The 2014 Santa Cruz Chamber Board of Directors invites you to attend the Chamber’s 125th Annual Meeting and Luncheon January 23 at the Cocoanut Grove. The luncheon’s keynote presentation, On Being “Less Wrong” by Catalyst Consulting founder and owner, Bill Underwood, will address how managers and administrators are improving decision making skills. The Annual Luncheon features the introduction of the Chamber's board and officers, acknowledgment of retiring board members, and appreciation of sponsors and volunteers. The board and staff will present the Chamber’s annual report summarizing its work in 2013. Members of the board and staff will also report on the chamber’s expectations and goals for 2014. The Luncheon will also feature the first of four quarterly luncheon videos highlighting the chamber’s 125th anniversary celebration. This first video will highlight some of the past leaders of the chamber and their accomplishments in creating the economic base and infrastructure upon which the local economy has been based for the last century-and-a-quarter. Underwood’s presentation will explore implications of research which has both demonstrated “plasticity” of the brain permitting continuous adaptation, growth, and learning and more than 150 cognitive biases to which we fall prey when thinking and deciding on issues and our certainty bias, which blinds us to our erroneous assumptions. Bill will talk about challenges to “changing our minds,” applying new practices to difficult conversations, and ways to minimize our inherent “wrongness.”
Bill Underwood is the owner of Catalyst Consulting Team and has been a consultant, coach and trainer for Silicon Valley-based firms since 1985. His work focuses on executive leadership, vision and strategy, talent development, teamwork and executive coaching. Bill has worked with a wide spectrum of companies, from Adobe, Cisco Systems, Google, NetApp and eBay to nonprofits such as the American Leadership Forum, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The core of Bill’s practice is coaching executives and their teams on productive means to confront pressing organizational issues. His approach emphasizes the application of knowledge to action, and his coaching and facilitation guides executive teams in making key decisions, advancing change, and creating productive relationships. Bill designs innovative training programs in leadership development, teamwork, visioning, change management and critical communication that are a Catalyst trademark. In ’94, Bill pioneered a collaborative online tool, GroupMind Express, used by eBay, Oracle, Sun, and others to augment conferencing, teamwork and decision-making with dispersed teams. He also designs experiential simulations for management and teams that range from climbing peaks in New Zealand to half-day organizational simulations such as BigPicture. Bill has a BS in Anthropology and World Religions from Virginia Commonwealth University, and draws from a background in cognitive psychology, general semantics and organizational change. A project close to his heart is his work with Shout-it-Now in Cape Town, South Africa, an innovative prevention program to educate and test South African teens and adults for HIV/AIDS. Our quarterly member meetings in April, July, and October feature experts that keep members on top of current business trends in locally, regionally, and nationally. Chamber member breakfast and luncheon meetings are an opportunity to come together for conversation about community, economics, and key local issues.
Cocoanut Grove $37 members $50 non-members $290 for a table of 8 All sales of final.