Amy Carrington Stout, recently promoted to vice president of Leadership Development for Commerce Lexington, has successfully managed the chamber’s signature leadership programs for 12 years. These programs include Leadership Lexington, Leadership Central Kentucky, the annual EMERGE conference and the Emerging Leaders of the Bluegrass program.
Stout holds a master’s degree in community and leadership development from the University of Kentucky. Additionally, she has an honors degree from Victoria University in New Zealand, where she studied as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. Amy actively serves on the boards of the Lexington Children’s Theatre and Lexington Forum and the advisory board for The Arboretum, State Botanical Garden of Kentucky. She also represents parents on the Faith Lutheran Learning Center Committee.
How did you become involved in leadership development?
My first exposure to community leadership programs was seeing my mom, Robin Carrington, participate in Leadership Montgomery County. She graduated in 2002, and I observed what a tremendous impact it had on her. As a small-business owner, she increased her network and learned who to call for what in the community. She went on to serve on the boards of Leadership Montgomery County and the Mt. Sterling Chamber of Commerce. She also dedicated years to volunteer work with the Gateway Regional Arts Center of Mt. Sterling and the UK Art Museum in Lexington.
During my college years, I actively participated in Samford University’s LEAD Scholars program, taking on various responsibilities on campus. I was also president of my sorority. Then I was selected for the Rotary Scholarship, which was very competitive. As a part of that scholarship, I studied in New Zealand and would go around to Rotary Clubs in small communities to talk about the United States to spread good will and cultural awareness. It was a year of growth for me, and I had to figure out how to handle questions I wasn’t trained to answer. I got told often, ‘You’re very diplomatic.’
In 2010, I finished my master’s in community and leadership development at the UK College of Ag, now known as CAFE, which stands for College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Soon after that, I participated in the 2010–11 Leadership Lexington class. Serendipitously, my predecessor, Linda Stamp, announced her retirement that year. I was in the right place at the right time, and having a master’s degree helped me get the role of director of leadership development for Commerce Lexington in 2011.
Please talk about the Leadership Lexington and the Leadership Central Kentucky programs.
These are community programs. We have steering committees and boards with about 50 volunteers. It takes a village to make these things happen, and hopefully they will ultimately benefit the community.
Leadership Lexington had its first class in 1979–80. When it started, there was a trend of leadership programs across the United States. The idea was to prepare the next generation of leaders for the challenges that our communities face. Over the past 10 years, there’s been a big emphasis on diversity and inclusion. It’s been one of the biggest learning curves for me. I’m striving to make this program diverse, with people of all different backgrounds feeling accepted in a safe place to share, grow and learn from each other.
We kick off the program year with an overnight retreat, and class members have the opportunity to pitch a project idea. Class members self-select what project they want to commit to for the year. These community work projects are where a lot of leadership development comes from because it’s hands on, and class members work together to get something accomplished by the end of the year. That work is done outside of our sessions and meetings.
After the orientation retreat, we have full-day sessions meeting on the second Thursday of every month. We have a city government day, where we do a budget simulation. We also have a public safety day, and to prepare for that we try to do ride-alongs with the fire and police departments. We’ve also shadowed teachers and principals in preparation for public education day. For economic development day, Gina Greathouse, who oversees economic development for Commerce Lexington, and her team facilitate an economic development simulation. The class is divided into six teams, with three of the teams being companies and three being communities, and the communities try to recruit the companies to relocate there.
In 2000, chamber directors in the region came together and decided that we needed something to foster relationship building among our counties. The counties included were Fayette, Bourbon, Clark, Jessamine, Madison, Scott and Woodford, plus Franklin County. These counties are all working to attract new businesses to their communities. We have to work together as a region to promote our talent and assets, and that was the genesis of the Leadership Central Kentucky program.
What’s the story behind EMERGE?
Every year Commerce Lexington takes an annual visit to another city to learn best practices. In 2013 we went to Omaha, Nebraska, which annually hosts the YP Summit. It’s the largest gathering of YPs [young professionals] in the country. We decided to host a similar conference, and started EMERGE in 2014.
In 2020 we had our largest crowd of over 400, and that year we announced that we were launching a year-round version of EMERGE called Emerging Leaders of the Bluegrass. Young professionals can purchase a pass and attend monthly events that rotate between professional development and community education.
What makes a good leader?
There are examples of leaders who have risen to solve problems in their communities, and they’ve gotten others on board to help. I think a leader is anyone who wants to work to solve a problem — something of agency — and communicate a vision so that others get on board and help do it.
What is your advice to young people who want to be leaders and make a difference?
If they are interested in an issue or want to get involved in a particular nonprofit, email somebody from the website of the nonprofit and ask about volunteering. If there’s a group working on an issue, connect with that group and get involved. A number of nonprofits have reached out to me, because they are looking to include an emerging leader representative on their board. There may be hesitancy on the part of a young professional or emerging leader — a feeling like they’re not ready — but they’re going to learn so much by just putting themselves out there and getting involved.