Sometimes it’s important to hit the pause button. After months of nonstop travel, at a time of frenetic change—both for me personally and for SHPE, which continues to be in growth mode—early this month, I had a chance to spend some quality time with my team at our headquarters outside of L.A.
Quality time with my team is always so rejuvenating.
And while there is always plenty of SHPE business to hash out when we are all together in the office, with back-to-back meetings and department strategy sessions, we always take time to break bread and get to know each other better as we work towards a team of teams and a dynamic work environment. This time, we were very intentional. We stepped away from our laptops and we engaged in fun, team-building exercises. And we celebrated.
These days, there is lots to celebrate. In mid-April, we wrapped up our most successful season of Regional Leadership Development Conferences to date. With a 54% increase in corporate sponsorship and support.
On April 15th, SHPE crossed the 11,000-member threshold for the first time in our 45-year history. On top of that, we released our first-ever annual report, an interactive document with charts and graphs that showcase an organization in the midst of profound growth.
And, to keep you all in the loop, we launched SHPE SmartBrief, a curated monthly newsletter just for you that already has over 10,000 subscribers.
These are big things. Transformational things. Things all of us should be proud of. But they aren’t the only things worth acknowledging.
We’re full steam ahead on planning for our 2019 Convention in Phoenix, thanks in large part to the commitment of two visionary sponsors: Honeywell and American Express. We’re also working closely with Phoenix’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, along with local schools and universities, to create a truly immersive convention experience and to have a greater impact on the Hispanic community in Phoenix.
We’ve also onboarded two new team members: Brianne Martin and Kimberly Douglas-Mankin, both of whom stepped away from successful careers for an opportunity to become a part of the SHPE National team and to directly support our mission and strategy—a commitment for which I’m so grateful.
I know this is a different tone than my recent CEO Corners, but I want to use this month’s message to reflect on something bigger than those personal messages and calls to action. Why is that?
In The Entrepreneur’s Book of Actions, author and entrepreneur Rhett Power stresses the importance of talking about our successes. Acknowledging them. Honoring them. Because it’s only through hitting the pause button and celebrating and appreciating our accomplishments—relishing in them, at least a little—that we find the courage to aim higher and dream bigger.
It also helps keep from burning out and feeling exhausted, and thinking we’re never doing enough. Because we are. There is so much that happens day in and day out, 24/7, work that needs to happen, and does happen, seamlessly, in order to keep SHPE sailing at a fast clip and in the right direction.
So, as we pass the halfway point between last year’s convention and our 2019 Annual Convention, let’s all take a moment to pause, reflect, celebrate, and appreciate. Big things are happening—transformational things—and you’re a part of it. Let’s be proud, and let’s use this momentum, this dynamic trajectory, to fuel and propel our organization even further and faster ahead.
Sincerely,
Raquel Tamez, CEO