Graduate Stories – 2002

Kent Wommack

Developing leadership skills from within

Kent Wommack is the former Executive Director of the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the world’s largest non-profit land conservation organization. He lives in Yarmouth, Maine with his wife and three children.

Several years ago The Nature Conservancy had an unexpected opportunity to acquire 185,000 acres of land along the upper St. John River, a tract of land as large as Baxter State Park. At a price of $35 million, this was by far the largest conservation project ever attempted in Maine. The problem was that we had to make an immediate decision, and had only six weeks to close the deal.

Sensing a truly historic opportunity for Maine, we never hesitated. We borrowed $35 million to buy the land, and set out to raise as much of it back as possible, before we drowned in interest costs. Just two years later, we had raised, in cash and pledges, over $50 million for the St. John and other projects–the largest non-university fundraising campaign in Maine history.

I went through The Seven Intentions® class toward the end of this extraordinary campaign. We had really bet-the-farm, but in so doing, found that we had connected to a vision and to goodness in a way that drew people to this project and ultimately to each other.

I relate it back to Tom Chappell’s belief that if you Connect with Goodness, (a universal force greater than ourselves) and tap into people’s best virtues, it is an enormously powerful connection. People feel energized and grateful to make a contribution that really makes a difference.

For me, Connect with Goodness is related to leading from one’s heart. Many of us have been taught that the way to succeed is to be the strong, hard-charging, stoic leader very much the 1950’s image of a business or political leader in our society. That way of leading is not how I am most effective.

The Seven Intentions® course helped me confirm that there is a very different style of leadership, a way that is connected to one’s heart, and connected to other people. My leadership is enhanced by helping other people to develop a common vision and share in its ownership.

When I think about people who might benefit from The Seven Intentions® program, I think of people who have strong leadership potential combined with a spiritual sense. They must be collaborative leaders by instinct who want to have an impact on their businesses or communities.