Business Leadership with Building Momentum Delmarva
Salisbury, Md. — Leaders from across the Shore came together in Salisbury for a forum by Building Momentum Delmarva, where panelists from varying industries shared their insights on leading a business and best practices in dealing with challenges that might arise.
The forum drew a packed house Wednesday morning with dozens of people eager to learn from shore area leaders.
Each of the monthly forums have a different theme – and October’s event had leaders from different business sectors share their perspectives.
“You saw on the panel today where you had the for profit, the nonprofit and those groups coming together and how we could collaborate and figure out how to build the next generation,” said Laura Bren, president of Deeley Insurance Group and one of the panelists.
The panel discussed growing the future generation of leaders, the legacy their work will leave, how to prioritize, and the impact of listening to one’s employees.
“At the end of the day, leadership and businesses are all about people. And so [it’s important that we’re] making sure that we have the opportunity to come together and we can have our shared experience and our collective experience so that we all can learn and grow from each other,” Bren said.
Pam Gregory, president and CEO of United Way of the Eastern Shore, was glad to have the opportunity to be a panelist.
“It was a really special opportunity to join other women leaders and just help share our perspectives on how we lean into our teams, how we lean into the community and show up to make sure that not only we’re meeting our mission, but that we’re really, truly being authentic to ourselves and what our community needs,” Gregory said.
Gregory added that the forum wasn’t just an opportunity to speak, but also offered an opportunity to learn.
“This is not really about, for me personally, sharing my experiences as much as it is just absorbing and learning from, you know, my colleagues who are sitting alongside me and those in the room,” Gregory said.
Shawna Kearsley – one of the event organizers – explained that she made sure to include women in the leadership conversation, highlighting women making major business decisions in the community.
“Once we decided what we were going to do, which is ‘How Successful People Lead,’ I wanted to include women in that conversation, women that are making huge decisions in our community,” Kearsley said.
While the forums serve as a space for collaboration, it’s also a way to gather community members focused on creating solutions to business related issues.
“The benefit is to be able to have a meeting of the minds. And these minds are folks that are the decision makers in their particular spaces, so that we can actually get some stuff done,” Kearsley said.
