New York Times Columnist to Leadership Crowd: “The Person is the Message”
David Brooks, New York Times columnist, bestselling author, and guest of the 11th annual Rockhurst University Leadership Series event on Tuesday evening at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, knows how to work a Kansas City crowd. He started with a compliment for the new Kansas City International Airport, and then quoted a familiar source in his talk about what he’s learned in a career analyzing current events and the people behind them — Kansas City’s own Jason Sudeikis.
“I happened to watch ‘Ted Lasso,’” he said, while researching some examples of leadership.
There’s a scene in the show’s first season, Brooks said, where Sudeikis’ character, an American football coach who is settling into a new role as a soccer coach, is asked about his goals for the upcoming season.
“He could have said, ‘Well, we want to win a championship,’ but instead he said, ‘For me success is not about wins and losses, he’s about helping these young fellas be the best version of themselves on and off the field,’” Brooks said. “This seems like a little addition to the standard leadership model, into sort of moral leadership.”
It’s one thing to pursue organizational success, according to Brooks — many leadership-focused books detail the habits of those who can benefit a company’s bottom line. Moral leaders instead aim to make the people around them better.
Brooks’ presentation was informed by a career spent analyzing current events and cultural trends through the lens of neuroscience and sociology. His nationally syndicated columns often center the people in the news or attempt to explain why people are acting the way they are. As a bestselling nonfiction author, Brooks dives deeper into science to understand human behavior. That work has led Brooks feeling optimistic about the future of humanity, he said. It has also led him to believe in the power of an individual guided by a sense of morality and purpose. In speaking to the audience of business and community leaders gathered, he said successful organizations tend to have a healthy “moral ecology,” where everyone understands and abides by a shared vision.
“If you go to certain schools — a Jesuit school, Morehouse College — you feel it,” he said. “That culture. There are certain moral standards just in the air that people want to rise up to.”
There are people, too, who have a similar effect on those around them. Brooks pointed to the example of Pope Francis as someone who inspired many, regardless of religious beliefs, through his presence and humility.
“They somehow know they love a guy who acts like Jesus,” Brooks said. “So the message is the person.”
As part of the event, Rockhurst University also awarded the 2023 Rashford Lyon Award for Leadership and Ethics to Madeline Romious, MBA ’95, the regional vice president of external and legislative affairs with AT&T Missouri. Romious exemplifies servant leadership both in her career and in her civic engagement. She currently serves as board chair for the Kansas City Police Foundation, as co-chair of the Inclusive Prosperity Leadership Workgroup with the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, as a member of the board directors for PREPKC, as vice board chair for ArtsKC, as board secretary and treasurer of The Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, and as a board member for The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and The YMCA of Greater Kansas City Foundation. She is a former member of the Rockhurst University Board of Trustees and is a member of the International Woman’s Forum Kansas Chapter; The Women’s Public Service Network; the Greater Kansas City, Missouri, Chapter of the Links Incorporated; and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, Beta Omega Chapter. Romious said she was honored to accept the award, named for two influential leaders: the late Tom Lyon, Ph.D., and the Rev. Nick Rashford, S.J., who co-founded the University’s Executive Fellows program. Echoing the themes for the evening, she also shared some of her own thoughts on servant-leadership.
“I am often told that to be effective I must learn to say ‘no,’” Romious said. “I want to challenge everyone here today to learn to say ‘yes’ to opportunities to lead and to serve your communities and make a difference.”
