Last Year's Leadership Conference at USNA

This is an email I sent out to our student-athletes last year... I will be attending this conference again in 2015.

I returned yesterday from a trip to the United States Naval Academy.  I had the pleasure of attending the USNA Leadership Conference with Andrew McGill (Men’s Golf), Anna Bosse (Track and Cross Country) and our two student interns from Campus Ministry Ed Ortiz and Christin Campbell.  (If you bump into them ask them about the conference!)

There were 220 student leaders from over 60 schools.  There were regular students, ROTC members, Midshipmen and Cadets from military academies and also student-athletes.  The theme of the conference was Followership: The Evolution of a Leader.

I wanted to share just a couple highlights from the event and will share some more in the future.  The conference featured talks by former Vice President Dick Cheney, current VP for US Public Policy for Facebook Joel Kaplan, Lieutenant General Sattler of the USMC, Astronaut Chris Cassidy, and many more. It was amazing and the takeaways were numerous.

The first talk that I want to talk to you all about was by Captain Will Byrne, Commandant of Midshipmen at the USNA.  

The best way to describe his role in terms of Loyola is his position is similar to the Dean of Students.  He shared a simple message that when you take a look at it a few times you will smile and say I can do that.

He started by talking about a book that has all the secrets of life – All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum.

The following is from that book-

“These are the things I learned (in Kindergarten):
1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life - learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first worked you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.”  

It is so simple but so true.

His other point shared with us was based upon what he says to the new midshipmen when they arrive in Annapolis. 

“Be Excellent.”

That is it.  Be Excellent. 

He did expand to add the following –

Be Excellent – to yourself

Be Excellent – to each other

Be Excellent – to this place

He went on about each area briefly as well.

Be Excellent –

To yourself - eat right, work out, study, tell the truth, know the rules

To each other – be a good listener, share your time, be an active bystander

To this place – take care of your school, your dorm room, your locker room, etc.

These are two simple points to share with your teammates.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and please touch base if you have any questions.