PEORIA MAGAZINE November 2022

P E O R I A R E T R O

ROLE MODELS OF LEADERSHIP Dirksen, Michel and LaHood showed today’s leaders the way

BY CHRIS KAERGARD

Left, former Congressman and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood with U.S. Rep. Bob Michel

U.S. Rep. Bob Michel and U.S. Sen. Everett Dirksen

S ome of the most prominent public servants central Illinois has sent to the national stage have left footprints for future leaders to follow. ‘IF YOU WANT TO LEAD, YOU'D BETTER BE LISTENING 90 PERCENT OF THE TIME’ Everett Dirksen, Bob Michel and Ray LaHood collectively represented the Peoria area for more than 75 years in the nation's capital. During that time, they earned a reputation for listening, being open-minded, being civil in debate, and mentoring a new generation of leaders – skills that are a template for success in many fields. — Bob Michel

While a good leader may inspire others, a willingness to remain silent and attentive can truly set them apart. Quoting advice from his father, Michel habitually said that "if you want to lead, you'd better be listening 90 percent of the time." Whywas listening so important to the longtime member of Congress? "You lead by listening because when you are listening to others you are finding out the facts. And you can't lead without the facts to help you make de cisions," Michel told Pekin Community High School students in 1984. After getting new facts, leaders also are willing to rethink their decisions, and are unafraid to change their minds or work to bring differing sides together through compromise. Indeed,

Dirksen was well known for doing this and it's intertwined with his reputation for passing key measures, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He'd often emphasize that willingness: "I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times." ‘I AM A MAN OF FIXED AND UNBENDING PRINCIPLES, THE

FIRST OF WHICH IS TO BE FLEXIBLE AT ALL TIMES’

— Everett Dirksen

Each of them was also a champion of decency and civility — qualities that aren't just contained to public life, but all discourse.

78 NOVEMBER 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE