Leadership Fellows receive forum training from entrepreneur David McCue

October 31, 2007

Chapel Hill, N.C. – More than 30 Institute for the Arts and Humanities Leadership Fellows received a rare opportunity to learn how to run more effective forums Oct. 27 during a training session led by entrepreneur and UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus David McCue.

The event was a condensed version of forum training that McCue gives as part of his membership in Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) Forums. IAH Leadership Fellows attend monthly forums modeled on the YPO forums as part of their fellowships. Forums offer members the opportunity to exchange ideas and learning in pursuit of personal growth and professional success.

Della Pollock, professor of performance and cultural studies, said her forum group already found some of McCue’s rules for structuring meetings useful.

“We discovered that the updates gave a very interesting sense of how the professional and personal overlap,” Pollock said, “and the time structure very much intensified conversation and made us focus much more quickly than if we had just gone around and said, 'What’s up with you?’ ”

McCue defines a forum as a group of peers to whom you can turn to hear the truth without judgment. All members leave ranks and hierarchies at the door. “The very word ‘forum’ is about a coming together of equals,” McCue said.

The ultimate goal of a forum, which some never reach, is to work to such a depth that members gain insights that lead to changes, he said. When forums reach sufficient depth, members “start to build capabilities because of the way they relate in this group,” McCue said.

McCue outlined the norms used in YPO forums, including a shared vision, confidentiality, commitment, membership, leadership and renewal. These norms help ensure a healthy forum, he said, and must be present for a forum to work at a deeper level.

McCue also gave attendees a crash course in the rules used to structure YPO forum meetings. These include starting each meeting with “updates,” in which each member has four minutes to share what’s going on in their lives personally and professionally, and relegating off-topic issues that emerge to a “parking lot” to schedule for later discussion. 

This structure ensures that most of the meeting is devoted to scheduled presentations from members on particular topics, which are the heart of forum, McCue said.

Forum moderators work to ensure these norms are followed. “One of the most positive steps you could take today is to elect a moderator,” McCue said.

McCue encouraged the IAH forums to consider these guidelines but to remember that bringing a forum into an academic environment may mean making new rules. “I want to unveil potential or possibilities for you,” he said.

After the training, attendees broke into their leadership fellows forum groups to discuss how to apply these practices. Each forum elected a moderator and made plans to meet to develop a shared vision for their forum.

McCue received a Morehead Scholarship to attend UNC-Chapel Hill and graduated summa cum laude in 1976. After working for 11 years in sales, product design and marketing, he founded McCue Corporation in 1988 with the goal of bringing innovative equipment and services to the retail industry.

Today, McCue holds several U.S. and international patents for products he has created. McCue Corporation is the retail industry's recognized leader in protective and decorative bumper and shopping cart management systems, listed twice in the INC 500 ranking of fast-growing privately held companies.

IAH Academic Leadership Fellows are chosen annually to represent a mix of emerging and established leaders among the tenured faculty, representing departments in the arts, the sciences, the humanities, the social sciences, and the professions. These fellows engage in an intensive series of activities designed to develop leadership skills, clarify their career commitments, build their leadership network within the campus and extend their contacts to include other leaders beyond the university.