Dear Candidates:
Here’s the opening of the ad for the president’s position:
“Are you a visionary leader with a passion for business growth and community development? The Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce is seeking an experienced, dynamic, and strategic President to lead our organization into its next chapter of success.”
Now, let’s break that down.
A “visionary leader” – We believe the Wheeling Chamber has a terrific history of uniting, empowering, and focusing its membership on networking and growth, and we hope the organization’s new leader can help create a path for more concentrated collaboration that centers the relationship between the public and private sectors without duplicating the efforts of other outfits.
A “passion for business growth and community development” – Connecting private-sector employees with community-based non-profits is something the Wheeling Chamber has accomplished for decades, and we hope the new president will include the same on their agenda as well as ideas for the next 25 years’ worth of realistic and economic “baby steps” for the Friendly City.
“… experienced, dynamic, and strategic” – The next president, we believe, will need to understand what we have, what we need, and what WE – that’s collective – hope to accomplish through promotion, with programming, and by retaining membership and recruiting new (and past) business owners.
“… next chapter of success” – Once upon a time ago in this valley region, “Ma & Pa” businesses offered the services demanded by the employees working in the mills, factories, and business offices that were the area’s economic backbone, but these days our small businesses not only employ us but they also define us.
That’s why we hope the idea of a business incubator program soon is discussed and developed by a partnership Wheeling Chamber, local government, local non-profits, and by philanthropic individuals so our economic dreamers can learn how to create, operate, and then sustain (the real trick) the “Next Best Things” for the area, the region, and maybe even beyond.
So, here’s the LINK to use when applying online.
We wish you good luck, and we thank you for considering an idea we feel will attract innovators and job creators to the area and will help resurrect the city’s long-term culture of nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit.
Sincerely,
Rootin’ for Resurrection
