The most recent installment of the University of North Dakota’s 18:83 Speaker Series featured Mike Mannausau last Wednesday, Mar. 5, as the latest of several illustrious guests scheduled to speak this semester. 

Mannausau is a highly accomplished and involved alumnus from UND, having played football as a linebacker for the University before returning as a member of the coaching staff. Today, Mannausau serves as the Vice President of Development for the UND Alumni Association & Foundation. 

After a brief introduction by Coordinator of Leadership & Programming Mike Wozniak, Mannausau took to the stage, speaking to an audience that included Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Art Malloy as well as DeAnna Carlson Zink, the Chief Executive Officer of the UND Alumni Association & Foundation. 

Mannausau’s speech was centered around three distinct ideas: personal development, professional development, and leadership skills. The keynote of the speech, however, was certainly leadership. 

“Leadership is the ability to watch, to learn, to hear people,” Mannausau said. 

Growing up idolizing and participating in small town sports, Mannausau said he had plenty of people to look up to, but the two role models who influenced him the most were his parents. 

“They were the first to motivate me, to inspire me, to hold me accountable,” Mannausau said. 

Through his parents, Mannausau was able to see firsthand the importance of effort and attitude. The power of these two traits was one of the key takeaways of his speech. 

“If you take nothing else out of this today, the easiest things to control in life are your effort and attitude,” Mannausau said. 

Much of the wisdom imparted by Mannausau was given by asking a hypothetical question, “if you could give advice to your younger self, what would you say?” Mannausau had many answers to that question, which included figuring out the type of person he wants to be, deciding on what “core values” are most important to him, and not being afraid to fail. Failure, he believes, is an exceptional teacher. 

“Every single day you make mistakes,” Mannausau said. “You better be able to learn from them.” 

Shifting the focus of his talk to professional development, Mannausau emphasized that there is no “magic formula” to professional and leadership success. He said it requires constant watching, learning, and listening, paying careful attention to both the strengths and shortcomings of those in positions of leadership. Building off of his earlier advice about fearing failure, Mannausau encouraged the audience not to be afraid to try new things. 

“Get comfortable being uncomfortable,” Mannausau said. “These are opportunities as leaders to grow.” 

Mannausau ended his speech with a quick bullet list of leadership lessons he wished to impart on the audience, urging the importance of consistency, patience, genuineness, and several other important qualities. He also assured the audience that it is okay not to have all of these things figured out. 

“We all have positives and negatives to us, nobody’s perfect,” Mannausau said. “You are who you are, embrace it. [That] doesn’t mean you don’t try to get a better version of yourself, but you don’t have to be perfect.” 

Quinn Berg is a Dakota Student General Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].