Partnerships Create Community Impact

Written by:  Becky Robinson, Mike Henry & Chery Gegelman

This is the story of how a few people with a big vision are making a difference for the city of Tulsa.

It’s a story about partnerships, sharing resources, and making a difference for workers and leaders.

It started with Mike Henry, whose vision of bringing leaders together locally led him to form Lead Change Tulsa.

About Lead Change Tulsa, Mike writes,

“We're a community of small employers and individuals interested in growing ourselves and others through a leadership dialogue.  We started through social media as just a group of people who were using social media to talk about leadership.”

Today the Lead Change Group is a non-profit organization that provides opportunities to connect people across the globe and in specific communities like Tulsa, to dialog, to collaborate, and to learn from each other.  Each time leaders connect, people benefit:

• Someone realizes the need to take more responsibility. 
• Others understand that they're not alone. 
• Still others appreciate the effort of growing as a leader and they appreciate the need to simply need to press on. 

Some of those connections led to a conversation between Mike and Kevin Eikenberry, the author of From Bud to Boss: Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership, about bringing the Bud to Boss Workshop to Tulsa as a premiere leadership training event.

Once Mike and Kevin scheduled the event, Mike recruited a team of people from Lead Change Tulsa to promote and publicize the event.

And that’s when the magic started. The team began to dream.

• What if… the event could be about more than valuable training?
• What if…the event could raise awareness about the need for quality training to build a stronger workforce?
• What if… the event could be an opportunity to channel funds to organizations that can use the money to make a bigger difference for workers in Tulsa?

To that end, Lead Change Tulsa  connected Workforce Tulsa, Choose Tulsa Jobs, and  four local businesses (Crossroads Communications, Teri Aulph Consulting, Visiting Angels of Green Country and Giana Consulting) to promote the Bud to Boss event, coming to Tulsa October 24-25. Through a special affiliate arrangement with The Kevin Eikenberry Group, 10 % of every event registration will be donated to Lead Change Tulsa and 20% will be donated to Workforce Tulsa to benefit GreaterTulsa.

Together this group is:

• Providing a much needed training opportunity to the business community, featuring a best-selling author, at a low cost.
• Raising funds that will benefit local employers and businesses through Workforce Tulsa and the Lead Change Group.
• Evidencing how partnerships can stretch resources and maximize results for everyone involved.

“Isolating leaders weakens our entire region.  Connecting and collaborating as leaders, for the purpose of creating a better community, strengthens everyone.”  Mike Henry

Would you like to be a part of this story? Find out about the Tulsa Bud to Boss event and how you can attend or get involved here. To find out how to bring the Bud to Boss event to your city to benefit local business or workforce organizations, email Becky.

Photo © gehringj via iStockPhoto