Description

From Horizon 2035 to Action: Equipping Chamber Executives to Lead Proactively in an Era of Constant Change

IACCE’s Leadership Development Conference is at an inflection point. Last year’s deep dive into Horizon 2035 helped chamber leaders build shared awareness of the forces shaping their communities and organizations. But building a credible future-ready chamber requires a shift in how leaders think and lead.

Today, many chambers continue to operate reactively amid persistent workforce challenges, increasingly remote decision-makers, evolving sponsorship models, and the growing complexity of economic development and municipal partnerships. While Horizon 2035 has created a common language for futures thinking, most chambers lack practical tools to translate insight into action and build internal capacity for long-term, cross-functional, future-oriented leadership.

Think Like a Futurist (TLAF) closes this gap. In an immersive, hands-on experience, chamber executives learn tools and techniques to lift their eyes beyond the horizon of day-to-day operations and widen their aperture—to move from understanding the future to leading for the future.

By the end of this training:

• Move from “we understand Horizon 2035” to “we can apply Horizon 2035 in our chamber strategy.”
• Translate future forces into local implications for membership, workforce, sponsorship, and economic development partnerships.
• Design future-back action plans (backcasting) that connect long-term vision to near-term strategic experiments.
• Lead more proactively and less reactively in navigating uncertainty and disruption.
• Stronger strategic alignment between long-term futures thinking and day-to-day leadership decisions.

TY LEWIS – Lead Facilitator

Ty brings strategic finance acumen and community impact experience to futures training. As a certified Think Like a Futurist trainer and Gallup-certified Strengthsfinder coach, Ty guides executives through transformative foresight development. His background spans banking, real estate investment, and nonprofit leadership, where he secured six-figure investments in equity initiatives and launched signature programs at United Way. Ty’s strength is translating futures thinking into actionable strategy—helping leaders move from insight to impact. Ty holds a BA in Finance from St. Ambrose University. He works from Chicagoland. LinkedIn.