Leadership
Spending Time in Sorrow’s Kitchen
There is a phrase we use at the University of Dubuque that helps new employees better internalize our Mission: “You don’t completely understand our work together unless you’ve spent time in sorrow’s kitchen.” Spending time in sorrow’s kitchen means that hardship and heartache can change us for the good. Parents...
Breaking the Silence of the Night
On April 4, 1967—forty-nine years ago—Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed an audience at the Riverside Church in New York City. The title of the address was “Beyond Vietnam” which can be found in a collection of King’s speeches entitled A Call to Conscience edited by Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard....
An Empowerment-Oriented Spirit
I conducted an experiment during my senior year of college titled The Effects of Positive and Negative Feedback on a Select Population of Group Home Residents. While I was going to school, I worked at a home for at-risk adolescents. These children came from all walks of life: from a...
Accountability
ac-count-a-ble (1) required or expected to justify actions or decisions; responsible: government must be accountable to its citizens. See note at re-sponsible. ac-count-a-bil-i-ty/n. It is impossible to lead other people without internalizing the virtue of accountability. Of...
Authenticity
Those of you who read this blog but aren’t from Iowa may not realize that we have been in a Presidential election cycle for nearly a year. Because Iowa is the first state in the nation to hold a Presidential primary—what we know as a caucus—we have been inundated with...
“Some Luck” by Jane Smiley
First, a primer about Iowa culture. Culture and Iowa aren’t necessarily concepts that fit together for most people. When I asked one well-known presidential candidate his impression about our state he commented, “The corn. The corn. I can’t get over how nearly every field for miles on end is filled...
Poverty
Over the next several months, in addition to the topic of leadership, I’ll be writing about several topics that require the very best that leaders have to offer within what James Davison Hunter calls in To Change the World our “sphere of influence.” The first topic that I want to...
Discipline
In their extensive study Leadership that Works, Barbara Wheeler and colleagues set out to discern “…the ingredients of executive leadership that make institutions both durable—as in fit for the long haul—and visionary—that is, moving forward in ways the future is likely to require.” Four common character traits were identified that...
Thanksgiving
As my family and I drive across the country today, our car is just one of many on interstate 80. The reporters on the radio are still covering the recent atrocities in Paris, the massive dislocation of over 1 million refugees, and the recent downing of a Russian fighter jet...
With Thanksgiving for Committed Teachers
Published November 17th, 2015 in the Telegraph Herald Lila Belle Koffron was my ninth grade English teacher. I remember her as being aged, demanding, strict, and not easily charmed by what I thought was my winsome personality. She didn’t even smile in our senior Yearbook picture. Every teacher smiles in...
