Phil DiStefano on the Lifelong Practice of Leadership
In the months leading up to my retirement as chancellor of CU Boulder, I’ve had many occasions for retrospection.
The past 15 years leading this incredible campus have been among the most meaningful of my professional career. We have doubled our total research funding, awarded roughly 117,000 degrees, survived a global pandemic and made incredible strides in equity, innovation, athletics, sustainability, town-gown relationships and so much more. I leave this position confident about the state of the campus and optimistic for its future.
When I consider my background — a first-generation college student from a small steel town in Ohio — it’s easy to feel like I arrived here through happenstance.
But what I’ve come to realize over my 50-year career at CU Boulder is that leadership is within each of us. Whether in higher education, business, government or community organizations, leadership is a daily practice that requires courage, compassion, discipline, flexibility and humility. If we’re fortunate, it’s a journey that we continue every day of our lives.
Throughout my career, I’ve been inspired by those who made a commitment to self-improvement and ethical leadership throughout their lives — people like Abraham Lincoln, Malala Yousafzai and the Dalai Lama.
This spring, I had the honor of meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama during a visit to Dharamshala, India, with the Renée Crown Wellness Institute and the Leeds School of Business. I traveled with students and young alumni in the Dalai Lama Fellows Program, a unique one-year fellowship that supports emerging social change-makers.
Through inspirational conversations, the Dalai Lama shared how compassion, connection and contemplation can break through societal barriers to create a more just and benevolent world.
At this stage of my life and career, I can think of no place more valuable to focus my attention than on developing compassion and ethics among the next generation of leaders. I’m excited to do that through my new role with the CU Boulder Center for Leadership starting this summer.
As the Dalai Lama reminded us, our world needs leaders of character who will bring integrity, intellect, empathy and open-mindedness to every challenge we face as a society.May we all embrace and embody those characteristics in our lifelong practice of leadership.
Photo by Glenn Asakawa