Quote of the Month

"Leadership is required for mobilizing people to handle challenging times. In a world that has no challenges, things are fine and you don't require leaders....But, unfortunately, in our world, we have a huge number of challenges in the government, non-profit and business sectors; we have many challenges in the developing world and the developed world. ...In fact, in our world, the need for leadership is more now than ever before."

— John P. Kotter, Harvard Business School

Editor's Note: This is one of a series of quotes from Professor Kotter, a world-renowned expert on leadership. We thank Past Club President Anil Agarwal of Jaipur, India, for bringing these quotes to our attention.


Random Thoughts About  Leadership

One of the most difficult challenges of any leader is to drive change. As Professor Kotter has also said, great leaders were always focused on changing systems. As any Rotarian well knows, getting a Rotary CLUB, a district or any part of Rotary to "change" means to overcome the tendency to want to leave things are they are, whether effective or not. It seems to be human nature to be uncomfortable about change. How often have we heard a Rotarian say, "We have always done it this way."  RLI is about working with potential leaders to create positive change in their Rotary Clubs. Thoughts about this are always welcome - more about "change" in future eBulletins.


Plan Ahead for the Annual RLI Convention Breakfast

Another festive breakfast meeting has been scheduled for the Montreal Convention on June 23, 2010 at the Intercontinental Hotel. The doors will open at 7:00 a.m. and the breakfast will start promptly at 7:30 a.m. and end well in time for the participants to attend the Convention plenary session on Wednesday morning. Tickets are US$ 32.00 per person and may be obtained from RLI Intl. Executive Director Michael Rabasca. Full information will be soon posted on the RLI website home page at www.rotaryleadershipinstitute.org. Because many of our largest divisions are located relatively close to Montreal, a large turnout is expected and we urge all our members to register early. The event is open to any Rotarian and guest interested in a quality leadership development program for Rotary CLUBS.


Welcome New Member District

RLI is pleased to welcome District 4930 as a member of the Argentina-Central/South and part of Uruguay Division. The district consists of the southern part of Argentina, including the most southerly Rotary Clubs in the world (except Antarctica) in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego. The distance from the southerly end of the district to the northerly border is approximately 1500 miles. The District Governor is Marselino Garrido of Rio Negro and the Division Chair is PDG Juan Pedro Torroba who has done an excellent job for RLI in Argentina and in some other South American countries. We also thank R.I. Director Antonio Hallage for his outstanding service as Regional Vice-Chair for South America that has had substantial growth of RLI in the past several years.


Welcome to a new Member of the RLI Intl. Sr. Leaders Advisory Board

We are proud to welcome Past Rotary International Director Antonio M. Serrano of Bedfordview, Gauteng, South Africa as a member of the RLI Intl. Senior Leaders Advisory Board. He served as an R.I. Director during 1993-5 and was Chairman of the Board's Executive Committee in 1994-5.


Personnel Changes

PDG Larry Warren of District 6650 is the new Chair of the North Coast Division (Ohio, USA). The new division is in process of organizing its initial faculty orientation sessions and initial courses. See Training Events below.


Division Events Scheduled

Several RLI Divisions have organized special events in the coming months. In ANZO, a special RLI breakfast meeting will be held in conjunction with the Zone 8 (Australia) Zone Institute on Saturday, November  14, 2009 at the City Hall of Newcastle, NSW Australia under the leadership of PDG Cathy Roth, Intl. RLI Regional Vice-Chair for ANZO and Chair of the Australia Southern Division. The principal speaker will be Past R.I. Director/Treasurer Barry Thompson.

The following Saturday, November 21, 2009, will be the special RLI breakfast meeting in conjunction with the Zone 7B Institute at Waitangi, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, under the leadership of New Zealand and Pacific Islands Division Chair, PDG Beryl Robinson.

We thank R.I. Director John Lawrence for authorizing these breakfast meetings at the two Zone Institutes.

RLI Officers are arranging presentations about RLI at the Zones Institute in Paris the weekend of December 4-6 in Paris, France. Leading the effort is PRIVP Serge Gouteyron, Intl. RLI Regional Vice-Chair for Western Europe, PDG Jacques di Costanzo, Chair of the France Division and RLI Trainer, Robert Heline. The Zone Institute includes six Zones, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18B and 19. Conveners of the Institute are RID Catherine Noyer-Riveau of France (a member of the RLI Sr. Leaders Advisory Board) and RID Ekkehart Pandel of Germany.

February 9, 2010 is the date of the Annual Meeting in Mumbai, India of the five RLI divisions in India. More information to follow


Training Teams to be Very Active this October/November/December

A busy period is ahead for RLI International Training Teams conducting faculty orientations and assisting at new course sites during the next three months. Trainers PDG Frank Wargo (Chair), PDG Michael Rabasca, PRIVP Michael McGovern, PDG Knut Johnsen, PDG Tamton Mustapha, PDG Daniel Spencer, PDG Doros Jeropoulus, PDG Juan Pedro Torroba and others will be participating in training events in Toronto,Canada, Calgary, Canada,  Ohio, USA, The Netherlands, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Czech Republic, Greece, Nigeria, Bolivia, South Korea and other sites. The full calendar is posted and updated regularly on the RLI website, www.rotaryleadershipinstitute.org . Reports will follow in future eBulletins.


Save the Dates

THE Annual Intl. Curriculum Committee meeting will be held on January 8-10, 2010 at the International Plaza Spa & Resort, Orlando, FL USA. Every division is invited to send representative(s) to this meeting. Committee Chairman Tim Schuler, PDG, Chair of the RLI Sunshine Division will be sending out registration information shortly. PDG Bevin Wall, Chair of the Zone 33 Division is Secretary and Editor to the Committee.


Around the RLI World

The newly formed South Korea Division is organizing its first faculty orientation sessions in Seoul, Korea. Chair of the Division is PRID Kwang Tae Kim.

An RLI course at Yelagari, India added some elements not usually found at RLI courses: aerobics, yoga and meditation. Perhaps that enhanced the learning process??? (Reported by South India Coordinator Rekha Shetty).

The Sao Paulo Division (Brazil) now has 55 trained faculty members.

The Buenos Aires Division (Argentina) is holding its first Part I course at the Council of Economic Sciences of Buenos Aires under the leadership of Division Chair Celia Giay. (Sounds like good atmosphere for learning).

The new Great Lakes Division (Michigan/Ontario) will kick off its first Part I program on November 7 under the leadership of Division Chair Renee Merchant.

Taiwan Division Chair Dens Shao has reported a number of successful RLI courses in various parts of Taiwan. All seven districts in Taiwan are members of the Division.

Note: Send news items about division activities to David Linett. We can only publish a few notes each month, but such items are appreciated.


RLI PHILOSOPHY

"Having leadership skills does not alone assure good Rotary leadership. An effective Rotary leader must ALSO have Rotary knowledge, perspective about where Rotary has been, where it is now going and a vision of what Rotary can be."