Hitting the ground running

We’ve had a really busy first month of the Command and General Staff Officer’s Course (CGSOC) school year. Your Foundation supported the course curriculum with two guest speakers, provided extra-curricular lectures, supported the School of Command Preparation with civilian leader outreach, supported the commandant’s reception for the new CGSOC class, and recognized a retiring SAMS faculty member designated as Emeritus Professor. Our next two months are almost as busy as we host the Celebration of International Friendship to introduce the International Military Student Class of 2019 to the Kansas City area, co-host the fall National Security Round Table with the Department of Joint, Interagency and Multinational Operations (DJIMO), host an Ethics “Lunch ‘n Learn” with emerging Leaders of Tomorrow, host an “ethical café” with the Jewish Community Center, and host a fundraising event at one of the Kansas City Frank Lloyd Wright houses.

Gen. (Ret.) Lloyd J. Austin III delivers the Powell lecture to the Class of 2019 on Aug. 21.

Gen. (Ret.) Ann Dunwoody addresses the CGSC class on Aug. 28.

Brig. Gen. Scott L. Efflandt, CGSC deputy commandant, delivers the keynote remarks at the Executive Leader Summit with the School of Command Preparation on Sept. 6.

As you can read in our recent articles on this website, on Aug. 21 we hosted retired Gen. Lloyd Austin to address the class as the introduction to the C200 block of instruction on national security strategy. General Austin was the 12th commanding general of U.S. Central Command prior to his retirement. Austin’s lecture was part of the Foundation’s Colin Powell Lecture Series which is sponsored by an enduring gift from TriWest Healthcare Alliance. A week later on Aug. 28, we hosted retired Gen. Ann Dunwoody, the first woman promoted to four-star general in the U.S. military, to be the initial speaker for the L100 Leadership block of instruction. As part of her visit, we supported an AUSA Henry Leavenworth Chapter breakfast, a book signing at the world famous CGSC Book Store, an influencers lunch at Country Club Bank in Kansas City, and an evening event with the Kansas City Junior League. We had an amazing response everywhere she went. General Dunwoody’s support to the ethics and leadership curriculum was made possible by an enduring grant from the Perot Foundation. Our final major event was again a week later on Sept. 6 when we supported the School of Command Preparation (SCP) Executive Leader Summit with 24 mid and senior level executives from Leavenworth and Kansas City. CGSC Deputy Commandant Brig. Gen. Scott L. Efflandt gave the keynote address on leader development and the SCP instructors hosted round table discussions with the executives in a mutual learning environment discussing best practices in senior leader development and continuing education. All participants felt the discussions were very beneficial to their own particular leader development challenges. Support to the Executive Leader Summit came from LWM III Consulting, a True Growth company. We also supported the annual Commandant’s Reception for the new Class of 2019 through a grant from Webster University.

We hope you join us for the Celebration of International Friendship on Oct. 4 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City. This is an amazing event in a world-class facility where we showcase our international military students. In addition, we have a musical performance from the Grammy Award winning Kansas City Chorale to welcome our guests to the area. It’s a great evening and I hope you will attend. Tickets are on sale now at the Kauffman Center box office. We have a host of corporate and individual sponsors that we thank for helping us make this evening possible.

We are excited to have the CGSC Foundation Shelton Distinguished Visiting Chair for Ethics, Dr. Shannon French, join us for two events on Oct. 30. The Shelton Ethics Chair supports ethics programs and is sponsored by an enduring grant from the Perot Foundation. During this visit, we will host a Leaders of Tomorrow “Lunch ‘n Learn” on business ethical issues at noon at the law offices of Spencer Fane in Kansas City. The audience is intended to be junior to mid-level managers and this is a continuation of our Leaders of Tomorrow series of events, which began with our symposium back in March. We hope some CGSC students will be able to attend. If you’re interested, please contact us. That evening, we are co-hosting an ethical café with the theme “What Do You Owe the World” at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kan. Dr. French will again lead the discussion and we have a very distinguished group of round table discussion leaders from throughout the metro area. You can find information for this event on the J’s website.

None of these events comes free or cheap. We have to have donors and sponsors to support the events. We rely on the generosity of corporations, other foundations, and most importantly individuals like you to help us make our programs possible. We will be hosting a fundraising event at one of the Frankl Lloyd Wright homes in Kansas City on Oct. 25. We will post more information on our website soon so you can sign up to attend. I hope you’ll consider joining us to see a unique piece of Kansas City history and to be generous in your support to the Foundation’s programs. We are small, but busy, and we can use your help.

Doug Tystad
President/Chief Executive Officer
CGSC Foundation, Inc.