We Don’t All Have to Fit the Same Leadership Mold

In 2022, Governor Whitmer established the Office of Rural Development in the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to bring a policy focus to rural needs and opportunities. The office will work across sectors and agencies to support work on local and regional priorities like population change, housing shortages, broadband connectivity, and health care, childcare, and other service needs. 

As a lifelong rural Michigan resident who has spent my career working with rural communities, it’s an incredible honor and privilege for me to work with MDARD and the State of Michigan as the first director of this office - and it allows me to continue to work with the communities I love. Since receiving my bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning from EMU in 2000, I’ve worked with county, regional, and state governments; developed a new housing nonprofit; and served as the CEO of an economic development organization – all in rural and small-town Michigan. This work has connected me to every stripe of community-based organization and level of government, touching on topics from housing to health care to trails, farms, food, childcare, transit, small business development, and energy generation. 

I love the range and variety of this work, and that I’m constantly learning about issues with such deep impacts on our lives and homes. And I especially love working alongside the organizations and individuals that are building Michigan’s future, who inspire me every day with their selflessness and dedication. Meaningful change is slow and difficult, but these people keep working at it, day after day, setback after setback, to improve the lives of the people in their communities and state. They’re a big part of the reason that I chose to further my education and career in public administration through the Masters in Public Administration (MPA) program at NMU – to double down on supporting community-driven work and the ‘servant leaders’ that we so often take for granted. 

With over twenty years between my bachelors and master’s degrees, I was the very definition of ‘non-traditional’ student at NMU: my career ran parallel to parenting, largely as a single mother. By the time I started my master’s degree, I had spent many years managing crazy schedules and competing demands, and my son was about to start college himself. The online MPA program allowed me to round out my education while continuing to build my career and be there for my family. 

The program’s flexibility was a lifesaver, but frankly, balancing family, work, and school is hard for anyone. In fact, for many years I didn’t always think ‘leadership’ was in the cards for a single mother. But the balancing act of working parenthood taught me resilience, resourcefulness, and determination. What’s more, the leaders I worked with showed me that leadership takes all forms. Leadership can often be portrayed as forceful, adversarial, or intractable; and leaders are too often judged by whether or not they ‘win.’ But the strongest leaders I’ve known show their strength in so many different ways: they listen closely and consider input; they’re empathetic and compassionate; they take time to understand the dynamics in difficult situations, rather than reacting reflexively and defensively. They look for ways to work with people, rather than against them. They respect the people they work with, and understand they always have something to learn from them. And they’re willing to lose a battle here and there in order to win the war. 

As I came to understand how important these qualities were in leadership - all part of the ‘transformational leadership’ that we discussed throughout my MPA program - I began to see more possibilities for myself. We don’t all have to fit the same leadership mold – actually, it’s better that we don’t! The issues we’re dealing with are so incredibly complex that we need all the skill sets and perspectives we can get. In that context, my ‘nontraditional’ public administration background is a strength, and I’m grateful for the perspectives it’s provided me, and for the opportunities it’s created for me to work with people I admire in the service of places I love. Finally, for anyone that wants to make a difference in the world – NMU’s public administration program, and the field itself, are versatile, exciting, and allow you to use your strengths working on issues you care about.