Jarid Lundeen, the past president for the Minot YP group, recently posted this commentary on the North Dakota Young Professionals website - www.ndyp.net.  I thought his insights on YP group involvement were good and I wanted to share them on the FM Chamber blog.

“I used this statement often in conversations with my wife following a very exhilarating or unpleasant YP meeting: It was a “YP Experience.” In my 16 months of leadership with the Minot YP group, I had many meetings of both types. This experience is as significant as my 5-year-old daughter riding bike for the first time. The difference is that we tend to not jump up and down in celebration when the exhilarating YP experience has just occurred; nor do we cry alligator tears and swear that we will never do it again, after an unpleasant one. Either we are holding our head high after suggesting something nobody else agreed with, or trying not to grin too much after proposing an idea that the whole group loved.

You see, the nature of the group changes the premise of the experience. We have all experienced decision making in our careers and at the college and even high school level, but most of us haven’t had that feeling of volunteering our opinion within a group of peers. We are students, employees or employers. Those roles outline a different set of standards as to how we handle ourselves in our professional setting. We follow employee manuals and protocols. With YPN, we’re just doing the best we can. The YP organization is neither an experience that can be consistently classified as good nor bad; it is an experience.

One such negative experience I was a part of was the planning of our first YPN New Years Gala. The leadership committee assisted in organizing the event, but the Gala committee worked on the major details, like food and entertainment. However, the leadership committee wasn’t in on all the details, and the Chamber had even less information—and we were freely using the Minot Chamber’s check book to pay for things. Soon, I was called in by the President of the Chamber and very nicely told that a budget would have been nice. The Chamber President was great and had faith in our group, but was getting nervous with my leadership.

Everything worked out, though. The Gala was actually a huge success with great participation, tremendous local support, and lots of excitement. This was perfect for what YP was trying to accomplish for networks across the state and nationwide. In that moment of success, I thought back to the number of YP experiences I had dealt with.

What we have to realize is that we don’t become great by being perfect; it is the mistakes that teach. It’s a learning process. If we folded after every negative experience, we would become stagnant. The goal is to keep moving forward, stronger and smarter. We have the ability to utilize our resources to enhance the YP organization, and to create new and make changes.

So, I challenge you to not sit on the sidelines as a young professional. Join with your peers as a part of something larger. Don’t be afraid to share your input; don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Use your talents and impress others with your confidence, talents, and ideas. Make a much bigger impact on this organization, and share in the YP experience. You will feel the difference it can create in you, just as I did. And I wouldn’t trade one moment!”  - Jarid Lundeen, Minot

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