On the most recent Chamber Check-In John Connelly talked with Mike Engle of Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures, which owns businesses throughout the nation two of which being Grand Casino Hinkley and Mille Lacs. Engle shared information about how the company has pushed through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures hosts two leadership conferences each year. These conferences bring together leaders from many other businesses as they share stories about servant leadership. 

The most recent conference was held virtually in June and still managed to bring a lot of people together to share their stories. 

Engle shared one of his favorite moments from the conference. A comparison of leading a pack of dogs to leading individuals of a team was made by a participant of the conference. The participant leads a dogsled team and talked about the importance of recognizing individual personalities when in a leadership role. 

Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures faced many challenges during the course of the pandemic. 

Grand Casino Hinkley and Mille Lacs are two of the companies largest businesses. The two casinos have been open for more than a year and have been hard to balance.

Engle shares the biggest challenge being the number of associates they have in the casinos. The precautions they had to take to keep everyone safe made it difficult for the company to staff their businesses. Despite the challenges when re-opening Engle tells us that the associates were always smiling and having fun while working.