Craig Talmage remembers sitting at a meeting of the national council of the Lutheran Student Movement a few years ago and getting really frustrated that nothing was getting done.
The leaders at the time had good intentions. And they wanted to use their organization’s power to help improve the lives of Christian students.
But it was sort of all talk, and no action. It lacked cohesion, and no one really knew why the group existed or what it should be doing.
“I didn’t like it,” he said of his first year’s involvement with the national council. “I don’t like to waste my time.”
Instead of leaving, Talmage, a graduate student at Minnesota State University, decided to try making a difference by becoming its leader.
He ran for president and won. A year later, he ran for re-election and won again. Today, he’s leading a national organization that, since he took over, has found its way back to having a purpose.
“It used to be kind of a clubhouse,” Talmage said. “It benefited only those involved.”
The national council’s vice president, Mike Yeutter, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, called Talmage an “awesome” leader.
“He’s a very, very hard worker,” Yeutter said. “He’s an action-oriented person.”
Talmage, the son of a pastor, was born and raised in Arizona. He attended undergraduate school at the University of Arizona. For graduate school, he chose Minnesota State University’s nationally recognized program of industrial and organizational psychology.
His father, before sending Talmage off to college, gave him only one piece of advice, and it had nothing to do with academics — at least, not directly.
“He said, ‘I want you to go to church,’” Talmage said.
And, of course, he did.
Talmage got involved right away with a Lutheran group on campus, and eventually got into the Lutheran Student Movement. His consistent involvement allowed him to secure a position as treasurer. And then, during junior year, he ran for president of his region and won.
And in the months of his first year as president, Talmage learned firsthand exactly how far the national council had drifted off course.
“Half the people had no idea what we were doing,” he said. “Goals had been forgotten. Some didn’t even know where their (regional office) bank accounts were.”
An annual spring break program the LSM had been operating also had been neglected. By the time the group met for its first meeting, only a handful of students had signed up, so the spring break plans were canceled.
Talmage spent the first half of his first year as president trying to inject new energy into the organization. He, along with the other elected officers, worked on getting the national council to focus on a new mission: supporting the work of the regional presidents.
That was where most of the work was being done, Talmage said. Instead of coming up with grand ideas, their goal became helping the people who work with students. LSM should be known for helping people, they said.
He also worked with the ELCA during the summer and developed a partnership that will help them carry out a new and improved spring break service program.
By New Year’s, when it came time to elect the national council officers, Talmage decided to run for president again so that the momentum he started in getting the LSM back on track could continue.
He won and is in his second and final term. Yeutter said Talmage is a great fit for the job, and that the LSM has done a complete 180 in terms of its focus and purpose.
He attributes that to Talmage’s leadership.
“He just has an ability to make people pay attention,” Yeutter said. “He’s definitely a person I look up to.”
The experience, Talmage said, has taught him a lot.
“It really has changed my life,” he said. “I always thought good leaders talked a lot. But it’s actually the opposite. A good leader talks when he’s supposed to, and listens all the time.”
For more Free Press news go to http://www.mankatofreepress.com/
Email this article | Permanent link | Topstories news | Topstories news archives
Minnesota State
University, Mankato
Mankato, MN 56001
1-800-722-0544
© 2005-2013 Minnesota State University, Mankato. Minnesota State University, Mankato is a member of
Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system and an affirmative action/equal opportunity university.
