges | No Comments »

 In the moment I was honest.
I feel sort of goofy about my rant last night.

The feelings were real.
The perspective was off.
There are worse things in the world than only getting half of one’s leftovers.

I’m not totally sure what ticked me off.

I had had a nice day.
I’m usually pretty laid back.
Something did though.

Major lesson from the [...]

Filed under: Board challenges, Savvy Leadership | No Comments »