Professional & Leadership Development

The Boise Young Professionals (BYP) Leadership & Development Work Team’s role is to help develop the future CEO’s and community leaders for the future of Boise, Idaho. Professional & Leadership Development is at the core of this group.

The Work Team is responsible for creating and maintaining:

b|wise Series
Lounging Series
b|applied Program (in development)
Legacy Council
b|informed Idaho Business Review Column
b|heard – BYP Toastmasters Program

b|wise Series

The b|wise Series was launched in June of 2007 to provide opportunities for BYP members to establish strong coaching/mentoring relationships with other young professionals and community leaders. This series matches up BYPers and established senior business leaders into ‘groups’.

Each group is comprised of about 10 BYPers and 1 mentor/facilitator. This mentor/facilitator is always: an accomplished individual at the top of their careers; has a title like CEO, President, etc.; has employee development experience; is usually much older that the BYP members and has been-there-done-that.

Each group meets monthly for 6-8 months to cover a wide range of leadership/professional development topics. BYPers completing the series should be more familiar with their: personal goals; professional goals; strengths; weaknesses; next steps to accomplishing professional objectives, etc.

Since b|wise’s launch, we have fielded a total of 19 groups with 230+ BYPers moving through the program. By our standards to date, this program has been viewed as a success. Past leads for this Series have been Wendi Secrist, Ken Carroll, Ben Lattin, Jenny Sarault and Scott Plumley.

Lounging Series

The Lounging Series was launched in 2007 and provides a question/answer forum, giving BYPers up-close-and-personal exposure to decision makers and community leaders. The event is held about 6-8 times a year. Each Lounging Series event is held after work hours (about 6-8pm) in a smaller venue to promote a more relaxed and open environment. In the past, adult beverages and appetizers have been served to further the cozy ambiance… thus the name ‘Lounging’ series. The atmosphere may be relaxed, but the quality of speakers is very serious. Past speakers include: former Governor of Idaho Cecil Andrus; CEO of Micron Steve Appleton; CEO of St. Alphonsus Sandra Bruce; former CEO of Washington Group Steve Hanks, etc.

By our standards, the Lounging Series has been of average success in the past; we think we can do better in the future.

b|applied Program

The b|applied Program is under development at this time. Essentially, it is similar to the b|wise Series in that the end-goal is professional development –however the b|applied Program is on Major League Steroids! Where the b|wise Series is an on-going discussion for 6-8 months; the b|applied Program is about working towards completing a project. Participants in the b|applied Program will be held accountable to deliverables and results (a lot more happening here than just talk and discussion).

The intent of the b|applied Program was born from the number #1 suggestion of top business leaders: The best way to learn is by doing. All b|applied projects will have a specific timeline, targeted outcome, and assigned resources, and create an effective and teachable result for its participants. Please stay tuned as this program is fully developed soon to be launched. Current leads for this program are: Ken Carroll and Ben Lattin.

We are currently looking for additional volunteers to add to this team; there is a lot of exciting work to be done to make this program successful.

Legacy Council

The Legacy Council is under development at this time. The council will be maintained by BYP, but its core members are comprised of business and community leaders whose role is to provide strategic connections and resources throughout the Boise Metro Area. The Council’s purpose is to advise and act as a helpful resource to the BYP.

Generally speaking… all programs developed by the BYP Leadership Workteam have been from LISTENING to our business community. Although previous listening sessions have been extremely valuable; they were sparse and inconsistent. We feel an established Legacy Council meeting regularly will help keep this important conversation alive and mutually beneficial.

b|informed Idaho Business Review Column

This column will be produced by BYP members and presented in a very high-profile format through the Idaho Business Review. The intent is to inform and connect with the Boise Metro community; we will be able to speak to specific ideas or issues on a broad scale.