This West Coast Chamber program year is all about our Core Value of Learn, Innovate & Share. Here's the Innovation Report for November 2020.
Although this year will go down in history as one of great challenges, it has also been a great opportunity for growth. We asked local leaders to share what they've learned during 2020. Look for new reports each month.
November 2020 Innovation Report
Question:
2020 has been a time of great stress paired with stout resolution and resourcefulness. Is there anything that you’ve learned about leadership or innovation that you didn’t know pre-covid? Are there ways in which you are “better” now than you were before?
Nathan Bocks
Mayor
City of Holland
When I envisioned my time as Mayor, I never dreamed it would be during a pandemic. These have been difficult times for all of us. It has been a time of unexpected challenges that have required our community and our leaders to make decisions we never imagined we would make. But one thing has been clear throughout. Holland’s leadership team, across the spectrum, have chosen to work together and adapt to change in an uncertain environment, and move forward, together. Many of Holland’s leaders are also friends. We trust each other. We care about each other. We want to help each other. In a time when it would have been easy to retreat into our own corners to address our own individual and unprecedented challenges, Holland’s leadership instead chose to come together to support each other and find solutions that work for the entire community.
Jennifer Remondino
Executive Partner
Warner Norcross + Judd
One of my favorite quotes is from Vivian Greene: Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain. This seems particularly true during our current pandemic. None of us have ever lived in a time where we have been unable to even moderately predict the future. No one knows what tomorrow may bring with the coronavirus, which requires us to live day by day – and sometimes hour by hour. This quote affirms we can’t just sit on the sidelines and wait for the rain to end. We have to figure out how to maneuver now and find the joys in our new everydayness.
