FEATURE STORY
Transforming Leaders Through Powerful Storytelling
Westmont’s Lead Where You Stand Conference, “Pursuing the Greater Good in Challenging Times,” delivered inspirational stories, helpful advice and insightful conversation for 173 attendees. The two-day annual event in June featured keynote speakers Gayle D. Beebe, David Brooks, Dr. Charity Dean, Kim Denu, Marcus ‘Goodie’ Goodloe, Matthew Luhn and Jeff Schloss.
“Storytelling has the power to transform leadership by building trust, driving meaningful change, and altering the DNA of an organization,” said Reed Sheard, vice president for college advancement and chief information officer. Westmont’s Montecito Institute for Executive Leadership sponsors the event. “Through storytelling, leaders can shape the understanding and trajectory of their organization, creating a lasting impact on its success.”
“Storytelling has the power to transform leadership by building trust, driving meaningful change, and altering the DNA of an organization.
“Through storytelling, leaders can shape the understanding and trajectory of their organization, creating a lasting impact on its success.”
Reed Sheard
Vice President for College Advancement and Chief Information Officer
Goodloe, author, mentor and Westmont trustee, extracted lessons from Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C. “At its core, leadership is the ability to move people from here to there,” Goodloe said. “Leadership advances people beyond their physical, emotional, and spiritual capacities to create something beautiful.”
King stuck with “I Have a Dream,” though his followers had heard versions of it and some thought it trite. Goodloe quoted Stephen Covey, the late author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” who said, “Repetition is the mother of learning and the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.”
“By repeating key points, you increase the chances of your audience retaining the information and acting upon it,” Goodloe says. “People are naturally reticent to change. We often need to be exposed to a new idea or concept multiple times before we’re willing to accept it.”
The success of King’s speech also depended on those he’d invited to join the cause, including the Coalition of Conscience, more than 800 human rights organizations committed to speak and act on behalf of African Americans suffering injustice. “Your idea should require the assistance of others wherever you’re trying to advance,” Goodloe says. “If you can achieve your dream on your own, you’re dreaming too small.”
Goodloe concluded by advising the audience to save the best for last — King spoke last that day. “But make sure whatever is last is worth the wait,” he says. “People remember King’s words and power and potency of that moment — what a day and what a finish.”
Dean, Santa Barbara County’s former public health director and current CEO and cofounder of PHC Global, a biological threat intelligence company, shared how she uses her medical knowledge and spiritual practices to uncover hidden insights and solve complex problems in epidemiology and public health. “As we mature in our field of expertise and in our spiritual fitness — our pursuit of God’s one true calling for our lives — those two become an intertwined duality that can’t be separated from one another — and the answers come from there,” said Dean, one of the central characters in Michael Lewis’ book, “The Premonition: A Pandemic Story.”
She emphasized the need for a comprehensive approach combining medical development, public health and artificial intelligence to address emerging biological threats. “The kind of damage that COVID caused — as devastating as it was — will be minor compared to the biological threats out there today,” she said. “Because of advances in biotechnology and machine intelligence, components can be artificially rearranged and modified into something novel we can’t detect, won’t recognize and don’t have tools for.”
Brooks, New York Times columnist and weekly guest on PBS NewsHour, discussed lifelong learning and moral formation, emphasizing “the ability to keep learning up until the moment you die. The most valuable thing you learn is how to learn.”
He challenged the practice of basing ability on standardized tests. “We need a different definition of merit,” he said.
“We need to see ourselves and each other not by how we did on a test but by our hunger to keep growing through life.”
Lifelong learning begins with curiosity, a form of love and an obsessive enthusiasm to understand, Brooks says. It also included confidence — being brave enough to tackle hard projects — and complexity, which avoids simple stereotypes.
He sees new interest in moral formation. Higher education once introduced students to the world’s moral traditions and addressed questions such as: What is justice? How should we live? How can I be a good person?
“The founders realized people were selfish and pathetic and that they’d have to work on moral formation to build a democracy,” Brooks said. Before World War II, developing character used to be the main object of education. The horror of the Holocaust convinced some educators to double down on moral formation. But others said the problem arose from authority structures, not people. They shifted the focus to self-actualization, which has left students morally hungry and inarticulate, Brooks says.
He defines character as qualities of the heart (honesty, generosity, consideration, kindness); strength of mind (curiosity, open-mindedness, intellectual humility, good judgement); and aspects of the will (self-control, grit, courage, a growth mindset). Teaching moral formation helps us restrain selfishness, find purpose in life and treat others with kindness and respect. We must learn see the world as it is and not as we wish it were. By learning social skills, we can get along with others and be present with them. Finally, creating a moral ecology the way we conduct our lives can live on after us.
Luhn, an animator, writer and story consultant formerly at Pixar and lead animator of Woody in “Toy Story,” shared his personal journey of discovering his passion, emphasizing the importance of family, creativity and inspiring others to pursue their passions.
He suggested applying storytelling principles, such as using a beginning, middle and end structure like a hero’s journey, when selling something, sharing information or inspiring new ideas.
“Think like a storyteller,” he said. “You know a story works when it genuinely makes you feel something. We don’t remember facts, figures data or statistics. Whoever tells the best story wins.”
The conference returns to Westmont June 4-5, 2025.