President's Perspective

Our leadership retreat was held in Oxford, Ohio at Miami University – the Cradle of Coaches.

The 2-day event was action packed with learning opportunities. After proper introductions done through a cheering tunnel of fans, we turned our attention to the 10 Commandments of Leadership lead by nationally acclaimed speaker Mike Frank. Time and space preclude me from providing a thorough recap of his presentation. However, if you take a moment to think about the following ‘10 Commandments’, they really do speak for themselves (see side bar.)

As leaders, we will incorporate these thoughts into our practice throughout the year.

The vital importance of CORPAC - our Central Ohio Realtors® Political Action Committee – was discussed. As last year’s championship team (the 2002 CORPAC committee under Co-Chairs Lynne Wittman and Jim Coridan) set a new record and exceeded $100,000, this year’s committee, under Co-Chairs Bob McCarthy and Chuck Johnson know they have a tough season ahead. Although I can’t share their game strategy, know that they have already developed some pretty amazing secret trick plays and will showcasing them as the season unfolds.

Although your CORPAC team will be doing the work, we fans must support their efforts through our attendance at the games (auction and golf outing). THEIR VICTORY IS OUR VICTORY!

After a brief time out, our CEO Larry Metzger, spent some time addressing how we can avoid penalties (antitrust). Please be aware that conversations about commission and many personal business practices on CBR property and at any CBR function can pose a liability to the entire organization. Help us keep our record clean this year by keeping those types of conversations private among your own company teammates.

Our day’s practice concluded with a Pep Rally whereby our ‘Rookie’ attendees were required to be waiters and waitresses for the ‘veterans’. No, that’s not hazing – just a little fun!

The next day we broke into groups and discussed committee objectives. After the brainstorming session, all Chairs shared with the group a little about their committee purpose and what we can expect to see on the field this year. The purpose of these explanations was so that ‘the left hand knows what the right hand is doing’. Not only is this critical for the Directors whose governance responsibilities include overseeing all committee activity, but it helps our committees to work as a team to support one another and work together on projects when the opportunity arises.

Your committee chairs are well underway in planning some improvements to established plays (projects/programs) as well as some new and exciting areas of attack. Those of you on committees will be making the final ‘cuts’ during your first few committee meetings.

We ended our coaching clinic with recent College Hall of Fame Honoree and former OSU Coach, the legendary Earl Bruce. His unique and rousing ‘pre-game’ fired everyone up for the season ahead!