Episodes
Thursday Mar 21, 2024
Examining Leadership with Brigadier General Christopher Burns
Thursday Mar 21, 2024
Thursday Mar 21, 2024
In this exciting episode of the VMI Leader Journey, host Major Catherine Roy invites Retired Brigadier General Christopher Burns, the 2023-24 Leader in Residence at VMI. Burns gives a succinct overview of his career journey, laying out potent leadership philosophies he's learned from his time in the military and Wall Street. He delves deep into the distinction between managing and leading, emphasizing the centrality of clear communication and vision in inspiring successful endeavors.
Burns takes listeners on a whirlwind tour examining leadership in the light of rapidly evolving technology and societal shifts. He underscores the necessity of fostering trust, building effective communication channels, and maintaining accountability in team settings. He also unveils his unique approach to contemporary obstacles to leadership.
The episode highlights the importance of developing recruitable subordinates, the high-performance technique of practicing the 80-20 rule, and the Pareto principle and its relevance to work-life balance.
Adaptability remains a key theme as Burns illustrates the importance of agility and resilience in today's fast-paced leadership landscape. Drawing insights from companies like Post-it and 23andMe, and contextualizing the needs of both civilian and military spaces, this episode offers a comprehensive roadmap to future-proof leadership approaches amidst accelerating changes.
The conversation concludes with an encouraging perspective on failure, emphasizing its role not as an endpoint but as a crucial learning tool for growth and advancement. In essence, to shape a promising future, leaders must foster resilience, adopt a dynamic approach to change, and champion agility within their teams.
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
"Finding Abundance in Structure" with Kate Taylor, '24
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
Tuesday Mar 05, 2024
Beginning in her third class year, Kate Taylor, VMI Class of 2024, got involved with programs at the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics. A civil engineering major, she attended the Annual Leadership and Ethics Conference three times, twice as a table group facilitator, and was a member of the VMI Swim and Dive Club and the Cadets' Superintendent's Advisory Board.
In this episode of the VMI Leader Journey, we predominantly cover the leadership domain of efficacy, which concerns an individual's confidence. Her leadership journey covers why she chose VMI out of 21 other choices, some of the distractions she faced, how a mentor helped her refocus her energy on productive goals, and what made her change her mind about commissioning. Her four-year development at VMI touches on leader competencies such as self-understanding, mentoring, service, resiliency, and goals.
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To learn more about the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics, please visit our website at www.vmi.edu/cle. At the bottom of the homepage, check out our annual Year-in-Review newsletter, which covers all the happenings over the academic year.
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
"Something Beyond the Routine" with Riley Shultz, '24
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Today's episode, "Something Beyond," is a conversation with Riley Shultz, VMI Class of 2024. They explore two of the Center's cadet clubs: The Cadets' Superintendent's Advisory Board, a diverse make-up of cadet representatives from thirds to firsts who explore aspects of cadet life and how to make improvements, and the Intercollegiate Ethics and Debate club, which competes in intercollegiate debate competitions. In addition to learning about these cadet experiences, he talks about peer leadership, accountability, and humility, and he includes some excellent advice for rats.
Major Roy's conversation with Shultz touches on leadership competencies such as interpersonal interaction, group dynamics, and personal behavior.
Friday Nov 17, 2023
Develop Leadership Practices with Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, USN (Ret.)
Friday Nov 17, 2023
Friday Nov 17, 2023
Our guest, Commander Kirk Lippold, USN (Ret.), was the Commanding Officer of the USS Cole when it came under a suicide terrorist attack by al Qaeda in the port of Aden, Yemen, on October 12, 2000. During his command, he and his crew distinguished themselves by saving the American warship from sinking.
We sat down before his talk as the closing speaker for the 14th Annual VMI Leadership and Ethics Conference titled “Leading During Crises: Culture, Conflict, Collaboration” to discuss the leadership insights that would be share-worthy for our Corps of Cadets.
We hope you enjoy this episode titled “Develop Leadership Practices.”
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
VMI - a College Debates and Discourse Alliance Community of Practice
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
VMI is one of 10 colleges in the country to be named a Braver Angels' College Debates and Discourse Alliance’s Communities of Practice. As such, we are taking part in a national research grant from the John Templeton Foundation on the effect of participating in these moderated debates for college students. The overall goal is to promote civil discourse and give participants the tools they need to have useful and respectful conversations on contentious topics.
This VMI Leader Journey episode features VMI faculty and cadet fellows involved in this program. You will learn how we became involved and insights from VMI cadets about the impact they've already experienced and why they thought it was important to get involved. Panel guests are Col. Valentina Dimitrova-Grajzl, Lt. Col. Kim Connolly, Lt. Col. Sara Whipple, Devin Thomas '24, and Katie Lloyd '23.
Our first debate for this academic year is on Sept. 25 at 7:00 p.m. in Marshall Hall. The topic is “Does a commitment to civility take care of diversity and inclusion issues?” It is open to the VMI community – cadets, staff, faculty, and alumni, but not to the general public.
Learn more about this program from this VMI news story at https://www.vmi.edu/news/headlines/2022-2023/vmi-promotes-civil-discourse-through-debate-program.php.
Monday May 01, 2023
Monday May 01, 2023
In this episode, Sibi Bagavathy, an economics and business major, discusses with podcast host Maj. Catherine Roy about the efforts to educate his Honor Court peers and the Corps of Cadets on following VMI's Honor Code.
We discuss some outreach programs offered to cadets, how he and his peers discover opportunities for reinforcement, and the goal to inspire cadets to develop their character in a way that embodies integrity and honorable behavior, the true intent of VMI's 'three-legged stool' Institutional programs.
Learn more about VMI's system from the Center's free publication, "The VMI Leader Journey."
If you enjoy this episode, please let us know by liking it, sharing it, and don't forget to subscribe!
Thursday Mar 09, 2023
A Chronicle of the VMI Journey with First-Class President Cameron Cavanaugh
Thursday Mar 09, 2023
Thursday Mar 09, 2023
COVID, an investigation, loss... VMI's Class of 2023 has had a unique and 'wild ride,' according to First-Class President Cadet Cameron Cavanaugh.
Join us for this discussion of the challenges they faced and some of their lessons learned. Said Cavanaugh, ‘You’re not going to get through it alone, and it’s not worth doing alone.’
We touch on his deep faith, gratitude, leadership style, and our annual leadership theme, the courage of convictions, that inspired him and other corps leaders to lead by example.
On behalf of my colleagues at the Center, I hope you will enjoy learning more about Cameron Cavanaugh and the Class of 2023 as they conclude their VMI leader journey.
Tuesday Feb 07, 2023
Tuesday Feb 07, 2023
*Video Podcast Episode*
Retired Col. Rick Kiernan, VMI Class of 1966, shares his insights on the longstanding tradition of graduating cadets of character from the Institute. He discusses the media's propensity for negativity, the importance of context in any story or discussion, and his thoughts on leadership as an iterative process.
"And I think the character of the men and women that come out of the school today are certainly as good as when we were cadets. It just epitomizes itself. And I'm so very proud, too, to look at the young graduates that we have today," said Kiernan.
Kiernan's career has seen many historical events and periods. Kiernan continues serving veterans as a Desert Shield/Desert Storm Memorial consultant. He is a very active mentor and loves recruiting youth for ROTC or attending his beloved alma mater, Virginia Military Institute. Kiernan is a decorated veteran and has worked in public affairs for the government/military, non-profit, and business sectors and internationally.
VMI Leader Journey
Each year, the VMI Center for Leadership & Ethics (Center) selects a leadership theme for our programming. It is our hope that members of the VMI community will continue the discussion on that leadership theme offline. Guests of the show are VMI cadets, alumni, and faculty as well as VIP guests who visit post. This podcast is an outreach program of the Center. The Center's mission is to integrate moral-ethical development programs for the cadets, faculty, and staff and share insights gleaned from VMI programs with a broader national audience. Please visit our website for more information www.vmi.edu/cle.