Organizations throughout East Texas have seen a demographic shift in leadership in recent years. That presents both a challenge and an opportunity.
“One of the things that we see in the city of Longview, but I think could be broadly applied across the city and the region, is we've had a lot of senior level leaders roll off and retire in the past decade,” Richard Yeakley, Strategic Communications Manager for the City of Longview explained.
The timing of this is critical. There’s a need to develop new leaders and to address what Yeakley calls a succession planning vacuum.
“Using a sports analogy, a lot of the bench has moved up into leadership positions. So there's a lot of new leaders in the city of Longview,” Yeakley said. “The bench has to be restocked, right? So now is actually a really great season where the leaders of tomorrow are really finding their footing.”
And that’s where LeTourneau University is able to step in.
“One of our Mission Critical Objectives in our current strategic plan is to extend hospitality to our local community,” explains Lara Rose, Director of Alumni Engagement. “As a university, we want to love Longview well.”
Part of that includes equipping members of the community, and those spread throughout East Texas, to thrive in as many ways as possible.
“We're happy to extend that hospitality by having all of you join us for the opportunity to develop leadership skills together,” Rose noted.
The Global Leadership Summit, hosted on campus at LeTourneau University, provides that exact opportunity. And it’s just part of how LeTourneau University is developing the next generation of leaders in East Texas.
World-class leadership development intersects with hospitality at LeTourneau University
When Dr. Shane Mountjoy reflects on leadership development in East Texas, he also sees both challenge and opportunity.
As LeTourneau University's Associate Provost for Academic Administration and Dean of Faculty, he understands there’s often a personal impact that comes with serving as a leader. “Leadership can often be lonely and isolating,” he explained. “Not just in East Texas, but anywhere, and it certainly applies to East Texas.”
That’s a reality that makes the university's decision to host the Global Leadership Summit particularly strategic.
LeTourneau’s approach is set apart as the focus is on transformation rather than just distributing information.
“We are fully aware of the importance of impacting the next generation, and we use the training of our students, discipling them spiritually,” Rose said. “So we're mentoring them as a whole person.”
LeTourneau’s place in Longview also affords unique opportunities to grow and develop as a leader.
The Summit, along with the Master of Strategic Leadership and Master of Business Administration, exemplify the sort of collaboration that is possible here in Longview at LeTourneau University.
Yeakley advocates for students to take what they’re learning and apply it in town. “It's totally possible that someone going through their studies can serve on boards and commissions for the city," he notes, creating a real-world laboratory for emerging leaders.
That sort of partnership doesn’t just stop at students.
“We have professors who have studied business their entire life. We should be engaging with them," Yeakley states, advocating for deeper integration of academic resources into community problem-solving.
LeTourneau and the Global Leadership Summit help develop essential leadership qualities necessary for regional growth
Along with the MSL and MBA programs at LeTourneau, the Global Leadership Summit addresses the specific sorts of qualities that are essential for developing leaders who can help serve East Texas.
Yeakley identifies "vision and courage" as critical needs: "It takes leaders who are willing to have the vision to ask hard questions and to dream big dreams and see what needs to happen, and have the courage and fortitude to act towards those goals and purposes."
That can have a significant impact on East Texas.
"Every opportunity that you would want, or that you would go to someplace else to have, is here," Yeakley emphasizes. "You don't have to go somewhere else to realize those dreams."
All of that ties back into the ways that LeTourneau University strives to serve.
“In today's world and with the opportunities we have because of technology, I don't see how we can just turn a blind eye to that and think that we shouldn't do those things utilizing those resources,” Mountjoy noted. “I think it's one of the ways we live out the mission of Jesus.”
