Our guest speaker on January 21 was Timothy Buchanan of Critical Thinking In Motion. 
Board members recapped what happened at the Iowa City AM Rotary Board meeting on Monday evening.  We approved membership for two new members, Valerie Soemadi and Sid Baxter.  Valerie has visited often and is the wife of Andreas Soemadi.  She is a retired special education teacher.  Sid Baxter is Carl Christian's son-in-law.  While he lives in San Francisco he has been actively supporting Rotary for several years and likes both the programs of RI and this club.  We decided that for individuals choosing to be a member of this club from outside the area we would use our special dues level of $75/quarter.  That level pays for both RI and D6000 membership dues and supports some of the primary programs and projects of the Club.  John McKinstry gave a status report on the work of the Community Service Task Group.  They are working toward making a District Grant application to support environmental education and tree planting in each of the elementary schools in the ICCSD.  Members who have had experiences with curriculum or activities of this type please contact John McKinstry.  There is expected to also be volunteer participation from the members of the other ICARP clubs for this project and Phil Peterson has agreed to take on a coordinating role for it.  In addition, members of the Community Services Task Group are looking to receive several community grant applications from area non-profits before the Feb 15 deadline.  We have up to $10,000 to divide between up to four non-profit groups for local/community grants.  Contact John McKinstry for further information.
 
Our speaker was Timothy Buchanan of CriticalThinkinginMotion.com.  Making change requires critical thinking and a process that involves four steps.  First, we must toss out the old stuff that is not supportive of our critical goals, values and mission.  This is very hard for people.  Companies that fail to do this first critical step get left behind like Kmart and Blockbuster. The second step is to solidify those critical values, mission and goals that should remain in the "treasure chest" to be supported by new processes, policies, procedures, technology and other tools. Some things endure despite what seems to be total loss--life, family, values, people, purpose. Third, involvement is critical to success of any change process.  People must constantly learn to evolve and must be included in understanding the "why" of change and contribute to determining how it should be accomplished.  Those who adapt most readily tend to become leaders. Fourth, there is a learning stage to change that involves reaction and adaption to the new processes and procedures.  Fourth, and most important, is the emergent stage where we pack our bags and go along for the ride.  You cannot study, plan and analyze forever and never act.  Sooner rather than later, you and the organization going through a change must act.