2010 Class Curriculum

This program listing is for the Class of 2010 -
Starting September, 2009 through June, 2010.
We have completed our application period for this class, if you are interested in applying for the class of 2011, send an email to terri@rfleadership.org, and we will contact you when our application period starts next spring.

Our mission: Roaring Fork Leadership Develops Leaders for the Community.

Our vision: Roaring Fork Leadership is a catalyst for developing leaders to collaboratively solve personal, professional, and civic challenges in our communities.

Today's leaders require skills that transform conflict into effective results, personal agendas into collaborative agreements, and business as usual into an inspirational call to action.

The following schedule is subject to changes due to availability of presenters and locations.

First Session: Retreat: Fri/Sat, Sept 11/12 2009, Location: Anderson Ranch, Snowmass Village, 9:00 am -8:00 pm Friday, 8:30-4:30 pm Saturday. "Conscious Leadership," Greg Cortopassi, Launch Your Dreams. In this session we explore what it means to be developing oneself as a leader in the context of this course. We learn about our own personal styles in relation to others, explore our greatest leadership fears and dreams, and design our intentions for our future. This session is the essential first step in building a learning community for both the Friday sessions and the class project. The retreat setting provides the necessary catalyst to begin to recognize and change old patterns, and make way for building new, more effective ways of leading in community. Leave with an assignment to create your goals for personal, professional, and civic leadership in the coming year.

Second Session: Fri/Sat , October 2/3, 2009, Location: Aspen High School, Seminar Room, 8:30 am - 6:00 pm Friday, 8:30 am - 6:00 pm Saturday: "Mastering The Future" Jonathan Clark , Coriolis Consulting Group, reveals the underlying factors that limit ability, impede communication, hinder teamwork, rob satisfaction and ultimately thwart performance. With this new view, results that we may have previously considered unlikely or even impossible now become realized. Jonathan promises a personal transformation; you will have breakthroughs in Being Powerful, Being Free and having Peace of Mind with everything you are committed to both professionally and personally.  

Third Session: Friday, November 6, 2009: Location: Glenwood Springs Community Center. 8:00am-5:00 pm. "Critical Thinking for Success," Scott Halford, Author & Emmy Award Winning Writer and Producer. Breakthrough thinking and the understanding of how to prep the brain to build powerful insights are the focus of this session. You'll learn proven methods for innovative and critical thinking that the World Council for CFOs featured as a ‘best practice' for organizations everywhere. 

Fourth Session: Friday, December 4, 2009: Location: Carbondale Town Hall. 8:00 am - 5:00 pm: "Leading Change," Ron Gager, Gager and Associates. Change in organizations doesn't happen just because the leader wishes it to be so. Change has to be communicated, refined, implemented and assessed, with committed leadership to ensure its success. Learn practical skills to apply to the class project process as well as to organizational and community issues.

Fifth Session: Friday, January 8, 2010: Location: Carbondale Town Hall, 8:00am - 5:00 pm: Topic: “Illuminating the Intersection of Government and Economics” In partnership with Colin Laird of Healthy Mountain Communities. This session will explore the ‘age old’ conversation of ‘individual versus society’ and how this plays out in today’s changing economic times.  We will examine the impact of innovation and changing technology on funding for basic needs, like roads, police, schools, etc,. and demonstrate how solving one social issue can adversely impact others.  At the state and local levels, we will highlight how Colorado’s unique approach to funding our government and education impacts its citizens.

Sixth Session: Friday, February 5, 2010: Location: The Given Institute, Aspen, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm: "Community Decision Making," Chris Gates, former President of the National Civic League. The rational choice of everyday citizens to disengage from democracy, fanned by a culture of disbelief promoted by media is a recipe for our current challenges around community engagement. As former president of the NCL, Chris Gates provides a non-stop day of historical perspective and practical insight into re-engaging citizens in our democracy.

Seventh Session: Friday, March 5, 2010: Colorado Mountain College, Aspen Campus, Room 126, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm: "Collaborative Leadership," Carl Larson, University of Denver, author. In this session we focus on the collaborative process in diverse groups, and develop practical skills for group/team process. Collaboration requires different types of skills than traditional leadership models, and is critical to a successful class project. Collaborative leadership is less about right/wrong and more about what works in achieving results.  

Eighth Session: Friday, April 2, 2010 : Location: Colorado Mountain College, Aspen Campus, Room 126  8:00 am - 5:00 pm: "Building a Better Roaring Fork Valley: Understanding Diversity." Successful collaboration in communities requires leaders who seek to understand diversity. This interactive day will address directly an opportunity to build a Roaring Fork Valley that values and dignifies all human beings. By engaging local experts, participants will meet to view and discuss federal, state and local immigration policies to understand how they affect us locally in the valley. 

Ninth session: Friday, May 7, 2010: Location: Rifle Health & Human Services Building, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm: "Energy -A Local and Global Challenge," Participants will explore issues related to energy, such as, migrating from carbon-based fuels dependency to new alternatives, how global needs are impacting the Roaring Fork valley, impacts on the environment, and the role is Colorado is playing in the national challenge.  

Tenth Session: Monday, June 7, 2010: Location: Flying Dog Ranch, 9:00 am - 5:30 pm. "Conscious Transitions and Closing Session." Greg Cortopassi, Launch Your Dreams. Greg Cortopassi returns to help celebrate the year of learning and to share your accomplishments and align your intentions as community leaders. 6:00-7:30 pm, Graduation ceremony - family, friends and alumni are invite to celebrate with the new graduates.

Class Projects: At the retreat, the class will be divided into 5 civic project teams. Each team is responsible for developing and executing a civic (community) project during the program year. One hour will be allotted for project development during each session starting in November. Teams will also meet in-between classes as they deem necessary. The Class Project focuses on practicing the skills of collaboration, whereby class members will each agree to share a purpose that will bring learning and awareness on an important issue into the community. The project is a practical, hands-on activity that produces a result to gain further understanding of leadership, collaboration, and problem solving to benefit the community. One evening between the May and June sessions, we will schedule a 3 hour session to allow 30 minutes for each team to present their projects and the impact it had on the community. Previous graduates of RFL and other community members will be invited as part of the audience.