Written by Destiny Henschel

On Monday, March 2, 2020, Concordia University Chicago’s (CUC) College of Business invited Diane Kerth (the Vice President and Senior Trainer at Dale Carnegie) to campus to conduct an interactive workshop with CUC’s students and staff. The night was full of fun activities, laughs, and inspiration. At the beginning of the workshop, Kerth provided students with a packet that included personal activities revolving around leadership, vision, and communication skills.

Through leadership, Kerth provided the audience with a “leadership tower,” which in chronicle order went: vision -> trust -> relationships -> communication (formal OR informal) all of which can be applied to personal use, as well as organizational use. However, the unique thing about this tower is that the tower can also begin with communication and end with vision. Kerth continued to provide interactive activities, where she advised (students) us to volunteer and be uncomfortable because it will get you further in life.

The next portion of the workshop included working on our vision. Kerth began this portion giving us a deep question to think about, “if you left the room, what would you want others to think about you?” We then created our five “show up” words, which are words that describe you at your best. Then we all set up our personal vision. The prompt for this activity was, “In 12 months, I am…” One sentence was written for personal and professional aspirations, three “glow up” words and your full name. Thus, your success all starts with having a vision.

The final portion of the night focused on communication. To initiate a conversation, begin with questions that are not too personal — name, the region of living, work or travel. If the conversation is fluid in one of these areas, stay there and build on that. However, if the conversation does not build on any of these topics, keep working on it until you find something mutual to converse on.

Kerth was confident, kind, and intelligent in her topic. Through inspiring stories, interactive activities, and vision-building, the night was beneficial to everyone that attended.