The Flourishing Culture Podcast Series
How to Integrate Organizational Health into Christian Higher Education
November 21, 2022
Dr. Steven D. Mason
Intro: Personally, I love to observe turnarounds in organizations. I’m inspired when I see a leader facilitate the transformation of an organization. And today’s episode is with a transformational leader who is guiding positive change in a difficult environment—that’s Christian education. Listen in on my conversation with Steve Mason, the president of LeTourneau University.
Al Lopus: Hi, I’m Al Lopus, and you’re listening to the Flourishing Culture Podcast, where we help you create and lead a flourishing workplace. We find the problem many employers are facing today is readjusting to our post-COVID, hybrid world. The great resignation is still evident, where employees are quitting at record levels, filling millions of open jobs, even as we face a cooling economy and record-setting wage inflation. We know that having a flourishing workplace with fully engaged employees is the solution. So this week, we’re talking about moving forward on the road to flourishing, no matter where you’re starting from.
An important aspect of leadership is keeping an organization headed toward a clear vision and mission. And over time, lots of internal and external factors can distract you from your vision and cloud your organizational identity. And a flourishing organization has clarity on its identity. This clarity helps leaders and employees keep their focus on why they are doing what they do and leads to the fulfillment of the mission of the organization.
And today’s Flourishing Culture Podcast will highlight the role organization identity plays in having a sustainable strategy and building a flourishing culture in Christian higher education. And I’m delighted to welcome Steve Mason. Steve’s the president of LeTourneau University, the Christian polytechnic university in Longview, Texas. And Steve, it’s great to have you here on Flourishing Culture Podcast.
Steve Mason: Well, thank you so much, Al. It’s an honor to be on the podcast. I’ve listened to the Flourishing Culture Podcast many times, often when I’m taking a jog. And so it’s always been a delight for me to tune in, and it’s an honor to be here today. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.
Al: Great to have you, Steve. And I hope that we play a small role in your physical health.
Steve: You do. An important one.
Al: Yeah. Well, that’s when I listen to podcasts, too.
Well, Steve, you’ve been the president of LeTourneau now for a couple of years; and before that, you were the provost; and even before that, part of the faculty. And I’ll say for me, LeTourneau has been on my radar since I first read the book by your founder, R.G. LeTourneau, Mover of Men and Mountains, and that really inspired me as a young Christian in business. And one of my cousins actually graduated from LeTourneau and has had a successful career as an electrician in Erie, Pennsylvania.
You’ve done a lot of thinking about what makes LeTourneau University unique among Christian colleges, and I really appreciated a recent CE workshop that you did. And you even wrote a detailed essay on the Christian polytechnic university during your tenure as provost.
Well, share with us why clarity of organizational identity is so important for your institution in particular and for the long-term flourishing in higher education.
Steve: Well, yes, thank you. I feel like when I got on LeTourneau University’s campus about 16 and a half years ago, I realized right away that this was a unique Christian college, or a unique Christian university. And over my years serving as a faculty member and in other roles and leading up into administration, I always appreciated the distinctiveness of a place like LeTourneau. We are in such a competitive environment in higher education, a very crowded space, and we welcome that. There’s room for many different kinds of universities. Each of us brings something unique that can connect with students and help them at this pivotal time of their life. But we believe at LeTourneau especially, that in order to keep our promises to our students—I mean, in many ways, we’re making a promise to a student. “This is who we are. This is what you’ll receive here if you come to LeTourneau.”—that it’s super important that we’re clear to our students about who we are, what we’re up to here. But that really begins with being very clear as an organization about our giftedness, our competencies, our calling, our vocation as an institution.
I read a book that is really well known within higher education by Burton Clarke called The Distinctive College, and he wrote that way back in 1970. He was a sociologist, and he talked about these characteristics that the institutions that stayed distinctive and understood what that looked like for their institution and how that really helped them succeed and really endure over the long haul. And so it became apparent that we really needed at LeTourneau to really lean into our distinctiveness, our story. He calls it an organizational saga.
And so when I was provost and we were entering into our next strategic planning phase, the first phase of that is always reevaluate your mission, your vision, your values. Why are you? Who are you? And it became clear that we needed to have a conversation on our campus about the Christian polytechnic-university identity and about this sort of word education that we offer here. And so the essay was really about revisiting our story as an institution. And I guess there was an inherent question, is this sort of identity, is this way of going about education really what God is asking of us? And it became clear that it is so naturally a part of our heritage. We’ve got a very unique story as an institution. R.G. LeTourneau and his Evelyn are very unique individuals. And they started a very unique institution.
And therefore, the idea was certainly to say, how is that organizational saga, how is that story pressing us into the future? And this essay, we call it a white paper, we passed around to faculty and staff, and it’s become the cornerstone of our strategic plan and our next—the development of our campaign.
And I think importance of that for us has been it’s really the kind of focus and guidance and direction. Any of us as institutions can find ourselves participating in a lot of different things and going after different pursuits. But this has really helped honed for us, who are we? What do we offer to the world that maybe is unique? And how do we do it in a unique way?
And finally, I’ll just recall really a quote that I’ve used, and it was shared with me several years ago, that has been important to this process. And it comes from Alasdair MacIntyre, who wrote a book called After Virtue. And he says, “I can only answer the question, what am I to do?, if I can answer the prior questions of, what story do I find myself a part?” So as an institution, as we were embarking upon a strategic plan and thinking about, “Okay, what tactics and strategies, initiatives are we going to embark on?” the first question, the prior question is, what story do we find ourselves a part? was really important. So at LeTourneau, of course, we understand, first and foremost, yes, LeTourneau University has a saga. We’ve got a story. But how does it fit within God’s grander story of creation, fall, redemption, restoration, and what God would have for us in this world? So it was important that we understand who we are, and then, therefore, what is God asking of us into the future?
Al: Yeah, and what an interesting story. Again, starting off, as you mentioned, with LeTourneau. And of course, now I’m even talking with you about it, another one of those things that impressed me as a young Christian, you know, some 40-plus years ago, was that his idea of tithing was he gave 90% of his income to God and kept 10%.
Steve: Yes, yes. Famous for that.
Al: Yeah. But, also, just his brilliance as an engineer and the technical aspect and really the creation of large earth-moving equipment and that whole industry was amazing.
So Steve, at LeTourneau University, you’ve been using the Best Christian Workplace Employee Engagement Survey now for several years. And over time, your Employee Engagement Survey scores have really improved. I find it very encouraging. And your greatest strength at this point is that your faculty and staff see positive momentum, and they like the way LeTourneau’s changed for the better over the past year. And that’s a clear sign of improvement in the years ahead.
So a few areas that are particularly strong is this concept of life-giving work and sustainable strategy. And these days it’s hard to maintain a sustainable strategy in higher education. So you’ve got the formation, and I think this identity piece has really helped you with that. So are there some practices that are part of the employee experience at LeTourneau for both faculty and staff that help in this area? And how do you provide clarity on your strategy to help your employees feel like their work is making a difference? because you’re obviously doing that based on these results.
Steve: Thank you, Al. And yes, we’ve been using the Engagement Survey, BCWI Survey, for years now, and it has been super helpful for us to identify those things that are strengths, identifying those areas that are growth areas for us, and we’ve been delighted in the ways that Engagement Surveys helped us improve continually year after year.
And I think at LeTourneau, because we have such a clear Christian mission, like many organizations within Christian higher ed or the church and parachurch ministries do, that we attract people that want to be part of something that is kingdom oriented, that something that is making a difference in the world, that something where they can see and feel and understand that God is behind that by Spirit. So in many ways we attract the kind of people that are only going to work in a place that is the life giving, that is mission centered, that feels meaningful. And so we hope to attract those folks in the hiring process. I think every organization would understand how important it is to have a thorough and thoughtful hiring process. At LeTourneau we have a lot of people involved in that, on multiple levels of the institution, and we need a lot of wisdom in hiring. And that has helped us sort of not only attract but retain the right kind of faculty and staff at LeTourneau—Patrick Lencioni does a lot and says a lot about those practices, which are really important in, I think he calls it, really, the systemic ways of maintaining your mission, and that goes from hiring to evaluation or recognition, even dismissal. And we just want to make sure at LeTourneau that we are recognizing people well; that we’re hiring the right people; that we are evaluating in ways that are healthy; and that in those rare occasions where a person’s own sense of vocation or future doesn’t align with the university, that we can part ways in the right way.
So we take the personnel piece really seriously at LeTourneau, because we are an institution of people, ultimately, and we hope to keep improving in that. I mean, that’s something that I think you never get to the bottom of is, how do we cultivate and foster the sort of environment that is a place where folks can continue to flourish for a long time?
In terms of some of the rituals, I would call it, that we have at LeTourneau University, which I think are really important for keeping the mission at the fore, keeping our strategies ahead of us. We do things that maybe other organizations do, but they’re really meaningful for our folks. So we have a—at the beginning of the academic year, which is always the beginning of our year, is an all-employee gathering, where we take communion; I give a “state of the university” address; we have lunch together; we celebrate length of tenure. Any time I have an opportunity to be in front of the entire employee body, I always like to remind ourselves, remind me, and remind each of us, what are we called to? Who are we? What is our mission? What are focusing back on, our strategic plan? I think those things—as they say, the CEO should often be the chief reminding officer—that idea that needing to remind ourselves, overcommunicate, if you will, that what are we all about? What kind of people do we strive to be in order to be the best teacher scholars for these students’ benefit? So those kind of rituals.
We do other things throughout the semester, from a president’s coffee, which is all-employee gathering. I get to speak in university chapel; of course, commencement addresses. But I think our three-year strategic plan has been important. We decided—we’re about a year into our three-year plan—to keep it a short-time horizon. I think what that has done for us strategically has said, “Okay, it’s one thing, gone are the days where you get ten years’ strategic plans and things like that because of just the volatility of our world.” And so we’ve said, “Okay, this is our three-year plan, and these are the things, not every thing that we’ll do over these three years, but these are the things that we must do.” And that, I think, has helped bring some direction, helped us make some decisions, when there are multiple wonderful opportunities out there. So I think those things.
I think just clarity, as you mentioned early on, Al, has been so important to us at LeTourneau in these recent years, and we hope that we can continue to maintain that kind of clarity.
Al: Yeah. Those are great examples, Steve. So yeah, you’re all-employee gathering. I think I was there six years ago. Is that what we were talking about then?
Steve: That’s right.
Al: Yeah. And you continue that, and just continually reminding people, “This is why we’re here.” I thought if I said something one time, it was disrespectful to repeat it because then it would be inefficient. Well, you know, this is one thing I learned in leadership is, I learned pretty quickly, that was the wrong way to look at it. You need to keep saying those things over and over again as time goes in. But president’s coffees. And the world is changing. Having five-year strategic plans or ten-year plans, they’re really hard, aren’t they?
Steve: Yes, yes.
Al: So speaking at chapel.
And speaking of strategic plan, you’ve identified four mission-critical objectives, and one of them is organizational health and belonging. I love that. It certainly ties in directly with what you’re talking about, related to your organizational identity and employee engagement at the same time. Oftentimes, I’ve said, in a university setting, the health of your faculty and staff today is the health of your student body, even your community tomorrow. So what are some of the practical ways that you and your leadership team focus on this objective of organizational health and belonging?
Steve: Well, one thing that I’m really grateful for is that when we developed this strategic plan, it was a collective effort. It was a campus-wide effort. It was a faculty, staff, student, alumni, trustee effort. And so these objectives that we settled on were shared goals. They were shared values. They were shared strategies and tactics, objectives that we call mission-critical objectives. And so it’s great to be able to go back to that and remind each of us on campus that this is what we decided is really the most important things for us to focus on over these next three years. So one drill, well, practical thing that has been helpful in keeping organizational health at the center of things, is we named it in our strategic plan. I mean, it’s not some—you can kind of get passive with organizational health, in a way. You can sort of hope it gets better, or you could even just do a yearly survey. But for us, it became clear that we—we talk with our students all the time about going out into the world and being a light to the world, salt and light in every workplace, in every nation. That’s our vision: taking Christ to all those places. But this is a workplace, too. And this is work for 400 people at Letourneau University. This is our workplace. And so, as you said, we also believe that our students will only be as healthy as we are as faculty and staff.
And so first and foremost, we decided putting organizational health and wellness and culture in our strategic plan as one of the four main mission-critical objectives was really important. And then, of course, the action items just sort of stemmed from there and grew out from there. And so, of course, we take the Engagement Survey every year, and we take that very seriously. We present the results in various format and in various venues. And we talk about the Engagement Survey. Of course, the Survey is not in and of itself. It’s just a tool. But it is a great way to take a pulse on which things are moving up or down or sideways and comparing ourselves to others in our industry, in higher education, and just comparing ourselves to our own scores from previous years. So that has been important, to keep that at front and center and to, I think, again, to share and always reiterate why are we doing this? We’re ultimately after a healthier organization, a healthier university. This is not to be critical of certain areas that need growth or to rest on our laurels, but it is to say, “How does everything move forward?”
And then, we create action plans, and we break out into our units, and then we review those. So I think those things are important. I’ve been doing something alongside that, and part of this as being within my first two years as the president, I’ve been on a listening tour. And that has been really helpful just to get that kind of face time with every unit on campus. It’s actually taken me longer than I thought because we’ve got some groups which are large, some are small, but to sit with that group and ask some open-ended questions and to try to really create a safe space as well as you can, to say, “Hey, I really want to know, what is it that has been going well for you?” I sort of keep it a two-sided question. “What’s been the best part about your work? Maybe it’s a moment. Maybe it’s represented a relationship. Maybe it’s a task or a project you’ve been a part of. And then, of course, what’s been really difficult? What’s been the hardest moment over the last year, let’s just say, or what’s been something that’s been super frustrating?”
And so going around the room and inviting that has been really helpful. We take notes. And I think it’s been helpful, at least it’s been helpful for me, to be in tuned with all of these groups. And in some ways, there are themes, and in other ways, they’re just unique groups on campus that if you don’t get around to them and listen to them, they might have their own unique struggles, or they may have their own unique stories of what’s really going well that you just don’t want to lose, that you could take for granted.
So there’s nothing like the power of presence, so to speak. And I’ve tried to lean into that. I mean, it’s always busy. You always feel like you got to carve out time. That’s been, I think, a helpful practice that I will, it continues. So even though I use that as sort of an okay, I’m moving roles here at LeTourneau, and I’ve been here, this is my 17th year, as I mentioned. Still, I wanted to take advantage of the newness of this new presidency for me to get around everyone, but it’s something that I’d like to continue just on a rotating basis.
So those are just a few of the things we’ve done that seem to be helpful.
Al: Oh, well, that’s great, Steve. Yeah, I just love what you’re saying about, first of all, you put organizational health into the plan, and it won’t be a focus unless it’s in the plan to start with. And your power of presence. That’s a word or that’s a phrase that’s unique. I love that idea. We’ve heard a lot about managing by walking around, but the power of presence and for leadership, that’s really critical. Good for you. And having a strong organizational identity involves hiring and retaining people who understand and affirm that identity. And you’ve been working on that now since even before you were the president. So how do you thread the needle in terms of hiring faculty? That’s always a question. You need people to have top-notch credentials in their technical field and to exhibit a strong faith foundation, and perhaps even a third thing, and that is fit into your unique culture. So what are some of the challenges and opportunities in building and sustaining your faculty to reflect the identity at LeTourneau?
Steve: Thank you. Yeah, it is a challenge. It’s a very important exercise. I had a mentor say to me one time, “Steve, you lose the faith of your institution one faculty member at a time.” That’s always stuck with me when I was doing primarily focusing much of my time on faculty hiring as provost and dean of faculty and those other roles, but still very engaged. For one, we, as I mentioned before, we want a lot of different sets of eyes and ears in the hiring process. So I engage with every faculty hire and other key hires around campus. I think that we want candidates to understand, number one, our faith statement. We’ve got a community covenant as well. So that just at the very beginning is important. But that doesn’t say it all. There’s a lot of people out there that will sort of sign a statement or maybe with a perspective, “Well, I’m okay with it.” But we want people at LeTourneau that have a contagious Christian faith, that sees this as an academic ministry of discipleship, ultimately.
But you have to have highly competent and credentialed faculty in order to really meet our expectation of offering an excellent Christian polytechnic education. So it’s one thing to have great Christian people around. Certainly, that’s the non-negotiable. But really, you have to pair that with people that are on the cutting edge, leading out in their fields and from industry or maybe out of their graduate programs. And so I as the president, or even when I was the provost, no one person can be the expert in all these fields. So you have to really rely upon your colleagues that can really detect on the technical side of all of these fields, if somebody is really at a position of our standard of excellence. But all of us have a shared role in understanding, does this person of faith fit? Are they an institutional fit? like you said, which are not exactly the same thing. They overlap. But we’re a teaching institution. Now, research is very important to us. We feel like that’s important for any faculty member to remain a teacher scholar to understand what’s going on in the field. First and foremost, we want our best teachers on the front lines with our students. And so you could get a very highly credentialed and reputable, a well, world-renowned individual that they’d rather just sort of hole up in their office and do their research, or they’re not interested enough in the teaching endeavor, or they don’t see that as a particular craft as well. And ultimately, we have to have folks that see this as discipleship.
So what I always talk about it in terms of three Cs, you have to be credentialed; you have to be committed, and that’s maybe more to the institutional sort of fit; but then, finally, and that it’s not always easy to detect, is someone truly called to this? But on the other hand, I think when you’re spending a full day or two with someone, when they come onto campus, and they do their teaching demonstration, they meet with different groups, and so on. But we’re looking for, does this person called to this? And we pray a lot. Let me tell you, we pray a lot because we have to—only God can bring these wonderful top-tier kinds of people that are interested not only in being a leader in their academic field but also in spiritual formation.
Al: You know, it’s interesting. So, Steve, you know, we’ve talked about the word polytechnic, but you’re really different from the typical Christian liberal-arts college or university. I mean, you’re very technically focused. Tell me some of the technical programs that you actually have at LeTourneau.
Steve: Well, we are unique. And what’s really wonderful about that is it’s just part of our heritage and our authentic way of being a university. In other words, starting engineering and aviation, other programs like that, might be a good idea for another institution to do. But at LeTourneau, we began, in fact, our very first program when LeTourneau University was first founded in 1946 was in welding engineering. I mean, not many Christian liberal-arts schools begin there, right? And so this all is a part of who R.G. LeTourneau and Evelyn, who they were, and highly technical. Of course, he was a brilliant inventor, but he was also a tremendous Christian man, who did all sorts of things around the world.
So LeTourneau University, at least two-thirds of our traditional undergraduate population are either aviation engineering or computer science. But we believe that technology has impacted every single field, every industry, so we’re comprehensive in that way. We’ve got education in theology and the arts and sciences, kinesiology. We’ve got the full gamut because we believe that, actually, whether it’s engineering or the arts or athletics, the question of technology is one of stewardship. How has this industry or this academic field been impacted by technology? And therefore, we’re to sort of steward that question.
And so we have very specialized programs, mechatronics and aviation. We’re the only comprehensive aviation program in the state of Texas, which just means that we train pilots and mechanics, airplane mechanics, which means we have quite a facility and a slate of offerings that go along with that. In engineering, we’ve got several different ABET-accredited programs, from mechanical, electrical, biomedical, civil materials, welding, computer engineering, etc. And of course, with computer science, with cybersecurity and gaming and so many other things that are important. That’s what we’re known for. Those are our flagship programs. But we feel at LeTourneau is that we also understand that the liberal arts, not just complementary, but they’re vital. They’re vital to understanding God’s world. And so we have this mutually informing way at LeTourneau, with our liberal arts majors, our history, poly sci and theology and English are super strong as well. And at LeTourneau we’re going to take those technology and innovation questions seriously and all those academic areas as well. So we have a very unique institution, but by God’s design. And so we’re going to take that seriously as we lean into it.
Al: Wow. Mechatronics, that’s a first—that’s the first time I’ve heard that word.
Steve: It’s robotics and all sorts of really interesting mechanical and programming engineering. Yeah.
Al: I just love it. And I mean, we don’t see a lot of Christian universities turning out Christian engineering experts or computer-science experts or top-notch mechanics and pilots. What an important segment of our culture, no question.
I trust you’re enjoying our podcast today. We’ll be right back after an important word for leaders.
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Al: And now, back to today’s special guest.
Let’s shift for a moment from the faculty and staff to your student body. LeTourneau has a distinctly Christian identity, which is a positive attribute for your student body. And yet a student may come to LeTourneau for a particular program, such as aviation, which is a unique offering, and the Christian identity of the school may not be the core of why some of your students come to your university. And at another school, the same question might be asked of someone who comes to the athletic program or other specialty. So, what is the experience at LeTourneau like for this kind of student, one who isn’t sure about faith or isn’t necessarily there for the faith experience, but maybe just for the technical education? How do they experience the LeTourneau community?
Steve: Great question, Al. We have always been a place that has embraced any student for any reason. At LeTourneau, you do not have to be a Christian to be a student here. That’s the way that R.G. and Evelyn established it, and we maintain that.
Now, as you’re alluding, most students are attracted to LeTourneau because of our thoroughly Christian education. But we do get students that come because we’ve got really strong academic programs and athletics and other things. And what we ask of them is, first and foremost, to be a full participant in our community. We don’t want anyone to feel like they’re secondary or they’re just auxiliary, in any way. And so we want them to understand that we’re, while being unashamedly Christian, and they still have to participate in our spiritual-formation program and our chapel. We have all-university chapel as well as, which is required of our students and different spiritual-formation opportunities that we still ask them, require them to do those things. But we try to do that in a way that’s sensitive to that. They may not be where their other fellow students might be in terms of their faith.
What this also does is we get a lot of kids, students, that come from great Christian homes, but this is the first time that they’ve had the opportunity to really think about and make, really, decisions about, what do I really believe? And am I really going to continue in this faith that I was raised? And, of course, we want to come alongside them and absolutely encourage them to stay the course. We know the stats and all the studies that talk about how many students lose their faith when they go off to college, and we want to be a place where they can, you know, be edified in who they are but edified in their faith. They’ll be encouraged in their faith, able to ask healthy, honest questions. We certainly, we’re fine with that. We think that’s good. But we are a place that’s going to encourage them to keep their eyes focused on Jesus, the author and perfector of their faith.
And so it really works well at LeTourneau. We’ve got students that most of our students certainly are identifying as Christians, but those that aren’t, great, wonderful opportunities for us to share the gospel. And frankly, when I’m in class—I don’t get to teach very much anymore, but I do teach a seminar just every fall—I don’t assume where these students are, because they can also present one way, but in their minds and hearts are really wondering about faith, about Jesus. And so I like it because it creates an opportunity for us to not only disciple but also lead people to Jesus.
Al: Right, right. You know, because of the particularly technical nature of your programs, so many of your graduates find themselves in secular workplaces, kind of taking this to the next step. And LeTourneau specifically prepares students for—and I love this—excellence in the workplace, no sloppy agape for LeTourneau. We want excellence in the workplace. And so, in fact, the vision statement claims, “Claiming every workplace in every nation as our mission field, LeTourneau University graduates are professionals of ingenuity and Christ-like character, who see life’s work as a holy calling with eternal impact.” So how has LeTourneau and your organizational identity shown through your alumni? And maybe that’s part of your vision. How has it really shown through your alumni? How about an example of an alumni who exemplifies this quality and character and unique education environment that you’ve got there?
Steve: There are countless alumni that we could point to that are being Christ’s ambassadors in their workplaces. And it’s really exciting for us to think about students that go on, and many will go into Christian organizations or going straight into full-time, what’s called, full-time ministry as pastors or missionaries. But really, the majority of our students will go out into a world, into communities, and cities and neighborhoods and companies that don’t share our faith. And the way I like to talk about it, Al, is really based upon Psalm 137, which is something that I refer to quite a bit in talking with prospective families, is we’re hoping to prepare students to sing their songs to Zion while living in a foreign land, as they leave here. And part of that is helping them understand how they’re gifted and how they’re talented and getting them plugged into this world.
But there are many, many people doing amazing things. The first that comes to mind, I suppose, would be someone like Nate Saint. He was a 1978 graduate. You might know that family name. He graduated in the late ‘70s in aviation technology, mechanical engineering. He’s now the CEO of Ironworks. But he followed in his father’s footsteps, went to work for Graco manufacturing. If you’re a grandparent or a parent, you might recognize the name Graco. Nate is the, while he’s the chief executive officer of Iron Mountains today, he’s worked in engineering and design with Graco to support Graco in creating amazing products that serve families well. And he’s well beloved and known for the Pack ‘n Play.
Al: Oh.
Steve: So he’s led that design team, which, I mean, I don’t know what we would have done without a Pack ‘n Play. I know people did it for many years without. It was a big deal, being able to fold it up.
Al: It was one of the first things we got our grandson was a Pack ‘n Play. Absolutely.
Steve: Yeah. Yeah. So any time I see Nate on campus, if he’s back for homecoming or some other event, I just say, “Hey, thank you for all the naps that we were able to get the kids to have because of you.”
But more than just the technical and the engineering design, he is an amazing leader of that organization, and he is passionate about seeing the company continue to innovate and serve families well. So there’s a lot more I could say about someone like Nate Saint. But I’m also thinking of someone like David Russell, who’s an ‘80s, 1980s graduate in electrical engineering. He’s now the president and CEO of SonSet Solutions that is helping share the gospel around the world through technological innovation. He joined HCJB World Radio in 1991. He served in Ecuador. HCJB and SonSet has worked closely together for years and years, and he became the director and president in 2004. And over these 18 years, under his leadership, he’s helped expand the work in technology by creating purpose-built radios and video production and remote systems for monitoring water systems across the world and software developments, and all that with a commitment to resourcing mission organizations and missionaries around the world, which is super exciting.
You know, I could go on and on. I guess I’ll name one more that we’re super proud of. David Fyock, who is an aviation-technology graduate from the ‘80s. He’s now the president and CEO of MAF International. So now that’s, of course, a mission-aviation organization. But what they do, how they get into the hardest-to-reach places through aviation, they serve missionaries, nonprofit organizations through humanitarian supply and transport and medical aviation. He’s been serving MAF so well and is the chief executive officer of MAF International. But you know, you’ve got to be both Christ centered and technologically astute to be in that sort of a role. And he’s, in many ways, embodying the best of what we hope for out of our graduates that can bring both of those to bear upon their work for not only the church, but just for the good of the world.
Al: Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, we all know many examples of missionaries who get to where they’re going because of MAF and the importance of that. Yeah. Great examples.
Steve, now, the leadership in a Christian university isn’t for the faint of heart, and the challenges with our culture, I mean, we all know what those are. And sometimes, I’ll say I seem to have a special view of kind of the role that college presidents have. And you’ve got to keep your faculty, your students, your staff, your parents, your donors, your alumni, your board, I mean, all of these constituencies need to be in sync and supporting the vision and mission of the organization. So how do you, Steve, as a leader, keep people focused on the mission of your university when you might face difficult decisions and priorities at the same time? For example, I can only imagine how challenging it would be to balance the budget, keep tuition affordable, invest in the excellence of your technical majors, pay competitive salaries. I mean, all these things and more, they’re all competing demands. And, again, there’s more than I’ve even mentioned. So how do you keep the main thing the main thing?
Steve: Well, yeah, you’ve got a great list there. And I think, Al, the first and foremost most important thing is that I, as an individual, stay centered on Christ. I think it’s one thing to try to hold everything else together or to keep people or keep the institution and all the constituents that you mentioned on mission. But it starts with me. And so for me personally, staying connected to my local church, which is just a refuge and a source of strength and fellowship in the faith for Bonnie and me and my family, and trying to stay healthy in all the ways that you would want to be as a person. Obviously, spiritually, but physically, and mentally, emotionally, relationally, financially. I would just say to any other leader out there that, first and foremost, as I heard Chuck Swindoll say many years ago, “You can only impart what you possess.” And so first and foremost, that’s important to me, is being real with how am I doing with my Christian fellowship, like and so forth?
I think in terms of the rest of the institution, I read a study just a few years ago by Bain & Company—you might know that name. They’re sort of one of the major leadership-management consultants across the country. They work with Fortune 500 companies and so forth—and they did this study on the top, I think, it’s 33 or 34 traits of inspirational leadership. So their whole premise is that the productivity, the value you get from an employee who is just merely satisfied—you know, someone to talk about employee satisfaction versus inspired—how important it is to keep them inspired. And so I’m sort of thinking about your question in terms of, can you keep an organization from students and alums and up to trustees, employees, etc., inspired? And there was one trait that they identified that above all else that you need in order to keep your institution or your organization inspired, and that was centered in this. Now, they aren’t a Christian organization. And so I guess you could define that certain ways. But I think as Christians, what our organizations need, especially with all these foreboding external and internal forces that can be pretty intimidating to us, is to keep centered, is to pay attention to how people are doing around us, to be mindful of what they’re experiencing, but also reminding them of the mission and what we’re in it for and that we’re going to be okay, and this is how we’re going to sustain and confront, even, some of these really difficult forces ahead.
So I think staying centered, and at LeTourneau, that’s on prayer, that’s on these practices that, of course, we participate in as individuals or as churches. But even as an institution, we keep chapel center at our institution. It’s an all-university chapel. It’s not just for students or faculty and staff as well. Every Wednesday, we have a corporate chapel, among other opportunities. When we launched our new strategic plan just over a year ago, campus pastor and I developed a prayer guide to pray on a daily basis over the four mission-critical objectives. And he took the Lord’s Prayer and gave sort of an example. How would you pray the Lord’s Prayer over each one of these objectives? And we distributed that prayer guide in hardbound form to every employee. Prayer’s going to be the power behind any success that we have into the future. So with all those moving parts, staying centered on Jesus, on prayer, on pointing each other to the wonderful work of the Triune God.
So I think just that is wrapped up in our mission. That is our mission at LeTourneau, but it’s also the backbone of our mission. And so I think as many times as I can review that, remind our community, that’s going to be the important feature of our institution moving forward. But again, it starts with me, and so I want to be real with how I’m doing, because if I wear out or if I drift, that’s not good for the rest of the institution.
Al: Yeah, yeah. Keep the main thing the main thing. And that is to be centered, and that’s just great advice. Thanks for the Chuck Swindoll quote, “You can only impart what you possess.” Oftentimes, on this podcast, Steve, I’ve heard a lot of people say, “You can only bring to leadership what you have,” and that’s basically the same thing.
Steve: Yeah.
Al: Yeah. So keeping centered is clearly a key part.
Now, this was an interesting thing that we learned, and that is that your academic background isn’t in engineering. It’s not in aviation. It’s actually in theology. And your Ph.D. is in Old Testament Studies. So outside of your work responsibilities, you’re active in church life and discipleship, you’ve already mentioned, the things that keep you centered. And you lead an organization full of technical people: engineers, aviation experts, computer scientists, nurses, and more. So how have you seen God use your unique gifts and grounding in theology in your leadership at LeTourneau?
Steve: Well, thank you. I was hoping people wouldn’t, at LeTourneau, wouldn’t notice, but now it’s out. It’s out there. You know, first of all, I’ve grown to just absolutely love this institution. And so when I came as a full-time Old Testament professor and just have gotten to know the people and the programs and the heritage and the traditions, etc., it’s rubbed off on me a lot. And so I’ve got a greater appreciation for people with the gifts that engineers and aviators and nurses and entrepreneurs, etc., have than I ever had before, because they’re some of the most creative people that I know and fun and intelligent.
And so I think why it’s worked for me, and maybe it worked for LeTourneau as a whole, is the Christian of the Christian polytechnic university. I mean, first and foremost, you don’t have to have a Ph.D. in Old Testament to be part or to lead a Christian institution. But it just seems to be just the right combination for this time in LeTourneau’s history. We, first and foremost, questions like, not just can you build it, but should you? Those kinds of questions are important for us to tackle and to entertain at LeTourneau with our students. But just quite simply, the idea that from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. When we think about the material world and all the possibilities with technology, we want to keep at the fore these fundamental theological questions, anthropological questions, that I think are important. When we think about creation, that He’s before all things, and in Him all things hold together. This is the framework from which we would want to approach any academic field as technical or not. And so I think it probably just helps that I’m not intimidated by scriptural or biblical questions. We need those to be leading the way as we go about our teaching and learning.
And so it’s been a lot of fun for me to learn along the way, too. I sit in all these seminars, and I’ll step into a graduate class, and I’m thinking, “Wow, this is blowing me away.” And just to be a part of an institution that has these areas of expertise, and I get to be part of it is really fun for me. So it’s a privilege.
Al: Well, and Steve, I’ll say thanks for leading this institution into the next generation with those kinds of frameworks. It’s really important.
Well, Steve, this has been just a great conversation. We kind of started off with identity. And you talked about the importance of focus and having your story be part of the heritage and the unique story and calling and how important that is. And then, you know, I loved your focus on the rituals that you have to create life-giving work, and even a sustainable strategy, real strengths in your culture. And whether it’s all-employee gatherings and making sure that everybody is focused on, again, your calling and mission; your coffees; to chapels, your weekly chapels; and communicating your strategic plan. And in fact, one of your four main strategies is, in fact, organizational health and belonging and that you measure it. And I was just reflecting on a recent podcast. Somebody said, “There’s no such thing as no maintenance when it comes to culture. It’s an intentional, ongoing intention that’s required.” But you’re doing listening tours, in addition. That’s a call out that I just want to bring out to other leaders. Continue those listening tours and how that helps because of the idea of the power of presence, the term that you used. And you’ve got your four Cs of selection, you know, credentialed, committed, called, very important in terms of keeping the caliber and the culture of LeTourneau moving to a flourishing level. And gosh, we’ve just talked about so many great things. The importance, the Bain study connected with inspirational leadership is the importance of centeredness and how important that is to you personally. And you know that the impact of your own health is what you bring to others.
Well, this has just been a great conversation. How about, Steve, is there anything you’d like to add that we haven’t talked about yet?
Steve: I just really want to thank you, Al, and your team. Cary Humphries has been a really important liaison that we’ve gotten to work with for several years, has been really important. In fact, I’ve invited him to my own senior-leadership retreats to help facilitate some of those conversations and strategic conversations. And we are really grateful for your work and your vision for helping organizations like LeTourneau to flourish. And look forward to a great relationship moving forward for many, many years to come. It’s been really great.
It’s been an honor to be on this podcast. And I don’t know how long it’s going to last, but that’s how long I’ll jog the next time. That’s going to be the length of my—so maybe you could edit this down a bit. But anyway, it’s been a privilege to be on here, and so I really appreciate the opportunity. And LeTourneau University thanks you.
Al: Yeah. Thank you, Steve. Personally, it’s just been a great pleasure, and thank you for your contributions today. And most of all, I appreciate your commitment to developing the next generation of Christian leaders, who are going to make a difference in our world by being salt and light in their chosen fields, many of them technical fields. And so thanks for taking your time out today and speaking into the lives of so many listeners. Thanks, Steve.
Steve: Thank you.
Al: Yeah.
Steve: It’s been great.
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