Shelly Benford

Shelly has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Colorado Chautauqua, a National Historic Landmark, for the past seven years. Shelly is responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the Colorado Chautauqua, a complex nonprofit that includes hospitality, entertainment, retail, and restaurant businesses. In addition to creating and maintaining strategic alliances with key stakeholders, Shelly oversees nearly 60 full-time year-round employees, over 200 seasonal staff, and 150 volunteers. Under her leadership at Chautauqua, CCA has received numerous awards including the ELGL Best Historic and Cultural Site in America and the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts and Business Partnership Award. Shelly has a master’s degree in business administration and a doctorate in clinical psychology and has served on numerous non-profit boards. In addition to serving as the former Chair of the Chautauqua Board, she was elected twice to the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education.
 

My advice to students... 

In my experience, no one leadership style is better than other. Rather, the most effective leadership style depends on the situation, which requires a leader to be flexible and adaptive. But whatever the situation is, the best leaders are those with high levels of self-awareness and who are comfortable relying on their intuition to guide them in unfamiliar situations. It is very difficult to lead in complex situations when a person is unconsciously triggered by their environment, colleagues, and employees - causing them to react in rigid and self-protective ways - or in situations where relying on logic alone may not lend itself to finding the best solution.