The Good Business Summit: Inspiration, Unity and a Bruised Hand
Written by Charles Matheus
Anyone peering into my living room window that day last year would have thought I had gone mad. I was alone in my house, hunched over my laptop with headphones clamped to my ears and I was literally bouncing up and down in my chair as I attended Local First Arizona’s virtual Arizona Good Business Summit of 2021. At one point during CEO Kimber Lanning’s keynote, I became so energized that I started pounding my metal desktop. I ended the summit filled with excitement and a bruised hand.
Up until that point, 2021 had been a particularly challenging year for me as it was for many of us. I'd started a leadership speaking, coaching and consulting business right before the pandemic struck. Although I was able to pivot and deliver some of my work via webinars, I was experiencing a lot of isolation, low energy and even some despair. Creating a solo business is hard enough, but when the market drops away and the pandemic imposes even more isolation, it can be incredibly daunting to stay in the fight and keep pushing forward.
What made matters worse was the lack of collaborative, innovative action in my community. For the last decade, I’ve watched while big box stores and national chains took over most of the retail activity and large housing developments on the margins drained life from the downtown core. As a member of local school and nonprofit boards, I was perfectly aware of the negative effect this economic model was having on families and children. And then COVID-19 – and the disjointed response – further fractured our community and any sense of progress.
But the 2021 Good Business Summit presented a compelling and competing plan for growth, success and unity. Lanning and the other speakers outlined a vision for the role of business in the life of a community, in the work of justice and sustainability, and in response to crises. I knew that LFA had taken center stage in helping distribute pandemic relief funds and provide small businesses access to paycheck loans and other resources, but it was the story of the Feed Phoenix Initiative that got me pounding my desk in excitement and hope. Instead of letting all the federal relief funds go to chain restaurants or huge grocery companies, LFA helped direct food from local farms to locally-owned restaurants to feed thousands of people. In the middle of a massive pandemic, LFA found a way to build more partnerships and bolster local capacity! A year later, I still feel energized by the vision of local and small businesses responding with energy and creativity to provide uniquely tailored solutions to the crises and problems that oppress our communities and our world. I’ve been inspired enough to partner with other like-minded business owners to sponsor LFA mixers in my community and grow LFA membership so we can build the kind of community we need.
Call to Action
I am very excited to be able to attend the summit in person this year, particularly as I’ll be on stage for one of Lightning Talks. I hope you'll join me at the event as we build networks, inspire each other and then go home and implement the ideas that are going to make our communities more vibrant, resilient and rich.
Charles Matheus, an Arizona native, is an adventurer, entrepreneur and leadership consultant. Charles has led clients to the top of the highest peaks in Wyoming and to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (and back!). He uses the skills he honed in those settings to help men, in particular, find purpose, strength, and compassion through transformational coaching and classes.