Blog Layout
Reflections on GLS: Lauren
Lauren Weiss • September 10, 2019
Thanks for visiting the blog! This week, we’re sharing snapshots from our team as they reflect on our time at the Global Leadership Summit in August. Keep reading to hear from Lauren.
GLS continues to pull in amazing speakers to inspire leaders across the world. Every year their light seems to spread further and to many hard-to-reach places like 74 different correctional facilities, underground churches in undisclosed countries, and remote villages (60 different translations). Each year those numbers grow.
Something I found very impactful this year was the time GLS set aside for reflection. Host, Paula Faris, led moments of quiet meditation between some of the sessions. She prompted us to reflect on the speakers’ content and consider how we might be able to apply their principles to our lives and leadership moving forward.
There were also fantastic musical performances between sessions which served as yet another mental break to help us reset before the next speaker. For example, they had the amazing artist, Kevin Olusola, celloboxing. If you’re new to celloboxing, check this out.
As far as speakers go, some of the points Todd Henry brought up from his book, Herding Tigers, Be the Leader that Creative People Need, resonated deeply with me.
Henry discussed the importance of finding the right balance of inspiration, productivity and health for ourselves, as well as for those we lead. When any one of those elements is lacking, we can quickly lose clarity, direction and trust from our team.
This begins with focusing on ourselves. Although that might sound contradictory to a leader, Henry said, “If you are not inspired, then you cannot inspire.”
We must first focus on the balance within ourselves before we can speak courage and trust into those we lead. This is an ongoing process of self-awareness and intentionality, and it helps us unleash our team to achieve better work. This builds trust and transitions us from leading by control to a healthier creative process.
Since hearing Henry speak at GLS, I started listening to his Herding Tigers
podcast which has even more nuggets of wisdom for leading creative teams. I’m excited to dig into this more and spend time reflecting on how I can enhance my own leadership approach.
Additionally, Jia Jang told us about his 100 day mission to find rejection. He purposefully went out every day asking impossible things from strangers, just to hear them say ‘no’ and get used to the feeling of rejection. It ended up surprising him when many people said ‘yes!’, creating several amazing experiences.
Jang spoke about triumphing over our fears and using rejection as an insightful tool for growth. This was a powerful eye-opener for a gal who often seeks approval.
I’m excited to spend more time reflecting on my creative life balance and how I can help unleash other creatives to do their best work. My time at GLS encouraged me to find a healthy flow of feeding my own inspiration and creative passion while encouraging others to do the same.
We are excited to announce the recipient of our most recent Food for Thought grant — the Hot Springs Food Pantry, located in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Food for Thought is a fund we created through The Community Foundation to offer grants to organizations that help feed children in our community. This isn’t just about money though. We’re also on the lookout for ways to teach kids about good food, to help them learn to prepare it, and to encourage them to love it as much as we do. We are always looking for organizations in our local communities whose mission aligns with ours and have specific needs we can provide grants for. Because our croux reaches far and wide, “local” doesn’t just mean Tennessee. In this case, the community is local to one of our core team members, Lauren. After moving back to her hometown of Hot Springs, South Dakota to be closer to family, she got involved with the local food pantry and saw a specific need there. The food pantry needed a refrigerator so they could provide more fresh produce and protein to families in the area. They were also seeing an above average need in the community due to rising costs which has depleted some of their funds. The grant received from Food for Thought will go towards these efforts and help provide fresh food for families in the area.
We’re back with another creative croux feature. Normally, these pieces are put together by one of our freelance writers, Annie Van Essen, but this time, we’re spotlighting her!
We celebrated our 10-year anniversary in July 2023, making this our tenth Mardi Gras as a krewe. We are so thankful for the many projects, partnerships, clients and friends who have been a part of our journey so far. The essence of Mardi Gras can be summed up in one lighthearted phrase, “ Laissez les bons temps rouler!” — French, for “Let the good times roll!” We’ve had a lot of good times here at roux over the last decade, and we’re excited for them to keep on rollin’. Bon Mardi Gras and merci beaucoup, friends!
Every January we like to gather as a croux and plan for the year ahead. It serves as a holiday celebration and a strategy session. We look forward to it every year. Over the last few years, we’ve also begun incorporating a “word of the year” practice, where we each choose a word that we will focus on throughout the year.
This year, we decided to take our merry-making to the streets of Nashville to see how well the average passerby could interpret some of our favorite Creole vocab. The results were… entertaining. See for yourself!
Every year, our croux puts together a roundup of our favorite Super Bowl commercials.
This time around, we thought we’d switch it up and ask for submissions of our team’s favorite commercials EVER. Whether from 2023 or 2003, we want to celebrate the advertising magic of Super Bowl Sunday.
Here at roux, we have a wonderful team of creatives supporting us, including photographers, videographers, writers, and designers.
Today, we’re excited to introduce you to Kyle Sorvick, one of the talented graphic designers we work with as part of our extended croux.
We all look forward to receiving Christmas greetings from friends and loved ones, whether it’s a social media post or a physical card to display in our house or hang on the fridge. But when it comes to company Christmas cards, corporate greetings can sometimes fall a bit flat. We love when a company spices things up and sends a message that’s genuine and fun. Videos can also be a more effective and affordable option for a company, when you consider the reach made possible with email and social media, and the savings on printing and postage. Averitt and JetRight are two local companies that knock it out of the park every year when it comes to their video Christmas cards. Whether they choose to be lighthearted and silly or share a heartwarming message, watching their videos shows you the real people and spirit behind the companies. Check them out below!