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Over the last 18 months we had finally developed what we believed would be a pretty good leadership development program. We weren’t comfortable with the word “program”, but we were unsure about the suitability of some other word.

Today was the last day of the residency. I have just bid farewell to the last Fellow, saying “I’ll see you in the spring!”, while fighting off the tears that clearly indicated I hadn’t mastered the emotional intelligence piece. One of the Fellows gives me a big hug and says excitedly, “I know what this is now, I know what it is – it’s an experience. And that’s how I’m going to put it when I’m telling others about it!”

She was right. Clearly these 35 Fellows had not just completed a program over the last eleven days; they had been part of a rare experience that corporately had successfully launched the long awaited Institute. Because of the Fellows and what they experienced together the Institute transformed into so much more than what we had developed or envisioned or thought ever possible.

I see a lot of parallels between the Institute and when I had my two children. Take the pregnancy for example. It feels like a very long time, and it’s not without some ups and downs. Not without worries…in our case, would the Institute, our “baby”, have warts or horns? Would it be healthy? Would it feel the love? Then, the labor. That’s hard, at times painful but worth the effort. The Fellows experienced together a “labor” of a sort these past eleven days of the residency. And the resulting birth was of something most exquisite. It’s hard to put into words but it is clearly both tender and powerful!

Imprinted on my mind is that the future of conservation will be in good hands, and I can’t wait to see what spring will bring!