The Building Blocks of a Gonzaga President

Fifteen years ago, when asked to serve as Gonzaga’s 26th president, the first thought that went through Thayne McCulloh’s mind was “I don’t think I’m ready.”

For historical context, the nation was less than a year out from the 2008 economic catastrophe, the worst in the country’s history since the Great Depression. To McCulloh, that meant stepping in to lead a university when its own endowment had been cut in half.

Now fifteen years later, McCulloh recently delivered the keynote address at the 16th Annual Aram Lecture on Business Ethics, sharing insights on the type of leader he has worked hard to become since he first took office in 2009.

Hosted by the School of Business Administration, the annual Aram Lecture honors John Aram, a former Gonzaga Trustee and benefactor. For sixteen years, the lecture’s goal has been to share stories with students of the various ethical dilemmas faced by decision makers from all around the world.

In his address, McCulloh separated the tenants of an ethical leader into two categories: the first being a “standard leader” characterized by honesty, fairness and respect, to name a few.

That brought him to the second category.

“When we think about ethical leadership at Gonzaga,” he continued, “we have to place it in the context of Catholic and Jesuit work.”

This means rooting decisions in Jesuit values like care for every person and promoting and supporting intellectual excellence. These values determine the framework of a Jesuit institution, and McCulloh believes they also inform each and every decision made by the institution’s leader.

Throughout his presentation, McCulloh shared other pillars of what he’s come to know as ethical leadership, one of which being that personal history informs leaders. He spoke on his relationship with his family, his education (both public and Catholic) and of the leaders in his own life who have shaped him as a person.

“A lot of people look at leaders, and they encounter them as they are in that moment,” McCulloh said. “They make a lot of assumptions about that individual in terms of their level of success, as if that’s how they have always been.”

He went on, though, to say that it is the building blocks set in place over several decades that eventually determine how a leader will work in relationship with others, not the person they may present up front. So, he says, when encountering someone in a position of power, think of what they’ve gone through to get them to that moment, who they were in past years and how it has informed who they are now. They may be more capable of relating to a situation than it might seem.

Throughout his presidency, McCulloh compiled what he’s learned as a leader with a little help from Nike. Yes, the corporate shoe giant known for its matter-of-fact catch phrase, “Just Do It,” inspired the president’s “12 Maxims for Leadership.”

He joked that while Nike is smart and only needs a few maxims, the 12 he’s written are the product of everything he’s learned in 15 years at the helm of Gonzaga.

Simply put, “they’ve worked pretty well for me.”

Of those 12, several circulate around the idea of trust, the very first one being, “I’d rather be trusted than liked.”

McCulloh maintains that the countless decisions he has had to make over the years have all been all geared towards becoming a leader the community could count on. He pointed specifically to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a time, he said, that presented many ethical dilemmas and required immense trust in his leadership.

Which led to another maxim – “If you had all the information I do, you’d make the same decision."

McCulloh shared that leaders are often privy to more details than the public, but the community trusts them to bear that information and take the necessary steps. Steps that will always be in line with what is best for the students.

“For me, it all comes down to the question of, ‘Who are we here for?’”

McCulloh answers that in his final maxim – “Always remember: your primary focus is on the effective education of our students.”

In his words, keep the main thing, the main thing.