By Bill Maxwell
At the Rotary Foundation District luncheon on November 2, 2014, the keynote speaker was Jennifer Jones, Rotary Iinternational Director Elect, from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Jennifer treated us to an insightful and enthusiastic dialogue about Rotary, its brand, and its future.
She opened by thanking all of us for the good that we do for the men, women, and children that we will probably never know. Jennifer talked about the impact of storytellers throughout history and that we too should become storytellers in creating our own Rotary moments.
She discussed the recent research around our Rotary brand. Three key findings have emerged from that research: Rotary members are leaders by mindset not by title – leading in our communities and in our world; Rotary members share commonality in The Four-Way Test, The Object of Rotary, and Service Above Self and we all connect through 1.2 million members; and that our service to the community can be scaled globally through over 200 geographic areas.
Jennifer said that we, as Rotary members, need to amplify one voice and that we need to be more succinct in our elevator speech about what it is to be a Rotarian. She concluded by saying that her elevator speech is “Rotary is joined leaders who exchange ideas and who are driven to take action to take on the world’s most pressing challenges.”
About the author : michael austin
