True Growth Academy Testimonial
My sincere and many thanks for your invitation to attend the first True Growth Academy on May 8th - 11th, 2007. It was certainly very timely for my development and was an awesome experience as witnessed by the photos of our TGA Team!
My twenty years at State Farm have provided me with numerous opportunities to attend developmental sessions which have been absolutely outstanding. The True Growth Academy was certainly ranked one of the best I have ever attended over the years! The opportunity to truly "retreat" and deliberately carve out time to take an introspective look at our own leadership styles and the alignment with our value systems in search of a more authentic leadership style was powerful.
It was great preparation to receive pre-retreat exercises to complete before we met such as the 360 Feedback and Myers Briggs. During the retreat, one of the things I enjoyed the most was having a diverse group of individuals who were very successful in their line of work, but who could share a different perspective.
The awareness of "Authentic Leadership" was heightened during the Academy and you, Chip and Lawson all modeled this for us through education, exercises, coaching, feedback and group sharing. Some of my favorite sessions during the Academy include:
- Values Exercise
- Team Challenge Exercises – The Ropes Exercise
- The Gift of Feedback – One on One Feedback Sessions
- The Authentic Leadership Model
What has changed since returning from the True Growth Academy for me? I think about Leadership a lot more than I used to and what it means to be an authentic leader. The coaching I received provided me with not only feedback from observations, but also the confidence and validation to put into place the necessary actionable steps to take my Team to the next level.
As you know, several of us from the Academy keep in contact. It was not only an awesome experience, but our Team has a real connectedness that serves as an incredible support network as we journey on our road to authentic leadership.
For those who are thirsty for a drink of not only leadership, but authentic and real leadership, I would strongly recommend attending the True Growth Academy. The only caution is once you attend, you are not the same again. You now will have an increased awareness and a taste of what it means to be a real positive difference maker in the world - to be an authentic, strategic leader both organizationally and personally. My sincere and heartfelt thanks again!