Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

One of the greatest strengths of Leader's Challenge is our staff - a well rounded group of folks who bring a variety experiences and skills to the organization. As with everyone, we each have strengths and weaknesses, and as such, we each fill a particular niche in implementing our programs. Ryan is the games extraordinaire, benefiting from a lifetime spent at summer camp and some incredible creative talent.

Every morning we start with an energizer led by Ryan, designed to get the students' geared up for another exciting - albeit long day. This morning started off with Man of the Sea, an LC favorite, and wrapped up with Captain Says. As a parent, I'm sure you can relate to how much of a challenge it is to get a teenager excited about anything at 8:30 in the morning, so just imagine how tough it is when you've got 130 of them at once!

Once the juices were flowing, we headed off to color groups to explore the importance of critical thinking in leadership. We believe very strongly that strong, successful leadership requires the ability to understand and relate to diverse perspectives - something that comes naturally to some, but is very difficult for others. When we talk about diversity, we don't necessarily mean that of an ethnic, religious or socioeconomic nature. These are good indicators, but it is also quite likely that a group that appears to be rather homogeneous is indeed incredibly diverse in terms of life experience, points of view - and as we learned yesterday - communication styles.

This afternoon we'll be joined by two fascinating speakers: Amy Harmon of Urban Market Development, who will be speaking about young entrepreneurship, and Carol Bowar, of Girls Inc., who will be speaking about gender issues in leadership. To that end, the students spent the latter half of the morning developing business plans...with a twist! The twist is that they worked in sex-segregated groups to see if they could identify any trends in the types of businesses they chose to establish or how they organized their business plans. It was an enlightening exercise that lends credence to the idea that there are some significant and measurable differences in the ways that men and women think, communicate and/or lead. Given that IGNITE tends to be female heavy (70% of our enrollment is composed of young women), it was a very interesting and exciting development indeed.

Check back later for new pictures and a rundown of the LC talent show. If history is any indicator, we're in for a very fun evening!