Life Long Learning- The Cornerstone of Leadership

This past year I had the honor and pleasure to participate in a program called "Three Days At Gettysburg- A Leadership Experience" created and co-lead by Cliff Norman (Partner at API/Austin) and Jane Norman (President of Profound Knowledge Partners, Inc. in Austin Texas) who are the co-authors of an incredible new book called "Transforming Healthcare Leadership-A Systems Guide to Improve Patient Care, Decrease Costs, and Improve Population Health. In the program the participants are immersed into the Battle of Gettysburg over three days (the battle lasted three days from July 1, 1863 through July 3, 1863) discussing the various leaders on both sides of the battle, their communication and leadership style, their use of information, and their decision making processes.

Leading the program as our guide was the CEO of The National Civil War Museum and 24 year Gettysburg Licensed Guide Veteran, Mr. Wayne E. Motts. Wayne was possibly the youngest person to ever be licensed as a guide at the Gettysburg National Military Park, is a published author of a biography of one of the key generals in the battle, General Lewis A. Armistead, CSA, who died of his wounds sustained in Pickett’s Charge, and the author of the Official Tour Guide Book for Gettysburg.

Wayne was the absolute highlight of this three day experience. His energy, depth of knowledge, and shear enthusiasm for what he does is beyond description. From the moment he met the group on Day 1 until we ended our program on Day 3 at the Angle where Pickett’s Charge ended, Wayne was incredibly engaging, highly motivating, and incredibly exciting to be around. Wayne’s ability to connect this great battle, its combatants, and the leaders on both sides, to his audience and the discussion on leadership was exceptional and I feel humbled and blessed to have been able to experience it. He has dedicated literally his entire life to the study of this Great War and specifically this particular battle.

Beyond all of these great qualities however, the aspect of Wayne that I admired the most and gave me the most inspiration is his continued quest for knowledge. Wayne is considered by many to be the leading living authority on The Battle of Gettysburg. His career path has lead him to become the CEO of The National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (with a heavy emphasis on the “The”), a 65,000 square feet, state-of-the-art, beautiful facility. He is a national authority that has spoken both nationally and internationally. In a sense, he has reached the pinnacle of his career. He could easily stop learning anything new and remain the top in his field. But that is not good enough for Wayne. Instead, Wayne is continuing to do research, refine what he has learned, add to his knowledge base, challenge long held beliefs, and create new opportunities to add to our understanding of the war and of Gettysburg. Throughout the weekend he shared new discoveries he or other colleagues in the field had made, how this new information shed new light on the battle, or corrected previous mistakes. Each time he spoke of these new findings the zeal and energy he used to describe them reminded me of my children when they were younger telling people about their new Christmas or birthday presents. I stood in awe of this man, whose depth of knowledge in this subject was so vast that he could run circles around most other learned people in this field, and his desire and commitment to continue to learn more.

I listened and interacted with Wayne with admiration for this quality in him: That no matter how much he already learned he was continually striving to learn more. It is a great lesson for us all who are trying to improve how we do our jobs, how we see ourselves, how we interact with others, or whatever goals we are trying to achieve. A commitment to life-long learning, though it requires work, will bring such value to who we are ultimately as people that it is so worth the effort. It is this focus that establishes a strong foundation to our leadership capabilities and how we are followed.