Honoree: Deborah Ballam

TOM GREGOIRE: I met Deb Ballam in 2008. This is a story of how little it takes sometimes to make a huge difference. Her impact has been huge and sometimes when we think about big impact we think about long-term mentorship, guidance, lots of opportunities; that's not my experience with her. It's just taking advantage of a couple of directions she gave me, but it's been pretty profound. I think that that is important: you just don't know how little it might take to make a huge difference.

So Deb was the director of The Women's Place one floor above us in Stillman Hall and I knew her mostly just from riding up the elevator. The first time that I actually met her, that I recall, was when I showed up in an Art of Hosting retreat in May of 2008 and was greeted by Deb. She greeted me as an old friend even though we only knew each other from the elevator rides. I think my favorite memory of Deb will always be the big smile and the big hug I got when I walked into that first hosting retreat. I was feeling a little nervous, had looked at the list and thought "I know like three of these people." And so to feel that welcomed ... her presence communicated that this was something special. So I will always remember that. Everything changed by virtue of that meeting, and it was just a little touch by Deb, not years of mentorship.

So I said that Deb invited me to participate in an Art of Hosting retreat. So this comes at a time when I'm pretty unhappy and not sure what I want to do and giving fairly serious thought to whether I should stay at Ohio State. What came out of that weekend and how Deb influenced me from one short sentence and then a lot of discussion after that ... I stayed here. I'm the dean today and I'm the dean partially because- maybe a lot- because of that weekend. Really the invitation to the weekend and then being a bit of a beacon along the way. That's her extent of interaction with me, but what she launched was really important to me. Two weeks ago I spent almost an hour on the phone with a faculty member at another major university who'd heard about all the changes we made in terms of curriculum design and transformation and she wanted to know how. And this is somebody on the west coast. So this little lost weekend of "what should I do with myself?" has turned into myself with more leadership but into the transformation of an organization as well.

The lessons she taught me, the first one is one that I learned that week is the importance of being all-in. If something matters to you, you have to be all the way there. You cannot learn to swim by dipping your foot in the water: leadership is not just an intellectual exercise. The heart has to come with you. I experienced her as a nice balance: she's playful but very driven and very committed. I also think she had a strong sense of purpose, someone who was very genuine and very intentional in her interactions with people. I think she is just someone who starts a lot of fires with confidence that it's going to build. I think a big part of it is that wherever Deb walks follows hope and optimism. She's one of those people that when you're in her presence you have a sense that it can be done, it should be done. There are probably 200 people on this campus now that remember that community, have been through hosting retreats and other opportunities and that's all from one person. I knew she had many mates and many allies: Deb sat up there on the fourth floor of Stillman Hall and really had more impact on culture and client here than probably anybody else.

I think that a lot of conversations that Deb is a part of and hopefully that I am a part of start with "What if?" and rarely with "Yeah, but..." The difference between those terms as far as what we can create is very powerful. That Art of Hosting stuff is cool, but I'll make sure that people know Deb got it started.

What would I tell Deb that I haven't said before? What I would ask her rather than tell her, since she taught me to ask questions, I would ask her: "Do you have any idea what you've gotten started? Do you have any idea how far this reaches across this campus, to Dallas, Texas, to all the other places ... we've done that. To Portland, Oregon, who is calling to ask us how we do this, how we took that and have become what we are right now.

What I learned from her and what I learned from other people that weekend has been reflected in how I practice as a leader. See I'm not naive, I don't know that the world will change, but the part that I walk in will change in as much as I can help change it, and I think that that is what Deb has done, too.

Transcription by Transcribe OSU