CCBO - The Bottom Line July 2010 Issue

President's Corner

Happy Summer! While many of our colleagues are enjoying the lazy days of summer, those of us in fiscal services have been busy. We’re active with fiscal year-end close. We are finalizing budgets, generating employment contracts, counting inventory and deep cleaning rooms not otherwise available during the academic year. It is often at the end of the fiscal year-end process that I take the time to clean my office. The papers are filed, magazines are scanned and articles are read. It’s during this time that I often seek inspiration to prepare me for a new fiscal year.

I came across an article published several years ago about leadership and lessons learned from a forest of giant Sequoia trees that I found thought-provoking. The article discussed how a number of things in life, longevity and strength of community, can be learned from these trees. The roots of the trees are tangled with one another to give them strength and longevity. As the article continued, there were a number of questions asked about ourselves, our colleges and organizations, such as CCBO, that I want to repeat and give you a chance to ponder:

• "Where does your strength come from?
• What actions are you taking to ensure sustained growth?
• Are you focused on just surviving amidst this firestorm of change, or are you thriving?
• How do you achieve deliberate focus on that which is most important?
• How do you create or stimulate that sense of urgency so necessary to achieve organizational excellence?
• Who can see your leadership?
• Who is benefiting from your leadership?"

In our organizations, we are expected to be leaders. We are the ones others look to for focus, creativity and calm during a storm. This is difficult to do alone, so we need to draw upon the strength of a community—within a college, state system or professional organizations. Like the root systems of Sequoias, at CCBO we network to draw upon common experiences. We provide educational sessions to share ideas. We recognize outstanding business officers and programs to reward excellence and leadership. We recruit new members so our CCBO roots remain strong. Our leaders of tomorrow grow from activities such as the Leadership Academy. We need your continued participation to make our conferences and awards programs prosper.

Ultimately, we all gain from and build upon a collective knowledge, expertise and experiences to improve ourselves and our organizations. So as the summer comes to a close and a new academic year begins, think about how your strengths contribute to the success of your college and CCBO and together let’s continue to build a forest of giant Sequoia trees.

The Bottom Line
Community College Business Officers
3 Boar's Head Lane, Suite B | Charlottesville, VA 22903
Email: info@ccbo.org | www.ccbo.org
Phone: 434.293.2825 | Fax: 434.245.8453