One year ago, I announced that I had a vision and clear intentions to launch BonneFire. Within that vision, I had a mission and a strategy, and I executed with pure intentions to foster healthy individuals, healthy boards and healthy organizations. I strategically made the commitment for my attention to be focused two-ways: (1) invite each other to Pause, Reflect and Practice (through my monthly theme-based Inspiring Guidance and Teaching Newsletters called PRPs and (2) Invite wonderful individuals for video Intimate Chats to frankly exchange about their journeys in pursuit of what they love(d) to do, their leadership, the obstacles they overcame while seeking to being true to themselves, what they value in their lives and the lessons learned. They and I loved the chats, and I thank them for readily being honored guests for BonneFire and for inspiring us this past year. It warms my heart that they believe in the vision and the purpose of BonneFire and that they have been present to its birth, contributing to it rising.
Each guest was thoughtfully chosen as exemplars of the BonneFire voice, in support of the purpose of BonneFire: to inspire you to love what you do, to courageously do what you love, to realize a dream, to be transparent in building a healthy culture at home and within your boards and organizations, to take ownership of the transitions that you must welcome…to keep on embracing change and to do what is right for us to positively evolve our collective!
I am grateful in parallel with BonneFire to have advised and mentored individuals including leaders, spoken advocating for STEM and women on boards as well as board effectiveness, and to have worked with great boards who intentionally sought to further optimize their leadership effectiveness, especially post M&A. While successful and accomplished individuals, these directors welcomed getting to know each other better, truly aligning on a clear culture within the board and optimizing their board composition for the current and future strategy.
As we each envision 2019 and are cognizant of the major shifts that we are going through around the world, we must ask ourselves if we are healthy enough individually and collectively and identify how we can adapt, not based on the past but on the challenges and the opportunities that lie ahead. We need not be more mandated and regulated for our actions but welcome growth, expand our lens and strive to be all that we can be as positive enablers!