LifeLeader 360

David George speaks at the 2022 CLP graduation about his experince in the Business Leadership Program

Cary Dunston So, I encourage you. It is a great course. I am a little biased. We have one coming up in September. Several folks in this room attended and we are lucky enough to have a graduate who will talk about the course. David told me I am trusting because I have no idea what he is going to say, so I am going to introduce him as one of the brightest individuals I have ever met in my life. He is a star student. I highly encourage you to get to know him. So, with that, David do you want to come up?

David George This is funny. Vanessa sent me an email a couple of weeks ago and said would you speak about this course? Sure, no problem. Cary says “Hey, I appreciate you doing that.” Never once did they ask what I was going to say. I am David George, a credit officer for the Bank of Clarke County here in Winchester and Northern Virginia. I will share a little bit of my story regarding the Business Leadership Program. Early in January, my Executive Vice President calls me into his room and says “Hey, the Chamber is putting on this business leadership/management program.” We would like to support the Chamber and send somebody to this. Would you like to go? Here is some information. Let me know tomorrow. All right...

Let me give you a background of my leadership experience. I was eight years in the Winchester Army National Guard. Started off as a private. By the time I was done, I was a First Lieutenant. I had a little bit of leadership experience there. In my civilian career, I am 25 years in the financial services industry, starting off in an entry-level position before transitioning to several management and upper-management level positions. So, you know, I am thinking one day a week, the next four weeks…

I am not really feeling it.

Do I really need another? “You are off to a good start,” Cary remarks from the side of the room. I have been to so many seminars. Being honest. So many seminars and courses. I have attended them. I have led some. I have been in the leader groups. So, I go back into my Executive Vice President’s office, and I say, “YES SIR! I would love the opportunity to attend this class.”

So fast forward through this whole program and I am here to tell you. I was wrong, way wrong, not even in the same vicinity of being right. this program was unreal. Like nothing I had ever experienced before.

New concepts, thought processes, innovative ideas. It is upper-level stuff, but it was phenomenal. Mental models, leaps of abstraction, ladder of inference, emotional intelligence, life buckets, leadership styles, positional versus personal, the importance of your story, the importance of everybody’s story, and I am just touching on a little of it. It was fantastic.

The course has business and personal aspects to it. How you relate to people at your job, how you relate to your spouse, how you relate to your children, how you relate to your fellow employees, self-improvement.

I truly, truly am thankful that I took this course. You have no idea.

Never stop learning, never think you know it all. I did not think I knew it all, but I thought I knew enough. Wrong.

I recommended it to my HR Department. I recommended it to the president of our bank. I would certainly recommend it to you if you have the opportunity.

It was phenomenal. Apply now at regionalchamber.biz