University of North Georgia President and retired U.S. Army officer Michael (Mike) Shannon addresses the value of personal relationships, the benefits of collaborating with others, and the role that vision plays in becoming the best you can be. The conversation mentions great teacher Mr. Jones, instructing soldiers at West Point, and how the “magic sauce” of human interaction can lead us to accomplish virtually any worthy aim. Make sure to check out the show notes for more on Mike’s background and experiences.
4:20 – workplace of the future
5:00 – rapid changes in technology and society
5:45 – leaders are made, not born
5:55 – the Leadership Foundry
7:00 – building resilience, self-awareness, agency, and personal interaction skills
8:20 – the complexities, and simplicity, of leadership
9:30 – pursuing the best version of yourself parallels the leadership journey
10:10 – you may never know the impact you have on others
11:40 – storytelling as a means of messaging
13:25 – to script or not to script
14:30 – strength grows out of displaying vulnerability
15:10 – why? how? what? Is there a more effective sequence
17:00 – technology cuts both ways, and can have positive or negative effects on relationships
18:00 – great leaders invest in others
18:35 – talking with others is the “secret sauce” that enhances relationships and effectiveness
20:15 – grit, grace, compassion, and empathy
23:10 – the human encounter in education is as vital now as it has ever been
24:00 – struggling through and towards discovery is magic
24:25 – starting a teaching career at West Point
26:25 – online learning has its place
28:00 – Mr. Keith Jones, high school history teacher
29:10 – the impact of great teachers is priceless
32:00 – the University of North Georgia, 150 and just getting started
32:25 – athletics raises all boats
33:45 – knowing the stories of one’s graduates
34:30 – providing lieutenants for the U.S. Army
35:10 – Fulbright Scholars
35:25 – an ecosystem of excellence
36:35 – fortunate journey, experiences of a lifetime, first generation college student and graduate, military spouse, incredible set of opportunities
37:40 – equipping students to walk toward their purpose
39:50 – five campuses, seven strategic big bets, all serving to change lives
David Reynolds (00:11):
What matters most in learning the challenge, the thrill, the benefits, interacting with other people or something else entirely. What is the connection between leading and learning? Does change drive learning or does learning drive change? What's more important teaching or learning? Is everyone a leader, a learner, a teacher want answers? Listen in as we address these intriguing issues through commentary and with guests who share their thinking and tell us their stories, Lead. Learn. Change.
Dr. Michael Shannon (00:55):
A five-year-old over the course of their professional life will change employers 17 times and career fields five times. Leadership is the way you show up all the time, all of those around you. You see David, every one of us are created for purpose and I believe my role and our role here is to equip every student that we get an opportunity to serve, to walk towards that purpose. Stopping for a minute in the hallway and just talking to people is the magic. It is the magic. It's the secret sauce here. It's the secret ingredient. They learned how to think through the journey. They learned how to problem solve. They learned how to reason and they did that with each other and they drew strength from each other because it was a human centered set of dynamics.
David Reynolds (02:07):
Today's guest on Lead Learn Change is Dr. Michael Shannon. Mike, thanks for taking your time to speak with me today.
Dr. Michael Shannon (02:14):
David, it's such a pleasure. Thank you for having me.
David Reynolds (02:16):
Mike and I were indirectly introduced to one another by my son Jackson, who practices medicine in Phoenix, Arizona and is a graduate of the University of North Georgia where Mike serves as president. Mike was in Phoenix for a meeting and he used some of his time there to meet with UNG alumni. During his discussion with Jackson, PAGE, the Professional Association of Georgia Educators and this podcast were mentioned, Mike called me and here we are today. Mike is a retired career US Army officer, served as a commander of infantry divisions overseas, taught courses in physics and nuclear engineering at the US Military Academy and has filled key roles at Georgia Tech, the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is knowledgeable in finance, research, military technology, and strategic planning to name just a few. All of these skills feed into Mike's propensity for leadership and they reinforce his belief that investing in people is the key to meaningful change. Mike, is there anything you'd like to expand on or add to that intro?
Dr. Michael Shannon (03:15):
It's always flattering to hear folks talk about you, but the one thing I will just say, I've been very blessed and fortunate to have a career of service and being able to equip myself for the role that I'm in today. So thank you David for being very flattering.
David Reynolds (03:31):
Actually very easy to do with your cv. I started timing myself. I thought if I read this thing on air, it would actually take 35 minutes before I got to ask you a question, so I'm going to post a link in the show notes so that people can explore further if they'd like. Let's just go with that vision for the University of North Georgia right now, because that's the role you're in. That's what you're leading. It's leading towards that vision. So specifically the concepts of leadership and entrepreneurial development as well as opportunities and potential for students and graduates. I'd like to start, if you don't mind, with that leadership foundry effort that you've got going.
Dr. Michael Shannon (04:09):
Thank you, David. You've picked something that's very near and dear to my heart. This is interesting data. It's a little bit dated, but there's actually, it's scaled to the current. Back in 2020 there was some work done by McAllen and Chipley called Adaptation Advantage, and the work is really about the workplace of the future. And what they talk about in that work is that over at that moment, a five-year-old over the course of their professional life will change employers 17 times and career fields five times. If you do a little bit of searching. Now today, folks would argue that may be seven career field changes. So as I think about that as context and that's being driven by the rapid changes in our economy, all underpinned by the rapid changes in technology, the mobility of our communities today and our societies, the interconnectedness, what are the attributes that a graduate of the University of North Georgia should have to be resilient in those environments?
Dr. Michael Shannon (05:16):
That's kind of the backdrop. So as I was having the opportunity to come here and serve, what really was on my heart is this single thread around leadership. Now, leadership is a loaded word and it means something different to everybody. And in fact, if you go on Amazon today, there's probably 50 to 60,000 pieces of work that talk about leadership. But what I think is true throughout all of it, first of all, leaders are made. They are not born. They're made over time through what I would call trials and tribulations. And so leadership foundry, which is the way I frame this, is the construct that we're building here at the University of North Georgia, the ability to take our students through signature experiences that allow them to stand the test of learning so that when they graduate they have the skills needed to be competitive and succeed.
Dr. Michael Shannon (06:15):
And the challenge, David, is our students struggle with what do I want to be when I grow up? What should I major in? As I talk to leaders across industries, across businesses, across the public and private sector, what resonates more than anything is this singular idea around I just need great people who can solve problems, who can make their bed every day, who can smile, who can interact well, and who are just ready to tackle the challenges of the moment to a person I hear over and over again, I will teach people that come and join our team, what they need to know. But those are the singular things Now, now don't get me wrong, there are some things that we teach that we need to have certain skills, education, many are the areas of healthcare, but the single thread that remains is this idea of a foundry.
Dr. Michael Shannon (07:09):
Forging the skills of leadership for our students to be able to have resilience, to be able to be self-aware, be able to build agency in how they interact with each other, and just these timeless principles that I think have been lost today quite frankly because of the rapid nature of technology, the onset of something. We all love this thing called a cell phone, a smartphone, which allows us to be intimately connected to knowledge in a microsecond, but without any perspective. So that's what we're working on, we're working through now how do you deliver that at a high level, but that is the strategic framework for our efforts. Thanks for asking. David.
David Reynolds (07:52):
There's 60,000 books on Amazon about leadership and leadership means different things to different people. What would you say to grab the attention of A UNG potential student or current student or alum going into a new role that leadership is?
Dr. Michael Shannon (08:13):
You've just teed up the ultimate question, David, so thank you for putting me on the spot. It's interesting when you start to talk about these things, they do get incredibly complex. Some folks would say, I'm going to serve in an industry that I don't really need to lead anybody. I'll be working alone or I'll be entrepreneurial or I'll be in whatever environment. So I would counter that to say leadership is simply how you interact with those around you and how do you inspire them through your presence in many ways to accomplish something, to be a part of something to think about something. Leadership could be you just interacting with your neighbor and you get them thinking about something that they've never thought about before because it's something that probably they should be thinking about. And I think the future of our communities and our societies beg the question of being people who are seeking wisdom, who are seeking knowledge, who are trying to discover.
Dr. Michael Shannon (09:23):
And I think through that we learn how to better interact with others. I believe that every human being is on a journey to find the best version of themselves and ultimately that's the journey of leadership. Great leaders are neighbors who when your neighbor's trash can blows over in the middle of the night and you're out early walking the dog, you just run over and you pick it up and you throw the couple of things that fell out back in because you care about them. It's when you're at the grocery store, the simple act of letting somebody go in front of you, you have no idea what's going on in the life of that person and you don't have any idea how that little simple act could change everything in that moment because that person could be struggling, they could be just having the worst day of their life, you just have no idea. So it's leadership is the way you show up all the time, all of those around you and the impact that you have in that moment, and you may never have any idea that you've had that level of impact. Does that make sense, David? I know that that's a different way of looking at it, but I believe fundamentally if we can all think about it in those contexts, boy would we have a much different environment than we have today.
David Reynolds (10:52):
It is a very complex issue, and I think one of the things that helps people understand it is something that you've mentioned in one of the videos I watched and it's storytelling. You are really big on the benefits of storytelling, the stickiness of stories. What does that mean at University of North Georgia? What recommendations would you give listeners regarding storytelling in their roles, whether they're educators or philanthropists or entrepreneurs? Because it does make a difference the messages that we share with other people and how we get them to think about the story they need to share to affect the change that they're seeking.
Dr. Michael Shannon (11:29):
It's a great question. You're striking a nerve, David, so you're a great host because you're hitting me where I have great passion. The idea of storytelling as a way to communicate is nothing you and I came up with. This has been going on for generations. Probably the seminal moments of this came in the thirties post-depression, and there was this guy named Franklin D. Roosevelt who started these things called fireside chats. And if you think about the moment that FDR was doing that in, it was right after the Great Depression. The country was really, really in a bad place. People had really struggled. My grandparents are both passed, but I can remember them talking about this era and it was just a really tough time. And here the president of the United States gets on this crackly radio and he starts talking. It was really an opportunity to be able to relate to him.
Dr. Michael Shannon (12:34):
And boy have we straight from that these days, David, in the way our leaders talk to us and to each other. But storytelling as it relates to the University of North Georgia, I believe it's in the same context. I want to send a message to all of those who have an interest in our university. And I believe that's a broad range. Definitely our current students who we have the privilege of serving our prospective students who we're trying to convince that this is a place for them, our alum, your son being in that group as well as stakeholders, leaders, community leaders, parents. And I want people to know that there is a very thoughtful, a very unstructured way that we want to communicate with them. Probably my downfall, David, is I don't script anything. People want to hand me things and I want to tell people from the heart.
Dr. Michael Shannon (13:29):
I want to tell people where it counts. I was in a business for most of my adult life of leading American soldiers. Not once did I get in front of a group of soldiers with a script, I just got in front of these young men and women and I said, look, we're about to go do something incredibly hard today, and I need you to be a part of this. I need you to want to do this, and I don't want you to do it for me. I want you to do it for those around you. I want you to do it for your teammates. And by the way, that's why service members serve. It's always about each other. And that's the way I communicated then, and that's the way I communicate now. And I do that through storytelling. I do that through contextualizing and try to relating to people, this is a human endeavor.
Dr. Michael Shannon (14:14):
This whole thing is humanity. And I think sometimes people get so afraid of showing their humanity because they don't want to show weakness. They don't want to show failure. That's where the strength happens. That's the forging David that I talk about in the foundry. The strength happens in the moments where you show your humanity and you show people what you're made of. And I will tell you in that moment, people will do anything you ask of them. They'll accomplish the greatest things. They'll tackle the greatest obstacles, they'll move the biggest mountains because they're convinced in the story that you're trying to tell. So storytelling has been incredibly important. In my professional journey, I draw great inspiration from being able to give people not the what or the how. So I'm going to go Simon Sinek on you, David, I'm going to give them the why. It's this golden circle, right? What, how, why? And most people go that direction and Simon Sinek says, no, no, no, we've got it all wrong. Why? How what? Keeping your why in front. And I think the best way to do that through storytelling,
David Reynolds (15:29):
The storytelling piece is the conduit for making connections with people it sounds like. And when you do that, you're building trust and that opens up all parties to start listening to what the other person has to say, which is the beginning of a real relationship. So I'm sure there've been some really valuable relationships you've had. What were some of the most memorable or impactful points or touchstones or people along the way?
Dr. Michael Shannon (15:55):
That one's tough because I'm going to pick one over the other and then I'm going to go back later today and say, doggone it, I picked the wrong one.
David Reynolds (16:00):
So the question would be rephrased, don't pick the most impactful, just pick an impactful person because thank you, Dave. It's impossible to pick the superlative every time.
Dr. Michael Shannon (16:10):
Thank you David, for giving me the peace of mind to know that I'm not going to regret forgetting something. I have been incredibly fortunate in my journey to just have tremendous people who have walked into the middle of my world and have influenced me. And it is about relationships, and I think allow me a moment to have a little bit of agency here and go back for a minute. This is what's missing today, particularly as we relate to many young people, particularly many of our students are in that younger range. They're in their 18 to 25, 18 to 30-year-old range. And a lot of that has been disrupted by technology. Technology has been the best thing that's happened to us and arguably the worst thing. And then of course in the last few years we've had things like covid and we've had just all of these crazy things that have forced people to be not relational, and it's really taken people away from that.
Dr. Michael Shannon (17:11):
And part of what we're really trying to instill as we develop a leadership foundry again, how do you show up? How do you relate, how do you interact? And when you do that, you can accomplish anything in the workplace, in families, in communities. Fast forward and back to your question about relationships. I've had several leaders when I had the privilege of serving in uniform that have impacted me through tough times and through great times, through highs and lows. Has it always been easy? No. Have I messed things up a lot? Yes, thankfully I've never hurt anybody or made decisions where there were catastrophic effects, but I messed up a lot and I had leaders who came along who were incredibly tough on me, who said, you know what? You did this. This is what you should have done. But hey, let's focus on how do we get better from this and how do we learn from it?
Dr. Michael Shannon (18:12):
Definitely leaders of my time when I served in the United States Army and then post army career had a tremendous few years serving at another wonderful institution, and there just came across several leaders who would be willing just to invest. And I'll tell you if anyone in the sound of my voice can take anything away from this is stopping for a minute in the hallway and just talking to people is the magic. It is the magic. It's the secret sauce here. It's the secret ingredient to the success, particularly if you are more sage, a more experienced person, and you're talking to a younger person just trying to connect with them and provide them, whether it's encouragement or tough, encouragement, tough love will go a tremendous way. And you get that through relationships. We're so busy, David, these days. Everybody's so busy and we're on the move and we have checklists and stuff to get done, and I just encourage people. Hey, if we got to take 10 minutes at the beginning of a meeting just to have these kinds of conversations, we're going to do it. Because we're going to relate to each other on a level that's far more important and we will accomplish much more as a team with it than without it.
Dr. Michael Shannon (19:39):
And so you baited me to make specific names. I didn't go there. I just talked about general traits and characteristics, but the thread that runs throughout all of those experiences is that people invested, they cared, and they looked you in the eye and they leaned into you. I will tell you that is such an important thing.
David Reynolds (20:08):
Is there something specific you would like to share about the role that resilience plays in the success of any endeavor?
Dr. Michael Shannon (20:15):
That's a really good question. Again, much like leadership, there are many definitions. I put it this way, I use the word, and of course I'll get blamed for being an army person when I say this, I use the word grit. Grit. Some may want to say it's toughness, some may want to say it's the capacity to be able to handle things, but I use the word grit, and I think grit is something that is really important and with grit comes grace. With grit comes compassion. With grit comes empathy. Because sometimes you look at gritty people like on the big screen and you're like, oh, that character was gritty. But yeah, they were really a jerk. And so resilience is, and this is how I think about it relative to what we want to do at the University of North Georgia with our leadership foundry. How do we instill the ability for folks to grow their grit and through that have grace given people the benefit of the doubt?
Dr. Michael Shannon (21:26):
Our society is just so intense. If you're at the stoplight and you don't move within a microsecond, they're laying on the horn and you're like, man, I was daydreaming. It's so important, I believe, to be able to have the two go together because grit isn't being unkind to other people or non-empathetic, having the toughness, and it's also being able to grab others and scoop them up and bring them with you because people have different levels of grit. It's much like sandpaper, right? David, you look like a do it yourself or me too, right? I'm the weekend project person and we know there's different grits of sandpaper, but it's the same way that I think people build those different levels. How do we instill that in each other so that we can be better people and show up better and be able to perform at our ultimate place? That's how I think about it. Grit. Grit.
David Reynolds (22:31):
You've mentioned the shift in the coarseness or the lack of coarseness or civility or lack of civility or just the change in how people interact with each other, and maybe it's because they're focused on devices instead of relationships and that change is going to continue to happen. We don't know what direction it's going to bend in. So I'm curious, has your view of teaching and learning changed over the years? Is there anything you say, I used to believe this and now I believe that?
Dr. Michael Shannon (23:03):
That's a really good question, David. That's why you're the host and I'm the guest and you're the expert and I'm not. Here's what I will tell you. It's fascinating right now in this internet based world that we are in the dynamics that created by the pandemic, which forced certain ways for people to interact and collaborate. Here's what I believe the human encounter in education is as critical now as it's ever been. Even now, this would be a much better conversation if you and I were looking each other in the eye, I'm not indicting us. We had the logistics and we're busy and we both have things going on, but when you get people in a room and you get 'em around the table or you get 'em in a circle or whatever the environment is and you get them interacting and struggling through the discovery, that's where the magic happens.
Dr. Michael Shannon (24:01):
That's where the light bulbs go on. And so how that relates to how I think about teaching, don't get me wrong, and I don't want folks listening to this to take this out of context. There is tremendous value in the opportunities for remote and online type learning and in different environments, they lend themselves better than others. I started my journey in the classroom at West Point, tremendous opportunity. There is no cooler place to go and teach than the United States Military Academy. It was incredible. And it's not about the army, it was just the thought of, there was a saying there, we teach the history of our graduates. I mean they're teaching the history of people who have been in those shoes, but we would get into a classroom with chalk and an eraser and we would struggle with, now I was teaching physics Newton second law, and there were many young people in that room who could not care less about Newton second law, but they learned how to think through the journey.
Dr. Michael Shannon (25:09):
They learned how to problem solve, they learned how to reason, and they did that with each other and they drew strength from each other because it was a human centered set of dynamics. Your question was what do you think has changed? I think I will change that a little bit to say I think I am reinforced now more than ever that the human interaction is as valuable in a learning environment than any other. The ability to grapple with others in the discovery and to wrestle with the discovery. That's what our classrooms need to be. They need to be like wrestling rings of discovery. And then through that you build trust and respect and understanding and empathy and be able to operate. And all the dynamics going on around us today lend themselves to different ways of thinking about it. I believe that these are the moments in the environments where the light bulbs come on and I go back to that physics classroom and that old dusty building at West Point that had been there for a very long time and I saw the light bulbs come on. I believe that it's not a change, it's more of a reaffirmation of the need for that. Now, don't get me wrong, folks, in the sound of my voice may take it out of context. I do think that there's opportunities, environments, we have learners that are in very different situations, so we will deliver to them learning models that allow them to be successful in the place that they are at that moment. But I do believe in the value of the struggle and the discovery. Does that make sense, David?
David Reynolds (26:51):
Sure. And it actually circles back to your sandpaper analogy earlier because you can read all you want and watch all the videos you want about sandpaper and different species of wood and different finishes, but until you put your hands on it and you're holding a different grid of paper and you're actually seeing the difference that you're making on the project, you just don't get it the same way. And having somebody come alongside you and show you how to do something and then you get to do it right on the spot really makes a huge difference. So there are learning moments that really can be done virtually, and there are learning moments that are best done live face to face. You've mentioned magic two times now, and both of them have been connected to interacting with other people, and this last response was about great teaching moments and how that felt as a teacher. So I am going to ask you, Mike, to go further back, is there a person from elementary school or high school then that was a favorite teacher or a great teacher? And if so, why would you put them in that category?
Dr. Michael Shannon (27:56):
That's a great question. I love it. Actually, this is a great name. So Mr. Jones, and I'm not making this up, David, Mr. Keith Jones was a teacher that I had many years. I went to a small private high school. I know I had him three of my four years of high school. I think it was history one, history two and something else. He was just an incredibly impactful person. This was 40 years ago. I remember right now what he would say in the hallway. He'd be out in the hallway in between classes and you'd be walking down the hallway and he'd yell stuff like, Hey Shannon, what are you doing today after school? Just stuff like that. The way he brought the classroom to life, and it's interesting, I went on to become an engineer and was always intrigued by science, but I loved history and I loved going into his classroom and he would talk about, it was American history, so it was all of the revolutionary period and post reconstruction and all this kind of thing, and he would just bring it to life.
Dr. Michael Shannon (29:01):
He was magical about it. I also had the privilege. He was one of my coaches. Just those people, and I know people like this exist today in our high schools. The impact that they have is priceless. It is priceless. And I'm sure you could have anybody sit here in my chair today and give you that same feedback. But Mr. Jones was incredible. He was encouraging, he was tough and he chewed me out. I mean, he was one of my coaches. I can remember just things I'm probably not supposed to say here. He would say to me, but I couldn't wait to get back into his classroom and to be in environment and to be a part of that. And it kind of feeds together all of these kind of themes that we've been talking about, resilience, self-awareness agency and grit and grace and empathy.
David Reynolds (29:55):
That may be who instilled that level of storytelling in you. If you think back about that with history,
Dr. Michael Shannon (30:00):
It probably did. David, he would sit there for like 15 minutes and I would be captivated. I was a STEM major in college, I was an engineering major. Had very little history beyond that other than some of the core curriculum in college. But he was just an incredibly inspirational figure and somebody who instantly, when you said high school, Mr. Jones popped into my mind. It was visceral and it brought me right back to that day. I feel like I'm in the 11th grade again right now, David. So thank you for that.
David Reynolds (30:36):
I looked at the UNG athletics program and the number of teams in sports that are nationally ranked and competitive. It's extremely impressive. And the academic excellence of those student athletes. And then you've got the significance of frog week, the freshmen recruit orientation group, and then all seven of your big bets, which we didn't really delineate here, but I'll have a link to it in the show notes. And we've touched on a few of those today. And then you're listening tour her that I think is totally connected to the way that you do business and what you find most valuable with relationships and the storytelling. That just makes you really good sense that you would see listening tours as a great vehicle to get things done. And there's a whole lot more. And I think back to our son, Jackson's first, 4th of July fireworks experience. It was at the big field inside the Georgia Circle at UNG. And then of course we were back there for a graduation and that sort of thing years later. Speak to any of those things if you'd like to that I just mentioned or something else. And if you're willing to do so, tack onto that or make it the answer. Share what you would like UNG alumni to say about their experience at the University of North Georgia.
Dr. Michael Shannon (31:52):
It's a great set of topics. Thank you, David, for paying tribute to this amazing university, a university that's 150 years in the making, and we're just getting started. So really incredibly proud of where we've come from, but I'm more excited about what's next because we're being called, called in a way like we've never been called before because of the things we've been talking about for the last few minutes because of the opportunities. So in the fall we mortgaged the future of this university around seven strategic big bets. And you mentioned several of those in your lead up there being the most competitive value added division two athletics program in America, incredibly important. Athletics raises all boats. Farley Dickinson was in the final four last year. They saw a 30% increase in applications last fall. 100% correlated to the fact that they had seen success on the athletic field.
Dr. Michael Shannon (32:54):
James Madison University went from FCS to FBS in division one College football, same thing. Thousands more applications. And I could go on and on about this, but the difference here is is we are in division two and we still continue to hold to the principles of student athletes. I'll brag a little bit, David. We are the reigning national champions in division two college softball. So our ladies won the softball national championship last year, and we're currently still ranked number one. Thank you, David. Seven of our 13 programs are nationally ranked in the top 25 across all of division two hundreds of schools. Why does that matter? We had 24 young ladies on that division two championship softball team last year. Three of them graduated, 22 of them were from Georgia. We're very proud to be a state public institution. The three that graduated all remained in Georgia.
Dr. Michael Shannon (33:53):
They're serving today. One's a middle school teacher, teaches middle school English. One of them is preparing to go be a physical therapist. And the third is in HR in the healthcare industry. She manages traveling healthcare providers, which is very complex today. I could go on and on and on about the value of our athletic program. The other one you mentioned is our cadet program. We're incredibly proud to be one of six federally designated senior military colleges, the military College of Georgia, and the only all army senior military college. So with that comes tremendous opportunity and tremendous responsibility. Next to West Point, we build more lieutenants for the United States Army than no one else. That is something we're incredibly proud of. And all of that ties into what you were talking about for this university. And what I want our graduates to be proud of is the fact that you're a part of a tradition that's like no other.
Dr. Michael Shannon (34:53):
There is not a university in America that looks like this university, a university that delivers for our region, for our state, for our nation, on the level that we do. We're good in everything and we compete at the highest levels. David, can I brag a little bit over the last three years, we've had 19 Fulbright winners. 19 folks can check the numbers, how some of the other schools in our state have performed not that many. And these accolades go on and on and on. And yes, we have incredibly amazing talented students that have done that, but we have an ecosystem of excellence here. I'll brag a little bit about your son. Your son's a great example. Your son's an amazing practicing physician today because of the framework that he built while he was here. And so that's what I want our alumni to be proud of, this tradition of excellence, this tradition of service and this tradition of leadership. And the other fact here is that most of our graduates stay in Georgia and they live here and they build families here and they grow their communities here. And so really, really proud of our alumni. And the message I would say to you is thank you and continue to tell people about this amazing university that's just getting started.
David Reynolds (36:15):
I know you end some of your conversations with people live and on video with what's next. So here's a chance to answer it. What's next? And that could be for you personally, professionally, projects, plans, or it could be university or combination, whatever. What's next?
Dr. Michael Shannon (36:33):
Let me share this as context. Let me start it personally and then I'll zoom out. I have had an incredibly fortunate journey and experiences of a lifetime. Very proud of the fact that I'm a first generation college student and graduate. Very honored. Honored to be married to a fellow veteran. My wife served in the United States Air Force. And by the way, David, it's always good for a soldier and an airman to be together because airmen give soldiers a ride to work. So it's always good to have a driver. And then just this amazing journey that I have been able to go on. It's been such an incredible set of opportunities and I'm so richly fortunate that I've had the experiences that I've had and the ability that I've had to do the things that I've done. Let me say this about our organization in that context, I want to create the fire in every student that we have an opportunity to serve, to have that same type of a journey, to be able to explore and to discover.
Dr. Michael Shannon (37:39):
You see, David, every one of us are created for purpose. And I believe my role and our role here is to equip every student that we get an opportunity to serve, to walk towards that purpose, to fill their experience bags that they have tied around their waist. And that's what I believe college is about. Going back to Simon Sinek. I believe our why is really about that. Yes, we have to teach people functional things like how to be a nurse or how to be a teacher or how to be a physicist or an English literature professional or historian. But at the end of the day, we're here to help people walk towards purpose and to be able to be great teammates and great community members and great leaders in the sense of not even having to be in charge of anything, but like I said, letting somebody go in front of you at the grocery line because you know what?
Dr. Michael Shannon (38:35):
It's not that big of a deal to wait another 72 seconds and for people to be able to create experience for others. And you create virtual cycles and virtual moments through this. And that's what I'm the most excited about, about what's next here. We framed out a lot of different strategies. We have five campuses, which we're incredibly excited about every one of them. We have seven strategic bets that are setting the course for the direction of this university for everyone. We get a chance to be a part of their life. We want to equip them for purpose. We want to be able to allow them to operate inside of a very complex world and environment. And I call it a chaotic environment that many of our students will end up being a part of. And that's what gets me the most excited. That's what gets me fired up every day. That's what gets me wanting to be a part of this is the opportunity to have to change those lives.
David Reynolds (39:34):
A great point to close on. Thank you again, Mike, for giving us a glimpse to the world of a university president and your thinking and some ideas about how we can lead toward a vision that's going to benefit other people, because that sounds like what you're really focused on. Really appreciate it. Have a great day. Thanks for being here.
Dr. Michael Shannon (39:52):
Thank you, David. It's quite an honor and really appreciate the work you're doing here. Thank you so much.
David Reynolds (39:59):
Thanks for listening today. Find the Lead Learn Change podcast on your search engine, iTunes or other listening app. Leave a rating, write a review, subscribe and share with others. In the meantime, go lead. Go learn. Go make a change. Go.