I am currently a quarter way through the Stillwater Chamber Leadership in the Valley, a program designed to bring emerging and existing leaders, and consequently their organizations, together who welcome the opportunity to expand their involvement in community affairs. The next meeting day is always an exciting prospect as I continue to build new friendships within the cohort and the Stillwater business community!
The latest program day centered around Business and Economic Development. We started our day at Diasorin, world leaders in lab diagnostics specializing in immunodiagnostics. We took an in depth tour of the facility and got a behind the scenes look at what makes a local business like this so successful. The facility tour was enlightening and I found it interesting to learn more about this business that impacts so many of us without even knowing it. Post global pandemic, I feel I have thought more about my physical health than ever before and this demonstrated the detailed work that goes into screenings and tests for certain diseases and disorders. Who would have thought such a world renowned business calls our Stillwater community home!
The second part of our day was at the Cub Foods Corporate Headquarters. We learned about the history of Cub Foods and how it has evolved since its founding in Stillwater in 1968. Cub is a great example of evolving with the times, changing their business model to move away from brick and mortar storefronts to become a larger distributor. As a result, they are still a widely known and popular business among Minnesotans.
The overall theme we discussed throughout the day was “driving innovation.” In order to accomplish successful innovation within your company you need to have a collective mindset, encourage openness and allow experimentation. This discussion really resonated with me and is something I can relate to as I am building my career at K2 & Co. Being a newer member of a team, I feel it can be difficult to openly share your thoughts and ideas to the group. But without that collaborative process, there is no room to evolve or grow. Innovation can be seen through a different stylistic choice on a social media post, incorporating a new decor piece at an event or even trying a new process of communication within your team.
Collaborative working and feeling comfortable to share ideas with your team is the basis for growth within any company or community. If you “champion fresh perspectives” and are willing to hear everyone’s thoughts, you will continue to work better as a team and therefore provide better work for your clients. I left this leadership day feeling more confident in myself and I am excited to continue to be a driving force of innovation as a member of the K2 & Co team.
– Megan Linder, Account Executive