Abraham Korah is the executive director of the Garfield County Public Library District.
Every Friday over the past six weeks, I have been discussing poems, essays and other readings from luminaries, including Audre Lorde, Joy Harjo, George Orwell and Ursula K. Le Guin. I didn’t enroll in a Colorado Mountain College course or participate in a series of discussion groups at one of our libraries. Rather, I completed these readings as a member of the 2026 cohort of the Hurst Leaders Forum (HLF).
I happily said yes to an invitation to join the 2026 HLF cohort before I knew that I would have the opportunity to assume the director role for the library district. Before moving to the Western Slope, I had participated in multiple trainings that brought ascending leaders together in Houston. I was excited by the opportunity to network with leaders from across the Valley, and for any leadership nuggets I would pick up along the way.
I assumed the HLF curriculum and structure would be similar to my previous experiences. It turns out I wildly missed the plot. The HLF experience didn’t share many commonalities with the many books, videos and leadership trainings I have experienced. I should have known when I was completing the first set of readings that included Plato and Hannah Arendt that I was in for a unique experience, one which prized wrestling with ideas over facts and figures.
One of the unique characteristics of HLF that changed the dynamics of the gatherings was that we didn’t start with job titles. I find it easier to remember what someone does and where they work than I do remembering their name. In this dynamic, unless you knew the folks in the room from previous interactions, you were getting to know 20 first names and their ideas.
Eventually, we did share titles. By then, it seemed secondary to the reflections and lived experiences that we shared with each other. A lot of the conversations centered around dissecting the readings in a manner I haven’t done since college. Rather than using the internet to verify facts, we simply shared our thoughts with each other on the authors, their work and how it related to our work and impact.
Unsurprisingly, some readings led to discussions of national issues and eventually turned to the similarities and unique challenges in our region. Although we discussed affordable housing and food insecurity, the unique challenge I have continued to reflect on is the luxury of time.
Agency over time is connected directly to our bank balances. The challenge of time is one that is felt more acutely the lower you go down the socioeconomic ladder. A lack of affordability leads to longer commutes, longer working hours and less time for leisure. The further you go up the socioeconomic ladder, the greater the opportunity to live in a more convenient location, less time spent working to meet financial obligations and the ability to offload tasks to others, leaving one with more leisure time.
When you first start discussing the multifaceted aspects of any of these challenges, it can feel unsolvable. Our smaller population means that we feel more connected to our towns and the region. Feeling connected matters. The connection leads to feeling invested in the future of the place where we live. I have developed an affinity for the Valley that I didn’t feel over the more than 25 years I lived in large cities. The smaller population also leads to understanding the impact our actions can have on our neighbors, permitting us to be more thoughtful about how we act locally.
Although we don’t have a large population, we live and travel across a large geographical region. HLF therefore had cohort members that lead organizations from Aspen to Parachute. This is an important element that enables a real impact. Without cooperation among many entities across the region, it will continue to be difficult to solve problems. Sustainable solutions for our problems cannot be solved town by town, or even county by county. Solutions require regional cooperation and coordination.
I wish I could report that we solved the problem of time poverty, affordability or any of the other challenges that our region faces over the course of six Fridays. We did not. However, we did create authentic connections with leaders in the region. Through collaborations with governmental, nonprofit and business leaders, I feel optimistic that we can use the power of the collective to impact our shared challenges.