On Thursday, September 12 nearly 100 CAA members gathered at Top Golf for the final General Meeting of the year. CAA Executive Director Laura Swanson welcomed members and proceeded with the business portion of the meeting announcing the upcoming CAA 50th Anniversary party, the sale of Reverse Raffle tickets and the winners of August’s annual Golf Outing. Following the announcements CAA President David Holzer came to the podium to welcome the new members in attendance and introduce Scott Daly, Master Training Specialist with Focus 3 for the keynote leadership presentation. Daly began by outlining his background as a Navy Seal and how it came to be following the events of September 11, 2001. He noted that before he started, he couldn’t even swim 50 meters, however, after reading a book about how to become Seal he enrolled, made it through training and served three tours overseas. Now, Daly uses his experience to conduct leadership training for companies, sports teams and athletes. Crediting most of the Focus 3 success on their work with Urban Meyer and the Ohio State Football team. Daly spent the rest of his session discussing what it takes to make a successful leader. “When you search Amazon for leadership books, how many do you think you get,” he asked the audience? “Over 43,000. You get over 43,000 books on leadership. What the hardest thing about leadership? People, that’s the only answer you need. People.” Outlining that the path from where one is now to where one is possible is mostly determined by what’s going on inside versus what’s going on outside. Using this idea, he outlined what it is to be a leader and how to get the most out of those being led. Using the process that Leaders, Culture and Behavior together create results Daly outlined the ways all those things can work most successfully together. First starting with Culture noting it’s not what is proclaimed, it’s what’s practiced, promoted and permitted. Businesses will thrive or fail based on the behavior that is tolerated within them. Pushing results is not that most successful way to create results, Daly stressed. Building a culture that sustains the behavior to produce results is far more important. And, getting to the crux of the presentation, an organization will better perform at the next level if it is being led at the next level. Daly tasked leaders with being aware of how they lead. “The way leaders lead will either elevate a business or hold it back,” he said stressing a point in his presentation. “One must break through personal barriers to be an exceptional leader. Not just a person who leads. People experience leadership in three ways: 1) They feel your attitude, 2) They see your action and 3) They hear your words.” Emphasizing that the best way to drive results is to have everyone aligned toward a common mission or goal Daly also said it’s important to recognize that not every individual is the same. “I guarantee at least 10 of you in this room are weird,” he said. “And, that’s OK. It gets boring if everyone is the same. So, we just have everyone doing the right thing but, doing it in their own way.” Daly concluded with a few minutes on accountability underscoring that it doesn’t have to be a bad word. Done right, accountability can be a good thing. It needs to be created positively instead of negatively. That can be done by positive conversations and oversight instead of negative emphasis and too much hovering. In accountability and in leadership creating a connection is vital, Daly stressed. That personal connection is lost and without it it is difficult to have character and competence and it is the foundation for clarity which leads to accountability and support. All attributes that lead to a successful leader and corporate culture. Daly finished by answering questions from the audience. Returning to the podium Swanson thanked Daly for his time and drew winners of two contests highlighting the CAA 50th Anniversary and releasing those staying for golf to their respective Top Golf bays.