Nourish: A Bold New Direction for 2025

After a year of “Open the Door” as our 2024 theme, we decided this year as a team that maybe we needed to simplify- our theme and our focus.  As I discussed in my speech Taste and See, turning responsibility into obligation to open the door to anyone and anything brought about a state of too much in 2025.  Like they say, there can be too much of a good thing. 

So in keeping with tasting and seeing what is good and letting that be the only obligation or responsibility to pursue, trusting that good things will flow naturally from there, we felt as though “Nourish” speaks volumes to what we are pursuing this year and aligns with our organizational values. 

What Nourish means to us:

• Living with intention
• Nourishing the people closest to us
• Emphasizing abundance instead of scarcity
• Pouring into good things allows the outcomes take care of themselves
• The mindset that capacity doesn’t equal obligation. Margins nourish us to live with intent and pour into the important people and things around us. This helps us see who and what needs to be nourished right in front of us.
• Nourishing creates growth
• Nourishing leads to thriving

Values Alignment

And in true HPC fashion, we put the word into ChatGPT and found that nourish aligns well with our values: 

1. Passion: Nourishing reflects a commitment to fueling enthusiasm and energy in all endeavors, encouraging others to pursue their work with heart and dedication.
2. Productivity: Nourishing the mind, skills, and workplace environment enables individuals and teams to perform at their best, driving meaningful outcomes.
3. People First: At its core, “nourish” emphasizes care, growth, and support, putting people at the center by fostering their well-being and development.
4. Continuous Learning and Improvement: Nourishment encompasses providing the resources, opportunities, and encouragement for ongoing growth and enhancement, ensuring a culture of improvement.
5. Give Back: Nourishing others extends to contributing to the greater good, whether through community efforts, mentorship, or empowering others to succeed.

What we will Nourish this year:

Leadership Development and Coaching

We are launching new content in 2025 that includes monthly blog posts and coaching moment videos to help nurture leadership development in companies and communities.  These will be practical strategies to implement, not complex theories or vague guidance. A taste of what we will be doing to nourish leadership development in our area includes facilitating the Cummings Research Park Tech to Exec Program and continuing to deliver Encounter Groups to our clients.  Our customized programs for organizations will now come with a customized website page(s) to provide nourishment even after the in-person component concludes. 

Entrepreneurship

We will be launching new content featuring entrepreneurs across our network to showcase the innovation taking place all around us. We will continue to support Alabama Launchpad and the dozens of entrepreneurs that come through the program each year. 

Career and Professional Development

In 2024, we launched online courses and will continue to launch more courses throughout 2025. Taylor is now one of the very few people in the country certified to deliver the National Career Development Association’s brand new School Career Development Advisor (SCDA) training, and she will continue to work with the Alabama State Department of Education to certify hundreds of educators across the state in this and other content and certifications. 

Informed Compensation

We continue to do a lot of compensation work. We realize that this core hygiene factor helps people literally nourish themselves and their families. Living wages are important and so is making wise business financial decisions to ensure the longevity of our organizations. These can exist together and be nourished together- remember abundance, not scarcity.  We will continue to facilitate the North Alabama Regional Wage and Benefit survey to help companies and communities make informed compensation decisions. 

What are you nourishing this year? What do you want to see grow?