Emerging Leaders Program | March Session

The March Session for the 2022 ELP Class began with a discussion involving different leadership behavior styles and ranges. Pete DeLisle, Hon. AIA, broke down the effectiveness of situational leadership and how to understand the developmental needs and adapt your leadership style and range to the current situation. A good leader should be able to adapt to accommodate the needs of the team or risk the effectiveness of their peers. Pete’s insights into the varying leadership styles and staff development from novice to master led the class to take an introspective look at their own unique leadership effectiveness.

After Pete’s discussion, the class was honored with the presence of three guest panelist who are all pillars in the DFW community to participate in a class discussion regarding Community Leadership. City of Allen Mayor Ken Fulk, gave the class insight into facilitating consensus and seeing to that the entire community is being heard. He provided examples of different ways the City of Allen reaches out to its citizens and the effectiveness of listening to every community member. Krista Nightengale, Executive Director of Better Block, gave the class a brief description of what A “Better Block” is and how it impacts the community. She discussed the different challenges they face and how they overcome them to effectively help the neighborhood and create a Better Block. Halima McWilliam, Associate Principal HR at Corgan, dove into how young design professionals can inspire leadership accountability. She discussed the importance of making Architects “sexy again” to inspire the younger generation to help grow and diversify the industry. All three panelists were passionate about promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) through their careers and the community. They instilled the need for young leaders to hear and listen to the needs of the individuals to positively influence the community. The book ‘Accommodation’, by Jim Schutze, was mentioned as a necessary read to better understand the long-repressed Dallas racial history (https://www.bigdreads.org/).

The March session concluded with in depth presentations from the three Class Project finalists. The presentations included programming requirements, potential schedules, and aspects of three different needs from organizations in our community. The class voted on moving forward with the Dreyfuss Club for the White Rock Lake Conservancy (https://whiterockdallas.org/)  and Dallas Parks and Recreation Department.