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Poland library hosts weekly leadership book discussion group
By TIM CLEVELAND
For the last three years, the Poland library has hosted a meeting of the Leadership Book Discussion Group, which meets every Tuesday from 8-9 a.m. to discuss different books on leadership.
The meetings are sponsored by the Friends of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County. They are open to the public and are facilitated by Greg Smith of Compco Industries and who’s involved in leadership training, and George Landis, a consultant who has done a lot of public relations work with various companies.
“It truly is a best practices mastermind session in which we share and discuss what matters, while learning and growing from each other,” Smith said. “Research has proven that the best long-lasting learning happens in small groups or mastermind sessions. Reason being you have to apply and discuss best practices in a discussion around your peers.”
“They can come and sit in on the book discussion,” said PLYMC development director Debbie Liptak, who also attends the book club meetings. “We meet and we have some really great discussions on leadership. We want to become better leaders in the community.”
The most recent book the group was discussing was “The Leadership Challenge.”
“We’ve done a series of books,” Liptak said. “We try to cover a chapter at each meeting, sometimes two or three chapters, depending on the content.”
Liptak said the previous book the group read was “Leaders Eat Last.”
“It was an excellent book,” she said.
During the meetings, discussion includes not only the book the group is reading, but also different leadership techniques.
“We share a lot of our own personal experiences with different organizations and businesses, what works and what doesn’t work,” she said. “We’ve got a really strong network; we’re helping each other. They cite examples of things that they’ve worked on and have been very successful and things that have been challenging.”
Liptak said 6-10 people attend the meetings, although there is room for more.
“That’s perfect for a book discussion group, but we’re always looking for new people to join us,” she said.
Liptak said people from a wide variety of professions attend the meetings, including from insurance companies, stockbrokers, manufacturing companies and a nutrition company.
“It’s just a vast assortment of people who are in all different industries and businesses that come here and they want to learn about leadership,” she said.
In addition to being the development director of the PLYMC, Liptak is also a member of the Boardman Rotary, the president of the Youngstown YWCA Board, as well as a member of the Board of the Easter Seals. She said attending the discussion group has helped improve her own leadership skills.
“From a personal standpoint, my whole entire life I’ve always had a leadership book next to my bed,” she said. “I’m always reading up on something so that I can be a better leader in the community and in my position at the library.
“It helps with everything I do. Reading leadership books is a good thing; it keeps me inspired and motivated.”