Leave an Impact Beyond Your Time

Over a quiet early morning coffee this week I received a message in my inbox that caught my attention. It read in part, “… we received word that former (MTU) President Ray Smith passed away yesterday afternoon in Arizona. He was 101 years old and served as the president from 1965 to 1979.” A sober way to start off a day to be sure. As heavy a message as this one was, after contemplating it for a bit I realized that perhaps it might also be a good opportunity to pause and seek a leadership lesson from an otherwise sad time.

Having sat on the Board of Trustees at MTU for the past eight years, I was well aware that Ray Smith had been a previous President of MTU. Looking at that message however, it was the first time that the dates of his presidency really jumped out at me. Having personally studied for my BSME at MTU from 1974-1978, Ray Smith was my president.

I am not positive, but I can easily imagine that had you come up to me during my years at Tech and asked, “Who is the President of this University?”, I most likely would not have known the answer. I was struggling with Bernoulli’s equations, Von Mieses stresses, Mohr’s Circles, and the Laws of Thermodynamics, let alone learning who was running the place. Besides, I never got in enough trouble to warrant a visit to his office, so as far as I was concerned, who the president of the university was seemed irrelevant. How wrong a young mind can be.

As it turns out, the main venue on campus of my four years of study, the Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics Building was there due in large part to Ray Smith. In fact, most of the University was there due to his leadership. Anybody familiar with the campus at Michigan Tech would easily recognize the following structures, all of which are attributed to his vision, his relentless pursuit and above all, his tenacious leadership. They include the:

Administration Building
Electrical Energy Resources Center (EERC)
U. J. Noblet Forestry Building
Chemical Sciences and Engineering Building
Student Development Complex
McNair Residence Halls—East and West
Gates Tennis Center
Upper Daniell Heights Apartments
R. L. Smith Building (MEEM)

These buildings were necessary to contain the astonishing growth achieved under his leadership. After twelve years at the helm, President Smith had signed 10,133 diplomas, a number equal to the number of graduates since the founding of the University in 1885 to that time, (May 78 article of the Houghton Daily Mining Gazette). President Smith also brought a new focus on both the research conducted at the University, and the philanthropy needed to fund it. I do not think it a stretch to say that Michigan Technological University is mostly what it is today, due in large part to Ray Smiths incredible leadership.

It has been said that the power of great leadership is captured in the notion that leadership as a force multiplier. Leadership can be described as leverage, and it is powerful as a result. Archimedes said, “give me a lever and I can move the world’. If that is true in a physical sense, then leadership offers the way in which people can envision, motivate and inspire others to action capable of changing, or “moving” our world.

It may be best to frame this idea against the backdrop of an individual contributor. Typically, individuals can impact the world within the span of their reach and in the window of time that they apply their efforts. Beyond

their own limits of space and time, they are truly limited. With the leverage of leadership acting as a force multiplier, a leader can impact the lives of people well beyond their own reach, and often for a time span well beyond their tenure.

As an attending student, I may not have known that Ray Smith was the President, and countless thousands of students to follow me may also never know that he was either. That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that he was a visionary and he applied the power to change a University and propel it in a new and vitally important direction. Ray Smith was a leader, and my career and indeed my life has remarkably benefited as a result. And it is still going on. Many students today are forging their careers and their futures on the anvil of his leadership.

When the going gets tough, and the leadership challenges before you seem too arduous or insurmountable, press on. Remember, leaders impact people’s lives well beyond their immediate reach, and for much longer periods of time than they themselves enjoy. Stay strong, and accomplish your leadership missions, big or small. Countless people, many of whom you do not know, and who will likely never know you, will benefit from it and enjoy a better life, because of you.