Rotary And Change a talk with Cindie Kish

We sit down with Cindy Kish to decode what Rotary Membership Coordinator and International Assembly learning facilitator really mean, and why those roles matter when clubs feel stuck. We wrestle with the hard part of change: keeping people feeling seen while still building a Rotary culture that new members actually want to join. 
• Rotary acronyms explained and what the jobs involve 
• How International Assembly training in Orlando works and why it feels transformative 
• Why membership messaging often fails and how to make it relatable 
• Using a “recipe” mindset to build member engagement that fits each club 
• When statistics help and when they drain the room 
• The Rotaract and Interact pipeline problem and what modern clubs can change 
• Inclusive traditions, respectful feedback, and the fear behind pushback 
• Building district structures that create consistency beyond one leader 
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If you have somebody that you know of that's turning their actions into impact, CarionPod at gmail.com 
Again, same email, RotarianPod at gmail.com

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Cindy Kish

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi everyone, I'm Gwen Jones, and welcome once again to the Action the Impact Podcast, the weekly podcast where I introduce you to those amazing people from all over the world turning their actions into impact. Well, this week I have a rotary show. A learning show. And who better to uh put learning and experience and membership and all that kind of stuff together? Whip Zone 32 trainer Cindy Kitch. You know, rhymes with wish. I love that. Cindy's gonna talk to me about the good and the bad of us Rotarians and change. That's right, we're talking change, people. She also is an international international assembly learning facilitator. Do you know what that is? I sure didn't. But Cindy's gonna tell me all about it. So sit back and enjoy the ride. Cindy Kish is here, and I'm so glad you joined us. You know, I've been talking with the Red Cross and I've been talking with all these movers and shakers, but we still have some definite movers and shakers that are alive and well and working every single day to make great Rotarians. And Cindy Kish, which rhymes with Wish, is my guest today. And she's one of those people who's literally working every day to make better Rotarians, you guys. If we would all just listen to Cindy. Uh, Cindy is the RMC, and I a learning facilitator, and yes, we're gonna learn what all those letters mean for zone 32, which is my zone. And Cindy is one of those guests that I've been hunting down for a really long time, and I finally got her, and she is on the show. Hey, Cindy, nice to have you on the show. Thank you so much for having me here.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

It's a real pleasure to be with you.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

I've been trying to get a hold of you since your hair was short. That's what I just tell you right there. Right. Yes, it is longer, finally. Yes. Hi. And the reason why I joke with you about that is because if for people who know Cindy, she had one of the best pictures up on her social media platform for the longest time. And it was her right out of a cooking show. She looked fabulous, had an apron on, and then bread baked in the word rotary right in front of her. Look it up, it's adorable. Notice her short hair and go, God, that was a long time ago. But I still remember that photo and I digress, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

We can talk more about that later if you'd like.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

I want to, I want to, I want to know what happened to. Well, first of all, was the bread edible or was it just for prop?

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Oh, totally. Everything on that display was edible. See, there you go. Eat your words, literally.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

All right. Tell

Decoding Rotary Roles And Acronyms

SPEAKER_01 3:05

us first off, right off the bat, what is an RMC dash I or not dash and, excuse me, and IA learning facilitator? Because that's a lot of letter language mumble jumbo there.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

It is. And aren't we just famous for our letters and everyone's supposed to know what all these things mean? And sometimes I still want a dictionary.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

I want a good old, you know, a dictionary, a rotary dictionary of all of our letters. So, what what is an RMC?

SPEAKER_00 3:34

So RMC is Rotary Membership Coordinator, which is kind of fancy for just I look at membership. I talk about membership. I want to encourage membership for our zone and do what I can to help clubs and districts and people engage in rotary, look at areas where we can start new clubs and just encourage our clubs to be an environment that people want to go to, want to belong, have that craving of, you know, it's on Wednesdays. I'm gonna block that time out. That that time for me is sacred, and I want to be there. So I am all membership all the time. All membership. Okay, then what's the IA? IA is International Assembly. So that happens once a year. Yep, that's the one in Florida. If I think it's the one in Orlando, Florida. In Orlando, right? Yes, yes. And an IA learning facilitator is chosen, typically one from every zone, but not necessarily. Okay. To go in and be the facilitator for the incoming district governors. So yeah, it's an amazing opportunity. I am not even sure how you're chosen. I know people recommend you, but I was the bread. I'm telling you, it was the bread. It must have been the bread. It must have been the bread. They saw the bread, they saw she is thinking outside the box, and there we go. So you're you're chosen and you spend about six months preparing. You're given a mentor who has been there before. Okay. And the curriculum, and you practice, practice, practice, and then you go to International Assembly a week before it actually takes place. And you spend a week preparing for your classes. And we go in, we do different presentations, we do a 30-minute presentation, we do an hour presentation, we are with the other learning facilitators. You are critiqued, you are, you know, you talk about best practices. You really learn the art of adult learning facilitation, which is absolutely amazing and incredible and fascinating, yes, because adult learners, we learn differently than we did when we were six, seven, eight years old.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

And individuals. I learned, I'm sure, much different than the other, say district governor right next to me, next to the district governor next to me. We've all had different stories, we've all grown up differently, we have different careers.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Wow. Yes, so it's fascinating, and what an amazing opportunity that you are given to be surrounded. So there are 40 people, 40 Rotarians from around the world are chosen. These IAs. Correct. For the for the International Assembly Learning Facilitators, 40 of them are chosen. You have about 24 that are new, and then the remainder are returning. And so you, it's almost like learning facilitator camp for adults. You go in and it's this intense environment because believe me, the 40 fellow Rotarians that that we were dropped in with, I feel like I'm family. Yeah. We it's amazing. It's absolutely fascinating. And it's opportunities like this that not every Rotarian knows about. And there are opportunities like this all across Rotary. This is you know very specific, but the opportunity to go in and and meet people from around the world and get to know their culture and kind of what you can say and can't say, and what you should be looking for, and being respectful. It's it's fascinating and such a privilege.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

So you're kind of talking about two different things there. So, first of all, let me ask you, how many years do you do this? I assume if it's six months in training, you're in this for a couple years, are you not?

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Well, here's I don't know if I'm supposed to go into this or not. You are are chosen. Again, I'm not sure how exactly it works. Right. You are all dust is put on you and you're chosen. Correct. You are only provided the opportunity twice. Only 40% of the people who were chosen are able to come back a second time.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

And if you were chosen a second time, well, you know, it's uh it's absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

I I feel I feel like it. I really do feel like it. And yeah, you're you're Max only allowed to do it twice. Now there have been exceptions where at the very last minute someone had to back out because of a health issue or some type of an emergency. And very few, I think probably less than 10 people, I'm not sure on that statistic. So we're gonna air this, but don't quote me on that. Yeah, um, have been allowed to go back three times. It's extremely, extremely rare. So the you're sent a notification from the incoming president of Rotary International sometime around the end of May, June, that's when you find out. So I am at this point literally on pens and needles, waiting to find out if I will have the privilege of being invited back for a second year. As in, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

So as of right now, you're gonna still be a rotary membership committee, right? Was that the coordinator? Coordinator, excuse me.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Yes, I have one more year for that. And then you're I'm sorry, please. Yes, and because of the role that you were given, your role is to train that at zone institute that coming year, the incoming DGEs. So I will still have a role as an IA facilitator through this year, it will just not continue to next year to depending on if I'm chosen or not. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Wow. So you could be dropping the AI

Why Membership Talks Make Eyes Roll

SPEAKER_01 10:10

or you could be, excuse me, the IA, or you could be getting it for another year. Correct. Yes. Okay. I had no idea. But if you think about it though, for all of the cross-pollination of those two things, they both have their yes and nays, let's say. If we're just talking about rotary membership, if there's one thing that makes Rotarians' eyes roll faster, it is we're gonna have a talk about rotary membership. And there's you know, friend of the show, Tom Gump, and so many others that are pounding the pavement, membership, membership, membership, membership. And if you go to other places, guess what they got? Membership, membership, membership. So you're hitting the road, you're talking about membership, with or without bread, but I have to say, are we just not learning? How is it how how is it going here in the US with the whole membership thing? Because I tell you, eyes roll. It's like a collective roll of the eyes when it's like, I mean, I was at Pell's, I was at president training with you, and I was interviewing those upcoming people and those fabulous people that are taking on the position of presidents of their clubs or even district managers, and they were like, Okay, gung-ho, I'm gonna get more members. What what happens between you exciting them and then actually stuff happening? Like what what's going on in Europe?

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Well, it's it's tough. It is a challenge here in in in the United States in North America. It is challenging. And you know, we've looked at different studies, we've looked at different reasons why culture and people aren't as engaged, people aren't going out and asking, people are tired of the statistics. And people, as you just talked about learning, learn differently, people address membership very differently as well. Okay, and one of the things that I wanted to do when I was asked to take on this role was talk a little bit about the statistics. Yes, numbers, the data is important. There are some data learners out there still. There are data learners out there. There are, there are, I get it and I understand it, but that's not me. I'm not a data learner, I am a visual learner. I am more of the, you know, give me the circles, you know, show me something that's a little fun. And so I really have tried to approach my talks, my learning

The Recipe Metaphor For Club Success

SPEAKER_00 13:05

through more facilitation. Let's talk about it. And also, what can be fun? What can people relate to? So at the very beginning, you talked about bread, that picture of me in front of this bread. Right. Right. And so some people will see me, I've got an apron on because I wanted to talk about recipes for success. People can learn when they can relate to something. So if I tell you the recipe of membership is a dash of fellowship, a sprinkle of entertainment, a barrel of laughter, you know, a cup of entertainment, people can see that and say, okay, it's not just going out and knocking on a door, it's not just getting in a secretary. It's about these other aspects that can be fun, that can be modified. And with a recipe, we change our recipes all the time. If I give you a recipe, uh, let's say something, I'm gonna say something simple. And then yeah, yeah, what popped into my head was Coca Van. Okay. Hey, I'm with you. Okay, you I know you are. Yeah, but you're we're all we all might our salt, let's take salt, the basic ingredient. Sure. It's gonna be different. Right. I might have a heavier hand than you do. You know, when we're when we're brazing it, it might be a little bit darker on mine than it might be for for you. You know, you might add a little more spice than than I do. It's gonna be a little bit lighter. So understanding that yes, we still need to have fun meetings and leadership leadership that people can relate to and talk to. We need to make sure that we have meaningful service. We need to make sure that we are engaging, but yet the ingredients and how we go about that are different for every club, for every district, because each of our clubs is made up of individuals that come to the table, as you just said, you know, earlier, uh differently. We arrive here with our own baggage, or if we're using the cooking metaphor, with our own cookbooks, with our own taste preferences. So we need to look at things, yes, consistently, but yet inconsistently as well. There is no golden, you know, recipe that's going to fit every single club, every single district, every single model out there. We have to, as Rotarians, be able to look at it and say, okay, this is our baseline, but how can we add the spice? How can we take this away? How can we add to make it the best recipe that our club is going to crave and want to come back to time and time again?

SPEAKER_01 16:02

So, and I love that. And I and I I love the whole recipe about it, and and I'm very hooked. I mean, I it everything from my, you know, I I put a show on every week about what a proud Rotarian I am and telling stories about Rotarians. But I have to, I have to ask then do the does the numbers, does punching

Numbers Versus Motivation In The US

SPEAKER_01 16:25

the numbers about the lack is it inspirational or is it detrimental? Or does it really depend on the person? I think it depends on the person. Okay, because I I know the first time we sort of kind of met was when our beloved Mario was about to take office, and then due to some situations, he wasn't able to do it. But I had to speak or do my show right before Mario. So there I was like, let's get excited, let's do it. We are great. And then Mario came on and was like, wah, wall. She did the numbers. Now I have a partner who went, I love the numbers. I need to know where we stand. I want to know why Africa is beating us like seven members to nothing, or Indonesia, or you get into, you know, India, and it's like, how are these places? You know, I want to know those numbers. And I felt like wah wah. I was like, oh man, I'm depressed now, and I'm supposed to get people on my show because we're exciting. Okay. So do the numbers work with Americans?

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Do they please? I think that again, it depends on the individual. I think it's important to provide the numbers. Now, that being said, every month I provide statistics and numbers to the district membership chairs, to the district governor line, to people who are interested in membership. They will get those metrics. They see where they are. I provide the numbers. That's something that that is out there. And is that your job? It is my job to well, my job doesn't specifically say provide certain statistics. Numbers, okay, but it is important for people to understand where we are. Yeah. And and yes, you're correct that people do learn differently. And some people are a, yeah. How did that happen? Why in Germany is there not a problem from in membership. In Germany, you're a member for life. That's it. You know, you you're once you're Rotarian, always Rotarian. That's that's it. Now, Americans, you know, we are a culture where we look, especially with social media, sometimes it's about shiny penny. Look at what's happening over here, look at what's happening over there. Oh my gosh, and now this person's doing that, and this person is doing that. And sometimes our steadfastness, even though we get things done, but we can be a very disposable society.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Right. I joke all the time that if Taylor Swift was a Rotarian, man, we'd be at like eight million.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah, we would until our next song comes out, and then it's something else, you know. I mean, it's incredible. Yeah, good point. Right, right. But I think that we've

What Rotary Gives Beyond Service

SPEAKER_00 19:20

lost sight of the things that I was gonna say that matter for for everyone. I I can just say that matter for me. Okay, you know, I I love rotary because of the family and the connection and how grounded rotary is for me. In a world that I'm bombarded with so many different things happening everywhere, I can go to my meeting and I am surrounded by people that I respect and I that make me a better person. And in my over 20 plus years as a Rotarian, I've had the honor of knowing people through my club and through my experience as a Rotarian that I never would have had the opportunity to socialize with or come in contact with. A member of my club when I first joined helped get people to the moon. He was a doctor that worked at you know for NASA, that that helped people get to the moon. I never would have been exposed to someone like that. Never in my lifetime. But through Rotary, I had that opportunity of talking to him and being on a committee with him, being on a committee with him when something went wrong and he was just calm. And I'm thinking, well, of course he's calm. You know, this is nothing compared to what he told me. It's not like getting around the moon. I mean, perfect.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Right, little thing. So it's it's amazing, it's truly amazing. And I also wanted to model for my children things, service, and looking beyond yourself, not only in your community, but the global community. And for my children, I know that they talk about that now that they're adults, watching that and and and learning about that. And we had exchange students. So three times we had three young ladies, young women in our home. And they were able to see that in the end, you just want to be accepted and loved and have people understand you for who you are and and for where you come from. And now we talk about those young ladies and where they are in their life and the fact that one of our first exchange students was from Russia and how impactful that is that we have family in Russia now. Even though the last time I spoke to her, she I said, Lydia, I want you to come visit and I want you to come come back. And she said, My husband's not allowed to access the border. I can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

And even however, if you're listening to this, everybody, they I actually got to interview the president of the Rotary Club of Moscow. So we have, you know, we don't have one back in Cuba yet,

Rotaract Pipeline And Modern Club Models

SPEAKER_01 22:45

but who knows? You never know. You never know. So do you think then if if we everybody talks about the quote unquote younger member, and that's that 35, 45, or millennial age. I've often thought about why we go for those Gen Zers because as I look at them, and I'm about to help with our zone areas, Ryla, the interactors into not even necessarily the rotor actors, but I guess the young rotor actors, they want to do something. They are not interested in lunch, they are not interested in fines, they could be kick-ass rotarians. And I've had the actual the opportunity to talk to three of them, one in Malawi, one in Uganda, and these are all rotor actors that are literally setting up schools in refugee camps. You know, and I'm like, and I can't get some clubs to stop having lunch and doing happy bucks and get out and pick up trash. Correct. So we have that disconnect.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Does that get frustrating for you? It's extremely, it's extremely frustrating because okay, here I'm not a data person or statistics person, but it's like four percent of our rotor actors become Rotarians. So hello, what's the problem here? Yeah, especially because some of those interactors and rotor actors are really kicked. They are they're amazing. And it's because we've been stuck in this cycle. Well, we have to do this and we have to do this. Well, no, we don't. No, we don't. We don't have to anymore. We have the opportunity to create clubs and create these models that are reflective of what people want today, and we just have to do it. That's just it. You have to say we can do this. We it's not above, it's not lunch over service. It is not.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Wow, it's not there. You go, there's your sound bite, everybody. It's not lunch over service. Yes, if we're service above self, then it could be service above lunch, correct? Or cocktail or happy bucks, whatever you want it. Yeah, I've never been a big person with fines or happy bucks. To me, you should never have to be charged for being happy.

unknown 25:15

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

You should never have to charge for being happy ever. Yes. Send your hands. You should never have to be charged for being happy.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Right. Yeah. You you should not. So we need to look at what people want to do and how can we fit that into their lives. Okay. And and and really lean in on that because people want to serve, people want to do good. There's no shortage of that. It's it's the complication of, well, you have to come here or you have to come there. And you don't have to anymore. That's just it. You do not have to. We have models, and there are wonderful ways now where you can serve without having to put yourself in the position that you don't want to anymore.

Making Traditions Inclusive Without Fights

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Well, and and I often talk about that I I've always had this rebellious streak in me. I know it's shocking. I know. But I am very rebellious when it comes to saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I have been known to put my knee on my chair. I have been known that the to say the Pledge of Allegiance to its to its original form, which does not have the word God in it, that came in in the in the 50s. And I also am not a huge fan of our national anthems because there are rotary clubs all over the world. And unless we're doing everybody's national anthem, we don't need to do anybody's national anthem. So I've gotten some flack and I'm okay with it. So my question is though, what if you have somebody who's listening to this and they're like, Cindy says I can do whatever I want? Cindy says I can make my own club. Cindy says I've got a new way to learn. I can be a rotor actor, I can be an interactor, age appropriate, obviously, people. I can go out and start my ways. But I don't know if I'm willing to take the hit like Gwen's had to do. You know, I'm not willing if I I'm not know if I'm if if I'm brave enough to say I don't want to do it that way. I want to do it this way. What do you say to those folks? I say to those folks. You're asking them to go out on a lot of bravery there, because we've got some people who do not want to change.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

I I am, but what I can say is you have people around you to support you. I am here to support you. I am here to help you. You are not alone in doing any of this. And let's take an invocation as an example. Gotcha. There are ways around it. It can be a poem. You can choose to do something else. You could take certain things, and you can, based on your community, based on your club, you don't have to do the way it was traditionally done. In my home club, we had a Buddhist monk, we had a Catholic priest, we had a presby Presbyterian, you know, reverent, we had all people coming to all walked into a bar at the same time. And they all walked into a bar, they changed the light bulb. I mean, it just it worked. It worked right because it's about being respectful and understanding. And so being respectful of everyone can be, we can agree on a poem, a different poem. That's not religious, right? That's not you know offensive to anyone, but yet it's still quote unquote traditional. We can it can still be our invocation, but yet we can make sure that it's inclusive for everyone. Because one of the things that that is happening here that I also want us to be mindful of is we're we're we're shifting and we're changing, but we have a lot of traditionalists, we have a lot of old school Rotarians. We do, yeah. And in fact, my sponsor is an old school Rotarian. And he came to me the other day and he said, Cindy, we need more men in our club because my club is is mainly women. He's like, I need more men in here. And I started to say, Oh, Tom, it's okay. But then I sat back and I thought, well, what about for him? Okay. You know, if I look at it through his eyes as well, this was when he joined an old boys club. 100%. 100%. So he has seen all these changes and he's he's gone through it. He's with us. He's he's staying, he's staying, and he's still a Rotarian, and that's awesome. But yet at the same time, the world has shifted, and I still want, I value. He comes to the table with a lot of information, a lot of you know respect for no better word. Yeah. I still want to make sure that I'm respecting Tom while still respecting and understanding that we need to shift, we need to change, we need to make things irresistible for for more people. So saying to Tom, Tom, I hear you and I understand. And yes, you know, we we are predominantly women in this club. But yeah, let's let's look for a few more men. Let's look for for this. He at least felt seen in that moment. Right. We're not gonna go back to where the men had a table. My club's not gonna go back to that. That's not gonna happen. Right. But for Tom to understand that that we still see him in a world that's changing, I think is also very important.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

So are are you asking members to change things or perhaps rethink things? Or maybe a little of both?

SPEAKER_00 31:14

I think it's both. Okay. I do think it's both because our clubs are all unique. Right. Right? Different recipes. We have different recipes, we have different flavor profiles, we're all looking for different things. So you really need to look at your club and what's missing, what's fun, what's what's working, and how you can take what's working and expand on that while still being respectful. It's it's tricky.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Well, yeah, and you think the last words you said were and still be respectful. And I noticed this in the presidents, and we're gonna talk just in a second about Orlando and that part, but when it comes to the presidents, especially, or the club to club to club in your small little area or district, the respect part of the change is not always embraced.

unknown 32:16

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

And we've had discussions on this show, we've had people on this show. Probably one of our most famous is a gentleman named Evan Burrell, who before he was district governor, would go out in this rotary suit all throughout Australia and just be this force to be reckoned with as the new era of rotary. And he's told me stories about people that just shut him down. Just no way. Absolutely not. So, how as a rotary membership chair, how can how can you tell the people that are giving that feedback, hey, you might want to give it a try, and then still inspire those people who are willing to step out on that very, very, very high, thin ledge and go for it? Like, how do you find that that balance? Is it just being safe and scene? Is

Handling Change Resistance With Respect

SPEAKER_01 33:15

it just being like, how do you how do we find that?

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Well, I I think that most of the time when you get that pushback, because I got pushback when I became district governor, I was changing things for the better, or at least I thought it was for the better. I now know many years later. Right, right. I now know many years later it was for the better. But I received major pushback. But usually when people are pushing back, it's out of fear.

unknown 33:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

It's out of fear of what are they going to lose? What's what's going to or what's going to be out of control? Because we live in this world, right, where so many things are out of our control. And for so many years, especially when it comes to traditional rotary, the traditional rotary club, that was a safe environment. It was very steady. It was very, here we go. I know exactly what's going to happen when I walk in. You know, Jim's going to hand me this. I'm going to go in. I'm going to, I'm going to sit in my seat. I'm going to talk about the chicken lunch. I'm going to, you know, you know exactly what's going to happen. And so now here comes rotary, this even level, and we're saying, change. Change it up. Bring something new. And so for a lot of people, that invokes fear. So we have to be understanding that that's happening for people in different ways. And talk to them about why. And let's let's have a conversation. Because when we shut people down and we force things on them, it doesn't work. Right? Okay. You know? Right. In either of the directions. In either direction. In either direction. So that's where communication and collaboration and understanding can go a long way when we want to shake and move and change because we have to. We have to do things differently because we're not appealing to other people. We, if we just stay the same, we're we're gonna die out. It's a fact. That's what's going to happen. Getting all the way back to those numbers again, people. We have to go back to those numbers. We have to. So understanding that we have to change into something else that can still be as comforting to people as it was before. That's I think the balance. That's I think the the sticky, the stickiness here is making sure that we can. It's like, you know, when you were little and you were on that that seesaw and you're like and you're like bounced down and you want to kind of keep it level. You have to have that yin and yang there of keeping certain things that are working, but it being able to bring things in that aren't going to just send people off, jumping off that ledge. Because we do want people to try new things. But here's the thing: not everything that we try will be successful. And that is okay. That's, I think, providing the opportunity for people to say what you think it might be can morph into something else. And sometimes it can be more beautiful than it was in the first place. I talk it when I talk about food, I'll talk about whoever put lobster in mac and cheese, I think was a genius. I never would have thought that here they have this traditional recipe, and then all of a sudden you're throwing something in that some people would say is just, you know, people would some chefs would think horrible. You can't do that. You can't add, or you can't add truffle in there, you can't add other things in. It's gonna ruin the model, it's gonna ruin it. But yet it's delicious, it's absolutely delicious. Why not add it in? Try it.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

See, take that risk. And to the people who take that risk, you said something very, very quickly where you said, and now all these years later, I'm realizing I made some of those changes I made turned out to be really good. So when you have these people that are willing to step out, do we have to tell them the old Buddhist saying is that sometimes you have to plant the tree, give other people shade? Correct. You know, I mean, so and so, which is brave, people. I'm here, I mean, both Cindy and I are here here to tell you that's that's walking in a lot of faith, but there's a lot of men and women and great rotarians and rotor actors and interactors before us that did those steps, so you know, to make it easier for us, I guess, is what we're saying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Okay. Correct. Correct. Yes,

Building District Systems That Outlast You

SPEAKER_00 38:25

you you need to sometimes you you have to say, again, I'll talk about my own journey because that's what's easy for me to talk about. I mean, I was the incoming district governor. Yes, yes, yeah. Yeah. I mean, when when when yeah, when I was the incoming district governor, I I met with I tried to meet with as many past district governors as I could. I formed a district executive board. And it was no longer, the district governor was no longer going to be the end-all be-all of the district. And it was going to be a board that, yes, the board met, the board made decisions, the board decided, the because I saw it coming up into the year that I was district governor, how each district governor had their own theme and their own thing, and how our district went up and down, up and down as far as giving and making it.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

Depending on how great that governor was, right? Correct.

SPEAKER_00 39:22

Yeah. So I want as a business owner, I thought about it more as a business. And how can we provide more consistency and collaboration and opportunity actually for more people, because it actually opened up the opportunity for more people to come in when you spread the wealth out, because it wasn't just one person. You had your district governor line that was part of that, but you had your foundation, you had your membership, you had a few past district governors that were on the board. It was a committee, and past district governors were not happy. The district governor in front of me was not happy. I ruffled a lot of feathers. But now, many years later, our district is thriving and doing so well because of the board. Now it has, it's not exactly the same as when I started it. There have been a few edits of who's on the board, who's not on the board. But as a district, our foundation numbers are strong and our membership numbers are strong. We are going to be up at least 50 people for our district this year. Wow. And that is huge. And it's because we look at things as a committee and as a board, and it's not about the individual, it's about the unit of how Rotary as a whole, not about the individual. Well, this is my year, this is what I want, this is my philosophy. It's about how can we move this organization and our district and our clubs forward and be better. And our district membership committee adopted the model that RI became mandatory. We adopted that model years before Rotary did. It was based on Rotary's recommendation, but we had a subcommittee model in my district that now Rotary International is saying should come across, everyone should have this model because they found that it's successful. When you have committees that are larger than a committee of one, that's what you know. A committee is not one. That's not a committee. One person's not a committee. But there's no argument, everybody gets along. Yes, I know, but you're it's hard. You can't do everything. You can't make it true. So having the structure where you have someone who's looking at new club development, when you have someone that's looking at attraction, when you have someone that's looking at engagement, that's how you can look at all these different areas and provide the experience that people are looking for. And it is about, as we've been saying, providing those new experiences that are fun and innovative and providing support for them. Because as you were saying, you know, go out, try it, you know, get on that edge of that cliff to be there. But having someone who's a mentor or your support system that's there to help when things start to flounder and things start to, oh, wait, I'm not sure. I'm we're new, I don't know. Because 80% of the clubs that are forming are new people and they need support out there. Again, look at me dropping a statistic when I'm not a statistic person.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

That's okay. No, I was with you. So and I I thank you so much for being on, and I know I've kept you for a while, but I want to go back to IA just for a couple last two couple of questions here, because I think there's a real difference in the mover, shaker, plant the tree for future shade, kind of scared between presidents and other

The Orlando International Assembly Effect

SPEAKER_01 43:45

clubs, and the Orlando experience. And I think that's what we should call it the Orlando experience, because everybody leaves the Orlando experience, give or take, going to Disney World with like I ever. The world is perfect. Rotary is perfect. I'm gonna have 5,000 members in my club by the end of the year, and I'm gonna work with other governors. So, what happens between being a president of a club and going to Orlando? I mean, is it is it the Disney experience? I mean, because somehow governors talking to other governors who talk to other zone leaders who then talk to I the only thing I can think of is because they're they're talking to all the other governors from all over the world, because they're talking to all the other, you know, heritages, the the other nationalities, the other countries. Why is it so joyous when you get just that one level up and all those governors get together compared to when all the presidents get together?

SPEAKER_00 44:58

It is amazing because we embrace everyone's culture. Okay. So it could be just a culture because there because there is so many cultures, it isn't just like New England or Southern California or so at International Assembly, they actually have a cultural night where everyone sets up a booth, basically, and you highlight the things that are amazing and special and fun about your culture. So for an individual to walk through these hallways and go to India, where I learned to dance, they had people beautifully dressed, and I had this dance that they were showing people that was reflective of their Indian heritage, taking three steps down to you know, Canada, where they're they're they've got their hockey and they've got their maple leaf, and and they're you know, they're excited about you know everything. They're right, yes, exactly. And they're so nice. And they're so nice. They're so nice. You know, I mean, they're so I mean it's incredible, you know, how how wonderfully, you know, welcoming and nice they are. And then, you know, two doors down is France. And they, you know, they're talking about you know, food and their culture and and their music that they're that they're listening to. And then then you're next to you know Africa, and you know, they have this amazing little treats that that you know, beautiful hand woven pieces that people have made. To walk through the hallways and experience and see how proud people are of where they're from and to to highlight the different food items that they have or different handmade items that they have is unbelievable. I mean, all in one evening to be able to experience that is a real highlight. And I think for governors to go and to sit in classes where you have a shared goal, but to be able to listen to people from different perspectives of what's working there and what's not working there, to have days filled with the opportunity of having dinner and lunch with people from all over the world where you can talk not only about rotary, but also about, you know, your projects and your passion and how you can work together to be provided that opportunity over several days is truly spectacular. When I went to IA, the best advice that I was given was when you have breakfast, lunch, or dinner or dinner, don't sit with people that you know, sit with people that you don't know. Make sure that you meet new people and you talk to other people. And that I did, and I met people and had conversations with people from all over the world, and it was truly amazing and inspiring. And in in in some ways, you feel so small in such a huge, amazing organization.

SPEAKER_01 48:33

So it sounds like at International Assembly, we go back to our full name, which is Rotary International, as opposed to when we get into specific countries,

Club Culture Night And Ending Competition

SPEAKER_01 48:45

we're just Rotary. So that sounds maybe we should bring instead of countries cultures, maybe the next time we do a zone, maybe we should have a night of club cultures and have that's amazing. Hey, this is the culture at our club. This is the culture at the other club. We're a very traditionalist club. We like to do this, this, this, and this. We're a very, you know, we don't even have a place we meet. We meet on Zoom, or we're a key club, or we're just throwing that out there, district governors. Why don't you do a club culture night? I mean, my and kind of work off that model of international assembly and see if that works.

SPEAKER_00 49:29

Because they are all different and they are all unique, and that's what's fun about them. And there should not be a competition. I'm just gonna say we're not doing this, we're not doing this. We're not, we're not like it doesn't have to be a competition between clubs, it's about embracing these clubs. You know, when we'll start a new club, we have so much pushback from other clubs in the area. Oh, wait, no, we they're gonna step on our toes, they're gonna take this and they're gonna take that. No, that's not what's gonna happen. It's it's providing more opportunities for people. It's in fact, it's the exact opposite. It actually brings more service to a community, and rotary is better known because of it. People always think, oh, it's gonna, it's gonna pillage, it's gonna do this, it's gonna do that. No, it's actually the opposite.

SPEAKER_01 50:20

The data. I try to I try to tell people that we're all we're all members of one club. It's called Rotary. We are all members of one club. We can't all meet at the same time, so we do it in different places, but y'all, we're all members of the same club. So another club just means there's more people in your club. But I digress again. That's probably the fifth time. As you told us before we started. Thank you so much for being on the show. I hope you get that call to go for for one more year, but it sounds like it's it sounds like even if you're not there, you still have a lot more bread to bake and a lot more recipes uh to do. You're not going anywhere, is what I think.

SPEAKER_00 51:14

I hope so. I'm a I'm around for at least the next year through my role as Rotary Membership Coordinator. And yes, it's no matter what, it's a it's a it's a privilege. But thank you so much, Gwyn, for for what you do for Rotary and getting the word out there and for bringing on people that are movers or shakers and letting people know that they have the opportunity to be who they are

Final Takeaways And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_00 51:40

within this organization.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

So, what'd y'all think of Cindy? Pretty radical, huh? I mean, she's baking bread that says rotary, and then she's starting an executive board during her year. In other words, she's thinking way outside the box. And that's good. But you know, we got some people who aren't as good as change. That's okay too. I mean, I loved how calm she was about it. I have to admit, I am, uh, air quote here, overpassionate at times, and I want things to go my way right away. Well, Cindy is kind of the voice of reason. Reason, and I love that about her. And hey, I didn't know what an AI learning facilitator was, or that they had to go through so much training so they could go off to Orlando to train. So thanks, Cindy. Thank you for being a president, a district governor, a trainer, and somebody who can even open my mind to maybe being a little more compassionate. I love it. And I love you out there for listening to the show. Please tell others about the show. And if you have somebody that you know of that's turning their actions into impact, CarionPod at gmail.com. And hey, this podcast, video cast, is headed on the road. So if you have an event from anything from me zooming into your club meeting to an international project, I want to know about it, and I can even hop on a plane to join you. Again, same email, RotarianPod at gmail.com. All right then, until next week. Take care of yourself and the world around you, and we'll hear you next time on the Action to Impact Show with me, Gwen Jones. Have a great week, everybody. We'll talk to you soon.