As an immigrant who came to the United States 12 years ago to chase the American Dream, Luke Zhang finished top of his class at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a triple major. He was a key member of the Indiana COVID Response team, applying data science to contend with the unprecedented crisis. Luke currently co-leads Resultant’s flagship Rapid Prototyping team. 

Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation Class V Fellows had the honor to be hosted by the Liberty Fund recently for our class day on August 5, 2022. According to their website, “Liberty Fund is a private educational foundation established to enrich the understanding and appreciation of the complex nature of a society of free and responsible individuals.”

It was an eye-opening experience for all of us, to say the least. Unlike most of the class days where impressive speakers are brought in to share their words and wisdom around certain topics in a lecture style format, fellows are learning from each other purely through self-led group discussion during the Socratic-style Liberty Fund conferences.

Prior to the class day, each Fellow was given a list of background readings such as Thomas Sowell’s “A Conflict of Visions” and Leonard Read’s “I, Pencil.” The readings were selected by conference moderator Emilio Pacheco, Senior Vice President and Pierre F. Goodrich Resident Scholar, to fit our class day theme on the economy. But our class discussion went way beyond just one topic. We covered technology, politics, society, individual liberty, personal responsibility, and many more. 

The MDLF Fellowship Class V is composed of Hoosier leaders with diverse backgrounds; each of us is unique with different ages, races, genders, religious affiliations, political views, job titles, and lived experiences. Despite all the differences, each Fellow was able to fully participate in the entirety of the day's conversations, explore ideas, and foster intellectual discourse. 

Given that no individual in our society is the same, it’s impossible to expect everyone to share the same thoughts on a given topic. Our group is no different, therefore, we truly had to learn how to best discuss the disagreement, share the logic and facts behind our thoughts, and respect each other’s opinions. It’s extremely rare to have learning opportunities like this since we are living in a world where polarization is shaking societies and relationships. 

Our class experience and purpose of the MDLF Fellowship aligns perfectly with Liberty Fund’s purpose of fostering ideas, encouraging discussion and creating an impact.

The famous Mahatma Gandhi said it best: “Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.” In order to build a better future for Hoosiers, we need to “agree to disagree.”