Ignite Conference in Tupelo offers leadership tools
Annual conference is organized by the Community Development Foundation
TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – Each speaker at IGNITE focused on an aspect of leadership.
“What I wanted to share is, if we don’t actually understand the resource that is most limited and valuable, which is our attention then we can’t have all the benefits that only focused attention can provide,” said Curt Steinhorst, who spoke on “Focus at Work.”
“At the end of the day, it’s all about connection, whether it be the people on our teams, whether we go to the supermarket, take it to the next level,” said Chris Tuff, known as “The Millenial Whisperer.”
“My job is to go beyond motivating, to activating people, to do some of the things they heard, I will be focused mostly on purpose, innovation, what it looks like to purposely re-invent because if we are going to be spurring other people on to innovation we have to self innovate before we ask them to do the same,” said Activational Speaker Jade Simmons.
This is the seventh year the Community Development Foundation has held the IGNITE conference. CDF President and CEO David Rumbarger says the conference is tailor-made for what he calls a “culture of leadership in the community.”
“We work together to solve opportunities and to achieve good things for the community. I was telling someone earlier, that I can’t tell you the number of people who have made comments about how Tupelo feels different, part of that is leadership from the mayor and supervisors, but on down to businesses, industries, and civic clubs that are here in this community,” Rumbarger said.
Business people say IGNITE has something for businesses and nonprofits of all sizes.
“I’m always looking for fresh ideas, our company is 119 years old. And I’m 72, but every day, every week, how can we make Reed’s a better company, how can I be a better person, member of the community,” said Jack Reed, Jr., of Reed’s.
“My wife and I have this conversation quite a bit, what do we give our attention to, we talk to our staff a lot about what we give attention to as well because we want our athletes to produce a certain level of skill, and what we give attention to is typically what athletes will drive to,” said Bjorn Hermansen, of the Tupelo Gymnastic Center.
CDF not only brings world-class speakers to Tupelo, but they also help participants implement the strategies they hear at IGNITE.
A breakout session was held this afternoon at the ICC Belden campus.
