David Floyd, chief executive officer of OrthoWorx, challenged the Kosciusko Leadership Academy Class of 2012 to lead conservatively and to lead progressively.
Floyd was the guest speaker at the KLA Class of 2012 graduation celebration. The 31st annual event was held at Champagne Jam, 2517 E. Center St., Warsaw.
Jean Northenor, KLA co-founder, also presented the 2012 Northenor Award to the White Paper Project determined to be the most doable, sustainable and have the most community wide impact. The award comes with a $1,000 prize to help get the project started.
She announced the winning project was the “Winona Lake Splash Pad & Playground Improvement Project.” Members on that team include Abby Weiss, sponsored by ABC Industries; Melanie Stephens, sponsored by Medtronic; and Jennifer Orr, sponsored by Lake City Bank.
During his address, Floyd started with a question for the graduates. “Are you a conservative or are you a progressive?”
Leading implies a person is going somewhere and people are following them. He said the KLA graduates should know, if they are leading, where they are taking the community and where they are going.
In this community, there are some highly effective leaders, Floyd said. The leaders in the community lead conservatively and progressively.
According to dictionary.com, Floyd said, a conservative is someone interested in preserving tradition and resistant to change. There is much in this community that should never change, he said.
He told the KLA graduates to lead conservatively with a focus on family and family life. One of the hallmarks of this community is that it’s a great place to raise families, he said, and that should never change.
Another thing that should never change is that the community is friendly, courteous and helpful. “Beyond that,” Floyd said, “it’s a generous community.”
There are many organizations in the community that help people, such as the United Way, Combined Community Services, Beaman Home, Our Father’s House and the list goes on, he said. “We are a generous people and that should never change,” Floyd said.
The community values self-reliance, a strong worth ethic, high levels of achievement and integrity. It has a rich tradition of entrepreneurship.
The fourth thing Floyd challenged the graduates to preserve and conserve is the sense of faith and patriotism in the community, with the fifth thing being an appreciation for the natural environment. The last thing he suggested they preserve is the cultivation of community here.
However, preserving and conserving can’t mean resisting all change, Floyd said.
“We can’t change our core values, but if we resist all change we risk being a hallowed-out small town,” Floyd said.
A progressive, he said, is someone who favors or advocates progress, change, improvement or reform.
In the future, graduates will go where they can chase opportunity. If they don’t feel it’s here, they won’t return to this community, Floyd said.
The first challenge to lead progressively is to make progress in education. He listed a few things Warsaw Community Schools is doing to make progressive change in education, including STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) courses, teaching Chinese and offering strings.
“I applaud the wonderful work the Warsaw Community Schools is doing to lead us into the future,” Floyd said.
The second challenge is to make downtown Warsaw vibrant and vital. That signals to young people that the future is here.
Third, he said, is regional relationships need to be embraced and economic isolationism needs to be iced. Along with that, the fourth challenge, he said, is for people to embrace the orthopedic companies and their ties to other areas and countries. Their success requires them to have a string of global suppliers, he said.
The last challenge, he said, is to be supportive of the diversity in the community and accepting of those already here.
“These are talented people who can help us move into the future,” Floyd said.
“If we are not inclusive and barely tolerable, people will not see this community as the future and will leave,” Floyd said.
As an example of someone in the community who is leading conservatively and progressively, Floyd pointed to Northenor. He said she is a “true conservative who has driven more progress than anyone has in this community.”
Concluding the graduation celebration later, advisor Steve Grill announced the 2012-13 executive committee.
The committee will include Nate Conley, president; Jeff Fawcett, vice president; Becky Anglin, secretary and treasurer; Cameron Plew, selection; Joni Truex, public information; Nancy Rooker, curriculum; Shelley Fraley and Trina Hoy, events coordinator. Advisor emeritus is Northenor.
