Brookview Elementary Fourth-Graders Learn Leadership Lessons from Gov. Branstad

Fourth-graders at Brookview Elementary School in West Des Moines wasted no time throwing their hands in the air to ask Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad questions about leadership Wednesday afternoon.

“How do you put first things first,” one student asked.

The governor smiled and answered, “I focus on the most important things. There are a lot of people out of work, that’s why I’ve made jobs a top priority. That’s what we call prioritizing.”

Brookview is located in West Des Moines but is part of the Waukee school district.

Students, numbering about 125 from five classrooms, were excited to grill the governor in the question and answer session which followed a short talk by Branstad. He was invited to the school to talk with the fourth-graders by the teachers, who were pleasantly surprised he agreed to visit.

“We were just thrilled when we found out he was coming,” said teacher Stephanie Jorgensen.

She said students are studying the seven habits of leadership found in a book by Stephen Covey, which are: being pro-active; beginning with the end in mind; putting first things first; thinking win-win; seeking first to understand and then to be understood; synergize; and sharpening the saw.

Branstad told the students that being responsible is important to leadership. “I believe I should not ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t do myself,” he told the kids.

Two additional rules he shared were not to talk too long and to listen more. “It is very important to listen to people,” he said.

One student wanted to know if being governor was hard work or fun work.

Branstad answered, “It is more fun work than hard work, I think. For example, I was in Chicago yesterday meeting with the president of Kraft Foods. She went to college in Iowa.”

Student James Tormey asked the governor how it feels to be in charge of Iowa. “He said it felt good, and that he felt like it was an opportunity to help Iowans. I thought he was nice and he was a good speaker,” James said.

Brady Welch was excited to see Branstad because he had never seen any governor before, the boy said.

“I asked him one habit he would like to improve on. He said he would like to learn to not answer questions too quickly, blurting out answers before the question has been finished,” Brady said. “One of the most important things I think he said was that a leader needs to listen to people.”

Adi Hazan said he felt like he learned a lot from the governor. “I learned that a leader should not just use one part of leadership, but many.”

Blake Papenberg agreed. “ I thought it was cool how he came to the school and talked about being a leader,” Blake said. “I learned that a leader has to use all of the seven leadership habits, and even more.”