Every Wednesday, the University of North Dakota invites one campus or community leader to speak on their experiences with leadership and what philosophies they believe in. Each speaker is allotted a time slot of 18 minutes and 83 seconds to deliver a “TED Talk” style speech. The title of the 18:83 Speaker Series comes from the year that UND was founded. Each speaker has a unique story, and they provide great advice that all different types of leaders can find value in. 

This week’s speaker was Dr. Bradley Rundquist, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. His speech was titled “Leadership Lessons Learned in Places I’ve Never Been: A Figurative Journey,” and it highlighted multiple different, but real, interestingly named small towns that he believes represent the different stages of his professional journey.  

The first town that he took us to was Uncertain, Texas. It is here that he explained the importance of exploring all your interests and building networks. He believes that the reason he ended up in a career he enjoys was by taking as many classes on topics he was interested in as he could. Along with this, he also took any opportunities that those interests created to further build relationships with others inside of different fields. 

The next stop on his journey was represented by a town called Start, Louisiana. It is here that he learned lessons about becoming a good listener, practicing diplomacy, embracing and learning from mistakes and to be humble. He believes that all good leaders have each of these skills. He also shares that he gained most of these skills from his experience of running a newsroom in his twenties when he was often the youngest and least experienced in the room. He made mistakes and embraced them to improve. 

The next place he visited was Globe, Arizona. Here he learned valuable lessons. You should strive to always pursue opportunities to further your education, to challenge yourself and to improve upon your weaknesses. After that, he stopped in Enterprise, Alabama where he built the philosophy that strong teams will accomplish remarkable things, you should always be confident in your teamwork and it is important to have a sense of humor. After that, he learned in High Hill, Missouri that you should always pursue leadership opportunities. He also realized here that there is no substitute for hard work, so if you wish to reach a goal, you must work hard. 

His final stop was Home, Kansas. This place represents his real home of Grand Forks and UND, where he found his community through a job that constantly challenges him and allows him to grow as a leader and to create long lasting relationships with his colleagues. It is in Home where he explained to the listeners the four final lessons to learn. The first lesson being that you must remember that every decision is important to someone. Along with this, you should surround yourself with talented people, empower others to lead and remember to have a heart and be kind to those you work with. 

Dr. Rundquist is passionate about the College of Arts and Sciences and all they do for our community and students; he has some great insight on how to become a great leader. This is also true of all the other leaders who have been and will be asked to present their own 18:83 Speaker Series speech. So, you may consider showing up to the social stairs in the Memorial Union next Wednesday to learn some new ways to become a better leader. 

Nora Lee is a Dakota Student General Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].