It’s exciting to be starting the presidency of this year’s KC/IABC board of directors. I kind of feel like we’re starting a blank slate – or in today’s vocabulary: a blank white board. Not to say this board isn’t experienced because many of these folks are returning board members and talented leaders, thank goodness. But we’re still kicking the year off with lots of new ideas and innovative thinking.

It’s a little scary. In fact, I have a secret phobia. I’m terrified that someday I’ll be sitting in a meeting and someone will ask me to come to the whiteboard as the “scribe.” My nightmare is that the group will shout out difficult to spell words – like accommodate, idiosyncrasy, millennium, unanimous or Massachusetts (yes, I had to look these up),  and I will scramble to use my worst handwriting to ensure no one knows I can’t spell!

As we kick off the new board year, the power of the team of board members and the membership as a whole will be to rely on our individual strengths giving those of us “poor spellers” a chance to shine in other areas, while the champion spelling bee winners can take the lead in their area of excellence. There’s no stopping the power of a bee herd!

Now, as the new president I start the year knowing that “nothing is more beautiful than potential.” Please know I’m open to all suggestions, as is our board, so please keep ‘em coming. We all love to Be Heard!

Just in case you were wondering, here’s a list of some famous poor spellers in history. My heroes… uh, I mean, heros… whatever!

Hans Christian Andersen

Albert Einstein

Dan Rather

Gandhi