Gerry (00:03):
Welcome to the Seidman Mentorship Podcast. This is your captain speaking. on the show, Oe navigate the voyage of life through the lens of Lakers, some who have just come aboard, and others who are well underway. We will speak with experts who will show us the ropes, help us plot a course, and recount exhilarating tales of uncharted territory, all while promoting lifelong learning agility and a culture of mentorship. Today on the show, I welcome President Emeritus Tom Haas, better known as T Haas. The fourth president of Grand Valley is legendary for his connection with students. Many students treasure their selfie with T Haas, and he always made time for them. T Haas has many titles and accolades, including Coast Guard Captain, president of the State University of New York, several doctorates, and is a current professor, teaching leadership at Grand Valley. We discussed the role of multi-generational mentors and how the spirit of making each other better is at the heart of mentorship.

Gerry (01:05):
I'm so excited for today's guest, and I just said, I've been waiting all summer for this cast, so I'm glad it's the, it's gonna be the pinnacle of my season and a highlight in my career to do this because to say I'm a fan of our guest today is not really fair, and to say that mentorship and today's guest is an understatement because; and we're gonna get into this, the reason we met, uh, the first time was mentorship. And you've left such an impression. And when I've talked to Laker Legends in which the category of today's guest is, is I'm putting in, there's a few names that rise to the top, but, today's guest, boy, there's so many titles, um, president Emeritus Tom Haas, if we're gonna Talk Grand Valley, very special to me because of my relationship to veterans is Captain Haas.

Gerry (01:56):
Dr. Haass, Professor Haass. Let's see, what am I missing here? All the above. Welcome to the show, Ahoy. Welcome aboard. A real captain on the show. Finally, captain Haass. It's great to be here with, with you, Gerry. I am, I'm so excited. Before I ask you for your Laker journey thus far, and, and don't ask you to recap everything, let me throw back the stats that, that our, our diligent research department, me, dug up. Coast Guard Academy with honors 73, service aboard, cutters, Acacia, Mackinac, Dwayne and Eagle. Stop me if I'm wrong here. Those are right. Um, Coast Guard, hq, Washington, DC Yes. You wrote the book basically on hazardous shipping materials. In fact, I found evidence, and I assume this is because your chemistry background, you were involved in the cleanup of the Valdez, right? Yes, I was. And you basically wrote the standard operating procedures manual. I didn't read the manual, about oil cleanup and, and custom guard.

Tom Haas (02:59):
I, I was asked to be the operations officer on that particular evolution by the admiral. In fact, I was at the Coast Guard Academy when I, when my boss got a call from the unseen coordinator, said, we need Tom up here with his chemistry background, but he's gonna be number three. The, data manager I was called, and I was there working, for two admirals during that, that episode. And being in the hazmat area, but also very much attuned to ensuring that our coastlines were kept clean. This was near and dear to my heart to go and serve,

Gerry (03:36):
Uh, S three, uh, operations and, training right. Staff officer level three is that we're talking about there. So behind the S one, S two SS three shop you're talking about? Yeah. Yeah. I got to do that in the SS three, but as the assistant, so my boss went to meetings, but I got to go in the field with the team and do the thing, which I enjoyed a lot more well than going to staff meetings

Tom Haas (03:57):
Up at the Valdez, of course, working directly for the on scene coordinator, who was Clyde Lusk at the time. And then Admiral Chandalini took over from him. And, uh, we were able to call the helicopters out so we can go on station to make sure that the, the clinic operation was going as we thought it could and should

Gerry (04:19):
Back to academia. Master's in chemistry, environmental science and human resources.

Tom Haas (04:25):
Yes.

Gerry (04:26):
PhD Chemistry, University of Connecticut, honorary PhD University Krakow. Yes. I know you're really proud of that one. So if you haven't seen, if you haven't gone to Grand Valley graduation, um, I don't know when you got that honorary doctor, but people say, who's the guy with a stole that looks like, uh, the King of England? And I said, well, that's, that's T Haas, that's, that's his honorary stole, made of fur from the, the, the local fauna.

Tom Haas (04:54):
Well, it, it's actually, rabbit. Yeah. And so, yes, it, but usually if you go back many decades, if not hundreds of years ago, it's called the Toga in Polish, and it's called the Rector's Cape, which I was at the time being the president of University, uh, in the University of Kaka. It would be the Rector's Cape.

Gerry (05:19):
It's an amazing piece of hardware. It's, it's very, I i, it was a lot of fun. And, and I'm gonna get to this, but you and I keep intersecting at these very interesting points in my life. So I don't know if the universe telling me, but I, I'm just so thankful to have, uh, gotten to spend time to get to know you, uh, even before this, this cast. And I want to take you back. So I was doing mentorship as a volunteer in this evening, professional mentorship program for about 10 years. So I was working my regular career, but I was always, somehow I couldn't leave Grand Valley. Grand Valley would always suck me back in, Hey, can you come back and coach, Hey, can you have help with this fundraiser? Hey, can you mentor a student? And I told this story, uh, I think on the last episode of the podcast where I had a mentee.

Gerry (06:01):
And typically, we'd meet and say, what do you wanna do? And the student said, to be honest, Jerry, I don't know. Okay. I said, well, I like to do networking. I like to meet people. So let's, let's meet people, who's your favorite professor? And they told me, and we went out to lunch with their favorite professor. And at the end, I said, well, who should our, our student meet? And who, you know, who's your boss? Who's the chairperson department? And, um, we were climbing the ranks, and I said, we're gonna get a meeting with the president of the university. I didn't know you at the time. I knew it was a bold ambitious plan. But by the time the student got to the president's office, your office at the time, they had a story to tell that they didn't just show up and say, Hey, I wanna see the president, which would be a red flag.

Gerry (06:40):
We don't know why you wanna see the president. The thing, the story I always tell about you in, in meeting you was twofold. Number one, you granted us that meeting. We came to your office, you gave us 15 minutes of your time. And I know the president of the university's a busy person. And I didn't, I, I said in the podcast, I'm not recommending everybody call Philly's office and get a meeting and go over there, but you did it. We had a great interaction, but I remember it was a few weeks later, I think it was Campus Life night or something, and I was there serving as faculty advisor for another club. And you saw me and he came over and we had a chat. And you recalled that I was doing that, doing mentorship, and thank me for that. And everybody has heard the stories about you, but you really are the personable guy that, that I know. This is not an act. You're a really attached to the students and to the people you interact with, your colleagues, you call them.

Tom Haas (07:32):
Well, it, it's the reason why we're here. At the end of the day, we get to work with wonderful people, here at the university with great faculty and staff. But our fundamental rule, of course, is to help students succeed. And I was a coach in the, a previous lifetime, too. I played, uh, sports in college. What sport? I coached baseball. I coached a women's softball as a head coach at the Coast Guard Academy. And, those particular skill sets that you get as a coach come through loud and clear. You make yourself available when you can to help students succeed. In this case, it was on the ball fields or in the courts when I was coaching basketball as well. But when you are in the classroom, you want the students to succeed. When you're in administrative roles like the president, you want the students to succeed. And those are around you as well. So what you do is you make yourself available. But even more importantly, I think one of the rules of being a good, effective leader, one of the traits is you show up. You really do. You need to show up and demonstrate the care that you have for the individual student or faculty member or staff member or members of the board, or members of the community. You really demonstrate how well you care for the individual and get to know 'em a little bit as well.

Gerry (08:52):
It's like you teed it up. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna read this, is is one of the, where the news person reads the quote back to the person and asks you about it. So on April 1st, 2018, during the Talent 2025, interview of Seven Questions with Tejas, I love this question because they teed it up years before we're doing it, and we're getting close to 2025. Now. You serve both as president and professor and have built a great relationship with Grand Valley students. How can mentorship still prepare students to enter the workforce?

Tom Haas (09:20):
Well, I think start off by my professional life whether it be in a Coast Guard or in my family, as a dad, now as a granddad, we are there to help guide that really what mentorship is all about. It's a journey. It's a journey of guiding people in the direction that they want to go and assist them along the way. So I think it's an important notion that when I was there whether it be in the 2018 realm, or I go back to when I was at the Coast Guard Academy or any place in between, I thought my role as a leader was more importantly guided by who I was as a person. And I think I am, uh, pleased to have had a journey like I've had. And, one of my roles most importantly to me is, uh, being a good husband, a good dad, and granddad now in fact, um, part of our family's moving right here to, to, uh, west Michigan as of yesterday from New York. And so that notion of, uh, really, uh, providing the guidance, uh, to people, uh, individuals, getting to know them along the way. Even now I'm teaching as you know, um, um, remotely, uh, with, uh, the Zoom platform. But you can even through the Zoom platform, get to know students. And I've had students, uh, uh, in the, uh, cubicles, uh, stick around so that we can have some just conversations, uh, get, getting to know the individual and demonstrating you care is all what it's all about.

Gerry (11:06):
You have managed to make fans. And one of my, um, sales directors years ago when I was learning sales for my professional career, which I did for 20 years, and the old saying is, people often might forget what you said, but they never forget how you made them feel. How do you do it? How do you, you know, you came in the Career center today, I introduced you to a couple of people that, that we're friendly with here. Cause they let us use their studio, and they still want to take selfies with T Haas. I mean, that's a, I know that wasn't a marketing campaign. I, I know you well enough to know that, but how do you do it?

Tom Haas (11:39):
Well, you demonstrate that you care about the individual and then have some conversations and listen. I do remember when that I never had a nickname throughout my military life. The only nickname I had was with my basketball coach when I was playing freshman basketball at the Coast Guard Academy. His name was Jim Loy. He was Lieutenant Commander at the time. He was teaching in the history department at the Coast Guard Academy. Well, Jim Loy went on, in addition to being a faculty member at the Coast Guard Academy, was a basketball coach. He was an All American, actually, in the D three level, but he went on to be the common on the Coast Guard, then be the director of the TSA when that was ramped up with Homeland Security, then became the number two to Tom Ridge, and then was acting.

Tom Haas (12:27):
He went all the way through. But this is the result of the story. He only with my mom and dad would call me Tommy. That was my nickname, if you want to call it that. And then I come here, my first day back in oh six, August of oh six, I was asked by the student senate president, Frank Foster was his name, wonderful young man. He went on to be, one of the representatives in Michigan Health. So he comes in my office, Marsha, my wife and my daughter who were there too. And, 10 o'clock in the morning said, we're gonna go out and meet the transition students out by the Caron in Allendale. I said, sure, I'm all in. So we go on out there and said, he introduces me. Here's president Haas, and I said, glad to be here.

Tom Haas (13:19):
And then I, after saying thank you for showing up, I asked him if they had any questions. And one young lady, who is now a teacher here in the West Michigan, said, what can we call you? I said, well, Dr. Haas, president Haas is pretty good too, with a smile. I said, Tom is okay in formal circumstances. And then the young lady stepped forward in front of these 200 plus students and said, what about T Haas? And it was set up because then they started chanting . And then, this was now, many years ago in oh five, in the Grand Rapids press above the fold, because there was a reporter following me for my first day on the, campus President Welcomes T Haas campus. And it has stuck. So, I now, after being here in the presidency for 13 years, and now still, in the classroom, I still get the request of I can be in Myers with a, and a lump coming up to me. He said, I know who you are, T Haas, can I get a selfie? And never have I refused. I just stopped mid tracks. I had one case, where, one of my colleagues and I were walking across the campus in Allendale. We were heading to a meeting, and we, we were running late, and the student stopped us and said, can I get a selfie? And I said, yeah. So my colleague says, well, we're running late. I said, not for this person. We're not running late at all. We're right on time.

Gerry (14:55):
Words echoed by. And I'm gonna ask you about your mentors, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna, flip over a couple of my cards because a couple people I think, you know, were my mentors here in the nineties, and they're still here. Bob Stoll was Oh, wonderful, wonderful, was my mentor. He mentored a guy who we talked about earlier, Troy Farley, who was on the show, the last episode. So, I mean, if you haven't listened to the last two episodes of Steven Mentorship podcast, you're getting Troy Farley, and now you're getting T Haas. And this is a one-two combo for me, if you wanna understand what Grand Valley's about. And the fact that we're still here, and, and you know, Bob Stoll retired, but Bob Stoll called me last week. And I think one of the good things a mentor does is they know when to check in. And it always convicts my soul, because I know now I'm thinking of three people that I should probably check in my mentees or people in my life that I care about. And that being there and doing that, but you just demonstrated, one of the things that Bob stole, who was on the cast first season, said that no matter what he was doing, when students came to his office, that was the most important thing he was doing

Tom Haas (16:00):
At that point in time. It's most important to that individual, and therefore it needs to be most important to you. That to me is inevitable part of being a leader at a campus, but really being a leader in life,

Gerry (16:14):
It makes for some late nights in the office when you gotta do all that other pesky stuff. They want you to do all that administrative things that they want you to do. But I've seen that. But that's a, I dunno if it's a skill, is that a skill that can be learned? We talk about this in your leadership class. For, for full disclosure, I am a student of the I N T 3 41. When somebody told me, you can take leadership with T Haas and you can watch Star Trek. I'm like, where do I sign up?

Tom Haas (16:37):
Why not? Isn't that, isn't that fun? To, it's absolutely

Gerry (16:41):
Fun.

Tom Haas (16:41):
It's actually, it's a result of my time at Harvard with case studies and approaches. It can take each one of those episodes in Star Trek The Next Generation is a microcosm of a leadership, role and responsibility individuals have to the crew or to those others that there's serving. And so I used one of my texts, if you wanna call it that, is make it so leadership lessons from Star Trek. And students enjoyed having that because we used it at case studies. And then I used the T L C, but Kouzes and Posner, which by the way, when, back in the last century when I was teaching chemistry at the Coast Guard Academy, you mentioned a degree in Human Resources Management. For me to be actively engaged 24/7/365, which you are as a officer, I could only teach in the fall and winter terms. I needed to be actively engaged. So, I did some sail training, um, but I really wanted to teach in leadership studies. I was using a second edition with a colleague of Kouzes and Posner. Now it's going into its seventh edition, still relevant. And I'm using that as, as my primary text in, in leadership and social change.

Gerry (18:00):
I enjoyed it. And, and for context Tammy Defouw my teammate over at advising who took the class with me and I said, "Hey, we're gonna, we're gonna go back to school." I had taken an undergraduate class in while I just completed the MBA here, so I was fresh into school. And what a treat. I mean, you get to take class with; pick the role you enjoy, and T Haas will talk about it, whether it's Captain Haas or Professor Haas, Dr. Haas, President Haas. And I'd love that theme in that. And I know that you don't have to be a Star Trek fan to get it. 'Cause Tammy had never seen a Star Trek episode before. I said, so on our lunch break, we're gonna use one of the conference rooms, got a tv 'cause I want you to see some of these, but I want you to get the context of what it is.

Gerry (18:39):
And out of that, I know that, I know you're a watch words because we studied that together. And I know that integrity and character is the key component of the things that you really feel and, I agree with you, are part of that leadership and, by default mentorship, right? So if you don't have that integrity with yourself, it can't pass it on. And understanding the person to make them the best they, they can be. I think a mistake in mentorship is often when the mentor is insecure and says, well, I gotta make you into me, and that rarely works.

Tom Haas (19:13):
Well. You have to know yourself before you can lead others. You have to know yourself before you mentor others in the same context that way. So, I do believe that leadership is all about knowing yourself and then having a certain set of watch words that help you navigate. And for me, a good Coast Guard metaphor is when I was on the Eagle, when on the Coast Guard cutters, you had to use these points of reference, so you get a good fix and you're gonna make decisions, given those points of reference.

Gerry (19:51):
What do you think is the role of mentoring at the university level?

Tom Haas (19:55):
Well, as I mentioned before, it's about guidance. I've had a wonderful career as an administrator, whether it be here or other institutions that I served. And in that administrative role, I had over 30 years in administrative responsibilities. I was really following the servant leadership model by Greenleaf. Whereas you wanted to make sure that those that are following you understood that you understood what the roles and responsibilities were for those that were following. Good example, again, a Coast Guard metaphor. I was the deck officer on the Coast Guard Cutter Acacia back in the early seventies. I went ahead and made sure I would go down to the deck and do the work alongside my Kerman, my, shipmates, so I could understand if I'm up on the bridge wing giving orders, that I was also understanding what the roles and responsibilities there were too. So, I do think that the notion of one, understanding that they have these watch words because they know who they are. In fact, as you remember in the class, I had everyone define their own personal mission statement. The first time, probably some did, others maybe did it along the way. But every time out of that mission statement, there should be two or three or four most important words that help you guide your life.

Gerry (21:35):
So important. We talk about, in mentorship, we do an exercise at Seidman that we kind of invented called Life Crafting. And it's the same idea of, first it asks the question, what do you want? And then it asks you why you want it. And that second question is probably even more informative, but it's a, it's a strange place to start for most people. 'Cause most people are going in, they're thinking about the thing, they want to get their job, they wanna move out, they want to get a house, they want to have a fam- whatever it is, they think of these things. But the question behind it is, why, and I watched you, the biggest takeaway for me, INT 341, the leadership component I came for, what I walked away was, I watched you teach an undergraduate class. And I think it's fair to say there's a bit of a generation gap between you and most of your undergraduate students. I don't think I'm outta line saying that. And for me, being in your class as one of the, elder statesmen of, the torch of knowledge, but watching you interact and you did something that Bob Sto reminded me I need to do in all of my interactions, with students, is you had the ability to meet the students where they were at. How do you do that?

Tom Haas (22:50):
You listen, you really need to get to know the students, even if it could be anecdotal, but you try to get to know the students. And it's maybe a more difficult now because I'm teaching, synchronously on the, on the Zoom platform. But even there, I'm getting to know the students after two or three times. I had one student in my graduate class who graduated. She was a distance learner over in Detroit, the Social Innovations Program teaching in the College of Ed. But it was a master's degree, and she was taking my classes 'cause there were electives. And she graduated this past, April. She walked across the stage. I was there on the, on the platform party. She bolted off the line, come over, gimme a big hug. Yes, you can make those connections by listening, making sure that you get to know a little bit about them along the way. So that, that's, that's a joy. It really is. I had another young man who was a football player said; this is now after he graduated. Wonderful young man. And he said, he sent me a picture of the Haas Center for Performing Arts in Allendale. And he writes to me, he says, is this you ?

Tom Haas (24:19):
I said, yes it is. He says, well, next semester I'm gonna be graduating. He's a football player too, and I wanna make sure I get a selfie.

Gerry (24:30):
Did he get that selfie?

Tom Haas (24:32):
No, he will.

Gerry (24:33):
Oh, yet to be scheduled?

Tom Haas (24:34):
He has to take two more classes this semester. I said, I am all in with you.

Gerry (24:42):
I love that. And that opportunity to make that connection. And I know that, I think you and I are wired for that connection. That's, that's one of the joys of my life. I tell folk I'm a corporate refugee, right? So I did 20 years of corporate America. I got done with that, or it got done with me in 2020, depends on how you look at it. And now, I, I don't get paid as many dollars, but I have a little desk drawer full of thank you cards from students that are worth more than any of the dollars in the bank that you change people's lives. That's priceless. Doing the kind of work that we do. So, who I, and this, and this is a huge question, but tell us about a couple of your mentors and why they were effective and how did you meet 'em? How did somebody find a mentor?

Tom Haas (25:29):
Well, I mentioned, one already with Admiral Jim Loy. Admiral Loy is still with us. He's I think living in the DC area after he retired. Now he's in some think tanks, but he would always, in fact, I was here going over to the Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival, and he was there too. And all of a sudden, I hear, "Hey, Tommy" turned around and there was Jim Loy. I said, Admiral, how you doing? He said, well, it's about time that you call me Jim. I said, yes, sir, I will, thank you, Admiral. He was always there as a mentor. I had a wonderful professor, in chemistry who was also a wonderful role model in that my discipline, he's now passed away. But he was an outstanding chemist in his own right.

Tom Haas (26:32):
He had a professional life in IBM and then went on to be a chemist professor at the University of Connecticut, and was my advisor, boy was he ever tough, but so much so he cared about what we were embarking on. And that was within my discipline to expand the knowledge base in our particular area of interest. Again, he cared. Jim Lloyd cared, and if we go back to my dad and my father-in-law too, both in the service. My dad was a cook in World War II in Pacific Theater. And my father-in-law was a retired colonel, but was a survival of the Battle of Bulge. These two individuals were wonderful role models as well, mentors in my regards. And now, I have my three children who were in the service, they're kind of mentoring me along the way to be the best dad and granddad I can be too. So the mentor relationship is not predicated on an age, but one on caring.

Gerry (27:52):
When you interacted with your mentors, or when you do interact with your mentors now, what's it like? How do you use 'em? Because I think sometimes even in the Seidman program, we pair people, you send us an application. We look over your application, we try to find somebody that meets what we think you're expressing your needs are. We pair you. But how do you use a mentor?

Tom Haas (28:11):
Well, you use a mentor as a sounding board. Many regards what you really want as someone who you can trust. I think that is one of the root perspectives that you have. Being a mentor and a mentee. The relationship is built on trust. You get to know the individuals. And I've had a chance to be a mentor along the way for many people. And I've had the good mentors myself as I was advancing in my professional and my personal life as well. I say my personal life, because I had a really fine minister in my church who was also a great mentor in my spiritual journey. So I do think that you must have someone who you can trust and the mentee who you can trust, both, both ways.

Gerry (29:11):
Do you think that; I find that mentorship, when I talk to mentors now doing this professionally, I get to pursue this more and read more and look more, seem to fall into two buckets. Some mentorships when it gets down to the operational level. Some folks like to bring a list, I call them task-based mentorship, where they come in and if you're my mentor and you say, Gerry, I want you to read this book, and then I wanna have a discussion about it, or answer these three questions and come back. The other kind of mentorship that I see very often, I would call platonic, throwing back to Plato dialogue. Right. Two people having a conversation, sharing maybe being vulnerable, and that leads into deeper conversation, establish trust. Which one do you think is more your style?

Tom Haas (29:54):
More my style? Yeah. I think it's built on deeper understanding of the trust you have with each other.

Gerry (30:03):
You develop that mostly through dialogue.

Tom Haas (30:05):
You do it through dialogue and actions, probably through actions more than anything. You have to really, demonstrate that you do care for the individual. You don't do that just with dialog dialogue. You do that with, actions.

Gerry (30:21):
What kind of actions, give some hints to our mentor mentee peers

Tom Haas (30:24):
If they a student just like, we talked about, when a student wanted a selfie, we're walking across the campus. Well, you stop, you demonstrate with your actions that you care. And I have a, a number of different models of leadership, but one of them is my four C's plus one more. You have a competency. You have understanding community and others. But the one most important, in addition to character is that you care about the individual. You care about yourself too, because you have to have a life healthy lifestyle to go along with that. But you really do understand the actions of you caring about others who have entrusted themselves and make themselves vulnerable to you as well.

Gerry (31:20):
What do you, you have a lot of interactions with students, and I like to ask this question of our guests related to academia. What's one thing you wish students would do today that they just, they don't do? Say

Tom Haas (31:30):
Say that again?

Gerry (31:31):
What, what's one thing you wish students would do that they don't do?

Tom Haas (31:40):
That's a good question. I've never asked that before. Probably, and I've seen this now because of the stresses in our lifetime is take care of themselves. Their health and wellbeing. That's really what I'm hopeful that, and we've seen the stats on this, that mental health is an important feature in today's world that might be holding students back. So really, they need to take care of themselves, emotionally and physically, spiritually, and in so many other ways to make sure that they are healthy, so that they, when they leave Grand Valley and go into the workforce, or go into their family situation or going to the community to serve, that they're as healthy as they can be for those that they're responsible for.

Gerry (32:38):
And we have so many great resources here at the university that are part of that. I had the opportunity to put President Don Lubbers in that chair. And I, I call him my president, no offense, because he had to be there during my purview. And it was a wild time back then. I think you got off easy compared to some of the stuff that was going on in Grand Valley back in the day. But, I asked him this question, I want to ask you this question, because you're part of the fabric of this. When you're leadership at that level, like it or not, you affect the course of the university. There are things, whether it's development of the university, you added during your presidency, we added a lot of square footage to the university. We had a lot of programs. You led the first DE and I initiative here now, um, as a, an instructor, and as a part of this community, I wanna know what it's like when T Haas in the fall. The leaves are changing. You walk across campus, if the students aren't asking for selfies, and you just have that time and you watch this organism, this system that you built, you're watching it do what it does. What's that like?

Tom Haas (33:51):
Well, you mentioned Don Lubbers. In fact, I was with him yesterday at the funeral service for someone who was important to the university. And Don was there with his wife. I was there. Marsha was actually getting my daughter and son-in-law here from New York. And he was a remarkable individual. In fact, when you think about it, Jim Zumberge were the first President Zumberge Library in the hall, John Lubbers, 30 plus years of service. Mark Murray, a wonderful president when he was here, albeit in a short period of time, about five years. But he was the right person, the right time. And then I come along with the mindset of being an educator. And when people ask me, what do I do for a living? I don't say I'm a president, I'm an educator, whether it be in a classroom or not, or out, outside the classroom, it's really being an educator.

Tom Haas (34:59):
So, walking across the campus now, we used the facilities to enable students learning and success. And we were not just building for the sake of building, but I was able to get friends to help me with some cash flow, which was wonderful. But I do think what we have at the end of the day, an array of enabling facilities with an outstanding faculty and staff supported by a board of trustees that know the mission of this institution and by a foundation, uh, who is also contributing their time and talent and, treasure. And then, of course, the alumni. So we have an array of people here in the community, and of course, the community as a whole. We have become part of the fabric of West Michigan. And you can just take a look at the campus and go across the campus, feel very proud of what so many people had a chance at creating.

Gerry (36:09):
You must be proud. I know that, President emeritus Lubbers, I think he described it as one of the great joys of his life is that he, when he's here on campus, and I didn't appreciate at the time the systems that were created, like some undergrads, maybe my mind was in other places , you didn't see it, but coming back. And I think that's what makes Grand Valley unique. And you've mentioned this before in your speeches, not every president emeritus gets invited back, right? Not every President emeritus, and I've seen you and Don Lubbers on the platform with President Mantella, that says volumes about the culture and community, I think of Grand Valley.

Tom Haas (36:53):
And Philly. I appreciate Philly inviting us, inviting us back too. It is a unique circumstances because when Don and Mark and I, and probably Jim Zumberge early on, we wanted to create a climate for students to achieve their goals, their academic goals, and their personal professional goals as people who are going to go into their jobs, into their professions, into life to succeed. And, I know, and Don and I are still close friends. We go out for lunch, every 3, 4, 5 months. Mark Murray, we just went over to his house for dinner recently, Philly the same way. So, there's , personal dimension on the role of the CEO here at this university that continues to draw us together.

Gerry (37:53):
It's amazing. You don't see it very much in organizations of, especially the size where you see that continuity leadership. I've often said that we couldn't do the work we do. I'll say I'm using the royal "we" here. I'm talking about Seidman mentorship program, but I'm also talking about Grand Valley because of that connection to community. And that goes all the way back to Bill Seidman, right? So, Bill Seidman, who, President Lubber's identified as his mentor, and he would describe how he'd leave work in Allendale, he'd go to Seidman and Seidman downtown to see Bill and talked through what was going on at the university. And, you know, Bill would supply his advice. He's mentoring Don Lubbers right there. Right. And that continuity comes down, and it hasn't been lost on me. So a couple weeks ago, we have an explosion in our program.

Gerry (38:38):
We got a hundred students that sign up in 48 hours. By the end of the week, we got over 215 students. I have 80 pro mentors. I call the alumni network by the end of the next week. I have 215 pro mentors. That's how it works. And if it wasn't for the continuity of that culture that you grew and now helped steward, helped Shepherd, I don't think we could do that. This leads into my question, these students today, as you're talking to them through this platform, how do they plan for their professional lives? How do they take advantage of all these opportunities and yet take care of themselves and get done with the day-to-day tasks?

Tom Haas (39:19):
Well, one of the things that I continued to say when I met new students coming in, and I did that throughout my time here and, and other institutions that I served as well. I shared with them early on in their first couple days that I personally, representing the president's office, but representing all of us, that we appreciate them making a choice to come here. They had choices. We have talented students coming into this institution. They have a, they had choices to be made. So it was our responsibility then to fulfill our promises to them. And, I think that that's an important feature to what Don was doing, what Mark was doing, what I was doing, and what Philly's doing. I've seen her now, uh, demonstrating in her own style to maintain that climate and culture of ensuring that the mission of the institution's taking care of students first and foremost, and that to me is a noble calling.

Gerry (40:31):
The connection of mentorship, the university and the community, they're really not that different. Are they? They're really all kind of the same relationship. We're talking about the, if we go back to the beginning of philosophy and we talk to, if we could talk to Aristotle and Socrates; the same things that they're struggling with thousands of years ago, still the same thing. We're struggling. So despite our technology and how much better we get at building faster aircraft or whatever, the thing that still we struggle with is our relationship with each other. And I think that piece of mentorship, or this kind of transition of this is essential. That's the only way we get better as human beings. And I appreciate that about you and, and your mentoring me. One of the things I've always heard you say when you were talking about you just did it a little while ago when you talked about, when you went from bridge down decks, you didn't say, my men, my people, my whatever, which I've heard other officers say, you said my crew mates in class.

Gerry (41:32):
You never referred to us as your students, your learners, you said you're my colleagues. That told me a lot about the person that I was learning from. When you came out from behind your desk to have a meeting with me and my mentee over 10 years ago. You, the symbolic act. And I happen to have the same setup in my office, and it's your fault. So I have a workstation and I could sit behind there, but when somebody comes into my office, I come from around the desk and I have that table with the chairs that we sit around, right. To make it, to use the word collegial. Right. And I've always appreciated about that. And you tell the story in your class about a colleague, that you had a mentor that you had, a commander that you had that would, would sign off with Love ya. Yeah. And, and how important it was to you. I love that story.

Tom Haas (42:25):
And I will still respond, and many of its very respectfully, V/R. But now, and for many, many years I'll also put down Love ya. And that's a, just a short phrase, demonstrating care.

Gerry (42:46):
Well, I'm a fan and I love ya and, uh, I know Grand Valley loves ya, and, it's been such an honor to work with you, to learn with you. And then these small connections that seem obsequious at the time. And there's something about Grand Valley that keeps me coming back and I don't know what it is, but I've stopped resisting that and now I'm committed. Now I'm here. It's shoulders of giants walking in, in some pretty big shadows. But, what an honor and what a treat and thank you, on behalf of the students, but thank you on behalf of, of me, myself, and really appreciate everything you've done.

Tom Haas (43:26):
Appreciate you being a, great colleague through these past years and enjoyed having you in class. You in your own way because of your experiences was able to share being a colleague with the other people in that class so that we can learn from one another. That to me, what mentorship is all about. We're learning and being a continuous learner. And that's what mentorship is all about. Guidance and helping people learn how to make a difference in our world.

Gerry (44:03):
A Professor, doctor, captain, president Emeritus, Tom Haas and, and my friend, thank you for coming out today, spending some time with us. Just really appreciate you. Love you,

Tom Haas (44:14):
Appreciate it very much.

Gerry (44:16):
Thank you for sailing along on this episode of the Seidman Mentorship Podcast. For more information on the Seidman School of Business Mentorship Program at Grand Valley State University, set your heading to www.gvsu.edu/seidman. If you have a story to tell, know someone we should interview, have questions or comments, email us at go2gvbiz@gvsu.edu. Until next time, keep a weathered eye on the horizon and we wish you fair winds so long.