James M. Strock: An interview by Bob Morris

[Robert Morris]

James M. Strock is a businessman, educator  and citizen servant based in Scottsdale, Arizona. His company, Serve to Lead® Inc., works in two areas: 21^st Century Leadership Development, and Clean Tech Sustainability. He is a frequent speaker and has written three books: Serve to Lead: Your Transformational 21ts Century Leadership System, Reagan on Leadership, and Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership. In addition to extensive business experience, he also served as the founding Secretary for Environmental Protection for the state of California, as the chief law enforcement officer of the U.S. EPA, and other national service positions. Strock previously served in the USAR-JAGC in the 1990s.

Morris: Before discussing any of your books, a few general questions. First, other than a family member, who has had the greatest influence on your personal growth?

Strock: I’ve benefited greatly from studying many effective people from history. Among those who’ve influenced me the most are Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill. I’ve been privileged to be able to study them extensively in my formal and ongoing education. Each of the three altered history; each was self-created to a great extent; and each was a great student of history and leadership. I first learned about TR from children’s books. He held particular interest since I, too, was afflicted with childhood asthma. I became aware of Churchill as a child growing up in the decades immediately following the Second  World War. I recall well his funeral, a major television event in my early school years. Reagan is in a bit of a different category. I worked in several of his campaigns and in his administration. Therefore I have some sense of what it felt like at that time and place, serving as a young adult in enterprises led by President Reagan.

Morris: Was there a turning point (if not an epiphany) years ago that set you on the course in life that you continue to follow? Please explain?

Strock: At the time I attended law school, the progression into a career in corporate law was almost foreordained. I set about to craft a career reflective of my values. These included: public service, environmental protection, and leadership development. Trusting my instincts, following my heart, enabled me to create a calling that became a career.

Morris: To what extent has your formal education, especially your legal training, proven invaluable to your career thus far?

Strock: With every passing year I have increased appreciation for the value of a strong liberal arts grounding. If one studied history as well as quantitative models, one was much better situated during the Wall Street mayhem of the past two decades.  Amid the rapid rate of change today, and the breaking down of industrial categories and academic disciplines, the adaptive capacities nurtured and honed in the liberal arts are vital. Legal training has also been quite useful in developing critical thinking. Whether one attains it in mathematics, philosophy or law, an analytic grounding can add great value in defining and confronting complex problems, or laying out a path to implement a vision.

Morris: How about your military service? To what extent has that proven beneficial?

Strock:  My Army reserve service was in the 1990s. It was, more than anything else, an opportunity for me to express gratitude. My understanding of and admiration for the American armed forces is deeper, better informed as a result. I’m among those who believe that military or other citizen service should be an expected part of every American’s life. In a time when our nation is engaged in multiple, long-term wars, it’s  critical that “the military” not become an abstraction to the vast majority of Americans who are not participants.

Morris: To what extent do you view California as a microcosm of the federal government?

Strock: This is an interesting question. California is, in many respects, best understood as a nation-state. In the environmental-energy realm, California possesses far-reaching legal authorities that other states do not. California leads the nation in auto emissions standard-setting, for example. In recent years, the state’s political system has been hobbled by regrettable dysfunction. This is in evidence in its interminable budget crises. If California can rouse itself to take action on the most pressing public issues of our time, such as pension reform, it could again lead the nation. At the moment, that role is being assumed by other states.

Morris: Of all the U.S. presidents, which do you consider the most over-rated? Why?

Strock:  Woodrow Wilson. Wilson is reported to have told a Princeton colleague, shortly after the 1912 election, “It would be an irony of fate if my administration had to deal chiefly with foreign problems, for all my preparation has been in domestic matters.” In the event, Wilson’s early months were marked by substantial domestic legislative accomplishment. Unfortunately, after Europe plunged into the Great War in August 1914, Wilson’s leadership was uncertain. The postwar settlement of Versailles, in which Wilson had such an important part, was deeply flawed. His administration ended in tragedy, with his insistence on governing following his disabling stroke. I suspect President Wilson is often graded on a special curve, because many academic historians identify with him as one of their own.

Morris: The most under-rated? Why?

Strock: William McKinley has surely been underrated—in no small part because he was succeeded by a memorable leader, Theodore Roosevelt. Curiously, while TR is among the most captivating of presidents in our time, his administration, too, is often underestimated. Roosevelt’s successes in domestic and international affairs are so wide-ranging as to appear obvious or inevitable in retrospect. So too, Dwight Eisenhower has been underestimated, which may relate to his advanced age in office, his somewhat uneven communications skills, and his failure to present a forward-looking vision on the rising issue of civil rights. One wonders if Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon’s administrations may come to be viewed, in the future, as having been underestimated in some respects.  To be sure, each ended in failure. Nonetheless, Johnson’s accomplishments in civil rights and immigration legislation, and Nixon’s in respect to relations with China, may loom larger with the passage of time.

Morris: What prompted you to write about leadership in the first instance?

Strock:  My books arose from my own experience, when I sought guidance in practical leadership in my career. In sum, I strive to write the kind of book that I would find valuable in my own life. I often encountered books by academics and others who had not actually done what they had written about. They tend to create artificial simplicity; their prose doesn’t have the vigor of “lived words.”  On the other hand, many practitioners lack the context or introspection to make their experiences and understandings transferable—and, in our time, many don’t actually write the books they “author.” My ideal is to unify theory and practice.

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To read the complete interview, please click here.

Jim Strock invites you to check out the resources at his website by clicking here.