Our Blog

A Shining Smile

23 Aug at 4:23 am

Written by: Dillon Muhlenkamp SLA Summer 2022 Intern Have you ever been struggling to know if what your doing is all worth it? I was recently struggling with this as a county fair board member but for me, all it took was one thing. A Shining Smile For me, one…

Shafer Leadership and Eastern Indiana Works partner to empower Indiana workers

Blog, Stories of Leadership

20 Jul at 8:39 am

Bare shelves, inflated prices, and late deliveries are among the results of the nation’s scarcity of blue-collar workers. According to a 2021 report from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, 77% of manufacturers have ongoing difficulties attracting and retaining workers. The manufacturing skills gap could leave as many as 2.1 million…

Highlights from SLA’s Annual Meeting and Report to the Community

SLA News

29 Jun at 3:18 pm

Last week we gathered at the Innovation Connector to celebrate SLA’s impact. We learned how Emergence graduates are impacting the community. We heard an inspiring story from a graduate of our Muncie Youth Leadership program and we shared our progress and growth during the 2020-2021 “pandemic years”. Want to Know…

Meet Our Community Inclusion Ambassadors

SLA News

13 Jun at 12:15 pm

Meet Shafer Leadership Academy’s Community Inclusion Ambassadors, who will work to build relationships across all communities within East Central Indiana. These passionate leaders will travel the region to connect individuals with inclusive leadership development opportunities. Mitch Isaacs, executive director of Shafer Leadership Academy, said the ambassadors are particularly focused on…

‘When you get a seat at the table, use your voice’

Blog, Stories of Leadership

28 Mar at 8:56 pm

WaTasha Barnes Griffin is leading SLA to invite more diversity to the table When WaTasha Barnes Griffin speaks, you listen. Whether she is addressing a crowd as CEO of the YWCA of Central Indiana or chatting with you at a neighborhood cleanup, Barnes Griffin speaks with intention. You get the…

From Checkers to Chess: SLA challenges leaders through personalized, relevant programs

Blog, Stories of Leadership

17 Feb at 7:35 pm

Other leadership seminars taught Lance Paxson to play checkers. Shafer Leadership Academy taught him to play chess. “Many professional development sessions I’ve attended have been ‘one size fits all,’ but Shafer’s programs are personalized,” said Paxson, a senior production manager at FCC Indiana in Portland. “Members of the Shafer team…

Muncie Daughter Calls You to Consider your Bias in the Workplace

Blog, Stories of Leadership

November 2, 2021

Charlize Jamieson sat in the pews of College Avenue United Methodist Church a few months ago and heard the pastor say from the podium: “Transgender individuals are not God’s mistake; They are God’s miracle.” “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” said Jamieson, who grew up and has lived 45-plus…

How Dustin Humm, owner of eKeeper Systems, has achieved a “higher degree of sanity” by working with Shafer

Blog, Stories of Leadership

August 24, 2021

“It was getting to the point where I would put in 200 to 250 hours a month, month after month, for years,” said Dustin Humm, owner of eKeeper Systems. “Working 250 hours is not healthy.” Founded in 2004, the Yorktown-based IT services company that began with a handful of employees…