To deliberately misquote Mark Twain – ‘the reports of my leaving the campus are greatly exaggerated’! I am however happy to share with you that I shall be taking short periods away from my usual schedule to take part in the 2022 LeadingAge Leadership Academy. A number of other campus staff members are alumni of this same program, and I’m very excited to take part myself. Over the coming year the academy cohort will meet communities both similar and different to our own, as well as online, sharing our own experiences whilst we delve into the various ways (and contexts) in which best practices of leadership can be applied to real-world settings within and outside of the field of aging services.
And yes… there will be homework to complete as well! In preparing my application for the program I was asked to write a brief account of my thoughts on the current perception of communities such as our campus, as well as my vision for how to develop and build upon the strong foundations which have stood us in good stead for almost 60 years. Seen as I was writing about you, I think its only fair to share a small portion of what I wrote; ‘…I suspect that if one were to ask the average person in the street what life is like in a retirement community that the words such as sleepy, boring and death would be found amongst the responses – whereas a more accurate description would include the words LifeLong Learning, community, choice and living!’
Growing in experience and understanding of how to expand upon that reality and dispel those conceptions is at the heart of the LeadingAge organization, and our campus life together, and so I look forward to returning home with tales to tell and experiences to share. But I shall be coming back.. and in fact I doubt you’ll notice that I’m gone.