Each day, I identify the highlight of my day — and this week I know my highlight will be on Thursday when we celebrate the best in community leadership with our Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation at its Leading Colorado luncheon.
We’re honoring the finalists for the 9NEWS Leader of the Year Award – Anthony Aragon, Andrew Schmidt and Dr. Nita Mosby Tyler. We introduced them to you in February, and the winner will be selected by our Leadership Foundation alumni, B:CIVIC members and you, our Chamber members. And, if haven’t voted, you only have a few hours left to cast your vote to select who will be Leader of the Year.
Our finalists’ stories are incredibly inspiring. They serve as a model of what leadership looks like. These leaders remind us what traits have been critical to our success in Colorado — collaborative, inclusive, open and engaging divergent views.
When I think about the rest of my week, I can’t help but consider the importance of those values or traits in every aspect of my days. And, these days much of my time is spent on public policy. Last week, we engaged on an oil and gas issue and testified at the Capitol on Senate Bill 181. What was concerning is that this bill was filed very late on Friday evening, providing less than two working days to review it and allowing only two minutes to share feedback on this 28-page bill. Before the end of the third day, this bill was out of committee and is now headed to the Senate floor.
We have spent decades engaged in this conversation about how we can continue to be an energy-producing state while protecting our health and our environment. We have challenged and disagreed with both sides of this conversation, but what we know to be true is that by working together we can find the best policy for Colorado that ensures we accomplish both of these objectives.
Some of the greatest examples of leadership I’ve seen has been those moments when someone has all the power to make a decision, but instead engages vastly differing views and works with them to create more thoughtful solutions. Maybe this type of leadership appeals to me because it shows restraint and respect for others.
We remain committed to working with the legislature, our business community and the many stakeholders in critical issues like this to ensure we get to the best solution. And, we ask all of our members to hold us accountable to these values.
Kelly Brough is the president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber
