This story appeared in the 2022 Fall issue of Onyx Anneau.
By Trent Deckard
My Woods experience began in July 2021 with a magical day down the Avenue. Accompanied by family, I saw the campus for the first time with a tremendous alumni guide and my own brother-in-law, Devin Blankenship, ’17G. I was new to the school and the inaugural class of Ph.D. students in Global Leadership, but I had an instantaneous and sustaining connection as I felt history and viewed sacred places.
My path to this moment and the historic program came after a lifetime of rewarding service. I was fortunate to work for a member of Congress, lead an agency for the State of Indiana and serve as a chief of staff at the Indiana House of Representatives. Currently, I teach global business students as a communication lecturer for Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and serve at large as a representative on the Monroe County Council.
The Global Leadership program complements all those experiences and interests and pushes me forward.
I have grown immensely beside a cohort of friends and colleagues while researching cross-cultural communication, imposter syndrome and my own personal passion, global leadership storytelling. I am fascinated by the stories that leaders tell and how those stories can create change and connections in the world. Storytelling is also important to me because I collect and read comic books. Early in the pandemic, I used my comic books to read to others stuck at home via Facebook live. This seemed appropriate given how comic books had helped me as a child while struggling to read.
I am grateful for my growth, faculty mentoring and the opportunities that have come from study abroad experiences that have already taken me to Ireland and Greece. I am all the better for the incredible leadership journey that brought me down the Avenue.
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