By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com
Leadership and collaboration. Those two words were on the lips of almost every person in every corner of the Trillium Event Center during the State of the Vision Thursday night.
If everyone knows the message, then the leadership has been successful in instilling the purpose. When everyone comes together with the same message and same purpose, the collaboration can begin.
“You really need to have a challenging vision,” Mayor Thomas O’Leary of Galion said.
The mayor was present with a strong contingent from Galion, and their presence came in the form of a number of roles; just like the presence of many of the others in attendance. O’Leary stated that the city of Galion is an investor in the Crawford Partnership and exists as a member of the county as well. While the city is an investor in the literal, financial sense of the word; Galion, like all the communities of Crawford County, is an investor in this area simply because it exists here. It is of here, and as such has stock in this place.
Another entity that is both a literal and metaphorical investor, in both the community at-large and the Crawford Partnership project, is the Ohio Mutual Insurance Group. While they sent a large contingent, the point man for the evening was Todd Boyer.
Boyer was present as a spokesmen for Ohio Mutual, and as a member of the Crawford Partnership as a member of the Vision Committee. He referred to Ohio Mutual as an “early and significant investor,” in the project and has personally attended every State of the Vision event.
“It’s important that every individual and organization in the community feel a personal responsibility to take part in this project that was launched six years ago.” Boyer said.
While the evening was certainly meant to underscore and maintain focus on the vision, there was also a celebratory nature. Each of these events serves as a chance to look back on a year’s worth of hard work and honor those who have provided exceptional service.
“This really is a celebration of the leadership and where we are,” said Steve Crall, Community Development Director for the Crawford Partnership.
As such, a number of awards were handed out. Along with Crall, Gary Frankhouse, who is the Economic Development Director for the Crawford Partnership, handed out the awards. In all, five awards were handed out, with honors going to the emerging leader of the year, the persevering leader of the year, the business (organization) of the year, the action team of the year, and the action team leader of the year.
The winners were Justin McMullen for Emerging Leader, Steve Mohr for Persevering Leader, Ohio Mutual for Business of the Year, the Quality of Life Team for Action Team of the Year, and Debbi Gifford for Action Team Leader of the Year.
The keynote speaker was Jeremie Kubicek, who is an author and motivational speaker on the subject of leadership. He had been with the Crawford Partnership at a number of events throughout the day and provided his insight at each one.
“It is fun for me to go to community leaders and charge and encourage them,” Kubicek declared.
His speech centered around three main points. First, bet on leadership to be a game changer. Second, understand inhibition and how it can keep you from fulfilling your life’s goals. Third, be intentional. Find out what it looks like to lead an intentional life.
An event like this one can never come together without the two things that were the theme for the whole evening: collaboration and leadership. It was evident from the top down that those two things have been instilled at every level of this organization and the night was a fitting validation of their work.
RELATED CONTENT: Leadercast creator discusses leadership at Hord Farms