Edge among 21 to complete intensive 2011 leadership program

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Cumberland County Chairman Kenneth Edge, the president elect of the NCACC, was one of a select group of 21 leaders in county government from across the United States to participate in the 8th Annual County Leadership Institute (CLI), a rigorous program developed by the National Association of Counties (NACo) and Cambridge Leadership Associates.

NACo Executive Director Larry Naake (left) and Cambridge Leadership Associates' Jeffrey Lawrence (right) present Cumberland County Chairman Kenneth Edge (center) with his certificate of completion for the 2011 County Leadership Institute. (Photo courtesy NACo)

The 3½-day Institute, held June 5-9 in Washington, D.C., challenged the county officials to consider innovative approaches to address key issues facing their home county and residents.

Participants worked with the faculty as a group to develop a sense of direction and vision; a mechanism for innovation and creativity; a resource for invigorating organizational culture; and increased risk taking, improved decision making, team building and effective communication.

"These sessions were unlike any I have ever experienced," Edge said. "The Institute provided a unique opportunity to learn from the experience and insights of experts in leadership development and to work with my colleagues from across the country on specific approaches to address the challenges that all counties share."

CLI curriculum was developed specifically for NACo in 2004 by Marty Linsky, co-founder of Cambridge Leadership Associates and a member of the faculty at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, in collaboration with Dr. Ellen Schall, Dean of the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Policy at New York University. Jeffrey Lawrence of Cambridge Leadership Associates delivered this year's program.

"The county officials who participate in the Institute get information, ideas and perspectives they can't get anywhere else," said Larry E. Naake, executive director of NACo. "These county leaders not only discussed the core principles of public service leadership with faculty, they also collaborated intensively with each other to develop new ways to attack real-life issues of importance to the residents of their counties."