Advancing the Common Good

Joe Sertich, Chisholm, BCLP 1996
President, NHED, Northeast Minnesota Higher Education District

Commitment Triggers Response
Someone like Joe Sertich might well take a pass on extensive involvement in community leadership. After all, he is responsible for executive oversight of five community/ technical colleges and six campuses: Itasca (Grand Rapids), Hibbing, and Mesabi Range (Virginia and Eveleth), Rainy River (International Falls), and Vermilion (Ely). That “campus” extends over 13,000 square miles and has 350 faculty members, 300 other employees, and 8,000 students. The scope of Joe’s educational mandate — that includes making each of the colleges distinct, independent, and autonomous — might well overwhelm the average person or, at the very least, discourage thoughts about life beyond campus. But for Sertich, who he is, what he does, and how he understands the world are all tied up in a deep commitment to the quality of life in rural Minnesota.

Joe links this commitment to “a bargain he made with God” at age 27. Feeling vulnerable while recovering from a major health scare, he prayed for God “to do something with his life.” About that time he read a story about a child who died in a bicycle accident because no ambulance service was available. The story turned out to be a recruitment tool for emergency medical technicians; Joe decided to sign up as a way to pay back the good fortune of his recovery. As things unfolded, he moved from Hudson, Wisconsin, to Chisholm and started a volunteer ambulance service. That was 25 years ago, and the service is still in operation under the leadership of the Sertich family. “What it has taught me is an appreciation for the challenges we face in our communities and becoming part of what happens in responding to them.”

At the Heart of Healthy Community
When Joe took his current position, he spent a lot of time consulting with trusted colleagues about how to frame this new opportunity. What emerged was the True North Initiative that involved colleges as catalysts — partners with business/industry and other stakeholders working to revitalize economic opportunity in northeastern Minnesota. A robust economy is an indispensable part of healthy community. The Initiative shifted the notion of higher education as something separate from compelling local issues to an institution with its resources fully integrated in building and sustaining the health of those rural communities. Joe is very optimistic about the economic health of the region, citing more than four billion dollars of investments already in/being planned. He attributes this achievement directly to innovative, coordinated efforts. “Through our interdependence, we are able to provide the sorts of amenities that support planned growth.”

At the heart of projects like True North is leadership. For Joe, there is no magic formula. “It (leadership) means rising up at the right time with the knowledge and skills a person brings to add value to what is happening. I also think leadership flows from an appreciation for the public good. Lives in a society all improve when we bring everyone up. It is ultimately a matter of building relationships and trust — drawing in all of the voices — the notion of social capital, so that when I call someone, I can count on them just as they can count on me. Having a network of relationships like these eliminates the need to reinvent mutual trust every time an issue comes up.”

Issues of Balance
For Joe, being a leader requires several other characteristics. A leader must appreciate that he or she is making a difference by being involved both in specific issues and in advancing the public good. They need to find balance and attend to the needs and expectations of family, work and community. Leaders also must be communicators, cultivating skills that enable them to get messages across to key stakeholders.

Community leaders can get lost in the complexities and demands of the challenges they face. Characteristics like these point to the importance of being reflective and intentional about one’s choices. Going it alone, without cultivating networks and linkages, affects long-term progress. In the same vein, over-commitment as a community leader often puts undue stress on one’s primary relationships or erodes the quality of job performance. Issues of balance, then, become issues of leadership.

Leading with a Joyful Heart
Because he is so passionate about using his leadership skills for the public good, it is curious how Joe goes about encouraging others to become part of making a difference. For him, it requires modeling what is needed…with a joyful heart. “If you are running ragged, running exhausted, or are always complaining, you aren’t going to be very effective in attracting others to the work no matter how noble it is.” Joe also recognizes that a leader mentors others. This means making time to talk with people, to listen to what they have say or would like to see happen or what things hold them back from making an investment of time and talent. Encouraging others also means being attentive to how organizations recycle and refresh themselves in generating new leadership. “I think we have to be far more willing than we often are to tap people on the shoulder to interrupt what else is going on in their lives  — to ask them to think about something else, something that affects the health of the community.”

As Joe ruminates about this issue of encouraging others, he returns to a frequent theme — forming relationships. As college president, businessman, local community leader and international advocate for rural advancement, Joe Sertich flourishes in the network of relationships that have emerged over time. The quality of those relationships enriches his public and personal life as he connects with other people, their ideas, their dreams, and their hopes for the future. The strength of those same relationships also expands what is possible to achieve for a community…for an entire region.