As something of a newcomer to Iola, Shilo Eggers says that her four years in the business community provides her with a vantage point on the community.
Her take?
We have some work to do.
As president of the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors, Eggers is keen on building community. Her take is that Iola is fraught with a tribalism that detracts from working for the common good.
We have all these small groups, that ultimately have the same missions and goals, but arent working together. I feel like theres a lot of division, and if we could just get over it, we could kick butt, she said.
To be effective, compromise is needed, she said.
Like with the Chamber, there are things Im going to want that I will not get. But that doesnt mean Im going to give up and say forget you, Im going to do my own thing over here. You accept what you cant get, with keeping a common goal as your focus.
Eggers comes by these negotiating skills naturally. Now vice president of Landmark Bank, she knows the value of being a good listener, a helping hand, and most importantly, a hard worker.
Im not afraid to work hard. Its something Ive done my whole life, she said, recalling her days as a youth in rural El Dorado doing stable work in order to earn enough money to show horses.
But theres a difference, she stressed, between working smart and working unproductively.
As a community, its not a competition. But there are those who see things as an us-or-them context, as winner or losers.
If thats the mindset, the community will never reach its potential, she said.
Its not about winning or losing, but bringing everybody together, to make Iola and Allen County the place people want to live and work.
THE CHAMBER is at a crossroads, Eggers said. Currently without a director, the board of directors is using this time to re-examine its mission and goals.
Part of that process involves visits to other communities with active chambers. Fort Scotts is a particularly good role model, Eggers said, with its weekly get-togethers for Chamber members.
The Chamber is also conducting a survey of its 100-plus members as to what they see as the Chambers mission.
We havent kept up with the times, she said, and stressed the need for active engagement.
I cant just sit in my office and hope people will walk in the door. We need to be out and communicating.
