Sooner State of Mind: Forging Leadership Legacies North of the Red River

By Marjorie P. Callahan and Deborah A. Reisweber

Leadership is not for the timid. Leaders face treacherous trails, blinding sand storms, and teams of trusty cowhands who need guidance and counsel along the way. But there is no need for a Lone Ranger to rescue us from the leadership rattlesnakes that threaten to bite us at every turn. There are specific Transformational Leader skills that can be observed, learned, and fine-tuned that can allow us to grow as leaders and develop the cowhands on our teams. This book is filled with stories of heart, perseverance, courage, and hard work, all bedrock values of middle-America and the foundation for exceptional leaders.
Don’t be caught without your saddlebag, these Oklahoma leadership stories will demonstrate how to refine old skills and lasso up new ones. As all great stories do, you’ll be impressed and inspired as you learn how a few great leaders were able to rustle up premier architectural venues from conception to completion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jan 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483422947

Book preview

SOONER STATE OF MIND

Forging Leadership Legacies North of the Red River

Marjorie P. Callahan

& Deborah A. Reisweber

Copyright © 2015 Deborah A. Reisweber & Marjorie P. Callahan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2310-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2149-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2294-7 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 12/29/2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

1.1 Why the book?

1.2 What do the best of stories do?

INTRODUCTION

2.1 Leader Development: Blazing Trails

2.2 Introduction to our Method from a Sooner State of Mind

BE A ROLE MODEL

Interview with Oklahoma City Automobile Alley Chair, Meg Salyer, June 2014

3.1 Create Trusting Relationships on the Trail

3.2 Live Your Values

3.3 Share the Sacrifices and Risks – Jump in the rattlesnake pit!

3.4 Set a Gold Standard –Don’t Just Pan For It.

COMMUNICATE AN INSPIRING VISION

Interview with Oklahoma City Boat District Executive Director, Mike Knopp, March 2014

4.1 Communicate an Inspiring Vision

4.2 Roping for Fresh Ideas

4.3 Clearly Communicate to Your Cow Hands

4.4 Commit to the Cattle Drive and Get the Herd to Follow

FOSTER CREATIVE PROCESSES

Interview with Oklahoma History Center Director, Dr. Bob Blackburn, February 2014

5.1 Lasso and Stimulate Initiative and Innovation…Question Assumptions

5.2 Understanding the Challenges of the Frontier

5.3 Choose your Cowboys Wisely

5.4 Ride the Bull: Experiment, Take Risks, and Learn from Mistakes

5.5 Allow Others to Gallop

ENCOURAGE EACH LEADER

Interview with Oklahoma City Hightower Building Owner, Johnson Hightower, April 2014

6.1 Finding Spirit in Community

6.2 Paying Attention to your Campsites

6.3 Future Cattle Drives

CONCLUSION

7.1 Enjoy the Storytelling

7.2 Heading Back to Town

7.3 Now Forge Your Leadership Trail

7.4 Tall Tale or Legacy?

SOURCES

8.1 Notes

8.2 Bibliography

PREFACE

Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is.-Will Rogers

1.1 Why the book?

We live in the same neighborhood and walk with Ted the Water Dog, a couple of mornings each week. We started our ritual in January, doing our best to ignore the biting wind and colder than usual Oklahoma winter. The snow sparkled on some mornings, while the promise of spring teased us when the wind eased a bit and the crocuses began their push through ground that was alternately caught between the frost and the defrost mode. Those mornings we checked the outside temperature: was it a hard freeze morning or hopefully a temperature a bit more manageable for exercise? We have lived here for years and knew what Oklahoma weather was and always will be a force of nature that demands a hardy soul ready for any contingency.

The premise for this book emerged out of these bracing winter walks. Deb is a West Point graduate and career Army Officer of over 20 years with a lifelong interest in leader development. Marjorie is a licensed architect and professor at the University of Oklahoma where she lectures on practice and project management –inclusive of the interplay of building industry professions and how they lead in the design and construction process. Our initial conversations about leadership easily and organically bloomed. We noted that Oklahoma seemed to have an abundance of leaders associated with world class performance and often, architectural projects of beauty and elegance. Further reflection kindled the idea that Oklahoma leadership stories were a great instrument to help cultivate leadership skills and inspire the concept of forging a personal