Key points:
- Real education leadership involves acknowledging the value of each human
- What skills are university leaders prioritizing in new hires?
- How colleges can win back trust by looking past the campus walls
- For more news on education leadership, visit eCN’s Campus Leadership hub
My father, Jake M. Schrum, would take me with him to cattle shows and sales. As an impressionable teenager, I treasured these outings mostly to have one-on-one time with my dad, but also, to learn about Hereford cattle and how to judge them. Grand champion, first place, second place, etc. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to learn from the premiere Hereford cattle judge in Texas.
My father had taught animal husbandry, specifically beef cattle courses. at Texas A&M University, and was also elected twice as the president of the Texas Hereford Association. One particular show and sale still stand out in my mind. The venue was President Lyndon Johnson’s Hereford ranch in Central Texas. My father was eager to judge this cattle show because he wanted a closer look at the President’s herd. At this time, my father was the VP of a corporation near Houston that owned 3,000 head and 3,000 acres of crop land, mostly cotton and alfalfa. He was always interested in buying cattle, especially Hereford, for his company’s herd.
My father had a natural and practiced sense of fairness and equity. And, due to his broad and deep understanding of beef cattle, especially Herefords, he was a consummate judge of quality. But, he also knew the value of any cow, bull, steer or heifer in terms of their worth simply as a food source for people.
Eventually, my father chose the winners of the cattle show with ribbons for Grand Champion, Reserve Champion, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. A few cattle won a ribbon; many others did not. However, NO entrant in the show was a loser.
Not only in America, but especially in America, we are consumed by the concept of winners and losers. Was a distinguished U.S. Senator and former prisoner of war really a loser? What about a person born with a birth defect, a disability? Is that person a loser? Likewise, is it a birth defect or a disability to be or become an amoral person motivated only by greed, power and self-aggrandizement? Is that kind of person also a loser?
My father was a member of what some have called “The Greatest Generation.” Raised in the Great Depression and tempered by his time in the war, he had a clear understanding of winning and losing.
However, because of his deeply held belief in the worth and dignity of every person, he was astute enough to know the difference between losing and being a loser. This deep and reverent understanding of the value of each human being is often times passed from one generation to another, from teacher to students, from religious leaders to their constituents.
Lacking this understanding people are sometimes lost in a desert of amorality. They can’t find their way forward, they possess no moral compass, their soul loses tough with their heart. They have no path to experience joy in their life. Even more troubling, they are oblivious to their plight.
Understanding and living with loss gives immeasurable depth to the human experience. It makes one a larger and more inviting person to be around.
To believe that you’ve never lost, or to convince yourself that a perceived loss is someone else’s fault, is a small and insignificant way to live.
Any person who aspires to genuine leadership must understand the difference between losing and being called a loser. Makes me wonder sometimes about who’s doing the talking.
Jake B. Schrum is President Emeritus Emory & Henry University and Of Counsel, Hyatt-Fennell Executive Search Plus