Dear Friends,

It's Spring 2005 and I'm swamped with college tours for Chelsea and meeting the demands of IWL's expansion. I'm thrilled to announce that we have added the excellent talent of Hilary Flack to our IWL family. Hilary is contributing her extraordinary expertise in program management and customer service to IWL so that we can expand our services while continuing to deliver five-star service. You can learn more about Hilary meeting her at any of our programs.

YWCA Partnership

Late breaking news is that we have a partnership with the YWCA in Oahu , Hawaii . In February we had the privilege of working with the YWCA in Oahu to begin the design of their world-class leadership center . The CEO, Cheryl Ka'uhane, is an alumna of the October 2004 Women Leading Change program and is a remarkable visionary leader. Cheryl is committed to bringing WLC and Contextual Leadership to Oahu so please keep this in mind for any colleagues who would like to attend WLC in paradise, or for you to review it!

I've been thinking a lot about the mission of the YWCA, to empower women and eliminate racism , and it reminded me of some prose I wanted to share with you that resonates with IWL's mission:

To Change The World

"When I was a young, I wanted to change the world. I found it difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.

When I found I couldn't change my nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as I got older, I tried to change my family.

Now that I am old, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family and I could have made an impact on the town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world."

~Author Unknown

I wanted to share this prose with you because I've been thinking a lot about the mission of IWL and our global community of change leaders.  The work of IWL is about changing the world. We choose to change the world from the inside out. We use our own life as a laboratory for transformation. Whether it's through our family, our community or our organization, we use each venue as an opportunity to reflect on who we are being, and what contribution can we make to improve the quality of life for others by being a better leader.

IWL is committed to a global movement where women and men are full partners in creating a sustainable world. I am so proud of this vision. I am so proud of our global community of women and men who are leading change within their organizations and communities. I do believe the words of Margaret Mead when she said, "Never doubt that a small number of committed people can change the world; indeed it's all that ever has."

I invite you to use the remainder of 2005 as a year of deep introspection and development. Seek to identify where you still have work to do as a Contextual Leader and continue to build your skill set. Practice, practice, practice, find a 'training buddy' and keep practicing!

Please take time to think about what you would like from IWL this year:

• Are we serving your needs as you expand your accountability?
• Is there something new we could provide to you or your organization that would enable you to fulfill your mission?

We stand ready to partner with you in the fulfillment of our '50-year renewable lease.' Let me know how you are doing and what we could do to make an even greater difference with you!

Love and blessings,

Rayona Sharpnack
CEO and founder
Institute for Women's Leadership