A Comprehensive Community Leadership Development Program

The Watauga Leadership Institute is a comprehensive leadership development program designed to meet our community’s need for the active participation of informed and educated leaders. Graduates of WLI programs enjoy lifelong networking opportunities with over 300 program alumni.

The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce contracts with Ridgeline Leadership and Dr. Jim Street to coordinate curriculum for all WLI programs.

2024-25 Course Offerings

Watauga Leadership Encore

Invest in your continued professional development by attending Encore, a course offered through the Watauga Leadership Institute, designed to further advance your personal leadership journey.

This cohort-style course offers attendees the opportunity to expand their leadership knowledge, mindset, and skills. Each 90-minute session will provide deeper insight into topics introduced during previous Watauga Leadership Institute courses while encouraging the self-renewal of your guiding leadership principles.

2024 Topics:

September 25 - Personal Growth Through Personal Challenge and Risk Taking

October 16 - Professional and Personal Goal Setting

November 13 - Need a Game-Changer for Meetings? Ask More Questions.

December 11 - How to Make Accountability Work

Registration is closed for this cohort. Look out for information for our 2025 Encore cohort coming in the summer.

Watauga Leadership Challenge

The Watauga Leadership Challenge class gives participants the opportunity to broaden their understanding of leadership and to see themselves as agents of change in their associations, their places of work, their community, and in their own lives.

To develop the capacity to lead, one must have a keen sense of self-awareness, an understanding of others, a recognition of how people work together in teams and organizations, and an awareness of the greater community.

Watauga Leadership Challenge strikes a balance between understanding leadership and understanding the community. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with business and community leaders who are finding ways to bring people together for change.

View 2025 Watauga Leadership Challenge Course Outline

Watauga Leadership Development

The Watauga Leadership Development course provides participants the opportunity to take a deeper dive into understanding leadership and the competencies required for effective leadership in work, community, and in life.

The program focuses on authentic leadership and covers competencies that are critical in the leadership process.

View Spring 2025 Watauga Leadership Development Course Outline