“Successful leaders are the ones who get down and start working. The ones who aren’t successful begin by just barking orders.” –Dave Upthegrove, King County Councilmember, WA
Dave Upthegrove joined our youth and staff for an online leadership seminar and topics focused on how to turn disappointment into success, how to bring people with different beliefs together for positive change and how to stay focused on goals and avoid distractions.
“It’s OK to be disappointed and it’s OK to be frustrated with the challenges of making change,: he shared with the group. Always be thinking long term. Its good strategy. It’s easy to think poor me, I must not be worthy, but it’s not a failure if you stay true to your values and conduct yourself ethically and treated people with respect. That’s a significant success.”
Leaders who aren’t successful begin by just barking orders. The ones who are successful are the ones who get down and start working.
Dave Upthegrove was unanimously appointed by the King County Council to fill a vacancy in the state House of Representatives in 2001. He served five terms in the Legislature, where he championed transportation and environmental stewardship.
Among his many accomplishments, he helped secure funding for light rail in SeaTac to help commuters and prioritized road improvements to congested intersections in Kent to ensure freight mobility. Upthegrove passed legislation to clean up toxics in the soil in playgrounds in Highline and Kent, and kept local parks – such as Saltwater State Park and Flaming Geyser State Park – off the closure lists. The Washington Conservation Voters named him the 2011 Legislator of the Year.
ICL continues to turn on a dime, increasing our online classes and sessions during the stay-at-home order. We are bringing experts from around the world with feet-on-the-ground experience in organizing, civic engagement and public service together with our youth and staff.
This is an excellent time to study the relevance and importance of transforming ourselves to make change in the world.
