Greetings from the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains!

Hello fellow World Campus classmates….I’m a late add to the class.

My name is Doug Brown and I live in Western North Carolina with my wife, 6 horses and 3 dogs. Professionally I am a senior sustainability manager for a Fortune 100 company and while I never envisioned myself in a sustainability role having spent the majority of my career in business development, I am really enjoying the challenge. I’ve had the good fortune travel extensively for my job throughout North America and across the world…sometimes as a tourist, others immersed in the business culture. I’m celebrating 20 years with my present company and have had a wonderful and varied career holding leadership roles in sales, marketing and of course, sustainability.

I’m pursuing my degree in Organizational Leadership because I believe it will fill in the gaps between the successes that I have had; and the ones I would still like to have. Over the last chapters of my career, I would like to do two things; leave a legacy of accomplishment and; help other to leave one of their own.

There are so many great leadership quotes as demonstrated by each of you in your profiles so I will share this one from John Maxwell; “Smart leaders believe only half of what they hear. Discerning leaders know which half to believe”. This quote speaks to directly to wisdom. Wisdom is generally refined over time however; it is never too early to become a great listener.

I have 4 amazing kids each building their own lives today in; Michigan, Utah, Florida and Illinois and hope that we gave them the tools necessary to succeed both personally and professionally. So far so good, everyone seems to be a positive contributor to our society and doing well.

I mentioned earlier I have 6 horses. My wife is a professional trainer and I am an avid horseman…this is a full time lifestyle as horses are a 24/7/365 commitment which some of you may know. What’s important for me to share with you in relation to our course topic is; that my most profound lessons in leadership come from horses. They are a herd (team); each one has their position (role) in the herd; their very lives (success/failure) depend on each fulfilling their responsibility; and they are masters of non-verbal communication which is often neglected in human interaction yet arguably as important the spoken word.

I try to ride as often as possible which is sadly not often enough. “No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle”. ~Winston Churchill.

Cheers!