More on our new direction

February 13, 2009
Members and Friends of CoREM,

This message from the CoREM board is to apprise you of a new direction for CoREM.

The Background
As you may have known, we’ve been in existence for nearly 17 years (originally as the Deming Study Group of Western PA). During this period we’ve engaged in many activities on “the leading edge of leadership”: pro bono consulting for nonprofit and nonprofit organizations, presentations at several local universities, dinner events, joint presentations with other professional societies, and—consistently throughout this period—CoREM programs each month.

These programs have covered a wide range of topics from Emotional Intelligence to Lean Operation, from Systems Thinking to The ROI on Enlightenment. We’ve even had field trips on Outdoor Leadership and the memorable Equine Business Experience.

We have been very fortunate to have speakers from the rank of business owners, chief executives, college professors, physicians, students, best-selling authors, postal carriers, law enforcement officers, filmmakers and just about every other walk of life that engages in leadership.

Our speakers and members come from some of the area’s most respected businesses (such as Confluence, Hefren-Tillitson, LB Foster, Medrad, Redstone Highlands, Tollgrade, Westinghouse, etc.) and institutes of higher learning (such as Carnegie Melon, Duquesne, Robert Morris, Seton Hill, etc.). (For a listing of past programs, see http://www.corem.org/past_programs.html).

Our board of directors considers that we have historically fulfilled our mission of delivering regular programs on contemporary leadership-related topics. However, times change, and we have to change with the time.

The Point
We have traditionally held live, “real” meetings, and our attendance is declining. People are getting busier, and Pittsburgh’s geography always challenges us with the lack of an easily accessible central gathering point. Our monthly meetings benefit from the very high individual participation at smaller meetings, but smaller turnout is not always fair to the presenter, who must invest significant time in preparing and delivering a relatively sophisticated session to an intelligent and engaged audience.

Our board met recently to do annual strategic planning, and we decided that we need to go in a new direction. Reasons include many I have alluded to, plus the possibility that we are starting to exhaust the pool of local speakers and perhaps the board members themselves, all of whom have full-time, money-making jobs elsewhere.

Accordingly, we discussed some potential new options for CoREM, including

• “virtual” presentations enabled by new technologies, where one can participate without having to travel,
• Re-chartering to provide pro bono services to a select audience such as nonprofits
• Re-chartering as a “mastermind” group.

We also decided that it was time for a break. So we have declared a sabbatical for CoREM, from now until about September. We will consider our options and, at the end of the sabbatical, decide our future direction.

What We Ask of You
We’d like to hear from our members and friends about the best direction for CoREM. Please send your comments to our blog at leadershipcorem.blogspot.com.

Go to the end of the posting where there is a link called “comments.” Click there and you’ll get a form where you can write a comment anonymously, or leave an id. (CoREM board members should identify themselves in any comments they leave.)

The board will continue to meet periodically to review input and set new strategies.

If you are a member (i.e., have paid dues in 2009), we will either refund your 2009 dues or apply them to future CoREM activities, as you request.

Thanks for your continuing support of CoREM. It truly is a unique organization, made possible by our community of thoughtful and open-minded members and friends.

Thanks to Brien Palmer for drafting this letter.

Sincerely,





Arthur Davidson,
President, CoREM
for the board