Of all the pieces I’ve written for Corporate Investment Times, this one sits closest to who I am today.
Not because it reflects my role, my company, or my career trajectory—but because it reflects the foundation beneath all of it.
The mindset I bring into leadership was not shaped in boardrooms or refined through strategy sessions. It was built much earlier, by people who taught me how to think instead of what to think. People who encouraged curiosity, resilience, and self-belief long before those qualities were ever labeled as “leadership skills.”
Long before my professional life began, the most important lessons had already taken root.
Who We Become Starts Early
We often talk about leadership as something developed through experience, pressure, and responsibility. And that’s true—to a point. But the truth we rarely acknowledge is this: every leader is standing on a foundation laid years earlier by teachers who shaped how we see ourselves and the world.
Teachers don’t just deliver information. They influence confidence. They model patience. They teach us how to recover from mistakes, how to ask better questions, and how to stay curious even when the answers aren’t obvious.
Those lessons don’t expire. They show up decades later—in how we make decisions, how we lead teams, and how we respond when things don’t go as planned.
Gratitude That Reaches Beyond Business
Writing about teachers felt different than writing about governance, innovation, or corporate strategy. It felt more personal—and more honest.
Honoring teachers is about recognizing the invisible architecture beneath every success story. None of us arrive where we are alone. Somewhere along the way, someone saw potential before we could articulate it ourselves.
For me, that person was Jadell Souders, a first-grade teacher at Jackson Elementary in Myerstown, Pennsylvania. She helped a shy, hesitant, and awkward child glimpse possibility long before she understood what that meant. That early belief—offered quietly and without expectation—shaped the resilience that carried me through every season of life that followed.
That kind of influence doesn’t fade. It compounds.
Why This Matters Now
The article I reference this month, The Unsung Architects: Who We Become, reflects something I believe deeply: progress in business and leadership is inseparable from the human influences that form us. While we often celebrate innovation, growth, and performance, we don’t spend enough time acknowledging the people who made those outcomes possible long before the metrics existed.
World Teachers’ Day in October is a reminder that behind every leader, innovator, and entrepreneur is at least one teacher who changed the trajectory of their life—often without ever knowing the full impact.
Carrying the Lesson Forward
Gratitude is not passive. Honoring teachers means carrying their lessons forward—by mentoring others, by leading with curiosity and empathy, and by remembering that potential often appears long before confidence does.
I’m grateful for the teachers who shaped my path. I’m grateful for the opportunity to write about something deeper than business. And I’m grateful for the chance to pause, reflect, and acknowledge the people who helped make everything else possible.
You can access the October 2025 edition of Corporate Investment Times and download the full article here:
https://lnkd.in/ebtxmKKE
Because before any of us become leaders, we are first students—and those early lessons stay with us for life.