The Leader of the Pack (1909) 
The Motley Crew Follows the Leader (2017)
Here we are riding toward the Canadian Rockies. Other than the day I married my beautiful wife Mary, the birth of my children and grandchildren, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful. I’m in awe of the beauty surrounding me anywhere I look. Yes, I am keeping my eyes on the road, but you know what I mean.
It makes me wonder about the feeling of magnificence that Charles Doolittle Walcott must have felt in 1909 when he first discovered this beautiful wonder. I make a living as a leader and as one of my constituents recently put it, I am always sharpening the saw, always trying to better myself as a leader. But, when I think of Walcott who at the time of his discovery lead a path where no other had before, it humbles me and I wonder if he thought of himself a leader?
When I planned this Summer Fun Leadership Series I didn’t plan to write an article about a man like Charles Walcott, but the more I learned the more I was intrigued. As I look at my LinkedIn profile and listed accomplishments which are modest compared to many, I am blown away by the man who discovered the mountains in this photo.
He was the youngest of four children with an interest in nature from an early age, collecting minerals and bird eggs and eventually, fossils. No surprise there, right! But, what did surprise me is that he did not graduate high school.
He attended various schools, but left at the age of eighteen. His interest in fossils grew to him being a commercial fossil collector. He went on to become involved in paleontology at Harvard and then to a geological assistant at the US Geological Survey where he became director in 1894.
In 1902, he became one of the founders of the Carnegie Institute in Washington DC and in 1921, he was awarded the inaugural Mary Clark Thompson Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. I mean, WOW! No high school diploma and a founder of all Carnegie is today.
In 1907 Charles Doolittle Walcott became Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. He was the 4th Secretary of the Smithsonian and remained in the position until his death in 1927. Again, WOW! The Smithsonian.In my opinion, this was a man who served. A man who lead, but who most likely didn’t see himself as a leader. If there had been a LinkedIn back then, if he even had a profile page, it probably would have been brief, something like this.
I love digging in dirt!
I took this trip with my buddies to clear my head, to be a guy, to wear dirty jeans, dirty socks and try not to get bugs blown in my mouth for ten days. I did not expect to be so awe inspired from the beautiful mountains in this photo. I certainly did not expect to be humbled by the man who traveled before me 108 years ago.
Charles Doolittle Walcott was a leader that I am honored to follow. Thank you for joining this Motley Crew on our journey of ten days of summer fun. We will now lead our way back home where we belong.