At the Podium Last Week: October 7, 2015

Greg Rye and Karl Neset teamed up last week to host, and brought us Former Governor Al Quie as speaker.  

Al Quie served Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives for 11 terms from 1958-79, and was elected governor in 1978.

He has continued to work in the public eye as an advocate for early childhood education and smaller class sizes, worked to improve judicial impartiality through a merit-based state judge selection process, and is also continues to be a national leader in a Prison Fellowship program. Governor Quie is known for his fairness and quiet yet effective leadership style. He used his speaker's podium this week to talk about education, a subject he said is tough for Minnesotans because we are used to hearing that we excel in educating our children. After presenting some tough facts about Minnesota students' proficiency, he shared what he's spent a lifetime learning about what makes education (and almost everything else) effective: that top-down programs never work, but that love and listening lead to learning. His commitment to paying attention to people has paid off in all aspects of his work: "If you can look into people's eyes and ask what you can do for them, it gives you an opening. Then you start bridging gaps and working together." Thank you Governor Quie, and thank you Greg and Karl.