Leadership Lens

"How do you view leadership through your camera lens?" 

That was the question K-State's Staley School of Leadership proposed to professional and amateur photographers as they looked to refresh their building's artwork.  

The Leadership Lens initiative generated 86 images from 28 artists from Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon and Texas. From the entries, a juried panel selected 19 photos from 15 different photographers to refresh the hallways and conference rooms of the Staley building.  

There was a photo from the South Pole. Another showed a desolate desert scene from a world away. And even from among those unique, far-flung places, I had two photographs chosen for inclusion - taken by a farm wife in South Central Kansas. It just goes to show that there is beauty everywhere. It's in city skylines, but it's also found on an early morning down a dirt road in Kansas or reflecting off water at sunset. It's just a matter of opening our eyes to the wonder.

Last Friday, March 27, the Staley School of Leadership hosted a reception for Spirit of Leadership, an annual event  where alumni, friends, students, faculty and staff come together to reconnect, reunite, and re-energize around leadership. They also recognized the photographers whose work was chosen for display in the 2025-26 version of Leadership Lens.

They moved into the Staley School of Leadership building on the K-State campus in 2010. At that time, they chose photos to include in the hallways and conference areas. In 2017, they offered the opportunity to submit photos for a "refresh" of the space. (I had two photos chosen then. Click HERE for more about those photos. They auctioned those 2017 pieces off to raise money for programs at the Staley School.)

Last fall, they again offered the chance to submit photos and to focus on how leadership could be reflected in the images by submitting artist's statements.  

 

My artist statement for A New Day Dawns: The best sunrises and sunsets occur when there are clouds in the sky. The clouds create a unique texture of light, shadows and color to make the sky an interesting tapestry. As leaders, we may wish for blue skies and an easy path. But the “clouds” in our lives build our tapestry, too. It gives us empathy for others and helps us persevere. Likewise, milo is known for its resilience in difficult growing conditions. Success seems sweeter when we have faced obstacles and come out on the other side.

I took this photo of a sunrise over a milo field south of our house last fall. It now hangs in a second-floor conference room. 

The second photo chosen was taken at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge during a December 2021 sunset. It hangs in a second floor hallway at the Staley School.

Taken at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, Stafford County, Kansas

My artist statement for Ripples:

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.

 --Mother Teresa

Effective leadership radiates outward like ripples in water. The ripple effect underscores the power of small leadership actions in creating significant, positive changes. When leaders recognize small wins, practice active listening, demonstrate empathy and foster open communication, they can build a strong, cohesive and motivated team and make "ripples" in the world at large. 

The artist statements hang by the artwork. 

I was thrilled that several members of my family could join Randy and me at the reception. (Brooke had a birthday party for one of her best buddies.)

Eric's parents, Alan and Christy, also joined us.

It meant a lot to me that they all made the effort to be there.

 

There is art other than photography in the building, too. Susan and Kinley did their best statue impression.

 

Organizers of the event used the monarch butterfly as a central theme for the evening's festivities, handing out lapel pins.

 

It seems to be a lesson we could all use these days: Practice leadership by nurturing growth within yourself and others. Like the monarch butterfly, embrace and celebrate transformation.  

 

This Facebook reel shows some of the process of selecting and installing the new artwork. 

 

What an honor it was to have photos chosen! If you're ever on campus, check out all the artwork. 

 

Pavement Ends: Photos Begin

As we were driving home from Manhattan a week ago, the sky was offering a final encore for the evening. We had just turned off I-35 at McPherson and were working our way home via K-61 highway.

"If you need to stop, we can," said my ultra patient husband when he saw me pull my camera from my purse and try to capture the moment through a bug-specked windshield.

We turned off on an unfamiliar road just south of McPherson. I hopped out of the car and started snapping away. Then I noticed a sign: "Pavement Ends." I traversed the steep ditch and snapped a few more pictures, this time including the sign in the shot.

And I thought about how fitting it was that we'd turned off onto that road that very night.

Earlier in the day, I'd attended a 20th anniversary brunch at Kansas State University's Staley School of Leadership Studies. This summer, Jill sent me a link to an opportunity connected to the anniversary celebration. The Staley School invited alumni, friends, faculty and staff to submit photographs to be displayed in the building.

 

When the school moved into its new building in 2010, they'd asked photographers and artists with a connection to Kansas and K-State to share their work, with the thought that the pieces would be refreshed and rotated over time.

 

With the 20th anniversary celebration coming up, organizers believed it was "the time." The photos that had been hanging in the building would be auctioned off, with the proceeds to go to support leadership students.

For the new artwork, photographers could submit up to five images to be considered by a panel which included professional artists, faculty and former students. For each image, the photographer was to submit an artist statement about how the image could reflect leadership.

I looked through my photos, wrote artist statements and polled my family. paring the 11 photos I'd pulled down to five. Late in October, I was notified that one of my photos had been selected.

They happened to choose a photo that I have hanging in my own living room. (I have a grouping of my photos that reflect the seasons, a celebration of Ecclesiastes 3. The green wheat with dew is my "spring" image in my home.)

 

Now, its bigger cousin hangs as an "archival print" in a conference room on the leadership building's second floor. It was thrilling to see it there.

My parents and Randy joined me at the Staley School reception.

Conner, a leadership student, led us around the building, telling us a little about each of the new photos. We walked into another room, and I did a double take. On the same wall with an image of Bill Snyder, there was a photo that looked really familiar. Another of my photos had been chosen, and I didn't know it until I walked into that room.

But there it was. I called the image Faithful to Our Colors, a line from the K-State Fight Song.

 

I couldn't believe it: Two of my photos had been chosen.  My letter had said one, but there was another.

 

I later found out that more than 200 images had been submitted in the Leadership Lens initiative. Only 26 were chosen to be hung in the Staley School of Leadership Building. I couldn't be more honored.

And that brings me full circle back to that Pavement Ends sign.

As we walked through the building and looked at the photographs, there were images from around the world. One featured a colorfully-dressed woman in Haiti. A captivating image of a baby baboon had already been included in a display at the Smithsonian Institution after being recognized as one of the best photos in National Geographic. Another showed an elephant family ... and it wasn't taken in a zoo. It was taken in the elephants' natural habitat.

And, still, an amateur farm wife photographer from Central Kansas could take photos from where the "pavement ends" and be included. My usual habitat features cattle and farmyard cats, not baboons or elephants.

There is beauty everywhere. It's in city skylines, but it's also found on an early morning walk on a dewy morning down a dirt road in Kansas. It's just a matter of opening our eyes to the wonder.

In a few years, my photos and others that were just installed will be auctioned off as a fundraiser. This inaugural auction raised nearly $10,000 for programs at the Staley School.

And that is beautiful, too.

For more about the Staley School of Leadership Studies, click here.

I have photos hanging in K-State's College of Business Administration. Read about that here.