Spring 2011 Alumni Retreat:

"Team Tools You Can Use"

On Saturday, March 26, at the Caltech Avery House, Leadership Pasadena will present an extraordinary leadership-development program for its graduates -- "Team Tools You Can Use" -- an "experiential learning opportunity" professionally facilitated by Andi Burgis, CEO and Founder of Challenge U.

Over the course of the six-hour retreat, LP alumni will learn new approaches to their teamwork challenges and uncover obstacles to achieving their goals. Overall, participants can expect to become more effective team leaders.

As Ms. Burgis says, "The day will hold opportunity to experience 'relationship' (and all that entails) as the common denominator for success both personally and professionally."

In particular, Ms. Burgis will lead the alumni in interactive "low-ropes" exercises, debriefing, and reflection focusing on key teamwork dynamics: connection, communication, trust and risk, and the "Triangle of Success."

The low ropes are a series of problem-solving activities that engage teams to develop a plan, execute that plan, and review and learn from the result and process. The facilitators establish the context for each activity, observe the process to support the learning, and help the team recognize valuable insights.

The low ropes are some of the creative, effective team-building programs that Ms. Burgis has designed and facilitated over the past 20 years, as in her widely respected Challenge U programs, "developing people, teams & leaders through experience."

Known for her ability to relate to people and quickly establish trust, Ms. Burgis employs not only such "high impact experiences" as the low- and high-ropes challenge courses but also classroom learning, retreats, powerful real-time simulations -- such as The Samurai Game® -- and Equine Experiential Learning -- "a format that uses horses as active participants ... to facilitate the learning experience for the human participants."

Ms. Burgis founded her company, Challenge U, in 1996, with training offered in various locations throughout Southern California, for the express purpose of providing customized services of experiential team development and leadership training to business teams and individuals.

Her impressive roster of clients includes The Anthony Robbins Companies, Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Biogen Idec, Boeing, Cisco Systems, Genentech, The Irvine Company, Palomar/Pomerado Health, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, SAIC, and the Scripps Center for Executive Health.

For more information about Andi Burgis and Challenge U, please visit http://challenge-u.com.

"Team Tools You Can Use," the Spring 2011 Retreat for Leadership Pasadena Alumni, will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 26. Registration and a networking breakfast will be from 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. The retreat will be held in the Caltech Avery House, 293 S. Holliston Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106. Parking will be free. Space is limited, and advanced registration is required. The cost is $100 per person if registered by February 23; afterwards, $125. This cost includes a continental breakfast and lunch in addition to the facilitated program. For more information, please contact Leadership Pasadena: 626-577-2296 or info@leadershippasadena.org.

Board of Directors

GORDON SQUIRES
L.P. Chair
Caltech

ALMA APODACA
L.P. Vice Chair
SoCal Edison

PHIL ALBANESE

Treasurer

Boys and Girls Clubs of Pasadena

GREG APODACA
Community Without Walls

HEIDI BLOKS
Century 21 Golden Realty

JAMES BOYLE
Boyle, Olsen, & Robinson

ERNEST MONTOYA

City of Pasadena

GEORGE BRUMDER
(Retired) Squire, Sanders & Dempsey

CYNTHIA COHN

Sotheby's International Realty

MARTHA SHENKENBERG

MAS HealthCare Consulting

ANDREA TOWNSEND

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP

MARSHA ROOD

Urban Reinventions

CHRISTY ZAMANI
Day One

LP VISION: Leadership Pasadena is widely known for the effectiveness of its leadership training programs, for its growing Graduate Network, and for its graduates' significant, positive impact on the community.

LP MISSION: Helping emerging and accomplished leaders reach their full leadership potential.