Learning by Fire

Ok - so I mentioned that I felt as though I was being punked my first round of meetings in late May.

There has been action every week since I started and I love it. It is forcing me to cut my teeth on figuring out how to best think through and solve common village issues.

I will say this.

It is tough looking a resident in the eye and declining their request. My heart broke as I did this Tuesday night but my conscious is clear. My stance was made in the best interests of the greater community after a few weeks of research and speaking to other community leaders. I was open to options that never surfaced and so in the end, I had to rule the way I did.

I am heading to a leadership conference later in the summer where Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair is on the faculty. Interesting enough, just today, I watched a preview of his session and he specifically spoke on doing what you know is right regardless of how people will view you. Here you can see it for yourself.

Now, governing the Village of Lake in the Hills cannot be compared to being the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at a very volatile time in history. But the principle of leadership is the same. My sense of duty to the citizens of Lake in the Hills is every bit as important to me as Prime Minister Blair's was to his citizens.

Stay tuned - later in the summer I plan to have a "chat" with all the citizens who care to join me for coffee after my first 100 days in office.

Until then stay cool.