LEADER SPEAK
RENDEZVOUS WITH A DISTRICT DIRECTOR DISTRICT DIRECTOR ELECT, DTM RAVI TEJA MARRAPU
Congratulations on District 98 becoming a President's Distinguished District under your tenure as a PQD. How do you feel about it? I feel great about it but at the same time, we all already know that this is a milestone that we will cross one-day in our consistent effort to keep the Toastmaster movement lively and the administration transparent.
The Pathways Committee Chair will work on the challenges that are being faced by members and we will keep solving them one problem at a time - as simple as that. The working of the District Mission will not change much but we will need to be disciplined in our approach in answering some of the questions that might crop up due to lack of knowledge and resources.
Also, congratulations on becoming the District Director-elect for 2018-19. What is the one element that keeps pushing you to serve the District? Thank you! For me, the members are my primary source of inspiration to serve. They present before me ample opportunities to learn. They challenge me to become better, they force to me think deep, they trust me when taking a decision, they guard me against deviating from the path, they challenge me to go the distance, they teach me those aspects of leadership which cannot be taught well in any world-class school and more importantly, they love me for what I am, but not what they want me to be. Serving my District 98 family will always be my privilege.
There's a feeling among members there is only one conference in the coming year and the usual camaraderie will reduce. How do we keep this spirit of closeness intact? I too believe that we are going to miss our semi-annual conference. Things are going to be different without it. However, if the effort that hundreds of volunteers put in for months for a conference can be converted to help struggling clubs or mentor club members, we will benefit be more productive. I have realized over time that strong clubs create more camaraderie in the District than District conferences can ever create. Hence, I believe it is a positive step towards building strong clubs and will help us focus on what really matters.
With the rollout of Pathways is there going to be any strategic shift in our work while keeping the mission and vision of the District intact? There will be a strategy in place to ensure that members are comfortable with the Pathways program.
As we've become the fastest growing District in Toastmasters, are there any lessons learned and should we focus on some specific areas going forward? What are your plans? We need to understand Indian culture to understand
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