Brad Lindemann, President/CEO

Hands down, the best leadership training value on the planet is produced every year by the Willow Creek Association in Barrington, Illinois. The Leadership Summit is broadcast live via satellite to over 100,000 leaders around the world, including the Ambassador Solutions Leadership Team. We will be attending this two day event on August 7 and 8 at one of the local broadcast sites, Grace Community Church in Noblesville, Indiana.

I love the theme of this year's Summit - Lead Where You Are. The Bible identifies leadership as a spiritual gift from God (Romans 12:3-8) While only a chosen few may have the true gift of leadership, opportunities abound for anyone willing to cultivate the skills required to lead effectively. The Leadership Summit is a veritable showcase of world-renown leaders sharing their knowledge and experience in an upbeat and inspirational setting. If you're thinking about passing up this incredible opportunity, I urge you to reconsider, lest this Chinese Proverb apply to you:

"If you think you are a leader and nobody is following, then you are merely taking a walk."

Throughout The Summit, you will not only receive leadership training with immediate take-away value, you will also be thoroughly entertained and inspired by top-notch performers and human interest stories from around the world The combination makes for the perfect balance of perspiration and inspiration When it's over, you will have both the knowledge and the motivation to become a better leader…perhaps even a great one.

Last year, my favorite presenter was Marcus Buckingham, author of Now, Discover Your Strengths. This book addresses what Buckingham has identified as a universal problem of pandemic proportions:

Unfortunately, most of us have little sense of our talents and strengths, much less the ability to build our lives around them. Instead, guided by our parents, by our teachers, by our managers, and by psychology's fascination with pathology, we become experts in our weaknesses and spend our lives trying to repair these flaws, while our strengths lie dormant and neglected.

Buckingham and his partner have created a revolutionary program to help people identify their talents, build them into strengths, and enjoy consistent, near-perfect performance Like most things profound, it's really quite simple - build upon your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses His combination of insightful research and British humor make Marcus Buckingham one of the all-time favorite presenters at The Summit. See video clip.

This year, I'm really looking forward to hearing from Wendy Kopp, Founder/CEO of Teach For America, and Chuck Colson, Founder/Chairman of Prison Fellowship Ministries These two outstanding leaders have taken on two of the most daunting challenges facing our country today - the declining quality of education and the overcrowding of our prisons. Who would you enjoy hearing from at this year's Leadership Summit? Get online now to find your favorite presenters and register. To find out if you're eligible for the Ambassador Solutions' discount, contact Krista Knab. The Ambassador Leadership Team looks forward to sharing this great leadership development experience with you.

Krista Knab, Marketing Coordinator

May 7^th marked the third event in the Ambassador Solutions' Leadership Development Series. Our first two events were very well-received by all who attended. The first featured Darwin John, CIO at the FBI, and the second featured Dan Snively, a renowned Executive Leadership Coach. For the third event, we decided to change the format slightly and this decision proved to be extremely effective.

To kick off the event, we incorporated a highly esteemed Ambassador tradition - Omelet Day. Traditionally, this involves our very own Chef Lindy (aka Brad Lindemann, President & CEO) adorned in his orange apron and cooking made-to-order omelets for his employees and clients in the kitchen of the Ambassador office. On May 7^th, we put Chef Lindy to the test and he emerged successful. Alongside Christine Burrell of The Indy Gourmet, Brad served his famous omelets for the attendees of our Leadership Development event at the Barnes & Thornburg conference center. After everyone was well fed, we moved into the true highlight of the event, our keynote presenters from AIT Laboratories.

In another deviation from our standard format, we featured three speakers rather than just one. This allowed our attendees to hear three different voices within the organization speak on the topic of leadership. The first speaker was Dr. Michael Evans, Founder, President & CEO of AIT Laboratories. Dr. Evans spoke about how the CEO is the “keeper of the culture” and discussed how he has used this mindset to grow a tremendously successful company which offers very unique employee benefits. The second speaker was Dr. Andrea Terrell, Chief Scientific Officer of AIT Laboratories. Dr. Terrell discussed her transition from a scientist to a corporate leader through which she came to understand the importance of knowing her own learning and leadership style along with the styles of her teammates. The third speaker was Dr. Ron Thieme, VP and CIO of AIT Laboratories. Dr. Thieme offered his personal leadership principles and pet peeves while also delivering advice for technology leaders. Finally, the event concluded with a panel discussion which allowed the audience to ask questions of any of the presenters.

From the first omelet served to the last question asked, our most recent edition of The Leadership Development Series was a hit. We look forward to holding the next event in the fall.

If you would like to receive an overview of the presenters' key points, please contact me.

Here are a few articles you may find interesting. Please feel free to contact us if you come across an article you would like us to share.

Secrets of Successful IT Teams: Socially Connected Employees
By Brad Johnson, CIO.com
May 9, 2008

Successful IT management requires leaders to understand the strengths, weaknesses and connections of the people on their team. A software developer tells how his former boss used social network analysis tools to identify rising stars and strengthen his bench.

How to Develop the Next Generation of IT Leaders
By Michael Fitzgerald, CIO.com
May 2, 2008

Retirement, outsourcing and a tight talent supply are thinning IT's leadership ranks. CIOs talk about the problem and share tactics for growing tomorrow's leaders.

With Microsoft, OLPC may finally succeed
By David Kirkpatrick, Fortune Magazine
May 15, 2008

The software giant puts Windows on the "$100 laptop" (which costs about $200) and gives the program new life.