Season 1, Episode 14: Indianola City Council Member Mellisa Sones joins "Indy Unplugged" for an insightful discussion on leadership, community engagement and her experience with the Warren County Leadership Institute.
In this episode, Council Member Sones reflects on how WCLI influenced her approach to public service and has helped shape her role on the Council. She highlights key takeaways from the program, including building connections through networking and fostering civic involvement throughout Warren County. The conversation also touches on upcoming community initiatives and ways residents can get involved in shaping local policy. Plus, Council Member Sones shares behind-the-scenes stories from her time in the Leadership Institute and how those lessons continue to guide her work today.
Fast-forward to a specific topic covered:
- 00:00: Intro
- 00:42: Welcome
- 01:24: What is Warren County Leadership Institute?
- 02:28: This Year's WCLI Class Project
- 03:08: Why Enroll to WCLI?
- 04:15: Key Advantages & Challenges from WCLI Experience
- 07:58: How WCLI Elevates Leadership Skills
- 10:30: Eye-Opening Bus Tour Throughout Warren County
- 13:45: Elevator Pitch For WCLI Involvement
- 14:28: Applying Knowledge From WCLI Today
- 17:48: Serving on City Boards & Commissions
- 18:57: Final Thoughts & Closing
To learn more about the Warren County Leadership institute, please visit: https://www.wcedc.com/leadership
To learn more about the City of Indianola's boards and commissions, please visit: https://www.indianolaiowa.gov/164/Boards-Commissions
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[Music]
(00:11):
Welcome to Indy Unplugged.
The podcast that’s your front rowseat to the real talk of Indianola.
I'm Aaron Young and you're friendlyneighborhood host and we're diving deep
into unfiltered stories, candid chatsand the nitty gritty of our vibrant city.
Think of this as a crash coursein all things Indianola.
No fancy jargon, just real conversations.
(00:33):
So get comfy.
Hit that play button and let's explorethe heart and soul of our community
together on Indy Unplugged.
Welcome back to another episode
of Indy Unplugged, a City of Indianola podcast.
And you know, Mayor Richardson has beenhogging the mic for quite some time now.
I think he's been on a stretch of maybe 4
(00:54):
or 5 straight episodes,so we're switching it up.
It's actually a great opportunitybecause if you've been following
the local headlines,the Warren County Leadership Institute
recently had their, graduation ceremonyin, in late April
and one of those graduateswas our very own council member,
(01:14):
Mellisa Sones,who's joining us today for this episode.
Council Member Sones,how are you doing today?
Thanks so much for hoppingon. I'm doing well. Thank you. Aaron.
Thanks for having me.
it was really cool to obviously followthe journey of your experience
from afar with the WarrenCounty Leadership Institute.
Just in your own words,what is that program?
(01:37):
It's a yeah, for me.
And I guess, the programin, in my perspective
is an opportunity to as leadersin the community, come together,
learn more about Warren County,learn more about one another, network,
and, learn more aboutourselves to and how we can,
(02:01):
collectively,
because we're, now networked,
strengthen our community and county.
And there are about including yourself,21 individuals that were part
of this year's class, 21biggest class to ever go through. Wow.
Fantastic.
I think the word just keeps spreading,and, we've been challenged
(02:24):
to pass that on, so we'll seeif we can continue to grow the program.
there's always a project, right?
Yes. What waswhat was your guys's project?
You know,so the project that we landed on,
everyone is, responsiblefor coming in with a project idea.
And then we decidewhich one moves forward.
(02:45):
And so for us,it was putting a little library in,
every community in Warren County.
Spreading literacy.
And so we placed 14 little libraries
and, just an opportunity
for, families to connect through books.
(03:06):
Very cool.
So what inspired you, to enroll
or to apply to be part of the WarrenCounty Leadership Institute?
Yeah.
It really was,you know, the opportunity to network,
throughout the county and learn
more about, things outside of Indianola.
(03:28):
I grew up in Indianola.
I, of course, knew Norwalk and Carlisleand little bits and pieces about them.
But throughout this journey,we learned about all the communities,
in Warren County and,
the businesses that exist within them.
And, and that's reallywhy it's at a and, you know, as,
(03:52):
as well as the networking opportunity,it as you know,
you meet the people who attend the class,but also the speakers that come in.
I can't say enough good things about it,just, you know, you know, as
you stumble on challengesin your day to day life, now
you have that kind of Rolodex of morecontacts to reach out to.
(04:14):
Was that kind of
the the moment for youthat you appreciated the most of,
you know,that those networking opportunities
or what was kind of that, that key momentthat you really, if you had to pick one,
what was the one that you enjoyedthe most?
Yeah, it wasthat and also learning about myself,
my where my strengths areand where my opportunities are as a leader
(04:39):
and how I can use those,
in the capacitythat I am now serving the community.
And then on the flip side, were thereany challenges that you experienced?
Oh, sure.
We as a group,
you know, you have 21 peopleand we're coming together.
Not a lot of usnot knowing a lot about each other.
(05:02):
So we had to learn how to work together,
figure out our roles and responsibilities,how we planned this project.
And we only had a sessions to do so.
And, a lot of times we only had30 minutes at the end of class.
So it's kind of like cram time,get this in.
And, who's doing whatand figuring out how to best work
(05:22):
together, how to communicate in this room.
And we figure it out real quickthat we had to rearrange the room
in order to talk,just to make conversation flow.
And, and, you know, it'sjust figuring those things out and
and figuring out who,who the leaders are in the group, who's
going to speak first,who's going to facilitate conversation.
(05:45):
But it's a challenge to figure that outvery quickly.
Yeah.
Makes it sound like the wayyou explain it, in the way
I'm kind of pictured in my headis kind of like, you know, my high school
days, you might be cramming before a testor cramming with a group project
and you're saying, hey,are you going to be the leader?
And I'm going to be the designer,and you're
trying to figure out those rolesand responsibilities?
Was it was it kind of like that, orhow do you kind of cram all of that
(06:08):
in eight weeks?
And for the project, 30 minutes after,every class?
Well, in our case, we just had peopleemerge and it just happened naturally.
Of course, you have a lot of leaderswho want to take charge.
And so sometimes it was, kind of a,
(06:29):
try not to talk over
one another because too many peoplewanted to take charge.
So, it was how we, try to work together
most effectivelyand let everyone's ideas be heard.
But again, we figured that stuff out
really quicklybecause we had such limited time here.
(06:49):
But we did a really good job, I think,
because again, we were on such a fast pace
and we all wanted to see this projectget done
within our, class.
We wanted to see it to completionby graduation.
(07:10):
Yeah.
Now we still do have some boxes to placebecause we didn't
get the, locate done in time, but
I think we did.
Amazing to get the boxesplaced that we did by graduation.
Well, the great thing is you guys built
those relationships with each otherand having those emerging leaders,
(07:31):
I can imagine it can get very noisybetween 21, leaders across the county.
But, you know, it's probably no different.
Or there's probably a lot of similarity,as I should say, to,
you know, your your civic dutiesbeing our council member.
So you have 21 folks in a room,but you, you know,
you're the kind of that leading voice foryou know, the hundreds,
(07:51):
if not thousands that you representfor your, Ward one.
So kind of my question,I'm shifting gears here.
Is, was there anythingthat, surprised you
or anything that you're ableto take away from the institute?
As it pertains to to leadership?
One of the
biggest surprises for me.
(08:13):
For me personally, was,
how much
they kind of did a trait in allies.
You know, you do all your traitsand personality type analysis
and how much that influenceseverything you do.
And it was,
(08:35):
you know,
you kind of forget about those thingsif you don't do them on a regular basis.
And it had been a long timesince I did that.
And to see that kind of come back
and see how much that really did influence
not only me,but we got to see the whole class.
They gave us everyone's results.
And so to see what everyone else wereand see how they conducted things,
(09:00):
you know, I would go home after class and,
kind of try to figure people out.
And it wasit was kind of fun, but surprising
how much that tends to play intohow we conduct ourselves as a leader.
Yeah.
Those, personality tests.
I've taken a few during my timein the professional and personal sense.
(09:24):
Actually took one recently,just a few months ago.
And, I can't remember.
I'm pretty sure the term for the,the identifier for me,
I can remember the exact name of the testI took, but the results, I mean,
they always come back spot on,
which is sometimes crazybecause those surveys could take, like
less than five minutes and you're like,well, you know, my whole life,
but I'm pretty sure the one I tookrecently, it called me an adapter.
(09:47):
So I was kind of like, even keeled.
And all the four quadrants of this survey,this,
this test had and then it had an iconand had an icon of a chameleon.
And I'm like, ooh,
it feels kind of like
when I read the description twoand the chameleon,
I'm like, oh, I feel kind of slimy.
But then it kind of made more senseas I talked myself through it.
But it's crazyhow spot on those surveys are in,
(10:09):
especially in the sense of leadership,because then you learn more things
about yourself to thenultimately, in essence, help
the others that you represent.
And so, yeah, no,it's it's really cool to and it's
but for me, it's
been fun to watch the journey just fromwhat's been posted on social media,
and just seen kind of thethe stage of all the different, I think
(10:33):
was a, a bus tour that you guyswent through on a Saturday. Yes.
So you would, you would you go
you would go all throughoutWarren County and visit
like those businessesthat you described earlier.
We we did. We visited several businesses.
We toured Symantecand got a presentation from them.
Amazing things happen in our right herein Indianola.
(10:55):
They're making trucks that are going out
into the military and globally,
and the millions and millions of dollarsthat are being made right here.
And, you know, overin our old industrial park now
in this small factory.
Right?
I mean, itit blows your mind that just incredible
(11:20):
things are happening right here.
That's where our tour started.
And then we got on the busand we went to Carlisle and,
stopped a coffee shop over therethat was an old bank.
And they rehabbed it into thisadorable little coffee shop.
And she's doing so well that she's nowgoing to take on another project
(11:42):
of rehabbing a dilapidated building into a
more of a restaurant type business.
And so we learned the economic developmentside of things.
There,
and everyone got
their caffeineand kind of going for the day.
And, you know,we moved about Warren County, but
(12:03):
in the process, we learned things,you know, as we passed by them,
such as we had the first certified site
in the state of Iowaright there in Carlisle,
which was amazing. We heard about it.
And then all of a sudden it shows up onthe news, you know, you hear the magnitude
(12:24):
of what the certified site isand the opportunities that opens.
of course, we moved on.
And, you know, all the whilewe're having great discussions
on the bus and,
everyone's pointing out things
as we goby and, it's hard for me to put into words
and just this little amount of timethat we have, just the great.
(12:50):
Businesses that
we have here in Warren Countythat you don't know about
unless you get out there and explore
and, hear about their story.
I mean, over in payroll, for example,we have a furniture maker
that's three employees, but they shipfurniture all over the world.
Amazing.
(13:11):
And the quality of their furniture is
I mean, I would love to havea piece of furniture in my house,
but I couldn't afford it
It's just, you know, it's remarkableall that innovation and the opportunities
you described earlier, in Warren County,they're endless.
And to your point, to,you don't know until you get out of
whether it be your shellor just to, have a listening ear
(13:36):
to spark up a conversationand learn about those type of things
that are happeningright here within our county.
So from this experience, like,what would you say to someone who,
is considering applying to the, to be part of the Warren County Leadership
(13:57):
I would say, well, first of all, do it.
And if you have any reservationsor if there's something holding you back,
reach out to one of the graduatesor someone on the board and talk through
whatever hurdle you think you might have.
And let's figure out a wayto get you in there.
the possibilities are endless.
(14:17):
And, you know, if it's the money's
an issue,there are scholarship opportunities.
And, you know, whatever elsemight be your issue, let's figure it out.
Was there anything, ever since that graduation
or even kind of throughout yourthe eight weeks with the course,
any skills or knowledge that you were ableto gain that you were able to kind of
(14:40):
maybe not necessarily immediately,but just, organically start
applying to both yourwhether it be your personal life or then
also just your, you know, your civic lifeas a, as a council member,
I would say,
Throughout the course,
my leadership has kind of, developed.
(15:04):
I was I was a leader,
in my career, of course,
I've become more vocalbecause the course challenged me to.
And that reminded meof the skills that I had.
And it reminded methat you've got to get outside
of your comfort zoneand push those things because,
(15:29):
if you want things to get done,you need to get out there and do them.
I have two takeaways That for me,
kind of woke me up and that was that.
We all have something to offerand if we don't.
Offer it to the world.
We're going to miss out and
(15:51):
really, our community is missing out, too,because we're not offering that back.
And I've I've been one
that's really been a proponentof giving back to my community.
And this class really just ignitedthat again, you know, and me,
Another thing was one of the speakers said
that fear is a necessary precursorto courage.
(16:11):
And that's
that rang so true for me.
Like sometimes it's
it gets a little uncomfortableto say the hard things,
but if you don't say the hard thingsand get the conversation going,
you're not going to get towhere you need to go.
And so that's being the leadersthat you need to be.
(16:34):
And and that for me,
was one of the things that I needed tohear,
was like, step out there and get it done.
Yeah.
And just as a community,you know, you talk about one individual,
but when you put yourself out there,you're going to be embraced by dozens,
hundreds, thousands of otherswho share that same passion,
(16:56):
who want to do good,whatever the purpose is.
And you'redefinitely not on your own island.
So I could totally see from this class andjust from the projects that you've done.
And of course,you take back from experiences
before class and now you know, afterand how you move forward.
You have those relationships becausethose relationships are just so vital
(17:18):
as we move forward, whether it beas Indianola, as our community,
as Norwalk and their community, Carlisleand their community,
everyone within the county,because we're all better together.
Absolutely.
You know, I it's not like before classand after class.
Yeah, right.
I just added to
(17:38):
all of my contacts and experiences.
And so I can't stress enough
that if you get the opportunityto take this class, take it.
is there anything else you'd like to sharebefore we hop off?
Whether it be about the class
or any other city business,
we've got a lot of exciting thingsthat are on the on the cusp.
So I want to kind ofwant to open up the floor for you.
(17:59):
Yeah.
You know, to my to my pointabout giving back to my community,
I just want to put a plug in there that
if you are onewho wants to give back to your community,
we do have a number of opportunitiesopening on our boards and commissions.
And so, I read the mayor's report.
(18:21):
I noticed that he put thosein his report, which I was glad to see.
We have a number of openingsthat we need to get filled.
There are so many
opportunities right now to get involvedand start wherever your heart lead you.
That's perfect. Yeah.
Check out all the information.
You can find all that on the city of,you know, our website at
(18:44):
dot Indianola iowa.gov.
And we'll also put a plug in forthe Warren County Leadership Institute.
We'll put a link in the bio of the podcastin the description
of wherever you listen to your podcast.
And I just want to thank you again,
Council Member Stones, for joining usfor this episode of Indi Unplugged.
It wasn't so bad, right? You.
So this was your first podcastand we're just having a conversation.
(19:07):
We're going to have you on,on one of our future, episodes.
So get used to it.
Get comfy is going tois going to be a good time.
But no, we appreciate you for having me.Yeah.
I appreciate you having on on with ustoday.
And, yeah.
Listeners, just make surethat you, leave us a review,
leave us some commentsand let us know that each
and every episode that we'reputting out of Indian plug, that's hitting
(19:28):
the mark we're on, I believe episode 15.
So we're probably nearing the end of our,of our first season here
and gearing up for season number two,where we might incorporate some video.
Right now,you're just getting us in the audio form.
But you know me, I love incorporatingvideo into our communication strategies.
So, we'll get those things in motionfor season two.
(19:49):
And who knows, maybe next time you'll bea future guest of Indi Unplugged.
[Music]
(00:11):
Welcome to Indy Unplugged.
The podcast that’s your front rowseat to the real talk of Indianola.
I'm Aaron Young and you're friendlyneighborhood host and we're diving deep
into unfiltered stories, candid chatsand the nitty gritty of our vibrant city.
Think of this as a crash coursein all things Indianola.
No fancy jargon, just real conversations.
(00:33):
So get comfy.
Hit that play button and let's explorethe heart and soul of our community
together on Indy Unplugged.
Welcome back to another episode
of Indy Unplugged, a City of Indianola podcast.
And you know, Mayor Richardson has beenhogging the mic for quite some time now.
I think he's been on a stretch of maybe 4
(00:54):
or 5 straight episodes,so we're switching it up.
It's actually a great opportunitybecause if you've been following
the local headlines,the Warren County Leadership Institute
recently had their, graduation ceremonyin, in late April
and one of those graduateswas our very own council member,
(01:14):
Mellisa Sones,who's joining us today for this episode.
Council Member Sones,how are you doing today?
Thanks so much for hoppingon. I'm doing well. Thank you. Aaron.
Thanks for having me.
it was really cool to obviously followthe journey of your experience
from afar with the WarrenCounty Leadership Institute.
Just in your own words,what is that program?
(01:37):
It's a yeah, for me.
And I guess, the programin, in my perspective
is an opportunity to as leadersin the community, come together,
learn more about Warren County,learn more about one another, network,
and, learn more aboutourselves to and how we can,
(02:01):
collectively,
because we're, now networked,
strengthen our community and county.
And there are about including yourself,21 individuals that were part
of this year's class, 21biggest class to ever go through. Wow.
Fantastic.
I think the word just keeps spreading,and, we've been challenged
(02:24):
to pass that on, so we'll seeif we can continue to grow the program.
there's always a project, right?
Yes. What waswhat was your guys's project?
You know,so the project that we landed on,
everyone is, responsiblefor coming in with a project idea.
And then we decidewhich one moves forward.
(02:45):
And so for us,it was putting a little library in,
every community in Warren County.
Spreading literacy.
And so we placed 14 little libraries
and, just an opportunity
for, families to connect through books.
(03:06):
Very cool.
So what inspired you, to enroll
or to apply to be part of the WarrenCounty Leadership Institute?
Yeah.
It really was,you know, the opportunity to network,
throughout the county and learn
more about, things outside of Indianola.
(03:28):
I grew up in Indianola.
I, of course, knew Norwalk and Carlisleand little bits and pieces about them.
But throughout this journey,we learned about all the communities,
in Warren County and,
the businesses that exist within them.
And, and that's reallywhy it's at a and, you know, as,
(03:52):
as well as the networking opportunity,it as you know,
you meet the people who attend the class,but also the speakers that come in.
I can't say enough good things about it,just, you know, you know, as
you stumble on challengesin your day to day life, now
you have that kind of Rolodex of morecontacts to reach out to.
(04:14):
Was that kind of
the the moment for youthat you appreciated the most of,
you know,that those networking opportunities
or what was kind of that, that key momentthat you really, if you had to pick one,
what was the one that you enjoyedthe most?
Yeah, it wasthat and also learning about myself,
my where my strengths areand where my opportunities are as a leader
(04:39):
and how I can use those,
in the capacitythat I am now serving the community.
And then on the flip side, were thereany challenges that you experienced?
Oh, sure.
We as a group,
you know, you have 21 peopleand we're coming together.
Not a lot of usnot knowing a lot about each other.
(05:02):
So we had to learn how to work together,
figure out our roles and responsibilities,how we planned this project.
And we only had a sessions to do so.
And, a lot of times we only had30 minutes at the end of class.
So it's kind of like cram time,get this in.
And, who's doing whatand figuring out how to best work
(05:22):
together, how to communicate in this room.
And we figure it out real quickthat we had to rearrange the room
in order to talk,just to make conversation flow.
And, and, you know, it'sjust figuring those things out and
and figuring out who,who the leaders are in the group, who's
going to speak first,who's going to facilitate conversation.
(05:45):
But it's a challenge to figure that outvery quickly.
Yeah.
Makes it sound like the wayyou explain it, in the way
I'm kind of pictured in my headis kind of like, you know, my high school
days, you might be cramming before a testor cramming with a group project
and you're saying, hey,are you going to be the leader?
And I'm going to be the designer,and you're
trying to figure out those rolesand responsibilities?
Was it was it kind of like that, orhow do you kind of cram all of that
(06:08):
in eight weeks?
And for the project, 30 minutes after,every class?
Well, in our case, we just had peopleemerge and it just happened naturally.
Of course, you have a lot of leaderswho want to take charge.
And so sometimes it was, kind of a,
(06:29):
try not to talk over
one another because too many peoplewanted to take charge.
So, it was how we, try to work together
most effectivelyand let everyone's ideas be heard.
But again, we figured that stuff out
really quicklybecause we had such limited time here.
(06:49):
But we did a really good job, I think,
because again, we were on such a fast pace
and we all wanted to see this projectget done
within our, class.
We wanted to see it to completionby graduation.
(07:10):
Yeah.
Now we still do have some boxes to placebecause we didn't
get the, locate done in time, but
I think we did.
Amazing to get the boxesplaced that we did by graduation.
Well, the great thing is you guys built
those relationships with each otherand having those emerging leaders,
(07:31):
I can imagine it can get very noisybetween 21, leaders across the county.
But, you know, it's probably no different.
Or there's probably a lot of similarity,as I should say, to,
you know, your your civic dutiesbeing our council member.
So you have 21 folks in a room,but you, you know,
you're the kind of that leading voice foryou know, the hundreds,
(07:51):
if not thousands that you representfor your, Ward one.
So kind of my question,I'm shifting gears here.
Is, was there anythingthat, surprised you
or anything that you're ableto take away from the institute?
As it pertains to to leadership?
One of the
biggest surprises for me.
(08:13):
For me personally, was,
how much
they kind of did a trait in allies.
You know, you do all your traitsand personality type analysis
and how much that influenceseverything you do.
And it was,
(08:35):
you know,
you kind of forget about those thingsif you don't do them on a regular basis.
And it had been a long timesince I did that.
And to see that kind of come back
and see how much that really did influence
not only me,but we got to see the whole class.
They gave us everyone's results.
And so to see what everyone else wereand see how they conducted things,
(09:00):
you know, I would go home after class and,
kind of try to figure people out.
And it wasit was kind of fun, but surprising
how much that tends to play intohow we conduct ourselves as a leader.
Yeah.
Those, personality tests.
I've taken a few during my timein the professional and personal sense.
(09:24):
Actually took one recently,just a few months ago.
And, I can't remember.
I'm pretty sure the term for the,the identifier for me,
I can remember the exact name of the testI took, but the results, I mean,
they always come back spot on,
which is sometimes crazybecause those surveys could take, like
less than five minutes and you're like,well, you know, my whole life,
but I'm pretty sure the one I tookrecently, it called me an adapter.
(09:47):
So I was kind of like, even keeled.
And all the four quadrants of this survey,this,
this test had and then it had an iconand had an icon of a chameleon.
And I'm like, ooh,
it feels kind of like
when I read the description twoand the chameleon,
I'm like, oh, I feel kind of slimy.
But then it kind of made more senseas I talked myself through it.
But it's crazyhow spot on those surveys are in,
(10:09):
especially in the sense of leadership,because then you learn more things
about yourself to thenultimately, in essence, help
the others that you represent.
And so, yeah, no,it's it's really cool to and it's
but for me, it's
been fun to watch the journey just fromwhat's been posted on social media,
and just seen kind of thethe stage of all the different, I think
(10:33):
was a, a bus tour that you guyswent through on a Saturday. Yes.
So you would, you would you go
you would go all throughoutWarren County and visit
like those businessesthat you described earlier.
We we did. We visited several businesses.
We toured Symantecand got a presentation from them.
Amazing things happen in our right herein Indianola.
(10:55):
They're making trucks that are going out
into the military and globally,
and the millions and millions of dollarsthat are being made right here.
And, you know, overin our old industrial park now
in this small factory.
Right?
I mean, itit blows your mind that just incredible
(11:20):
things are happening right here.
That's where our tour started.
And then we got on the busand we went to Carlisle and,
stopped a coffee shop over therethat was an old bank.
And they rehabbed it into thisadorable little coffee shop.
And she's doing so well that she's nowgoing to take on another project
(11:42):
of rehabbing a dilapidated building into a
more of a restaurant type business.
And so we learned the economic developmentside of things.
There,
and everyone got
their caffeineand kind of going for the day.
And, you know,we moved about Warren County, but
(12:03):
in the process, we learned things,you know, as we passed by them,
such as we had the first certified site
in the state of Iowaright there in Carlisle,
which was amazing. We heard about it.
And then all of a sudden it shows up onthe news, you know, you hear the magnitude
(12:24):
of what the certified site isand the opportunities that opens.
of course, we moved on.
And, you know, all the whilewe're having great discussions
on the bus and,
everyone's pointing out things
as we goby and, it's hard for me to put into words
and just this little amount of timethat we have, just the great.
(12:50):
Businesses that
we have here in Warren Countythat you don't know about
unless you get out there and explore
and, hear about their story.
I mean, over in payroll, for example,we have a furniture maker
that's three employees, but they shipfurniture all over the world.
Amazing.
(13:11):
And the quality of their furniture is
I mean, I would love to havea piece of furniture in my house,
but I couldn't afford it
It's just, you know, it's remarkableall that innovation and the opportunities
you described earlier, in Warren County,they're endless.
And to your point, to,you don't know until you get out of
whether it be your shellor just to, have a listening ear
(13:36):
to spark up a conversationand learn about those type of things
that are happeningright here within our county.
So from this experience, like,what would you say to someone who,
is considering applying to the, to be part of the Warren County Leadership
(13:57):
I would say, well, first of all, do it.
And if you have any reservationsor if there's something holding you back,
reach out to one of the graduatesor someone on the board and talk through
whatever hurdle you think you might have.
And let's figure out a wayto get you in there.
the possibilities are endless.
(14:17):
And, you know, if it's the money's
an issue,there are scholarship opportunities.
And, you know, whatever elsemight be your issue, let's figure it out.
Was there anything, ever since that graduation
or even kind of throughout yourthe eight weeks with the course,
any skills or knowledge that you were ableto gain that you were able to kind of
(14:40):
maybe not necessarily immediately,but just, organically start
applying to both yourwhether it be your personal life or then
also just your, you know, your civic lifeas a, as a council member,
I would say,
Throughout the course,
my leadership has kind of, developed.
(15:04):
I was I was a leader,
in my career, of course,
I've become more vocalbecause the course challenged me to.
And that reminded meof the skills that I had.
And it reminded methat you've got to get outside
of your comfort zoneand push those things because,
(15:29):
if you want things to get done,you need to get out there and do them.
I have two takeaways That for me,
kind of woke me up and that was that.
We all have something to offerand if we don't.
Offer it to the world.
We're going to miss out and
(15:51):
really, our community is missing out, too,because we're not offering that back.
And I've I've been one
that's really been a proponentof giving back to my community.
And this class really just ignitedthat again, you know, and me,
Another thing was one of the speakers said
that fear is a necessary precursorto courage.
(16:11):
And that's
that rang so true for me.
Like sometimes it's
it gets a little uncomfortableto say the hard things,
but if you don't say the hard thingsand get the conversation going,
you're not going to get towhere you need to go.
And so that's being the leadersthat you need to be.
(16:34):
And and that for me,
was one of the things that I needed tohear,
was like, step out there and get it done.
Yeah.
And just as a community,you know, you talk about one individual,
but when you put yourself out there,you're going to be embraced by dozens,
hundreds, thousands of otherswho share that same passion,
(16:56):
who want to do good,whatever the purpose is.
And you'redefinitely not on your own island.
So I could totally see from this class andjust from the projects that you've done.
And of course,you take back from experiences
before class and now you know, afterand how you move forward.
You have those relationships becausethose relationships are just so vital
(17:18):
as we move forward, whether it beas Indianola, as our community,
as Norwalk and their community, Carlisleand their community,
everyone within the county,because we're all better together.
Absolutely.
You know, I it's not like before classand after class.
Yeah, right.
I just added to
(17:38):
all of my contacts and experiences.
And so I can't stress enough
that if you get the opportunityto take this class, take it.
is there anything else you'd like to sharebefore we hop off?
Whether it be about the class
or any other city business,
we've got a lot of exciting thingsthat are on the on the cusp.
So I want to kind ofwant to open up the floor for you.
(17:59):
Yeah.
You know, to my to my pointabout giving back to my community,
I just want to put a plug in there that
if you are onewho wants to give back to your community,
we do have a number of opportunitiesopening on our boards and commissions.
And so, I read the mayor's report.
(18:21):
I noticed that he put thosein his report, which I was glad to see.
We have a number of openingsthat we need to get filled.
There are so many
opportunities right now to get involvedand start wherever your heart lead you.
That's perfect. Yeah.
Check out all the information.
You can find all that on the city of,you know, our website at
(18:44):
dot Indianola iowa.gov.
And we'll also put a plug in forthe Warren County Leadership Institute.
We'll put a link in the bio of the podcastin the description
of wherever you listen to your podcast.
And I just want to thank you again,
Council Member Stones, for joining usfor this episode of Indi Unplugged.
It wasn't so bad, right? You.
So this was your first podcastand we're just having a conversation.
(19:07):
We're going to have you on,on one of our future, episodes.
So get used to it.
Get comfy is going tois going to be a good time.
But no, we appreciate you for having me.Yeah.
I appreciate you having on on with ustoday.
And, yeah.
Listeners, just make surethat you, leave us a review,
leave us some commentsand let us know that each
and every episode that we'reputting out of Indian plug, that's hitting
(19:28):
the mark we're on, I believe episode 15.
So we're probably nearing the end of our,of our first season here
and gearing up for season number two,where we might incorporate some video.
Right now,you're just getting us in the audio form.
But you know me, I love incorporatingvideo into our communication strategies.
So, we'll get those things in motionfor season two.
(19:49):
And who knows, maybe next time you'll bea future guest of Indi Unplugged.
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