Philipsburg:--- Participants who attended the Chick-fil-A Leadercast at the Sonesta Great Bay Resort on Friday May 10th, left motivated and inspired to "Simply Lead;" the theme of the conference. Chick-fil-A® Leadercast® is a one-day leader development event broadcast live from Atlanta, Georgia to hundreds of sites throughout the world. St. Maarten became one of the sites for the first time this year, thanks to the foresight of Victorious Living Foundation which purposes to enlighten, empower and reconcile communities.
The attendees at Friday's event were drawn from a wide cross-section of society including business, the clergy, education, health care and Government, among other sectors. Participants followed the presentations of world-renown speakers on leadership streamed live and projected on a large screen in one of the conference rooms at Sonesta Great Bay Resort.
Among the star-studded Leadercast were: Andy Stanley, Best Selling leadership author and communicator; Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO of General Electric; Mike Krzyzewski, Head men's basketball coach, Duke University and Team USA, John Maxwell, bestselling author and leadership expert, Dr. Henry Cloud, best-selling author and leadership consultant, LCDR Rorke Denver, Navy SEAL and star of the 2012 movie Act of Valor; Sanya Richards-Ross, 2012 London Olympic gold medallist, track & field; David Allen, Best-selling author of Getting Things Done and productivity expert, and Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State (2005-2009), via exclusive Simply Lead video interview.
In his powerful presentation, Andy Stanley shared and elaborated on three pivotal questions that each leader should ask in order to be effective: "What am I doing?" "Why am doing it?" and, "How do I fit in?" His presentation was the first for the leadercast and was well received by the gathering. David Allen highlighted the importance of maintaining calm in the midst of chaos as a key trait to leadership. Mike Krzyzewski used his experiences as head coach of Team USA dealing with superstar basketball players as lessons that can be applied in leadership in any organisation.
Sanya Richards-Ross was interviewed by veteran sports anchor Linda Cohn of ESPN. She spoke mainly on how to be successful in the midst of distractions; the challenges she faced as a professional athlete on the road to success, the support of her family and the need to have a vision board: setting goals and working assiduously in achieving them. Most of the participants seemed impressed with the presentation of John Maxwell, who spoke on the topic "Simplicity in leadership."
The Leadercast was not just about the overseas speakers. Representatives of the St. Maarten Youth parliament were given the opportunity to present their 30 year vision for St. Maarten. The group highlighted some of the issues as they see it that are paramount to St. Maarten including having more and improved recreational facilities; hypocrisy among social leaders; more accountability from politicians; more support for entrepreneurs; and leadership among employees. They also presented their views of St. Maarten currently which include political instability, a booming economy and the environment under threat.
President of the St. Maarten Youth Parliament Rochana Richardson, after the Leadercast, said the event was very informative and useful and believes principles learnt can be applied to leadership of the Youth Parliament. The Youth Parliament's presentations were well received with rousing applause from the audience. The attendees also concurred with some of the issues raised by the youth and expressed concern that their findings were seemingly ignored by the current St. Maarten parliamentarians.
Okama Brook, from the Department of General Affairs gave a brief presentation on the National Plan for St. Maarten. "An exercise we have embarked on in the last two months is actually developing a framework; a methodology that we can use to capture your feedback of what the priorities should be that should go into a national vision—a national vision that would transform into a long term plan," Ms. Brooks told the Leadercast gathering.
Visionary of the Victorious Living Foundation, Dr. Nicole Erna Mae Francis was pleased with the outcome of the Chick-Fil-A- Leadercast, despite the challenges endured in the planning phase. "The response was phenomenal. I have been promoting quite a bit for the past two and half months and to some extent I didn't really know what to expect. I went on pure faith and trust that it was the right thing to do at the right time," Francis said. She noted that the event proved to be appropriate in addressing the leadership challenges in St. Maarten, considering the current political situation in St. Maarten.
She also believes that the leadership transformation necessary for St. Maarten has begun with the successful staging of this event. "I sat back many times during the session and observed the faces of the people who have come from a wide cross section of the community. I looked at their faces and saw the transformation that was taking place. I saw what was happening internally and all the hassle and the entire struggle that I had to go through to make it happen, was fulfilling for me at that juncture," explained Francis. She assured that the event will be held next year and already participants have indicated their intentions to support when held again on May 9th, 2014.
Representatives of the contributors to the event were also present with display tables, namely: the St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce, A Platinum contributor and Dartam N.V., a silver contributor. Dartam N.V. operates several companies and provides a myriad of services, including customer service. Representatives of the company found the Leadercast very useful as they see leadership as a vital tool in customer service.
Victorious Living is grateful to all of its contributors, especially to its main contributor to the event, the Government of St. Maarten under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism & Economic Affairs. Thanks are also extended to UTS for providing the streaming, WTN, Cable TV, Sonesta Great Bay, PJD2, Sheer Restaurant, Li'l Man Productions, and all others who supported in one way or the other. Persons interested in learning more about Victorious Living may call them at 1721-524-8731 or visit them at www.victoriouslivingsxm.org.