A doctoral student in the ISD program spoke at the 21st annual National Association of Government Training and Development (NAGTAD) conference, (http://www.usd.edu/nagtad/) held in Fort Lauderdale Beach on September 25. Donna Gabrielle was one of two invited speakers from Florida, with attendees representing nearly every state in the nation.
Gabrielle held a position as head of training and development with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS). While at DACS, she was responsible for training the agency's 3500+ employees on supervisory skills, leadership, etc., and she brought online learning (via Internet) to the agency for the first time. In August, Gabrielle resigned from DACS in order to focus on completing her Ph.D.
Gabrielle's topic was "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership," inspired by John C. Maxwell's book of the same name (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0785274316/102-5716780-8571320)
"Maxwell does an incredible job of pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of people in leadership roles," she said, "and he takes 30 years of his own experience to convince readers that his laws of leadership are the laws of life." Some of her favorite quotes in the book include:
"Being in power is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." -Margaret Thatcher
"A leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells, 'Wrong jungle!'" -Stephen Covey
In addition to conducting the session, Gabrielle, with 13 years experience in the field, also led a roundtable discussion on distance learning. Most of the roundtable guests work in education and government and many were being asked to implement distance learning programs for the first time in their respective organizations. She developed an ISD model for a distance learning consortium in 1999 and was asked to share her thoughts and experiences about the topic.
Since the conference, she has had several emails saying people were "dazzled" with her presentation and they would like additional information and her insight as a consultant on other projects throughout the country. She is currently working on two such projects, one with Kentucky and one with Washington, D.C.