Leadership faces may have changed, but NWA-ASTD's message and goal remain the same. We want to create a community where learning professionals can connect and communicate freely about their interest in the world of talent development and human performance. So we reached out to our fellow T&D folks to help us rediscover our message through a more excited chapter, looking to liven things up and deliver on its promise. And what a better way to start than with the words we use. 

After putting it to you – and receiving many wonderful submissions – we found a winning suggestion. Congratulations to Scott Sutton, who helped us with our new chapter tagline and slogan.

Slogan: Expanding perspectives, inspiring creativity, equipping learners.

Sutton, of the Merchant Development team at Walmart, shares these words on his inspiration for our new tagline and slogan:

“In writing the slogan submission, I wanted to capture the things that I find especially beneficial about the kinds of things that the local ASTD chapter does:

Expanding perspectives. Everyone who comes to ASTD comes with a different story. Different professional experiences. Different personal experiences. Different industries, cultures, disciplines and educations. Each of those stories is a unique perspective on what works, what’s possible, and how we approach our profession. ASTD is a venue where all of those stories can come together to expand the perspectives of everyone in the room. By expanding one another’s perspectives, we all become more effective both personally and professionally.

Inspiring creativity. When I think of some of the most creative people throughout history – writers, athletes, musicians and other artists – they seem to have a tendency to find one another. Typically, it’s several people with a passion for what they do and a vision for how they can take it to the next level deciding that rather than do their art alone, they’ll do it together. Together they try new things. Sometimes they fail and they learn from those failures. Sometimes they’re wildly successful and shatter the boundaries of what people have come to accept as normal. But they are always pushing each other. And when one has a breakthrough, everyone else feels inspired to break through even further. It’s competition. But it’s friendly. And it’s fun. And everyone becomes better because of it.

Equipping learners. In addition to emphasizing the more aspirational benefits of the ASTD chapter, it’s also important to stress the more tangible, practical benefits. In this venue, we have an opportunity to equip one another with the tools that we find most useful for accomplishing our work: frameworks, models, methodologies, skillsets, templates, etc. By taking these tools back to our workplaces, we have an opportunity to enhance the credibility and impact of our profession within our organizations.”

From the board, we thank Scott for his contribution and for being one of our newest members.