Every organization and business needs stability, defined as “the strength to stand and endure”. At Leadership Montana, establishing and maintaining organizational and financial stability have been key components of our strategic plan.
Because Montana deserves great leaders, our work must continue well into the future. Our organization must “stand and endure” as we develop leaders committed to building a better Montana. Over the last six years, Leadership Montana has grown significantly – we offer new programs for alumni and public educational events - while upholding our primary focus on delivering an exceptional experience for the participants of our flagship program.
To meet the growing demands of our programming, we have also grown our budget, thanks to increased dues and donations from alumni and strong support from corporate sponsors and foundations. We are grateful to all who invest in Leadership Montana in many unique ways.
Next month you will receive a copy of our annual report, detailing our accomplishments over the year and previewing future plans. I hope that you enjoy reading this report as much as we have enjoyed creating it for you. Please watch for it in your mailbox and reach out with any thoughts or questions.
AGENDA HIGHLIGHT: Eduardo Garcia
Eduardo Garcia is an American celebrity chef and the co-founder of Montana Mex, a Mexican food company. He is known as the "bionic chef" because he cooks with a prosthetic left arm, the result of an accident while hiking in 2011.
An avid outdoorsman with an unmatched zest for life, Eduardo is a testament to the power of the human spirit in the face of adversity.
His remarkable story is told through 'Charged', an award-winning documentary, which we will screen. Eduardo takes the stage afterward for a presentation and discussion.
Leslie Messer, Class of 2008, Sidney Interviewed by John Trudnowski, Class of 2018, Butte
Leslie is the 2019-2020 Chair of the Leadership Montana Board of Governors and a member of the 2020 Masters Class.
Leslie Messer is a proud fifth generation Montanan born and raised in Richland County. She is married to her husband, Jim, of 32-years and has a 30-yr old son and 28-yr old daughter who also live in Richland County. The Sidney area is a great community and she feels blessed to live, work, play, and raise her family in Richland County.
Leslie started working for the Richland Economic Development Corporation as an administrative assistant in 1999. In two short years, she became the Executive Director and has been there ever since. Leslie loves her job and it is very fulfilling for her to help local development and be a small part of someone’s dream to have their own business or company.
Leslie is part of Leadership Montana’s Class of 2008. Leslie’s class was very close and bonded very well. Leslie’s favorite memory was the Lewistown session where the class spent time together dancing the night away at a local steakhouse. This experience allowed her classmates to really “let their hair down”, become closer, and strengthen their bonds together.
The Gracious Space concept has had the strongest impact on Leslie’s personal and professional life. Gracious Space has made her a better and stronger leader not only at work, but at home as well. Her continual practice of Gracious Space has strengthened her ability to decipher problems, find solutions, and lead people down a mutual path.
Leslie feels LMT’s role for Montana is spreading the Gracious Space concept. She has seen the Gracious Space contagion spread from her to coworkers and she would like to see it continue to spread into her community and throughout the state. She feels if our leaders learn the Gracious Space concept, they would listen first rather than automatically defend opposing views no matter the issue or situation without listening to other opinions.
Leslie appreciates the beauty and wildness of Montana the most. She loves to spend time in nature with her family and this time is very precious to her.
Leslie sees the biggest economic challenge for Sidney and Richland County is competition with North Dakota. North Dakota provides both local and state funding and incentives to potential incoming companies while Richland County can only provide local resources, which has created an uneven playing field. Leslie feels if Montana could provide both local and state resources to compete with North Dakota’s, companies would choose Richland County because the quality of life and sense of community is so great.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT
This month we showcase Palladium Sponsor Montana State Fund. Since 1990, Montana State Fund's mission has been to "partner with employers and their employees to care for those injured on the job and champion a culture of workplace safety for our fellow Montanans."
We are honored to have several MSF leaders participate in Leadership Montana and remain engaged alumni over many years. We deeply value this partnership.
Leadership Montana is a non-profit collaboration of leaders from business, labor, healthcare, higher education, non-profits and government coming together to form a strong partnership for the betterment of Montana.
Leadership Montana exists to develop leaders committed to building a better Montana through knowledge, collaboration and civility.
Every organization and business needs stability, defined as “the strength to stand and endure”. At Leadership Montana, establishing and maintaining organizational and financial stability have been key components of our strategic plan. 
Eduardo Garcia is an American celebrity chef and the co-founder of Montana Mex, a Mexican food company. He is known as the "bionic chef" because he cooks with a prosthetic left arm, the result of an accident while hiking in 2011.
Leslie is the 2019-2020 Chair of the Leadership Montana Board of Governors and a member of the 2020 Masters Class.
