by Thom Little, Ph.D. My wife and I are now officially empty nesters. This year, our youngest daughter started college. She is a first year (they don’t call them freshmen) at Mr. Jefferson’s university, the University of Virginia. She has always done very well in school (all she got from me was her height), so [...]
By Thom Little, Ph.D. SLLF’s motto is “Inspiration, Education, Excellence.” Last weekend, I believe we fulfilled that mission and motto as we presented “Addressing the Opioid Crisis” in collaboration with the Center on Addiction and Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. The all-star faculty inspired the audience to act, educated them so they could act effectively [...]
By: Thom Little, Ph.D. In late August, 2018, Speakers of the House from more than half of the fifty states gathered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the 27th Annual Meeting of the National Speakers Conference (NSC) hosted by the Honorable Robin Vos, President of the NSC and Speaker of the Wisconsin House of Representatives. The program [...]
By Thom Little, Ph.D. More than two centuries ago, fifty-five men from across thirteen American colonies established a government like none other before, a government where power was bestowed not by birth right or by armed might, but by consent. A democracy. The governed had, by the power of their voice and their vote, the [...]
By: Thom Little, Ph.D. For more than seventy years, the descendants of James H. and Virginia Howell Colson have gathered in Norwood, North Carolina on the first Sunday of June for the Colson Family Reunion. As one of those descendants, I have probably attended about half of the reunions, including the 2018 edition. When I [...]
By: Stephen G. Lakis, President, SLLF Just last year SLLF signed up with Bridge Alliance, a new organization whose stated goal is to restore civility to our national discourse. We believe the Bridge Alliance is onto something, not just because they speak truth when they point out how damaging the current lack of civility is [...]
By: Thom Little, Ph.D. A few weeks ago, I posted a blog entitled “Why Do They Do That?” trying to explain why younger legislators, staffers and constituents do the things they do–like sharing so much on social media, ignoring institutional practices and protesting instead of voting. In that piece, based on presentations at SLLF’s recent [...]
By Thom Little, Ph.D. Why do young people today seem to be addicted to their iphones or tablets? Why do junior legislators seem intent on bypassing the committee process and the leadership structure? Why are young voters as interested in marching for a cause as they are in voting for a political party? Why do [...]
By Thom Little, Ph.D. What a weekend! What a conference! A few days ago, I had the honor and privilege of spending time with an extraordinarily ordinary group of young people (and some pretty cool older people too!) at SLLF’s 2018 Spring Leadership Forum, “Bridging the Gap: Leading and Learning from a New Generation.” I [...]
By Thom Little, Ph.D. Everybody talks about top-down leadership. Those at the top of the pyramid lead those further down. Indeed, with its focus on presiding officers, pro tempores and floor leaders, the State Legislative Leaders Foundation has spent more than forty-five years focusing on top-down leadership. But today, I want to flip that on [...]