©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| GREDA Chair: Recent Disagreements a Good Thing |
The President of Carl Sandburg College and new Chairman of the Galesburg Regional Economic Development Association says he hopes the private-public partnership will continue to be strong, while knowing that things won't always be perfect.
Tom Schmidt told the Galesburg-Area Chamber of Commerce Wednesday morning he understands that people may have disagreements with how things may operate sometimes. One example of that might be the city council's decision to terminate its contract with GREDA effective a month from now.
But Schmidt says even that can be seen as a good thing in one respect. "Disagreements are a treasured human experience," Schmidt said. "Rather than avoid disagreements, we need to learn how to embrace them, to dismantle them, to drill down on them, and understand truly what people are aspiring to and what their underlying interests are. It's been my experience when disagreements take place, it's because people care."
Schmidt says he believes as you, in his words, peel off layers of disagreement, it will be found that those who disagree often have many overlapping interests. He says he believes GREDA is finding all of that out now as works to redefine itself.
Schmidt challenged Chamber members to help figure out how the Galesburg region can be branded under the auspices of his new mantra of thinking globally, but acting regionally.
(Galesburg Regional Economic Development Association Chairman Tom Schmidt speaks Wednesday morning at the Galesburg-Area Chamber of Commerce's "Galesburg on the Go" Breakfast at Carl Sandburg College, where Schmidt is President. WGIL News Story and Photo by Will Stevenson.) |
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| 02 18 09 by Newsroom |
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