W.A.C.E.'s Chamber Leadership Podcast

In this week’s episode Dave Kilby is joined by Leron Gubler, Life Member of W.A.C.E., to discuss his new book “The Walk of Dreams: Finding Fame in Hollywood (or Wherever Life Leads).” Gubler shares key messages from his book, suggestions for success and lessons learned throughout his 40+ year career in the chamber industry. 

A common denominator found amongst successful chambers is excellent leaders on their board of directors. This week Dave Kilby, president of W.A.C.E., discusses the ideal traits your nominating committee should seek out when deciding who will be on your board. Making sure you have the right team to get things done is critical to your chamber soaring to success.

Are you frustrated with your board? Are they frustrated with you? On this week’s episode Dave Kilby is joined by Hardy Smith, consultant, speaker and author of ‘Stop the Nonprofit Board Blame Game: How to Break the Cycle of Frustrating Relationships and Benefit from Fully Engaged Boards’. Hardy addresses the question “Why don’t board members do what they are supposed to do?” from the perspective of the board members themselves. Learn more about how to improve the relationship between staff and volunteer leaders now.

In this week’s episode Dave Kilby speaks with Mike Varney, a 23 year chamber executive and industry icon. Inspired by the leadership of Colin Powell Mike shares insight and 5 lessons from ‘The Powell Principles’ by Oren Harari and discusses how they apply to chambers of commerce.  

While pondering Charles Dickens ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ Dave Kilby, president of W.A.C.E., was inspired to ask Chamber executives and industry professionals about their outlook for 2022. Hear some of their responses offering optimism and inspiration with a bit of a reality check.

In this episode Dave Kilby, President of W.A.C.E., shares a message from author and speaker Greg Mckeown about the importance of designing time to escape. With the evaporation of boundaries and 24/7 availability of the pandemic many people are struggling. Dave offers some tips on how to design those moments of escape into your schedule and why it is essential that you do so.

Does your chamber board have a clear understanding of who does what or are you “winging it”? This week Dave Kilby, President of W.A.C.E., discusses the importance of understanding management vs. governance and having clearly defined roles and responsibilities that are understood by everyone in the organization. Have you had this discussion with your board lately? If not, now might be the time so you can all start the year on the same page!

Dave Kilby, President of W.A.C.E., is often asked as a part of his discussions with chamber executives what he would do if he were “in their shoes”. In this episode Dave shares 5 things he would definitely be doing to take advantage of the chamber’s stock going up and capitalize on the positive chamber image that was strengthened over the last two years.  

In this week’s episode Dave Kilby is joined by his colleague Tiffany Fulmer Ott, Executive Director and Administrator, for 6 chamber associations including the Carolinas, Georgia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Dave and Tiffany share and compare feedback they are receiving from chamber executives in multiple states and discuss the successes and struggles of the chamber industry amidst the ongoing pandemic. 

This week Dave Kilby is joined by W.A.C.E. Board Chair and Vail Valley (CO) Partnership President/CEO Chris Romer, ACE, IOM as they impart some movie wisdom as it relates to the chamber world. With themes of hard work, flexibility and being a visionary there is sure to be a reminder for success and/or lesson for each of us.