Page 64 - FDCC Flyer Summer 2021

section title
Anticipatory Leadership
The Evolutionary Revolution
By Bernd G. Heinze - Executive Director
Bernd G. Heinze FDCC Headquarters King of Prussia, PA
On March 16, 2020, when the rest of the country came to
a screeching halt
– the Federation made a decision: we pulled the seat belt a little tighter, shifted into high
whatever ways we could find to keep members connected and engaged. Members of the Board of Directors, Chairs of the Substantive Law Sections and Committees
all worked together to challenge conventional wisdom and
adopt a new paradigm of virtual connectivity interwoven with the various threads of commonality and interests that hold all of us together. We complemented the recognized brand of “Defense Lawyers. Defense Leaders,” to a model of anticipatory leadership – that of harnessing the knowledge and experiential capital in the membership of anticipating, researchingandunderstanding what will be happening next, and then exploiting the Federation’s collaborative strength for the benefit of the profession generally, and our individual members particularly.
The FedLIFE Committee held numerous webinars on reducing anxiety and stress while increasing
mindfulness and wellness; the FedCooks Committee had monthly cooking demonstrations where members took us into their home kitchens and prepared their favorite meals. Weekly – and sometimes even daily – webinars brought subject matter experts to home laptop and PC monitors, iPads and phones and we even held virtual Happy Hours, wine tastings and “check-in on one another sessions” often in conjunction with our valued sponsors. We even had a virtual outdoor cooking session a few weeks ago with Executive Chef Bryan Skelding of The Greenbrier Resortwhoseportablekitchen
was transported to on top of Kates Mountain for a live stream Zoom event supported by a team of technicians to the rest of us in our home kitchens.
All totaled, 411 events have been attended by 19,922 members and their colleagues between March 16, 2020 and June 1, 2021. A
gear, moved into the express lane, picked up speed, and kept moving forward at an accelerated pace. It was, without a doubt, quite a roller coaster ride. We wanted to own the virtual space. To do that, we needed to readjust our ideas and behaviors. Rather than thinking “outside of the box,”weadaptedtothemodelof: what if we could serve the members and our industry as if there were no box all?
What followed was a concerted effort by every member of the team. Working from their homes and through consistently asking the “what if” questions, a plan was put into place of looking for
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