Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation

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“How do you measure success?”

Lauren James

I pose this question to you, MDLF Network: “How do you measure success?”

It’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately. Frankly, it’s a question I’ve been considering as it relates to our work and impact at MDLF since first reading the Executive Director job description. 

With a mission of “Enable Leaders. Drive Change.” the most obvious (and important) success metric to me is that we are instilling a model of leadership that challenges each of our MDLF Fellows to make our state, nation, and world—and the lives of the people around them—better than they found them. It’s the same leadership principle embraced daily by our namesake, Mitch Daniels.

I’m a firm believer of the BOLD leadership we envision and are working to foster through the MDLF Fellowship and inspired by the words of President Daniels during his May 2021 Purdue University commencement speech:

“We expect, no, we know, that you will tackle leadership’s challenges as they present themselves to you. You’re taking with you the tools to weigh alternatives, balance priorities, assess relative risks. All you’ll need is the courage to act on the conclusions you reach. Now take that readiness into a fearful, timid world crying for direction and boldness, where the biggest risk of all is that we stop taking risks at all.”

I invite you to help MDLF as we track, measure and honor the bold leadership successes of our Fellows. Simply bookmark this form and fill it out as you learn of these milestones and accomplishments (or submit it on behalf of yourself if you’re current or prior MDLF Fellow)!

Keep leading from where you are,

Lauren James
Executive Director

MDLF Fellows Spotlight

MDLF would like to congratulate each of the Hoosier visionaries and game changers, recognized by IBJ Media as the Indiana 250: “The state’s most influential and impactful leaders across business, philanthropy, the arts, government and not-for-profit.” We’re particularly proud of our MDLF family who were amongst the luminaries included: