Terrence Foushee - On servant leadership (clip)

Kathryn Wall (KW): You've talked a little bit about your passion for servant leadership. Could you just maybe describe how you would define that and then why that's a passion for you?

Terrence Foushee (TF): Servant leadership is, to me, learning who you are to find out what you can contribute to make your community better. I think there are many different connotations to leadership, and I think the way that a lot of people see leadership is that you need to be vocal, you need to be someone that people listen to, but – anyone can be a leader, and you can be a leader from so many different aspects, from so many different vantage points. But it's about understanding what is the thing that you have to contribute. And I think for me, realizing that I care just about – no matter what community that I'm a part of – how can I make it better for youth, how can I leave it better than when I arrived, but also place something in young folks to have an appreciation for where they're from, but also to be able to – no matter where they decide to go in the future – that they can contribute to whatever community that they're a part of to make it better. But also, hopefully, have a reason to come back – which doesn't necessarily mean that you need to live in the community that you always grew up in – but hopefully you put something in place that might give you a reason to come back, even if it's just for a visit. And I think that's what I think of as servant leadership, but that's also where my passion comes in from – is that I love to help people see something in themselves that they might not have been able to see. But also, if they already saw it in themselves, how can I help continue to illuminate it and give them ways to continue to grow.

KW: Hmm. That seems like such an important quality in a teacher too – to be able to see something in a young person and bring that out, and nurture that.

TF: Thank you.