Friday, March 26, marked the end of another successful virtual Coalfield Council Day, where our team convenes on the final Friday of each month to celebrate milestones in our personal and professional lives, flex our critical thinking muscles and develop and hone skills that each of us can use throughout our careers.
Last week, we heard from various members of the Coalfield crew who shared updates about each of our social enterprises. Warmer weather has given our agricultural and construction crews more opportunities to work outdoors, so this season, we’re celebrating victories of all sizes — from demolition projects to sprouted seedlings.
This spring, we’ll also be welcoming our newest enterprise here at Coalfield Development! This long-awaited project combines our core values at Coalfield with our passion for our planet — and the result is one-of-a-kind. We’re counting down the days until we launch this exciting endeavor on Earth Day, April 22, 2021!
During our February Council Day gathering, CEO Brandon Dennison posed the question: Is our country hurting? Of the 49 responses received, 100 percent, he said, were affirmative. With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, unrest in our nation and political polarization, it’s been easy to feel overwhelmed and, at times, isolated from one another.
Change, he emphasized, must start with each of us. And it requires empathy.
“As one organization, we can’t heal wounds and the hurt in our country, but I do want us to be a place that can model what a genuine, respectful conversation looks like, and a place that can model what empathy really looks like,” Brandon said.
This year, our theme is “Healing.” This quarter, Brandon said, we’ll be focusing on healing economically — through construction and revitalizations in neighborhoods that have historically been affected by discriminatory efforts such as redlining in the past, Brandon said. To reinvest in those communities specifically, he added, will be a “healing process.”
Over the next two quarters, we’ll shift our focus to healing ourselves and our health and healing our planet.
Our team was also joined by Monica Wei, assistant professor of marketing in Marshall University’s College of Business, and Kane Morrone, sales associate at the Marshall University Sales Center, who shared their valuable insight into the world of marketing.
Today, Monica and Kane said, marketing practices have shifted drastically: These days, selling is not as much about convincing customers as it is listening to the customers and finding a solution that best fits their needs. Both marketing professionals emphasized the importance of making genuine connections when promoting or selling something, whether it’s a personal brand or their company’s creation.
In closing, Brandon said the session will help many Coalfield crew members as they navigate sales — and the art of marketing — in their career paths.
We encourage our readers to stay tuned — there’s a lot on the horizon for our team here at Coalfield Development team!
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Rebuilding the Appalachian economy from the ground up. We believe in developing the potential of Appalachia through the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit.