There’s a quote that says, “Don’t wait for opportunity, create it.” This is exactly what my family did at the end of January. We had the rare opportunity to meet and enjoy lunch with the former Secretary of Defense and US Marine Corps General, Jim Mattis. This luncheon was held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It was a very exciting experience to shake General Mattis’s hand, sit down with him, and engage in meaningful conversation—even learning about his life as a youth.
My sister, Jeannie Johnson, who is also the Associate Professor for the Center of Anticipatory Intelligence at Utah State University, arranged the luncheon and, incidentally, is a good friend of Mattis’s.
Furthermore, Jeannie, in conjunction with the Utah State University Center for Anticipatory Intelligence, coordinated a speaking engagement wherein Mattis gave a presentation at Utah State University on January 21st, 2020.
The topic of interest Mattis chose to speak: U.S. Leadership on The World Stage (Getting it Right and Healing Rifts at Home). Hundreds of USU college students along with members of the faculty, community, friends and family all gathered in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom. Also, in attendance were key leaders and members of the Utah National Guard as well as widow of Major Brent Taylor, Jennie Taylor.
According to Associate Professor Jeannie Johnson, “Jim Mattis is a National Treasure; he is a bridge builder which is the essential work of a great nation. He is also widely admired around the world and deeply trusted.”
Mattis served over 40 years in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer, as NATO Supreme Allied Commander, and as Commander of U.S. Center Command. Retiring in 2013, he later served as the 26th U.S. Secretary of Defense.
Utah State University, in Logan, UT., has a first-in-the-nation Center for Anticipatory Intelligence. With this—USU delivers interdisciplinary academic programs, research, and professional training focused on emergent security challenges stemming from advancing technology. Thus, having General Mattis speak was an exciting opportunity to aspiring students in this particular field.
Some highlights of Mattis’s speech include his thoughts on how the United States had a military before we had a country. He mentioned how there’s no monument in the country sufficient to represent all that’s been done. He was extremely appreciative of the long line of veterans who have provided trust.
He encouraged the audience to not just read about dates that happened but “Apply history to keep this great big experiment you and I call America, alive.”
He said to, “Roll up your sleeves and never accept you’re complete…continue to make this experiment a success and help it to be a more responsive country and a better country.”
Mattis acknowledged Gold star family members and paid high respect to them.
Mattis paraphrased Albert Einstein who identified problem solving as such that if Einstein had one hour to save the world from an imminent crisis, he would spend 55 minutes preparing and understanding the problem. As a result, he could accurately come to a solution within the last 5 minutes.
General Mattis counseled the audience by saying, “We need to take time to do what the military calls “Problem Setting” before we can be successful in problem solving.”
While serving as Secretary of Defense, it was the responsibility of Mattis to sign every deployment order that came through the Pentagon. Each time he would ask himself this important question, “Does this deployment contribute sufficiently enough to justify the deaths of these troops?”
Mattis was very thoughtful with every action and worked hard to establish trust. He encouraged the audience to take time and build trust with each other and to listen to each other. Learn from history and study the great land of America.
