W.A.C.E.'s Chamber Leadership Podcast

In this week’s episode Dave Kilby , President of W.A.C.E., offers ten data points which are useful to have in order to help your chamber grow and provide a higher quality service to your members.

If your board or staff were approached by someone in your community with the question “What Does the Chamber Do?” what would their response be? Would it solely focus on events? Would it reflect the chamber’s mission? Would they only include those tasks that they personally handle? Dave Kilby discusses the importance of an agreed upon elevator speech and consistent messaging and offers ideas of con...

Being a chamber CEO has never been easy, but now it seems it’s harder than ever before. This week Dave Kilby , President of W.A.C.E., discusses the need for risk in leadership and how to protect yourself and your chamber amidst the current cutthroat cancel culture mentality.  

In this week’s episode Dave Kilby is joined by Lorraine Clarno , ACE, President/CEO of the Kalispell (MT) Chamber and W.A.C.E. Chair-Elect. Lorraine shares lessons learned from her twenty-seven years of experience in the chamber industry and offers advice to both professionals new to the industry and executives moving from one chamber to another. Listen to the end for a sneak peek of our new CEO P...

The Chamber industry has not been immune to the great resignation. Each week we hear of a new executive job opening. In this episode Dave Kilby , President of W.A.C.E., offers his thoughts for new executives and any existing executives considering a move. 

In this week’s episode Dave Kilby is joined by Leron Gubler , Life Member of W.A.C.E., to discuss his new book “The Walk of Dreams: Finding Fame in Hollywood (or Wherever Life Leads).” Gubler shares key messages from his book, suggestions for success and lessons learned throughout his 40+ year career in the chamber industry. 

A common denominator found amongst successful chambers is excellent leaders on their board of directors. This week Dave Kilby , president of W.A.C.E., discusses the ideal traits your nominating committee should seek out when deciding who will be on your board. Making sure you have the right team to get things done is critical to your chamber soaring to success.    

Are you frustrated with your board? Are they frustrated with you? On this week’s episode Dave Kilby is joined by Hardy Smith , consultant, speaker and author of ‘Stop the Nonprofit Board Blame Game: How to Break the Cycle of Frustrating Relationships and Benefit from Fully Engaged Boards’ . Hardy addresses the question “Why don’t board members do what they are supposed to do?” from the perspective...

In this week’s episode Dave Kilby speaks with Mike Varney , a 23 year chamber executive and industry icon. Inspired by the leadership of Colin Powell Mike shares insight and 5 lessons from ‘The Powell Principles’ by Oren Harari and discusses how they apply to chambers of commerce.    

While pondering Charles Dickens ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ Dave Kilby , president of W.A.C.E., was inspired to ask Chamber executives and industry professionals about their outlook for 2022. Hear some of their responses offering optimism and inspiration with a bit of a reality check.  

In this episode Dave Kilby , President of W.A.C.E., shares a message from author and speaker Greg Mckeown about the importance of designing time to escape. With the evaporation of boundaries and 24/7 availability of the pandemic many people are struggling. Dave offers some tips on how to design those moments of escape into your schedule and why it is essential that you do so.

Does your chamber board have a clear understanding of who does what or are you “winging it”? This week Dave Kilby , President of W.A.C.E., discusses the importance of understanding management vs. governance and having clearly defined roles and responsibilities that are understood by everyone in the organization. Have you had this discussion with your board lately? If not, now might be the time so...

Dave Kilby , President of W.A.C.E., is often asked as a part of his discussions with chamber executives what he would do if he were “in their shoes”. In this episode Dave shares 5 things he would definitely be doing to take advantage of the chamber’s stock going up and capitalize on the positive chamber image that was strengthened over the last two years.      

In this week’s episode Dave Kilby is joined by his colleague Tiffany Fulmer Ott , Executive Director and Administrator, for 6 chamber associations including the Carolinas, Georgia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Dave and Tiffany share and compare feedback they are receiving from chamber executives in multiple states and discuss the successes and struggles of the chamber industry amidst the...

This week Dave Kilby is joined by W.A.C.E. Board Chair and Vail Valley (CO) Partnership President/CEO Chris Romer , ACE, IOM as they impart some movie wisdom as it relates to the chamber world. With themes of hard work, flexibility and being a visionary there is sure to be a reminder for success and/or lesson for each of us.

In this episode Dave Kilby is joined by Kyle Jacobson , VP of Government Relations for the Lubbock (TX) Chamber, to discuss his new book “Advocacy Basics for Chambers: The ABC’s of Government Relations”.  Jacobson stresses the importance of advocacy and how you can move your chamber from sitting on the sidelines to playing in the game. He also emphasizes why chambers need to take advantage of advo...

Inspired by a quote from the movie “The Departed”,  W.A.C.E. President Dave Kilby shares that, while it takes courage and requires getting out of our comfort zones, chambers of commerce need to play a leadership role in shaping the future of their communities.

Dave Kilby , president of W.A.C.E., discusses principles from the book “Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism” by Tom Peters and how they apply to the chamber industry. Over the last year the importance of professional development during challenging times is more apparent than ever. Professional development offers ROI for not only you but also your organization. We have seen a direct correlation betwee...

There is currently a lot of change and transition in our industry. Each week our office receives new job announcements and new job opening listings. This week Dave Kilby , president of W.A.C.E., shares reminders and proven suggestions on chamber CEO survival basics and discusses the art of being successful in the chamber industry. 

In this episode Dave Kilby is joined by Mick Fleming , longtime chamber champion and former CEO of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE). Mick provides background on the ACCE task force and process that led to the publication of the Horizon Initiative as well as a broad overview of the influences that will shape the future of the chamber industry. While many of the specifics and...

Chambers around the West are, even during the pandemic, doing great things that really matter and make a difference to their members and communities. In this episode Dave Kilby , president of W.A.C.E., provides some examples and discusses 6 foundational key ingredients these successful chambers share. Chambers have the opportunity to lead and take action as the problem solvers in their community a...

In this episode Dave Kilby is joined by special guest Brad Hicks , President/CEO of the Medford & Jackson County (OR) Chamber, as he reflects on his 28 year career with the chamber and shares wisdom, guiding principles for success in the chamber industry, and what’s next for his career.

It is normal for chambers to want to know how other chambers are doing in terms of membership and retention especially during these unprecedented times. Dave Kilby , president of W.A.C.E., shares data from a recent opinion poll and discusses why the data is so hard to pin down. With many chambers holding off on dropping past due members and adding large numbers of potential members to their databa...

While most chambers have been vocal about the need for PPE and PPP, vaccination campaigns do not seem to be as common. In this episode Dave Kilby discusses the reasons chambers may or may not choose to get involved and spotlights two chambers, the Grand Junction Area (CO) Chamber and the Lodi District (CA) Chamber, who have used their status as a trusted resource in their community to lead success...

In this episode Dave Kilby is joined by Academy faculty member B Gorman , from B Great Leadership, to discuss  how chamber professionals can battle burn out by prioritizing and establishing boundaries that protect not only their own health and well-being but the chamber’s focus and mission as well.