HCBA Lawyer Magazine Vol. 28, No. 5 | Page 22

an open Letter to the Bar LeaDership institute cLass of 2017-2018 Bar leadership Institute Committee Chairs: Nicole Duga - Hill Ward Henderson; John Marchione – Himes & Hearn; and Valeria Obi – Midland Credit Management, Inc. W To the Bar Leadership Institute Class of 2017-2018: e ended our Bar Leadership Institute experience on a high note. In March, we learned about the history of Amalie Arena, which exemplifies how to embrace change with grace, having endured numerous name changes over time and quickly adapted to each new persona. In April, we heard from Michael Stephens, General Counsel to Tampa International Airport, who is himself an ambassador of change through his involvement with the Leadership Alliance Advisory Board, a cross-section of lawyers 20 in different industries promoting BLI Class following their tour of Amalie Arena in March. leadership and diversity. stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, These modules but not more difficult than remaining inspired great in a situation.” — maya angelou introspection. Many of us joined the must decide how to bring our BLI out of a yearning to become aspirations to fruition. agents of change. We embarked Our goals are ambitious and, on this journey as bright-eyed quite frankly, daunting. But we must “young lawyers” looking for a not let our personal inhibitions get way to plug into the HCBA, but the better of us. In the words of also in search of tools we could Maya Angelou, “Stepping onto a use to leave our marks on the world. Now that we have reached Continued on page 21 the end of our BLI journey, we M AY - J U N E 2 0 1 8 | HCBA LAWYER