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Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your hosts Brandon Burton. And it’s my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.
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Brandon Burton 1:44
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Our guest for this episode is Sarah Sladek. Sarah has been referred to as a social equity expert and recognized as both a global leader in strategy and talent economy influencer, organizations worldwide have relied on her insights to plan their futures foster cultures of relevance and belonging and realize growth. Sarah studies belonging through the lens of social change and generational influence alongside trends and shifts in organizational cultures, workforce development, consumerism and economics. She refers to this comprehensive approach as next gen intelligence. Using this approach, Sarah has successfully turned organizations around bringing them to a place of increased relationship building and revenue generation. She is a founder and CEO of XYZ University, a training and consulting firm advising organizations worldwide. She is an author of six books as well. In addition, Sarah is a web show host podcaster, one of my own heart member of Forbes, Business Council, and contributing writer for boardroom magazine. She was recently named to the Global list of women who advanced associations, and she’s prominently featured in the jobs of tomorrow Docu series, currently streaming on Tubi. Her expertise has been prominently featured in international media, and she’s keynoted events throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. We’re excited to have Sarah with us today here on Chamber Chat Podcast, I’d love to give you an opportunity to say hello to all the Chamber Champions who are out there listening and to share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better.
Sarah Sladek 3:46
Oh, fantastic. It’s an honor to be here, Brandon, and hello, Chamber Champions. I like that little saying, because if you work for a chamber, you have to be a champion. I’m saying that because something about me. I started out my career, one of my first jobs was working for a chamber. It was a hot mess. And that kind of set me on the trajectory that I’m on now in terms of my career. And then one other interesting thing I will share about myself is just a few weeks ago, I was invited to the White House for an inaugural Business Leaders Summit. So that was kind of cool.
Brandon Burton 4:26
Nice. That is exciting. That is really cool. So I’m curious and I’m sure listeners are curious. What what kind of role did you have when you started in your career at at a chamber? What were you doing?
Sarah Sladek 4:38
Yes, I was the Director of Media and Communications. And, and this was in I’m gonna date myself just a little bit here. But this was in bridging late 1990s, early 2000s. So it was kind of a crazy time anyway, you know, we We’re seeing at that time, a lot of people were saying, Oh, are these Gen Xers, they are not joiners, they’re very difficult. We were seeing technology really start to take off, I went to a couple of ACCE conferences, and one of them they talked about, oh my gosh, we’re gonna have this fandangled new thing and a couple of years, you’re gonna have a computer in the palm of your hand. And everyone went, Oh, my gosh, what, you know, crazy like no way. That’s a joke, like people thought that’s not real.
Brandon Burton 5:33
shapers are saying take it back. Take it
Sarah Sladek 5:37
back. Exactly, exactly. So it’s just a time of transition, there was less staff turnover, and it was just, it was just a time of change. Really,
Brandon Burton 5:46
that is a lot of change going on at that time. So I’m trying to put myself in your shoes, that timeframe. And in that role director, media communications, that’s a lot crossing your plate at that time that’s new, and trying to digest and understand, which probably set you up well, for the career path you’re in now with being able to see things through that lens. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about what you do with XYZ University? And just kind of a little bit of your background? Maybe we didn’t touch in the bio, just to help set the stage for our conversation today.
Sarah Sladek 6:20
Sure, absolutely. So yes, I can really harken back to that experience at a chamber. Because I had a light bulb moment while I was working for the chamber where I kind of thought to myself, Okay, wait a second, where are all the young professionals? Why are we struggling to get younger members involved? Everyone on our board is over the age of 50. And I just had this moment where it was like, Wait a second, if we are really intentional about succession planning, what’s that mean for the future of our organization. And where we were also at that time, there was a lot of buzz around our member companies saying, Gosh, we’re having a hard time engaging in talent. And so that seemed like a big problem that the chamber at that time should be helping to solve. But in any case, I kind of had the proverbial pat on the head that Oh, sir, it’s very interesting thinking about succession planning and the next generation, but we don’t really have to worry about those things. And I was convinced we didn’t need to worry. So fast forward, I started my own business called XYZ University XYZ standing for generations, X, Y, and Z University, meaning we do a lot of research training on this topic of what organizations and communities need to do to engage the next generation. And that, of course, has burgeoned into a real challenge for a lot of organizations. And so that’s what I do.
Brandon Burton 8:02
Yeah, absolutely. That’s awesome. So one thing that you really touched on that kind of struck a chord with me is when you talk about that, as a chamber, say we’re really struggling to engage the younger generation or even as a board wipe, you were noticing they’re all over 50. And I think chambers, for the most part, I think, have taken a hard look at the board and trying to especially through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion, they’re trying to make sure that the board represents the greater business community. I think I’ve seen a lot of chambers making adjustments to have younger board members on there. But as far as the overall membership, that still tends to be a little bit of a struggle in trying to resonate, what’s your the value proposition is that their chamber to this younger generation, who, maybe they’re starting off without a lot of funds, maybe they’re trying that they’re an entrepreneur trying to do it all on their own? Maybe they don’t realize that they need a team yet. Maybe it’s the language that’s being communicated to them it could be a whole slew of different things that are missing the mark with this younger generation. This I’m excited to dive in deeper on this topic with you today as we dig in on engaging the younger generation going forward. So we will dive into this as soon as they get back from this quick break.
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All right, Sarah. So I I teased it before the before the break there that we’re talking today about engaging the younger generation. So from the chamber lens, from the experience, you’ve seen from the things that you’ve gathered throughout your career with with XYZ University? What are some of those ways that a chamber can really focus in on that younger generation? And? And is it the language they’re using is the way they’re communicating? Is it the value proposition? What what are those things that they need to be mindful of when trying to attract and speak to the younger generations?
Sarah Sladek 12:18
So it’s all of the above. And we could spend probably hours talking about this, but I’m going to try to boil it down to just a couple of things. One is, I think chambers, membership organizations overall, just need to be very intentional about making room for young people. So I’ll give you an example. Um, well, we have one person under 30 that sits on our board. It’s, but that’s not enough, right? It’s like, we think we can just check a box and be done. But no, what we have realized over time, is that radical change is needed in order to create room for younger generations and actually succeed at engaging them. So what I find in a lot of organizations, is it number one, there’s a lot of guessing, and a lot of stereotyping. Well, we have a young person in our firm, so I think all young people want this, I have a kid this age, and they’re so into this. And so this is what we should do. And so they you know, rather than put the time in to organize a focus group, I think tank, do interviews, do surveys, do the actual research, to find out what young people want. There’s just like guessing, and often when we’re just guessing or not making the right choices. So that’s one thing, you know, knowing for sure what young people want, being intentional about outreach should be the second thing, and actually creating room for them. And that means making sure that young people actually have a voice and the seat at the table. And that, you know, it’s not limited to one or two people who are younger, but actually being intentional about what’s our outreach, what’s our strategy, to begin to engage new people, new voices. So
Brandon Burton 14:18
I think that’s important. And one thing, a question that came to mind, because you talked about a lot of guessing and stereotyping that goes into addressing the younger generations. And instantly, I thought, you know, what I observed with some younger generations, I thought Hold on a second. What is the difference between observing the younger generation and stereotyping the younger generation? I think there’s a difference there. But I think it’s a fine line for sure, where you take the one experience or a couple experiences of observation and apply it across the board. One of the things that I have observed is it seems that the younger generations There’s a lot more things for them to be interested in, there’s a lot more things vying for their attention and their time. And to be able to try to grasp a little bit of that attention when there’s so much going on, I think is some of the struggle. Is that something that you’ve observed? Or am I am I applying a stereotype? I don’t know. No,
Sarah Sladek 15:24
no, no, no, it’s so true. We’ve moved into an era where time Our time is our greatest commodity, it’s one of the only things we can actually control, who we spend our time with how we spend our time, whether it’s a valuable use of our time, according to our opinions and experiences. And that, you know, we we started to covet our time and really try to manage it. When things when more technology took hold, and no society started to feel like it was spinning out of control, we had more awareness of what was going on in the world because of access to more information and technology than ever before. And so we started to see, and especially during COVID, as well, this, you know, I’m going to covet my time and hold it dear and precious. And absolutely, there is more competition than ever before, it is easier than ever, for someone to start their own networking group or their own, you know, business support group, or what what have you community building group? And so chambers are experiencing more competition, which is why it’s more important than ever to be really in touch with your members and constantly asking, what is it that you need want and expect? Something I remind organizations all the time that I think they sometimes forget, is that really the primary reason people join and get involved with an organization, research has repeatedly shown, the primary reason is because they believe you can help them solve a problem. So and problems shift and change according to Career Stage, according to whatever is happening in society, you know. So it’s on the chamber leaders, it’s it’s their responsibility to know, what challenges are our members currently facing? And are we doing a good job at responding to those and attempting to solve those challenges? All
Brandon Burton 17:31
right, well, that sets the stage for the next questions. How do we, how do we engage with them, and in a way where we can gain some of that feedback, to be able to speak to them in the right language and to address what their problems are? And help craft solutions to those problems? Yeah.
Sarah Sladek 17:49
You know, it’s interesting to think about, but we are really not in the practice of asking for feedback. Yes, we serve a but I’ve I often hear from organizational leaders, whether it’s chambers or other membership types of organizations, well, we can’t do too many surveys, we can’t ask for too much feedback. You know, there’s like, there’s a fear of what will people say? What will they think if we’re asking their opinions? Is it too much? You know, so on and so forth. And I think, you know, we’re living through this era of tremendous and very rapid change, which means, again, the needs and interests of our members are changing, and business is changing. And so if we aren’t really attentive, and really in conversation and dialogue all the time, with our, you know, consumers, members, leaders, volunteers, whatever you want to call them, our audience. If we’re not in communication, things change, and then our organization’s already behind. So we have to be anticipating change. So your question was, what are some of the ways we can do that? Well, there are so many ways, it can be quick polls, it can be longer surveys, it can be a monthly sit down with the Chamber CEO and bringing in 10 new members each time 10 People get chosen to come in have coffee with the CEO, and share their feedback or ideas. It can be you know, focus groups think tanks, there’s just so so many opportunities to actually engage in dialogue. It’s just simply we’re not in the habit of doing it. But we need to get in the habit.
Brandon Burton 19:38
Yeah, I guess. And I liked that idea of bringing in 10 new members with the Chamber CEO and have that cup of coffee and just have a conversation. Just listen. I guess when I’m thinking of the membership at general, if we’re noticing that there’s not a lot of that younger generation in the membership How do we reach them? How do we how do we engage with those ones that are not part of the organization already? And I guess part of it is you’re getting feedback from hopefully their peers in that our members to be able to see what we can apply, you know, to the greater business community, that younger generation, but I think that seems to be the trick of how do we reach those people that we’re not currently reaching? And being able to attract them to the all these great offerings that our chamber has to provide? Yeah.
Sarah Sladek 20:32
So I think a lot of times organizations make the mistake of thinking it’s all about social media. And it is certainly not, um, we find in our research with younger generations, they’re actually craving those relationships with individuals, not just social media, yes, a check social media, but that’s not really what’s forging those emotional connections and those engagement practices. So reaching young people really is most effective when you’re involving them directly, as I just mentioned, you know, doing those feedback circles and outreach efforts. But also when peers are reaching out to one another, and it’s grassroots. And then third, I would say it’s being intentional about mixing people up, at least for a time being here until we get really used to having inclusive cultures. So an example I shared earlier, well, we have one young person on the board, which isn’t enough, you know, and yes, we’re making strides in these areas. But it needs to be really, really intentional and strategic, and really a commitment. So a best practice I often share is an organization that changed their bylaws, and said, from here on out, at least 30% of any decision making group, whether that’s a council, a committee, a board, whatever the case may be 30% need to be comprised of individuals that fit into that young, professional category for this organization. It was we want people within their first five years of a career. But it could be a little longer than that. It just depends on your chamber, and what is the right fit. But by changing those bylaws, you’re putting a stake in the ground, and you’re saying, this is important, this is a priority. Community Building is important. And then you’re bringing people together in there, you know, you have experienced leaders, learning from very new leaders, you’re getting that diversity of thought going, you’re learning and teaching from one another, you’re creating empathy for one another, building relationships with one another. But also, we find that the more diverse cognitively, which includes age diversity, and more diverse groups in leadership roles are considerably more innovative. And when you have all these voices represented, you’re able to really truly represent the best interests of the chamber going forward and innovate, to some of the challenges that face the organization together. So good stuff, good stuff, and we but we just need to make the effort to say no, this is important. And we’re actually going to take the extra step of revamping some of our methodologies and practices to make room for young people.
Brandon Burton 23:44
I like the example of changing the bylaws and having a clear definition of what this these younger leaders, the younger generation are, because the question coming to my mind was, okay, if you’re 65 As a board member, and you’re like, we need some more young blood, and you get the 45 year old, because that’s younger than 65, right? It’s missing the mark on the 25 year old who’s there that’s got great ideas. So having these different segments, but I like the idea of saying somebody within the first five years of their career, I think is a great way of framing that. Instead of saying we need so many under 30 That may not be the right marker, and depending on the community, depending on who the person is. So there’s different ways you can frame that. I think I always, always give that little disclaimer with when it comes to changing bylaws, make sure it’s something that’s sustainable, right? Because this is the way that your organization runs. So think through that clearly that if you say a certain age demographic to make up your board or these decision making groups, make sure it’s sustainable going forward.
Sarah Sladek 24:54
And I don’t think it’s a bad idea to also Bringing outside perspectives. Not everyone on the board has to be a quote unquote member, it’s also good to get some new ideas or if you’re uncomfortable with having them on the board, then bring in some guests occasionally, whether they’re guest presenters or guest observers, or having a ancillary focus group that meets with report whatever, they, you know, get creative. But whenever we’re literally in an echo chamber, just continually hearing the same ideas tossed around, we can get in these ruts, you know, and we get overly comfortable doing more of this thing. So anything that and young people will push you out of that comfort zone, hopefully, but also outside perspectives. You know, and I, obviously, in chamber world, it’s a great practice when boards go to other cities, and they’re learning from other but you know, and some of those inner city leadership visits, so cool. But you can do something similar within your own community, too. And then you’re also fostering those relationships outside of your network and getting insights about why people haven’t joined and forging those relationships. And now all of a sudden, people are rethinking that decision not to be involved.
Brandon Burton 26:23
Yeah, I like the idea of bringing in guests to a board meeting. And the thought that I had is maybe it’s a committee of young professionals, that you bring in on a maybe it’s a quarterly basis, maybe it’s twice a year, once a month, whatever the interval is, make it a regular thing to bring them in and say, what are some of the things that you’re saying now, what are the things we need to be aware of try to draw on that experience, and let them feel valued that they’re bringing, you’re bringing them in, they’ve got a seat at the table, hopefully, there’s other people in their same age demographic that are on the board as well. But to be able to bring in that combat committee of sort, to be able to have those different perspectives, I think, is invaluable. That’s a great idea.
Sarah Sladek 27:10
And you know, as long as we’re talking about it, I think it’s also key to actually, this might sound really basic, to actually ask your board members for feedback. I have recently joined a board of directors, and I’m just kind of, it’s it’s intriguing, because every board, every organization has their own culture, right. And it’s just been intriguing to me to kind of watch this unfold, especially given my background, um, that every board meetings really present information, present information. It’s almost like a lecture or a teaching, you know, you’re in a classroom. And the board’s asked to vote on certain things, but actual conversation, and dialog is really limited. It’s kinda like we come there for for a class. And then do you agree with this content? Yeah, you know, sure. Okay. Great. See you next meeting. There’s never these, you know, and I feel like, Man, this is a missed opportunity. You just brought all these people together with their various experiences and
Brandon Burton 28:27
schedules. Yeah, yes. And
Sarah Sladek 28:29
tap into that. And not only, you know, because some people might not be comfortable giving actual information, you know, blurting out I hate what you’re doing here. But also, you know, ask for feedback, but also, I think, occasionally, anonymously survey the people on your board. What do you aligned with? What do you not because people will speak up in those private formats as well. And, man, it’s a missed opportunity not to be asking for feedback.
Brandon Burton 29:00
I think if you’re well organized, going into a board meeting, you can do a lot of that presenting ahead of time. Now this goes back to take a step back into your board selection and and how you’re, you’re comprising your board, you want to make sure that they’re engaged members. But if you can do some of that informing before the meeting happens, whether it’s sending the report the financials, or whatever, it may be ahead of time, getting the time to look it over, they might send you an email back, but the feedback or look at this and let me know what you think about this. And then the time and the meeting can really be used to drive something forward to have some conversation that goes forward.
Sarah Sladek 29:42
I and I Okay, one more thing. I will just, I needed a soapbox for this. One more thing I will say is that at that board meeting, in my initial board meeting, I received a board binder that was no joke like eight inches thick like just It’s
Brandon Burton 30:00
huge and wait to read it right? Oh, man, Paper,
Sarah Sladek 30:03
paper Paper, right? Everything printed out. And I nearly had a heart attack partly because it’s so huge. And there’s the expectation or tradition of disseminating this, but every board member got one. And it’s like, okay, that’s the first thing a young person’s going to say is why are you printing all this paper? It is not environmentally friendly. It is not technology friendly. It is not how we do things. Now. It’s a sign that they have really become disconnected from a younger audience as so. Great
Brandon Burton 30:45
point. Yeah. I think if that could be on a web platform where you’ve got topics that could expand, you could do a search for what you’re looking for. Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah Sladek 30:55
Ellie’s something, yeah. Not Oh, my gosh, all the trees, all the trees.
Brandon Burton 31:05
So, with with you being the expert on generations, I’m curious what things are standing out to you that are important to the younger generations right now. You mentioned the trees, all the paper. So yeah, are there other things like that, that might strike a nerve that, that you’re seeing and being careful not to stereotype, but from data and feedback that you’re getting? What are some of those things that are important to the younger generations right
Sarah Sladek 31:30
now. So what we’re seeing is a strong, strong, I’m gonna say among Gen Z, especially strong desire, they’re holding as their organizations accountable. And they want the organizations to stand for something. So, you know, when you think about like, Gen Z, I’ll give you just a little perspective here. But Gen Z is the first generation be raised with social media. So when you literally think about brain development, social development, they’ve always been able to use their voice for change. Through social media, they’re more likely to protest. And we’re seeing that Gen Z’s are really they’re coming into membership organizations. And they’re asking, What are your values? What do you stand for? What are you doing to make this a better place, but they and they really will see through any BS, they are like demanding, you know, things like dashboards. And again, this harkens back to how Gen Z was raised. They were raised when you have social media, yes. But they were also raised with technology in the classroom, like they could go into a little app and see their grades, you know, 24 hours a day. So they learn to kind of dashboard progress. And we’re seeing them bring this into workplaces and membership organizations, and they’re saying, Well, wait a second, how are you performing? Are you successful? How do you know you’re successful? If I come in, and I’m part of your organization? How do I know? You know, all the various ways to get involved and how I will be successful? So who, right? That’s gonna change things, but this, this desire to see and know how well you’re doing kind of thing, and holding organizations accountable is really, really big. Speaking of environmental, I’ve also heard from several now several membership organization executives, who’ve had young people come in to interview for jobs, and ask, what is your stance on climate change? And what are you doing to save the planet? And each of these executives said they were completely caught off guard by that question. And you know, said, Well, that’s not really what we do here. Like, we were a chamber or, you know, we were a healthcare organization, we’re about membership. And literally, in each of these situations, the young person said, then this isn’t the job for me and got up and walked out. So where’s we’re going to see that accountability factor, really, really raised. And being able to not just say we were successful this year through an annual report, that’s not going to be enough anymore. Yeah. So that’s something important
Brandon Burton 34:36
and I don’t know that they need to be huge changes, but as a company as an organization, just to be mindful of what are the things that are important to them? And then like you mentioned, the dashboard, call it the wanting to be able to track progress well to be able to do that you need to collect data along the way. So why not start trying to collect some data on things that are kind of those key into caters. And then you have something to build something from as you need to or as as things evolve. But without without something to begin with, you’re left with your your hands up in the air not knowing what to do. Oh,
Sarah Sladek 35:12
gosh, yeah. So things like value, you know. And along those lines, we’ve seen increasing intolerance to intolerance, right? So obviously, equity, inclusion, diversity, all those things are absolutes for younger people, and they will leave. But also we’re seeing more and more age diversity come to the forefront. So once again, when you look at their upbringing, shifts in parenting shifts in technology, education, all of that, you know, Gen Z was raised having a voice and a seat at the table, they were there, we it started with the millennials, but really in the 1990s, late 90s, we shifted to become a child centric society. So like it or not, we raised children to have opinions and express those opinions and to ask a lot of questions. So when they join, and what’s interesting is we’ve seen the cycle to engagement actually shift. So it used to be you join an organization, or you go to your chamber event or whatever. And if he were below a certain age, you were kind of expected to sit and observe, like, just learn about the organization, you can actually lead anything. Yeah, you watch any observe. And now we’ve seen that flipped on its head, and young people are saying, If I’m choosing to show up, if I want to get involved, I’m making a real, I’ve already thought about it, I’ve already researched it, and I’m making like this. It’s like an extension of my personal brand. Like, I believe in this and I’m so I’m affiliating my name with it. And I expect to immediately have the opportunity to get involved and to do something of substance. So they, they want a voice, they want a seat at the table, they want the opportunity to do things like produce content. That’s something a lot of people don’t know about Gen Z, Gen Z creates and consumes more content than any other generation. So they like the idea of being able to come in and help with content generation, you know, and they want to learn, they want to lead, they want to make a difference, and they do not see age as a barrier. So if your chamber still has kind of those hierarchical systems in place, that you have to wait your turn, you need to be rethinking that. Yeah,
Brandon Burton 37:53
that’s interesting. I was enjoying just sitting back and hearing you, yeah. You all these, uh, good insights that you’ve learned about these younger generations. As we begin to wrap things up, I wanted to ask, for chambers that are listening, what tip or action item might you share with them as they look to take their chamber up to the next level?
Sarah Sladek 38:18
Oh, man. Remember, remember two things, I’ll leave you two things. Number one, you your organization was founded, to represent a community, right. And I think in recent years, we, you know, chambers, membership organizations, as a whole began to lose sight of that. And began to just introduce, you know, really kind of hold steadfast to things like tradition. And we’ve always done it this way. And we need to let some of those things go to be able to evolve, stay relevant, and literally be by the members for the members. And that doesn’t mean just a few select members. That means everyone in your membership community, including younger generations, which would be the second thing I will note, I think it’s really, really important. If you want to create something sustainable and relevant for the future, you got to live in the future. So that means, you know, being mindful of trends that are on the horizon. I’m talking to business leaders about What trends are you seeing what what changes? are you observing what what’s likely to come down the pike and impact your business? Not just in the next year, but in the next five years? What are you worried about what’s keeping you awake at night, but also talking to those young linger individuals about some of the same things, and really bringing in and paying attention to not just why college students are doing. But high school students, middle school students. And the reason I say that is because everything in society has a trickle up effect. So we most of the trends that we have today, they didn’t just blindside us and pop out of nowhere. We saw younger generations, because those are usually the ones that introduce and influence trends, using certain things like let’s just say tick tock, for example. And then eventually it trickles up and influences all of us. So if we can be ahead of the curve, in anticipating trends, we’re not at risk of falling behind. And, and I think those two things are really, really intertwined. If you’re holding steadfast to tradition, if you’re not really, really talking to members, not only your current members, but your future members, you’re at risk of falling behind. And one of my favorite quotes that I’ll just leave you with is from Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs used to always tell his employees at Apple, you know, he used to challenge them. And he’s, he’d say, is the decision we’re making right now? Is this going to position our company, a generation ahead, or a generation behind? Because I want to be a generation ahead. But that’s a very, very different mindset. And it requires totally different, you know, processes and practices, it’s entirely doable. But you’re gonna have to rethink how you’re spending your time and who you’re spending your time with.
Brandon Burton 41:46
Yeah, I love the idea of living in the future. So you can anticipate those trends, see what those things are that are coming and doing that will attract those younger people? It’ll they’ll see, okay, you you’re with the times you understand what’s going on. I love that. So sir, I like asking everyone I have on the show about how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?
Sarah Sladek 42:12
Well, I think that I see the future of Chambers as being incubators. And I’ll explain what I mean by that. There. There’s a in New York, there is a incubator company, that they’re a design company. And basically, they they evolved out of the needs, they started to recognize that people within this fashion design world had no place to like go and grow their businesses get guidance, also hands on training, share best practices. And so basically, they created this big warehouse space, which you can be a member of, and you go there, and you literally get to roll up your sleeves and work in community, with other people who are trying to grow their business, but at the same time, swap ideas, swap leads. And I just think, Man, that’s a great idea. Like, I think I love what chambers do, obviously, and I worked for a chamber. And I think there’s some unmet needs within chambers and some opportunities for real creativity and innovation. And chambers are one of the most powerful organizations our country has, because they’re really uniquely suited to bring together business leaders, community leaders, government leaders, education leaders. And I don’t think I’m just gonna go out on a limb and say, I think chambers have become completely mired in detail. I think I can get away with saying that because I work for a chamber mired in detail with, you know, when are we having our annual conference or annual golf outing and things like that. And we’ve lost sight of some of the really amazing opportunities to bring all these leaders to gather, to collectively problem solve, and to be a literal space where businesses can come together and actually innovate and CO create. So that’s what I’d like to see for the future of chambers to get, you know, rediscover their roots and adapt for what the current marketplace needs.
Brandon Burton 44:34
I love it. It’s a trend live in the future. Right. VA incubator. Yeah, I love it. Well, Sara, I wanted to give you a chance to share any contact information for those who are listening that might want to reach out and connect to learn more about you your offerings, what would be the best way for them to reach out and connect Yeah, you
Sarah Sladek 44:54
can find me at XYZUniversity.com. You can also reach out to me directly by sending an email to Hello@SarahSladek.com. That’s Sarah with an H S L A dk.com.
Brandon Burton 45:12
That’s perfect. And we’ll get it in our show notes as well so people can look it up there and and say hello. Thank you for being with us today setting aside some time to be with us here on Chamber Chat Podcast and sharing your insights and the things that you’ve learned about younger generations and to help the chambers listening to live in the future and attract those, those younger members, employees, board members, everything across the board. It’s been a great conversation and glad to have you on the show. Thank you.
Sarah Sladek 45:45
Thank you, Brandon.
Brandon Burton 45:47
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