Leadership: Meet People Where They Are

Thought leadership from Denver J. Stutler, P. E.

Leadership Lessons from My Past

I recently had the opportunity to meet Dr. Alexander Cartwright, the sixth president of the University of Central Florida, the university from which I graduated.

I appreciate Dr. Cartwright’s vision. Listening to his vision reminded me of the impact and touchpoints of UCF in my professional journey.

In the fall of 1983, I first walked onto the UCF campus as a kid, excited to be going to college, even though I had originally planned to go into the Army. I played football, joined a fraternity, and signed up for engineering—all in my first semester.

I went on to be the student body president and, as such, supported the athletic fee that was advertised to help the football program become a Division 1 school. UCF, now consistently recognized as one of the largest universtities in America, was a 17,000-student university back then. Today, it has a student body of over 66,000.

Ten years after walking onto the campus that first day, I became a professional engineer, which has been my career for the last 30 years. Twenty years after attending school there, I became chief of staff to Gov. Jeb Bush, who approved the medical school for the university. It is an understatement to say that UCF has played an important role in my life, and I have been proud to have been named a distinguished alumnus twice, first as a public servant and again as a CEO.

Leadership Fundamentals

What are some of the fundamentals I have learned along the way regarding leadership? One of them is that you have to get the hay down there where the sheep can eat it, meaning you have to meet people where they are, not where you are.

There was one man in particular, John Sowinski, who was especially influential in my life. John was an alumnus I met at UCF who was involved in student development. He became a mentor who taught me 35 years ago that people tend to support what they create or participate in creating. I’ve always remembered that. You may have a great idea, but you need to walk it back, meet people where they are, and get them to buy into the idea so that together you can build the momentum that will carry that great idea forward.

One other thing I learned about leadership is that when you assume new roles, you should seek out those who held those roles before you. And when facing challenges, it is important to seek out people who have overcome similar challenges. Learning from those who came before us is one of the most important lessons I ever learned.

You have to meet people where they are, not where you are.

The Path of Leadership

And to all of those who find themselves on the path toward leadership, I have one more piece of advice: the best plan in any business or any relationship is to take things one day at a time.

In terms of my own businesses, I have come to realize that at U.S. Submergent Technologies, now 13 years old, we are in the process of shifting to the next generation of leaders within the company and forcing them to live or die by the choices they make. And then there is SediVision, founded in 2021, which has been garnering tremendous interest of late from potential clients. Our biggest challenge with SediVision is converting those with interest into buyers. In other words, we now have a teenager and a toddler in our family of businesses, and I am trying to lead them both into becoming mature, successful operations.

This journey of mine, which started in the fall of 1983, has taken every ounce of effort to get me to where I am today. And if you ask me if it was worth it, I will tell you that watching my children take the lessons from my life and achieve so much in such a short time is what gives me the greatest joy.