Leadership Watertown

There’s not much difference between effective employees and leaders in any organization.  Leadership Watertown has seen young members of the program grow into Presidents and Vice Presidents of local banks, dozens of local successful business owners, City Council members, State Representatives, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce and even a Chief of Police.

When it comes to employee retention, we all know that an engaged employee is a great asset to any organization and will likely stay with an organization longer and in most cases, become an employee that accepts roles of greater importance and responsibility as they grow within a business.

Leadership Watertown is designed to acquaint program participants with the knowledge necessary to effectively participate in community affairs by exposing them to community structure, problems, resources, people and decision makers. Leadership Watertown helps enhance the community’s composition with a well-founded base of informed leaders.  Course coverage includes: Networking activities featuring professional headshots, leadership speaker sessions, social hours, business tours, speakers, fun social activities, entrepreneur panel and more.

The eight-session course will begin in April of each year and conclude with a graduation recognition at the Chamber’s Annual Celebration & Dessert Auction in September.

Become the person others want to follow.

Each student joining the Leadership Watertown class will receive “The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader” by John C. Maxwell. This book will be the basis of several sessions and is taught by Kim Bellum of Mount Marty University.

Sessions based on the title include:

• What Do Leaders Look Like? A Lesson in Character
• Leaders Who Listen! A Lesson in Communication
• The Legacy of Leaders! A Lesson on Relationships and Servanthood

2026 Classes will begin on Tuesday, March 31, 2026 at 4:00pm. 

Classes will be held every-other Tuesday night from 4:00 – 6:00pm, for a total of eight sessions. Tuition for the course is $400. This fee covers all Leadership Watertown activity expenses. A limited number of scholarships for half of the tuition are available.

For more information, contact us at coc@watertownsd.com or 605-886-5814.