On Wednesday, March 22, Colby College will offer its 49th annual program for leaders in the Maine workplace—the 2000 Colby Institute for Leadership. This year’s theme is "People: The Competitive Advantage," and the program will present workshops designed to help Maine business people advance their companies and careers. Keynote speakers are Greg Gilkeson, a business manager of technical support at Microsoft, Inc., in Redmond, Washington, and Lance Secretan, an author, keynote speaker, philosopher and consultant from Alton, Ontario.

The institute will include workshops for small businesses as well as for larger companies’ employees from all levels of management. The program runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Colby’s campus in Waterville. Participants need to register in advance to attend the institute. For information, businesses or individuals should contact Colby’s Office of Special Programs at (207) 872-3386. Space in the workshops will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis, so please register early.

At 8:50 a.m. in the first general session, Gilkeson will present "A Funny Things Happened On My Way to Maui, I Found That All the People I Wanted Lived in Maine." At 3:45 p.m. Secretan will present "Value-Centered Leadership," providing a new definition of leadership in which people find meaning in their work lives. Secretan was chosen by Successful Meetings magazine as one of the top 21 speakers entering the 21st century.

Participants may select two from among eight other workshops offered by successful business executives and consultants. Activities include Governor Angus King’s lunch-time presentation of the 2000 Governor’s Awards for Business Excellence to Maine companies.

The Leadership Institute emphasizes practical information that participants can use in their own workplaces, according to Joan Sanzenbacher, Colby’s director of special programs and one of the institute’s organizers.
Workshops this year include:

Profit-Sharing, Des FitzGerald, CEO, Ducktrap River Fish Farm, Inc. & Atlantic Salmon of Maine, Belfast.

Increasing the Yield with Diversity and Inclusion, Verna Ford, Vice President of Operations, J. Howard and Associates, Inc., Lexington, Mass.

Next Generation Manufacturing & The Knowledge Supply Chain, Bill Hanson, Industry Co-Director, MIT Leaders for Manufacturing Program, Cambridge, Mass.

Attracting and Retaining Quality Employees, Sebastian Milardo, Principal, Drake, Inglesi, Milardo, Inc., Portland.

Flexible Work Arrangements, Margaret Downing, VP, Group Customer Services, and Elizabeth Needleman, Human Resources Consultant, UnumProvident, Portland.

Intellectual Capital; Maximizing the Potential of Your People for Competitive Advantage, Elizabeth Reuthe, President, Elizabeth Reuthe Associates, Vassalboro.

Ethics in the Workplace, Jeri W. Stevens, LCPC, Chandler Bay Resources, Waterville.

Cianbro—"Can-Do" Spirit, Peter Vigue, President, Cianbro, Inc., Pittsfield.

Participants register for two of the eight workshop sessions and also attend both keynote addresses. Registration, lunch and an afternoon reception are included in the $174 fee, and four or more participants from the same organization are eligible for a group discount.