Good morning.  I want to thank President Martinez and the Municipal League for giving me an opportunity to join you today.  I also want to recognize and thank the members of the Legislature that are here today.

I have said many times in the past nine months that the people of Texas should be extremely proud of their citizen legislators.

I spent much of the past 14 years working with Capitol Hill, and while there are some wonderful Senators and Congressmen, there is a lack of bipartisanship today that I have not seen in all my years in the military.

But when you see the work that is done by our state legislators, you can’t help but be impressed.

In 140 days, they work very hard for their constituents.  They come together to solve tough problems, and while I don’t always agree with the outcome, I have never doubted their dedication to the people of Texas.  We should all be very, very proud!

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Well, I am also particularly excited to be here today, because I know how proud my father would be to know that I was speaking before so many community leaders.

 My family came to Texas in 1963.  My father was a colonel in the Air Force, and his last assignment was the head of base operations at Lackland AFB.

He retired in 1967; we moved to Windcrest in the NE district, and he went to work for the city of San Antonio – first in what was called the Model Cities project.  It was an attempt to bring quality housing to low-income residents.

It was also around that time that Hemisfair began.  I watched as this World’s Fair transformed the city of San Antonio from a large but still sleepy town to a vibrant, modern metropolis with a bright future and high expectations.

I watched the work of mayors, city councilmen, city managers, superintendents, and local officials all pull together for the benefit of this great city.  It was, in a word, inspiring.

After time with Model Cities, Dad was selected to be the city’s Labor Negotiator, a job he loved almost as much as being a fighter pilot.

Dad was a great poker player.  He had actually grown up playing poker on Mississippi riverboats.

He could bluff better than anyone I know, and when it came to negotiating, there were few better.

And even though he represented the city in its dealings with the police and firemen, he was universally respected by those two magnificent groups of public servants.  He taught me the value of city leadership.

Growing up in Windcrest, a small incorporated city, I didn’t fully appreciate the role of the local officials.  But, I do now.

Looking back on it, I realize that my entire life was shaped by my experience in Windcrest.  It was a wonderful, middle-class neighborhood with a volunteer fire department, a small police force, and an elementary school.

It was clean, well lit, and friendly.  It had a small nine-hole golf course, community pool, three churches, and a local women’s club.

No one worried about crime or the quality of our school or the maintenance of our roads – no one, that is, but the local officials who ran the city.

Those were some of the best years of my life.

Decades later, after 9/11, I found myself in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I watched as young American soldiers helped rebuild the towns and cities that had been destroyed during the invasion or help start towns where none had been before.

Most of these soldiers were in their twenties or thirties.  Many had no experience, except what they had learned growing up in small towns or big cities of America.

They knew that someone needed to be in charge.  They knew that the people needed to be safe.  They knew that families needed clean water, fresh food, sanitation, and heat in the winter.

They knew that the children needed an education – more so than anything else, they knew an education could change the entire direction of a village, a town, a district, a city, a province and a nation.

They also knew that the adults had to have a voice in their community.  What made a community strong was not one person’s vision, but the collective views of the townsfolk.

I have traveled all around the world, and I know that successful societies are an outgrowth of a strong community.  And if you think it’s all about money and resources, you’re mistaken.

I have been to parts of Africa, Asia, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, where some communities had nothing more than a willingness to work together for the betterment of their people.

Where the school was a patch of cleared brush under a tree.  Where the villagers had to walk miles to get fresh water, and where survival against the elements was a daily challenge.

Yet, in these communities were some of the happiest, most successful people I have ever met.

That was a long way of telling you how very much I appreciate what each of you do every day to make your town, your city, and your state better for the people who live there.

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I always find it interesting to talk to folks that graduated from a UT institution, and find out how that experience affected their lives – but, even more than their time at school, the leaders of this state were first influenced by where they grew up.

Recognizing that fact, at the UT System, we want to find more ways to partner with municipalities and ISDs to improve access to education, the quality of health care, and the economic opportunities.

If this doesn’t sound like your daddy’s UT, there is a reason for that.  I had an epiphany several months ago.  I originally found my vision for the UT System focused only – only – on improving the quality of our institutions.

What I realized is that our institutions have to focus on the quality of our service to the state of Texas.  It is about Texas – about improving the human condition in every town, every city, with every man, woman and child.

That’s what great state institutions must do.

First on my list is improving our outreach to pre-K through 12.  The UT System currently has a number of great programs from Early College High School, to Dual Credit, to Math and Science Academies, to our own elementary schools.

However, I’m not convinced we are well coordinated to maximize our support to secondary education.

Next. What I know from statistics is that if you want a young student to be successful, they must be at reading level by third grade.  Unfortunately, too many of our Texas schools fall far short of that.

We must, and we will, do something about this problem.

I want the UT System to have a presence you can feel in every school district in the state.

So, we are working hard and moving fast, partnering with local ISDs.  And we will roll out some very concrete proposals to our BOR in the next several months.

I also believe that a critical part of any person’s education is teaching them to be a leader.  In today’s world the most sought after skill is leadership.  Whether you’re an anthropologist or a zoologist, a doctor or a physicist, you need to know how to lead the people around you.

Remember, our job is not just about educating kids; it’s about preparing the future leaders of Texas.

We must build men and women of character and uncompromising integrity, who can lead the schools and the towns and the cities of this great state – the mayors, police and fire chiefs, city managers, judges, superintendents.  That’s a responsibility I take very seriously.

So, we’re going to start including leadership training into the UT System so that everyone who leaves a UT school knows the basics of good leadership. Everyone understands Ethics, can develop a plan, build a team and complete the plan.  Can stand up and articulate their thoughts and ideas in front of a crowd. 

We must build leaders – our future depends on it.

At my six health institutions, UT has over seven million patient visits a year.  I’m convinced that millions of those visits could be avoided if we did a better job of educating our citizens, delivering on-time health care, and using the size of the UT System to improve our overall quality.

I will tackle this challenge with unbridled enthusiasm.

From educating our workforce to improving our research to convening a state or national dialogue of issues of importance, the UT System intends to be at the forefront of these initiatives.

You should expect that of us – but, more importantly, we expect it of ourselves.

But, I think the greatest contribution UT can make is to bring people together.  This state does not lack talent, intellect, a strong workforce, or a vision of the future.

Unfortunately, we are often working at cross purposes, or mistrust one another, or we have political concerns that oftentimes trump what may be in the best interests of our constituents.

In almost every major city in this state, there is a UT institution or another wonderful system’s academic institution.  There is a place where ideas can flourish.  A place where reasonable people can discuss difficult problems.  A place ripe with talent that can help you and your leaders work through thorny issues.  A place of common ground for the common good.

Use those institutions to help you find answers.  There are ways that our innovative students, our brilliant faculty and our dedicated staffs can be leveraged to help within the communities.  You need only ask.

At the UT System, we are also creating a culture of collaboration.  This is imperative if we are going to thrive in the rapidly changing world of higher education and health care.

The academic and health campuses are now routinely communicating between each other in a way we have never done before.  This may sound simple, but for those of you who have lived in this world, it is no small achievement.

And nothing is better at solving a difficult problem than collaboration.  It is something I learned the hard way over years of combat against a very determined enemy.

Al Qaida terrorists had an intricate network that reached from Iraq, to Syria, to Kuwait, to North Africa, to Pakistan, and into Afghanistan.

We had to build a network to defeat their network.  In doing so, we connected special operations soldiers in the villages to the districts to the provinces.  We connected the conventional forces with the special forces.

We connected the intelligence community to the operational community.  We connected the forward deployed troops to the analysts back home.

We connected everyone that wanted to be part of our network.  And, we talked – constantly.  I conducted six video teleconferences a day in order to keep the information moving around the globe.

We called it the Battle Rhythm.  It was a disciplined staffing mechanism that ensured everyone in the network was well informed, and could offer advice on how best to solve problems.

In having this Battle Rhythm, we were able to see problems before they occurred and preemptively react to them.  When a crisis hit, we were able to pool the subject matter experts to deal with the most complicated problems imaginable.

During the development of those human networks, I often quoted Metcalf’s Law.  It is a scientific law developed to explain how communication networks moved information.

Metcalf realized that with each additional node you added to a communications network, you improved the quality and speed of that network – not linearly, but exponentially.

In other words, every additional person you bring into a community of interest improves the level of communication – dramatically – and the possibility that you will solve the problem rises rapidly, as well.

Interestingly enough, I thought Metcalf was some old guy who died a hundred years ago, only to find out that he is quite alive – and teaching at UT Austin.

Think about the difficult problems you have at your schools, in your towns, and in your cities.

My guess is the expertise to solve your problems is somewhere in the tremendous depth of experience you have within your municipalities or at your local university.

Conferences like these are wonderful opportunities to exchange ideas, develop relationships, and discuss strategies.  But, how will you keep the communications and collaboration alive?

Can you build a Battle Rhythm amongst the small towns, the cities and the mega-cities?  With today’s technology, it’s not hard – it just requires someone to take charge, and others to buy into the idea.

But, imagine if you could access all the smart people in this room, and at all the universities around Texas – what could you do with that kind of talent?  What problems could you solve?  I stand ready to help.

Finally, I know that many of you are new to your leadership positions.  While I am new to higher education, I have been fortunate enough to be in the leadership business for the past forty years.

I have worked in small SEAL teams and run large, complex organizations that reported to the President.  I have found that leadership is fungible across all areas of endeavor.

For what it’s worth, and with the greatest respect and humility, I would like to offer just a few thoughts on leadership.  And with the Pope being in the States today, I will begin with something he said several months ago regarding servant leadership.

He said, “A shepherd should smell like his sheep.”  I love that analogy.  In the military, we learn at a very young age that you should never get too far from the troops.  In some cases, that is literal.

As a three-star admiral, I often went out on special operations missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, just so I could share the hardships and dangers with the troops.  Just so I always knew what they were having to endure because of the decision I was making.

You can’t always be physical with the troops, but never lose sight of what demands are on their jobs and their lives.

If you’re a mayor or a city manager, spend time with the cops and firefighters, the workers that clean the sewers; fix the power lines, keep the electricity moving.  Get out and do the dirtiest job in your city, and see what it feels like.

You should smell like your sheep.

Second, be bold.  Take risks.

I have one of those dime store posters in my office that says, “Ships in port are safe, but that’s not what ships were built for.”  No leader ever made a difference by being afraid to take risks.  Sail out of port and into the unknown.

Third, be a good follower.  One of the hardest parts about leadership is following someone you don’t respect or you don’t like.

It will be easy to make fun of their receding hairline, their soft chin or their overweight spouse.  But, you must be careful about being too high-minded or too righteous.  As long as your boss’s actions are moral, legal and ethical – you must work to follow them.

Remember, it’s about working for the good of the organization.  If you quietly undermine your boss, the organization will fail and you will fail along with it.  Be a good follower.

Fourth, communicate, communicate, communicate.  If the people who work for you – or the people you serve – don’t know exactly what you are doing, then you have failed as a leader.

Communicate your vision.  Communicate your intent.  Communicate your actions.  Communicate your thanks and respect.  Communicate every opportunity you can.

Finally, be men and women of great character.  That may sound somewhat Pollyanna-ish.  It is not.

All people want to be led by someone they respect, someone they trust, and someone they believe in.

You will make mistakes.  You will fail.

But, if you keep your moral compass pointed to true north, then nothing can undermine your character and that will sustain you and those that believe in you through the toughest of times.

In closing, I want to thank you again.  Each of you has answered a calling.  A calling to make your community better.

To build a better school, a better town, a better city – to build a place where young men and women can grow up to be strong.

A place that shapes the lives of the future leaders of Texas, and the world.

What calling could be more important?

Thank you very much.