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Review of The Idea Friendly Guide book by Becky McCray

By Small Biz Survival Leave a Comment

Testimonial by Paula Jensen from this article and a photo of the book

Thank you to Paula Jensen, one of our contributors, for sharing her thoughts on my book, The Idea Friendly Guide. I’m particularly honored because Paula has worked and lived in rural communities for decades. She sees and understands small towns in a way that few people do. She liked the guide so much, she ordered copies […]

April 6, 2026 Filed Under: brag basket, community, rural, success Tagged With: book review, Idea Friendly Method, leadership, Paula Jensen

Want your town to do well? Welcome new people as leaders

By Paula Jensen

group of volunteers sitting at a table

The Leadership Myth That’s Holding Us Back The Community Coach | Paula Jensen In small rural communities, leadership matters. But are we unintentionally shrinking our own leadership pool? We care deeply about who leads. We trust the people who show up, pitch in, and carry history with them. But over time, we’ve absorbed quiet assumptions […]

March 1, 2026 Filed Under: community, rural Tagged With: building community, community coach, emerging leaders, guest post, leadership

Local leaders: Start with intuition about your community then add data

By Paula Jensen

Paula Jensen

How do decisions about your town’s future get made? Do government officials and volunteer leaders rely on what they already know, or do they rely on data generated by outside experts? Or might it be both? By Paula Jensen Intuitive decision making is based on gut feelings, past experiences, and personal judgment. It involves using […]

March 30, 2023 Filed Under: economic development, rural Tagged With: data, decision making, leadership, local government, research

How Parents are Keeping Children from Becoming the Next Generation of Leaders

By Paula Jensen

A girl smiles while eating a meal at Eagle Butte, South Dakota.

  By Paula Jensen It seems I have almost always been interested in leadership.  My parents modeled leadership as I was growing up through their active roles in community, church, and school.  I joined 4-H at the age of eight, was called a “ring-leader” as an elementary student (which I don’t think this was a […]

December 28, 2019 Filed Under: community, failure, rural, youth Tagged With: guest post, leadership, Paula Jensen, rural, youth

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