A Comprehensive Community Leadership Development Program
The Watauga Leadership Institute is a comprehensive leadership development program designed to meet our community’s need for the active participation of informed and educated leaders. Graduates of WLI programs enjoy lifelong networking opportunities with over 300 program alumni.
The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce contracts with Ridgeline Leadership and Dr. Jim Street to coordinate curriculum for all WLI programs.
2025-26 Course Offerings
Watauga Leadership Encore
Invest in your continued professional development by attending Encore, a course offered through the Watauga Leadership Institute, designed to further advance your personal leadership journey.
This cohort-style course offers attendees the opportunity to expand their leadership knowledge, mindset, and skills. Each two-hour session will examine a specialty topic that builds off the core elements of the Watauga Leadership Institute curriculum, while encouraging the self-renewal of your guiding leadership principles.
2025 Topics:
September 18 - Leading through Crisis
October 23 - Leading Through Change
November 20 - Mental Health and Burnout Prevention
December 11 - Acknowledgement and Celebration in Leadership
2025 Encore Course Outline & Registration
Watauga Leadership Challenge
The Watauga Leadership Challenge class gives participants the opportunity to broaden their understanding of leadership and to see themselves as agents of change in their associations, their places of work, their community, and in their own lives.
To develop the capacity to lead, one must have a keen sense of self-awareness, an understanding of others, a recognition of how people work together in teams and organizations, and an awareness of the greater community.
Watauga Leadership Challenge strikes a balance between understanding leadership and understanding the community. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with business and community leaders who are finding ways to bring people together for change.
Registration opens for our 2026 cohort in October
View 2025 Watauga Leadership Challenge Course Outline
Watauga Leadership Development
The Watauga Leadership Development course provides participants the opportunity to take a deeper dive into understanding leadership and the competencies required for effective leadership in work, community, and in life.
The program focuses on authentic leadership and covers competencies that are critical in the leadership process.
Registration opens for our 2026 cohort in October
View Spring 2025 Watauga Leadership Development Course Outline