The Rock Tumbler

Learning to Lead

One of the things I’ve learned about leadership is that good intentions alone aren’t enough. Over the years, I’ve developed my own set of twelve leadership rules and an oath that I use to keep myself accountable. They remind me that leadership starts with leading yourself.

The first category of my leadership rules is Personal Discipline, and these are the first two rules that I try to live by every day.

Rule #1: Tell yourself the truth.

Everything starts with honesty, especially the hard truths. If we lie to ourselves about our qualifications, our abilities, or our results, we aren’t doing justice by the people who trust us to lead. Eventually they will see through it, and when they do, everyone loses.

Rule #2: Know what you don’t know.

Recognizing your own gaps is the first step toward closing them. It’s okay not to have all the answers. It’s okay to lack experience in a particular area. What’s not okay is pretending you know something that you don’t.

Those two rules go hand in hand. Don’t lie to yourself about what you’re capable of accomplishing. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t set ambitious goals. It means being honest with yourself about what it will take to reach them, and what you are going to have to change about yourself to get there.

I’m not a “career politician” who was “polished in the boardroom.” If there’s any polish on me, it’s because I’ve been run through the rock tumbler a few times.

I grew up working every job in my family’s business selling gas and Twinkies. My dad made sure I did every single job. I scrubbed toilets. I maintained them. I washed gas pumps. I pulled the old mechanical fuel pump tabulators apart so I could clean and lubricate them. I crawled through the attic chasing down a short in the ceiling lights just as often as I swept and mopped the floors.

It wasn’t until much later that he started exposing me to the more difficult parts of the business. Looking back, I realized he wasn’t just teaching me how to run a convenience store. He was teaching me how to learn.

Every new skill became the foundation for the next one. Before I was trusted to make decisions, I first had to understand the work that led up to those decisions. One skill built on another until I became just as comfortable negotiating a multi-million dollar supply contract as I am tearing apart an air compressor and getting it running again.

That same lesson shaped my journey into public service.

When I was a wet-behind-the-ears kid, I decided to run for County Commissioner.

I got beat.

Looking back, I deserved to get beat.

At the time, I had plenty of enthusiasm, but I hadn’t yet earned the knowledge, experience, or judgment that the job required. Losing that election forced me to tell myself the truth.

I wasn’t ready.

That wasn’t the end of the story. It was the beginning.

Instead of making excuses, I made a decision. If I was ever going to ask the people of Sweetwater County to trust me with that office again, I was going to earn it.

I started taking on the smaller, but no less important, jobs. I served on a water and sewer district board. I served on a fire district board. I became active in the Wyoming State Liquor Association and the Wyoming Retail Merchants Association. I also became active in the local Republican Party. Every opportunity gave me another chance to learn.

Just as importantly, I surrounded myself with people who knew more than I did. I found mentors. I asked questions. I listened more than I talked.

I learned.

I learned how to read balance sheets. I learned to build budgets. I learned to deal with difficult personnel issues. I learned where government works differently than private business. I learned to read and understand statute. I learned to work with legislators to help draft bills and get them passed.

I learned empathy. I learned compassion. I learned.

The more I learned, the more I realized how much I still didn’t know.

That didn’t discourage me.

It motivated me.

Eventually those experiences led me to the Planning and Zoning Commission. There we worked to make development more predictable and consistent in Sweetwater County while also making sure that industries coming here to take advantage of our natural resources did so in a way that respected our communities and protected the things that matter most to us.

Along the way, I built relationships with people who could make things happen. I learned who to call when I needed answers, who to work with when problems needed solving, and how to bring people together to accomplish something worthwhile.

Most importantly, through all of those years, I learned two things that every leader has to learn.

How to make a decision.

And how to work with other people to make sure it is the right decision.

Nobody knows how to be a County Commissioner before they become one. Every new commissioner has to learn on the job.

But learning on the job is a skill in itself.

It requires humility. It requires discipline. It requires enough self-awareness to admit what you don’t know, enough confidence to ask for help, and enough determination to keep getting better.

I spent twenty-five years preparing myself before the voters entrusted me with this office. I wasn’t trying to know everything. I was learning how to learn. I was building the habits, the judgment, and the experience that would allow me to grow into the job.

When I took office in 2023, I hit the ground running. Then I reminded myself that this was still a new job.

So I stopped.

I looked around.

I figured out what I didn’t know.

Then I got back to work.

I’ve never stopped learning. I’ve never stopped trying to become a better commissioner than I was the day before.

I still tell myself the truth. I still work to understand what I don’t know. And when I find another sharp edge, I’ll take another turn through the rock tumbler.

Leadership isn’t about becoming perfect. It’s about never believing you’re finished.

The people of Sweetwater County deserve someone who is willing to keep growing, keep listening, and keep earning the trust they placed in him.

I’d appreciate your continued support in the Sweetwater County Republican Primary on August 18.

I’d be honored to earn your vote for re-election.

My Leadership Oath I accept leadership as a responsibility to serve. I will use my influence to strengthen people, create lasting value, pursue progress with integrity, develop others, and leave every team, organization, and community better than I found it. My success isn’t measured by what I achieve for myself, but by what is improved because I was there.