Honored

For the past year, I’ve served as the vice-president of the Matthews Chamber of Commerce. It’s been a great role for a number of reasons.

• No one really expects much of the VP. Mike Pence is brilliant.
• The president, Becky Hawke, sets an impressive tone by relentlessly pushing herself to lead with purpose, to lead with integrity, and to lead with passion.
• The Chamber is chock full of impressive, driven people who have helped to build a dynamic community. This town is growing quickly and it’s growing well, due largely to the businesses that help to build it.

Agreeing to be VP means agreeing to president the next year. It’s a sneaky little set-up that can catch you unawares. (I both love and hate the word “unawares.”)

So yeah, I knew Thursday night’s Matthews Chamber of Commerce Gala would involve my induction as president and would require me to make a speech. I was ready for that.

I was totally unprepared for this.

Thank you, Matthews Chamber members. It’s kind of rare for me to be speechless [insert lawyer jokes here] but I was gobsmacked. I want to find more flowery, rambling language to add here but the truth is that my words are insufficient. Let me just offer enormous thanks to the Board for their hard work and to my co-workers who pick up my slack when I’m out doing stuff for the Chamber. I couldn’t do it without you all.

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