Goal of LNI is building better leaders, better region

Nearly 30 years have passed since Shirley Caylor's graduation from what is now known as Leadership Northwest Indiana.

Yet the lessons learned back in the early 1980s are still fresh for Caylor, executive director for the Crisis Center in Gary.

And they are lessons -- which include improving life in Northwest Indiana --  that will continue to be taught as the 30th LNI class begins next February.

Caylor said of the program was important to her because she gained a better understanding of all that goes on in Northwest Indiana including the opportunities, the agencies and the businesses.

"It was a wonderful experience. ... One of the values is that it allows you to make connections," Caylor said.

Making better connections, between all of its past graduates, is just one of the current goals of the organization, Leadership Northwest Indiana Executive Director Keith Kirkpatrick said.

"We're trying to improve the quality of the program and improve the impact on the region. Now with the number of our graduates, some 700 people, we're trying to figure out how to strengthen those connections and facilitate the sharing of resources and helping each other," Kirkpatrick said.

The first leadership class started in 1982 under a program formerly known as Leadership Calumet.

The classes stopped meeting in the mid-1980s, resurfacing again in 1990 under the auspices of Indiana University Northwest, Kirkpatrick said.

Those who participate in the leadership program are nominated. Many, after being selected, initially turn down the offer, citing lack of time to take the one-day-a-month classes over 11 months.

"Probably the greatest objection is that they're too busy. But if they had the time to do this we would probably scrutinize the application. You can't be busier than the people in this organization," Kirkpatrick said.

Since 2002 class sizes have become larger and two classes per year have been held, not just one a year as was the case in prior years.

"To really impact the quality of life in the region the board felt we needed to touch more than 25 people a year," Kirkpatrick said.

And although the  quantity of participants has increased, the quality hasn't been lessened.

"I think we're seeing a much more knowledgeable leader who has a regional perspective. The vast research on economy says a world economy is built on regions and in a changing world our region is important. Our region is significant, and if we're going to move past the parochial leadership that's existed we need to look at ourselves in a regional way and solve our problems. That's why our program focuses on existing local leaders becoming regional thinkers or problem solvers," Kirkpatrick said.

One of the things the group is also trying to do is locate its alumni, particularly those who graduated from the leadership program in the 1980s and 1990s.

"We're not trying to build Leadership Northwest Indiana; we're trying to build leadership," Kirkpatrick said.

Michael Griffin, who serves as clerk-treasurer in Highland, graduated from Leadership Northwest Indiana in 1998.

He said the program taught him a lot about the region he had grown up in and gave him a more positive attitude about the future.

"It redoubled my mission to make the community better and to serve the community and to help it reach its optimum level," Griffin said.