What Goes Around…

Learning Leadership

Many summers ago, I attended a leadership academy called Boys State. Back then, it was a pretty big deal. Attendees had to apply, interview, and write an essay in order to be selected. While there, I palled around with a guy named Chad Iverson. He was from Davis High School, a long ways away from the world of Bonneville High School.

Chad was a cool guy who served as my best buddy, fellow elected official, and the one I stood side by side with proudly saluting the American Flag every morning at Boys State. Methods of communication were limited to snail mail and land lines in those days so I lost track of Chad but I suspected he would go on to do great things. I was right.

On a recent evening earlier this year I had the pleasure of being reacquainted with Chad as he is a Board Member of one of the largest school districts in Utah. And based on some LinkedIn and Facebook research, it appears Chad has a solid career and a pretty good looking family as well. He is certainly setting an example of leadership like we learned to do those many years ago.

Demonstrating Leadership

On this evening, I had the opportunity to support my son Brady at the Canyons school board meeting. Brady was honored with an award for his graphic design work for the state of Utah for the second year in a row. That evening, after the award was presented and in front of the American Flag, I stood on one side of my talented and hard-working son, Brady, and guess who stood on the other? It was Chad, from Boys State, a member of the Canyons school board.

Think about that for a moment. Our generation learned about leadership principles and government function from the Greatest Generation at Boys State. Now we had the proud opportunity to stand with the next generation as a positive and successful demonstration of those leadership principles in action.

I did not get a chance to speak with Chad for long that evening. It was not necessary. A few words of congratulations, assurances that our families were well, a hearty handshake, and a shared look of accomplishment was all that was needed. We made no pretense about finding time to get together to catch up. We both knew the truth. Our worlds are filled with family and service responsibilities to others that precludes anything more than our few words that evening. And I am OK with that. There is work to be done.

Teaching Leadership

As my family sat down to eat dinner together the next evening it was such a great opportunity to share the memories of Boys State from so long ago with my son Brady and his younger brothers. To share with them how we learned about what leadership is and how government should function: they are both about serving others, to make a positive difference in others. Yet, I think the best part of sharing those stories was illustrating Chad as an example of leadership and accomplishment to all 3 of my sons.

Our country needs more men like Chad Iverson. One who will stand for something, one who willingly gives his time for the benefit of others, and one who will take those lessons in leadership at Boys State and run with it.