Becoming a CEO: An Odyssey in Leadership
San Diego: This week isn't over yet. I started the week planning the next season for Sound Century, the Colorado Chapter of the Leadon Family Foundation, and serving as President of Valley Park and Recreation in the Wet Mountain Valley. I got a note from Charlie Leadon asking if I knew anyone who could take over as CEO of the Leadon Family Foundation. I made some suggestions and spoke to a few people about the prospect. Charlie told me that Leadon University was moving quickly and Leadon Investments was also going strong. Then he asked if I would consider applying for the CEO role. As a communications professional and entrepreneur, I have been preparing for an integrated role in the communities I serve. Last month, I began an earnest quest to combine three organizations that I head, and two I started, into a media and communications alliance: Communication Organizations for Responsible Entrepreneurship (CORE).
SCOR and SCARA
With Sound Century Academy for Recording Arts and Broadcasting, and our partnership with the Arkansas Valley Wind and Percussion Music Library, SCOR is part of the largest library of musical scores in the country. Adding recordings of folk concerts, musical theater, and handwritten scores, we also have several ensembles and recording artists archiving new arrangements for scores and pieces in the public domain. This includes jazz, blues, country-folk, and combinations of music. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the intersection of culture when Highway 50 was numbered and traveled, Sound Century is recording and performing in arts centers, senior community centers, theaters, schools, and cafes along Colorado highways from Lamar to Gunnison. CORE respondents will take to Highway 50 to create and recreate the experience. This will begin a book, audio, and exhibit project that will bring it all together into a 3-D, quintessential experience.
Resource Center
Together with the 4-H clubs and Valley Parks and Recreation, we are investing in plants and trees native to Colorado. Working with local water agencies, we are partnering with a local assisted living center and business to remove lawns and restore soil while Colorado-scaping in the Wet Mountain Valley. This is only the beginning. We may start with two to four properties for the fall season and expand through partners and fusion.
Charlie Leadon, Richard Arnold Beattie, and Trevor LaCost are casting a far-reaching vision for communities in all 50 states. Through communications, recreation, education, arts, travel, and transportation, we are inspiring and partnering with organizations to mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs. This includes programs like Emergent Campus, an incubator for new ideas, services, and businesses, and The Berry Center, which is bringing back the family farm and local markets. CORE is urging communities toward education, ecological responsibility, and entrepreneurial growth — integrating in the purest sense of the word: integrity. That is why I have accepted the role of CEO for the National Office of the Leadon Family Foundation. We are raising charters in all 50 states. Join us by emailing SoundCenturyOriginals@gmail.com.
— Richard Arnold Beattie
