Lobbyist for Leadership
Standing atop a barstool in a small-town barbershop in southern Oklahoma, at the age of four, I declared my candidacy for President of the United States, while the older gentlemen in the room shared a laugh at my blind ambition. However, I took my declaration seriously and I have been interested in leadership ever since. Growing up, I engaged in a number of leadership opportunities—I served as president of every student group that would let me at my high school and also served as president of my Page class while spending nine months in Washington D.C. as a Page for the United States House of Representatives. My experiences in Oklahoma, and especially in D.C. were instrumental to my development as a leader.
I chose Wabash College because I saw an opportunity to be developed and transformed as a leader on a deeper level, and I entered Wabash with a strong desire to make Wabash an even better place and a strong need to continue in my development as a leader. Unfortunately, I’ve been disappointed with the leadership opportunities at Wabash to date. In fact, I was unaware of any programs on campus geared toward leadership development other than Head Football Coach Chris Creighton’s “Leadership Series”, a program I applaud, but one concerned primarily with leadership specific to athletic teams. My disappointment led me to begin searching more feverishly for other leadership development programs on campus.
A simple search of the College’s website revealed very little about leadership programs at Wabash. All I found were hits for work by the Wabash Center, an advertisement for a fraternity on campus, and a couple hits talking about the Campaign for Leadership. However, I did a more in-depth search last year and found an article about a multi-million dollar grant the College had received from the Lilly Endowment in an issue of “Wabash Magazine” in 1996. This piqued my interest, and I began to talk with various people on campus about the grant and resulting program. Among other projects, the grant allowed Wabash to construct a ropes course for the purpose of “leadership development”. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent constructing a first-class ropes course that included both low and high-level challenges. The funding for the grant ended in 1998, and Dean Bambrey, who had recently been hired as Dean of Students, decided it was not in the “best interests of the College” to continue with upkeep on the ropes course. Sadly, the expensive project, which the College had spent over one hundred thousand dollars on, was dismantled and donated to the local chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
This led me to ask more questions about leadership programs at Wabash. Over the past year I have spoken with faculty, staff, administration officials, students, and members of the community to discover why Wabash does not have a leadership development program. The answers I received are troubling, but also encouraging in a number of ways. One theme has been common in the many conversations I have had with people on campus is that Wabash College needs to work harder to develop leadership. However, there seems to be little consensus on how best to do that. The most disturbing aspect of the College’s failure to address this critical aspect of preparing young men for life after Wabash is that the College is blatantly disregarding a key component of the mission statement—“Wabash College educates men to think critically, act responsibly, lead effectively, and live humanely.” Wabash College does not do enough to educate men to lead effectively. We could be doing so much more.
I would estimate that I have spoken with forty-five members of the Wabash community about the need for a leadership development on campus and only Dean Bambrey, has expressly said that Wabash does not need to address the issue of leadership. Bambrey believes that the very “culture” of Wabash trains them to be effective leaders because they can both fail and succeed in leadership roles on campus. Though I respect this opinion, I don’t consider it valid, as it does not provide any sort of a program to help students hone their leadership skills, and it does nothing for students who do not feel equipped to serve as a campus leader. More positively, though, everyone else that I spoke with was in agreement that Wabash needs to address leadership development. They agreed that it is important for Wabash to remain true to its mission of training young men to lead effectively.
Near the end of last year, conversations I had been having about leadership finally began to bear fruits. President White admitted to me last May that Wabash needs to be doing more to develop leadership skills in students, and he expressed his desire for a leadership development program to be included in the new Strategic Plan. He and I brainstormed about what kind of leadership development program Wabash should offer. After an extended conversation, I left his office with the assignment of developing an “experimental” leadership development program that would provide the campus with five different examples of how leadership training could be presented. I worked throughout the summer and developed a program that included five different sessions during the fall 2007 semester that were rooted in Wabash tradition and culture. The program called for alumni presentations, as well as experiential, hands-on learning. The leadership development program I created under President White’s guidance was intended to be open to all members of the Wabash community, and the plan called for an evaluation at the end of the semester, at which point a determination would be made about the kind of leadership development program should be included in the Strategic Plan. However, and most unfortunately, this plan came to a screeching halt when I received one particular all-campus e-mail this summer.
After working for three months on a comprehensive leadership development program for Wabash College, I received the same, standard message as the rest of the campus. The L.E.A.D. program was proudly introducing the National Society of Leadership and Success. As I read the e-mail, I was extremely bothered by the content of the message. I felt as though I should be sending the e-mail to announce the new leadership development program I had developed. Yet as I kept reading, I discovered many differences between the program I had developed and the one described in the e-mail. The program proposed by the L.E.A.D. Committee offered satellite video conferences for seven different nationally-televised speakers. The committee touted Goldie Hawn as one of the speakers, and it also called for Wabash students creating a “leadership society”. In order to join the Wabash Leadership Society, students would be required to pay $65 to join the National Society of Leadership and Success. This membership came with a t-shirt, a pin, and a completion certificate. The fundamental problem with this type of program is that it is in no way specific to the culture of Wabash College. I could join the same group, hear the same speakers, and receive the same certificate at any other college in America. In e-mail exchanges with members of the L.E.A.D. committee, I encouraged them to not move forward with this idea. Furthermore, I asked them to work with me on creating a unique leadership development program—one rooted in the ideas and traditions of Wabash. Scott Crawford, Director of Career Services, rejected my offer saying, “We’re going ahead with our program, but best of luck with yours.”
This troubled me, and I returned to campus in August with a re-ignited passion for bringing the very best leadership development program to the Wabash community. During more conversations with those involved in bringing the National Society of Leadership and Success to campus, I became even more convinced that Wabash must be doing more to develop a unique, creative leadership program that is personal and meaningful for Wabash students. President White and I had yet another conversation about leadership at Wabash. Even though he knew little about the National Society, he agreed with me that the best form of a leadership development program at Wabash would be one created specifically with Wabash students in mind. He encouraged me, though, to give the other program a chance and to critique the format they used. President White’s biggest challenge for me, however, was to see myself as a “Lobbyist for Leadership”. He referred to this role as an unofficial position of the Strategic Planning Committee. He called on me to work with members of the committee to raise the importance and need for a strong leadership development program on campus. This task is one I do not take lightly.
It is essential that Wabash College create a leadership development program that is unique, creative, and firmly rooted in a Wabash way of life. This program should involve guest alumni speakers who are currently applying critical leadership skills. The program should be open to all students regardless of GPA, class rank, major, or living unity. A successful leadership program is multi-faceted and is taught through hands-on learning and theory based ideas. Leadership development at Wabash should involve the inclusion of important questions like: What does it mean to be a man and a leader? How can a Wabash education be applied in situations that call for leadership? How does the Gentlemen’s Rule relate to leadership? These are all questions that a successful Wabash Leadership program should ask. The program should also include a certificate of completion, allowing students to show future employers that they have received leadership training in a unique program that will help them compete in a working environment. In order to run a successful program, Wabash should employ a director of Leadership Development. Creating a program like this is too critical to be left as a side project for a college staff member with no understanding of leadership. Finally, leadership development at Wabash must be about Wabash and the struggles and challenges that Wabash students are facing.
Though Wabash has failed to provide resourceful leadership development training for their students, the school has the opportunity to take advantage of the Strategic Plan and create a program that will truly benefit students. In the end, this college will not be known for the architecturally stunning buildings, the sweeping, colorful landscape, or the fleet of college cars. Wabash College will not be known for the petty faculty arguments, the wireless connectivity, or the dinners and events—in the end, Wabash College will be known for the students it fostered and for the difference they made. Let’s work together to create a leadership development program to make sure that Wabash is living up to its mission of educating men to lead effectively and is equipping them with the necessary tools to make a difference.
Related posts:
