As we approach our 66th Annual Meeting and Awards banquet I can't help but get excited. It is fantastic to see businesses, organizations and individuals being recognized for what they do and what they do well! Every year Chamber members nominate businesses, organizations and individuals that in some way, shape, or form, have made an impact. The categories are: Community Impact Award, Small Business Award, Business Excellence, and Business Executive. For small businesses, that means not only have business owners survived another year of pressures and stresses, but they have done it well. Maybe their marketing and advertising campaigns were excellent, or maybe it was the extra mile they went to help in the community. For individuals, it is about how they lead. Do they elevate their employees, do they lead by example, are they team players, and how do they handle themselves in tedious situations.
 
There is a lot more to an award than just the award. Awards are not so much about the win, they're more about the process and the outcome of that process. Think about the impression an individual, business or organization had to make on someone to prompt them to take time to nominate a business or an individual. Something or someone impressed them, and it had to be something significant. The nomination could have been prompted by a satisfied customer where the business provided excellent customer service; excellent business practices should be acknowledged.
 
Nominations, in and of themselves, bring rewards to the recipients. They bring a sense of validation. They recognizes the uniqueness and immediately raise the stature of trust and credibility. That's the true win.
When we celebrate our businesses, individuals, and organizations that have been nominated this year, we are looking at the 'best of the best' nominated by their peers, and all winners. Stuart B. Johnson got it right when he said, "Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves -- to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by our today."
 
 
Work hard, be productive, and above all else stay positive.
 
 
Peggy White
Executive Director 
Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce 
peggywhite@pulaskichamber.info