Twenty years ago, Pete Buttigieg and I both arrived on campus at Harvard University, he as a freshman and I returning to school after a 2-year church mission. Pete and I became friends as we participated together in the school’s highly engaging Institute of Politics, a hotbed for political discourse. Even though I am a conservative Republican, and we often fell on different sides of the political spectrum, I came to appreciate his sincere desire to listen, understand, empathize and collaborate with different views. He impressed me with refreshing and genuine interest in finding pragmatic solutions that could push everyone forward rather than embracing divisive rhetoric crafted to incite a populist crowd or force change on a resentful minority.
We all have our own personal epiphanies for understanding what true leadership is. Mine came in the workforce when I saw examples of both great and poor leaders in large organizations. I found that effective leaders did more than simply agree with me on the issues at hand. Leadership is about affecting change on complex problems in a positive way among a diverse group of people. You must combine strategy and execution while inspiring people to succeed.
As we prepare to elect a leader for our nation this year, let’s each ponder what inspiring leadership can be in our public discourse right now. We need more leaders in the public arena like Pete Buttigieg who are clearly constructive, insightfully creative, stirringly articulate, refreshingly friendly and who genuinely listen and thoughtfully collaborate with those others that may differ in their experience or their perspective. This is the style of leadership we need to conquer the thorny issues we collectively face as one nation to truly make us indivisible and achieve liberty and justice for all.
Taylor West
Heber City