Los Angeles, CA – On Saturday, March 7th, CAUSE held the third session of the 2020 Leadership Institute at the Ernst & Young office in Downtown Los Angeles.
The CAUSE Leadership Institute (CLI) is a community leadership and advocacy training certificate program for high-potential professionals with seasoned leadership experience and a passion for serving the needs of the APA community in California. Participants complete the program armed with the skills and connections vital to advocate for the APA community. Graduates of this program have gone on to change the civic landscape in the region through elected office and leadership roles in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
Our program is highly selective and each member of our cohort is selected based on their leadership abilities, public service, and community involvement. Program fellows are identified by leading elected officials, select nonprofit partner organizations, CAUSE Board Members, and CAUSE Alumni.
Read more about this year’s Leadership Institute cohort here.
The session kicked off with a “Lessons on Leadership” discussion featuring California State Controller Betty Yee. Controller Yee emphasized the importance of developing a system that recognizes women and people of color. As a part of leading that change, Controller Yee came to understand the value of finding one’s own story and utilizing it to build confidence and identify personal values. She implored the fellows, “Take stock of the attributes you already possess. You’re already on the journey. Hone in on those to find how you want to serve and lead. Give voice to those.”
The next segment continued the theme of storytelling with social entrepreneur Holly Chang. Holly delivered a presentation on “Storytelling in Leading Change”, where she described storytelling as a “powerful way to access the emotional resources required to mobilize hope over fear, empathy over alienation, and self-worth over self-doubt.” She encouraged the fellows to utilize framing and other storytelling effects to galvanize others, stating, “You cannot build power without your connections...if you can tell a story, you can build power.”
After lunch, fellows participated in a “Messaging: Storytelling & Personal Narratives” workshop led by Dan Schnur, Professor at USC and CAUSE Board Member. Dan spoke on the importance of not only preparing a professional biography, but also a civic community biography focused on showcasing personal causes and values. He shared, “If you think about ways about who you are and what you have done, you can build bridges, and that is the power of storytelling.”
The day concluded with fellows hearing personal stories from CAUSE Board Members Ralph Barnes, General Manager of Union Station, and Adam Ma, Community Relations Manager at SoCalGas. Both shared their unique career trajectories and the ways they were able to build off their personal values to take on opportunities and relationships that came their way.