Values-Driven Leadership: Mayor Michelle Kaufusi’s Story

In this episode of the Franklin Planner Podcast, hosts George Wright III and John Harding are joined by Mayor Michelle Kaufusi of Provo, Utah. As Provo’s first female mayor with a background on the Provo City School Board, Mayor Kaufusi shares her inspiring story of overcoming a challenging childhood, her drive for excellence, and her journey into leadership. She highlights the importance of trust, love, and maternal instincts in governing a city and building effective teams. The discussion delves into her guiding principles, mission statement, and the balance between her professional role and personal life, offering valuable insights for individuals and leaders looking to make a significant impact in their communities.

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Episode Timeline

01:04 Mayor Michelle Kaufusi’s Background

04:01 Challenges and Early Life

06:59 Path to Leadership

10:12 Values and Vision

17:56 Maternal Instincts in Leadership

19:16 Leadership and Team Management

19:56 The Role of a Mayor: A Lifestyle, Not a Job

20:14 Choosing the Right Deputy Mayor

21:34 Mission Statement: Exceptional Care for an Exceptional Community

23:18 Building Trust Within the Community

28:31 Balancing Growth and Community Values

29:37 Final Thoughts and Advice for Aspiring Leaders

Thank you for joining us on this Journey to create your best life and to lead your Life and Teams. Please share this show, and we look forward to the journey we will take together.

The Franklin Planner Team

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Episode Transcript

Welcoming the First Female Mayor of Provo, Utah

George Wright III: Welcome back to the Franklin Planner Podcast. My name’s George Wright III here with John Harding. How are you? 

John Harding: Great to be with you, George, and great to be with this amazing guest. 

George Wright III: Yeah. We have an amazing guest for you today, Mayor Michelle Kaufusi. Thank you so much for joining us.

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: Well, thank you for having me. I love this. I’m so glad that you asked me to come on.

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi Background Story: From Single-Mom Household to Provo Leadership

Growing Up in Provo with Hardship and Grit

George Wright III: No, this is, this has definitely been something we’ve been wanting to try to do for a while. You’re in the middle of a lot and you have one of the top run cities in the country. We’ll give a little bit of background for you, but we, we really appreciate your time and I think there’s a lot of our listeners that will gain a lot of value from what you’ve been able to do as an individual and as a mayor, leading teams, and also in your own life.

Just to give a little bit of background, Michelle is the mayor of Provo. She’s the first female mayor of Provo, Utah. And she served on Provo City School Board for six years. Was board chairman. She’s had a really, really extensive background that we’re gonna get into, but also from a real success level. She is, married her husband, five children, very successful children. [00:04:00] And so we want to get into both a little bit of your individual background and your experience professionally overall.

John Harding: And George, I wanted to just thank you, Mayor Kaufusi, for taking the time. This is a busy time of year. And, I would like to just kind of remind George and I, and as we, we talk. Our mission when we come together on these podcasts is focused around helping people lead their life and really doing that intentionally based on timeless principles.

And while we’re here, and, we really talk about a system, the Franklin Planner system, that we’re very focused on really helping people create their best lives. So thank you for joining us. Our research on you and our knowledge of you and our mutual acquaintances and our experiences in and out of Provo City and that expanded Utah [00:05:00] County, leave us impressed with our personal experiences, just in the cleanliness of the city. I used to be president of a homeland security software company that worked with your fire and your police and your EMS, Provo City was always a joy to work with.

But I’d also like to mention we do very much, have guests on that lead organizations. And I think your role is so unique, because you have teams and leaders that work really directly for the city, but then you have these amazing residents of the city and people who visit. So your ability to lead your life with character and competence, build trust, and then you have so many experiences where I believe you’re dealing with differences of opinion, different background, different people, and for eight [00:06:00] years or something like that, you have been leading this city that has all these awards. So just thank you for, well, being on, and I hope we can just talk about your life and, as you’ve said, George, and a little bit about what you’ve learned and done leading and helping others lead their lives. 

George Wright III: Yeah. And we, um, maybe we can start with this. ‘Cause as John mentioned, we wanna dig into sort of your, your professional leadership role, but also your individual life. But could you give us a little bit of your background and story? ‘Cause you have a great story and I know what you’ve grown up, with a single mother, you’ve had a lot of things that have instilled certain values for you that have brought you to where you are. So maybe you could give us your background and help us understand where you come from.

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: So that is such a great question and just know right outta the gate, I always tell people there’s nothing special about Mayor Michelle Kaufusi but there is something about Mayor Michelle Kaufusi that is in her, that is not afraid of a challenge [00:07:00] or hard work. And I am pretty gritty. When, when I put my mind to something, I usually don’t let up.

And then the also component is I always apologize ’cause whenever they see the name Kaufusi they think that’s gonna be my husband or one of my big boys. And then they get the mayor. But we’re all part of the family and, and I’m the balancer for them. And so we all play a role together. I’ll tell you, my kids could care less I’m the mayor though. They just wanna make sure I’m cooking and there’s milk in the fridge and all those mother things. 

But a little bit about my background is I was actually born and raised in Provo. I’m sitting in my office. I’m looking our my window and I can see the hospital I was born in, right here in Provo. And born into a family of seven children and a mother and a father. And my father was really unique. He was [00:08:00] not of the religion and had a drinking problem and just not what you would picture in the early sixties in Provo. It was a really unique situation and my mother realized after years of trying to make it work that it just was never gonna work. So she got divorced, which was unheard of, I didn’t know any other single person in Provo that was a divorced mom with seven children. And so she had to go to work and she was from Manti, Utah. So you didn’t take welfare, you didn’t take government help. Everyone just worked harder. And, we all started working by age twelve. On Sunday nights, we were putting our money on the table and trying to figure out how we were gonna make it through the next week. She worked the graveyard shift at the hospital as a nurse from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM every single night.

And she would pull in the [00:09:00] driveway and roll her window down and hand us out a Tap, which is the Diet Coke of today. And a Pop-Tart and just send us off to school. And then she would have to go in and, and kind of, you know, do motherly things, do wash, do all the things so that she could be ready to go to work again. Being born and raised in Provo was a fascinating experience for me.

How Early Challenges Build Resilience and a Desire to Give Back

George Wright III: Well, you know, it’s interesting because those hard work values, they’re, they’re definitely something that have helped you get where you want. And I think you and your family have instilled those because you have some very successful kids. You have, like you said, you’ve built a family that is very much successful in every aspect.

And so, you know, I’m curious what helps you to get interested in moving into a leadership role or the public sector as an individual. You’re, you’re getting moving into life and you decided to go into public service, and so I’m curious [00:10:00] what took you in that direction and how you kind of led your life into there.

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: That is such a great question, and I often get asked this question actually because I’ll tell you what, nobody writes down in their seventh grade journal they wanna be a mayor when they grow up or they wanna be a politician. At least I didn’t, and I didn’t know anyone that wanted to. But there was something unique about Provo and with seven kids and running around in the city and everyone knowing that we had to pay our own school clothes and pay our, and yet the citizens, instead of turning their backs on us, which they probably could have. They rallied around us and, and really helped lift and give back and pay us more than a dollar an hour to babysit. That was unheard of for a BYU basketball game and paying me to read to their children and clean their bathrooms and homes, things they really didn’t need, but they knew I needed the money.

So that idea of giving back and [00:11:00] serving was instilled in me and just always finding myself. Not really pushed to the front, but finding my way to the front of leadership.

I remember talking to my mom and saying, I really wanna go to BYU. And her saying, listen, there is no way. I will never be able to help you get to BYU. So you’re gonna have to figure it out on your own. And I remember going to Provo High, ’cause we went to Provo High School and walking in and tracking down my counselor and saying, as a freshman, how, what does it take to get across the street to BYU? And her saying, here’s the list. This is what you’re gonna have to do. I can tell you how to do it, but it’s gonna take four years of hard work. And me literally taking that list and going to task on it and landing academic scholarship and going to BYU. My kids, if you were to ask my kids who their counselor was, none of ’em would be able to tell you. But again, I think it’s just that kind of gritty [00:12:00] drive of I want that life, so therefore I’m gonna figure out how to get there. 

George Wright III: Was it a vision that you kind of had to kind of go into the, uh, the area that you had to work at? And part of that was obviously the step getting into good school and…

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: Exactly. And a lot of it was just being influenced by wonderful friends and family. I mean, being raised in Provo with my childhood friends and seeing a functioning family and always being brought into those families. It’s just a huge impact on me. So wanting that and making my mind up that as much as I loved my mother and loved my siblings, I wanted something different than the day-to-day struggles that we were all having.

I wanted to figure out how to conquer that, but, in the same aspect of being able to give back. This give back has been in me forever and it’s [00:13:00] not going anywhere. My husband will often state that I have a sign on my forehead that says, will work for free, because I just feel this desire to lift this community because they lifted me.

John Harding: Let me, let me ask you this, Mayor, as I listened to that some things just jump out, like you said, grit, but I somehow you, at a young age, like you say your kids haven’t done this, you had kind of a vision to go in and you had deep desire in you, so you had a vision of where you wanted to go, and then this counselor’s giving you some very specific criteria.

You had to have then set goals and you performed a lot of work in that four year period. That is unique for that age and your story inspires us. How did you deal with obstacles of either discouragement [00:14:00] or, no, I can’t do it. The way you tell it, it sounds like somehow younger you had decided there’s a great motivation there, but can you talk about obstacles before we get later to the city or your leadership? Just in your younger life, how did you have that cool vision to make the obstacle almost the way?

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: That’s such a great question and I think a lot of that was because, we were, we were an anomaly in Provo. Police, if my dad got out of jail or something like that happened, he’d show up at our house and cause trouble and police would be at our house. And we, it really was something that you wouldn’t expect in Provo.

And in fact, I ran into one of my neighbors across the street when I, we first came back to Provo and he literally had tears in his eyes and said, I remember the first night you moved into your home. We woke [00:15:00] up to police in your driveway and all on the street. I mean, it was rough. And when people hear that, I think maybe nowadays that might be a little more common, but back the sixties and seventies it was unheard of in, Provo, and I think just all living that for one thing and knowing that I had enough money to buy two pairs of pants and pack of underwear and a pack of socks to go to seventh grade, and that’s all I had.

All of those things were really hard and, and obstacles, just like you stated. But because I was surrounded by such good people and I was seeing this other opportunities that they had, that’s where I set my sights, was, oh my word, they, you can get to this point. You can have a family sitting around a dinner table and having dinner together. Things like that, it was really unique. Just again, experiencing it and thinking that’s the life I [00:16:00] want. So how do I get from where I am now to there?

Leadership Journey: Vision, Goals, and Grit That Led to Public Service

From High-School Freshman Plan to Becoming Provo Mayor

George Wright III: Did you have, was there a point in time where you decided, I want to go into public service and I, I want to, I want to run for office?

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: There really was not a time other than just always finding myself in leadership roles. And again, it’s that idea of, I’ll try it or let me see if we can accomplish this. Let me lead this and see if I can get us there. And not being afraid. I think when you come from a little bit of a rough childhood that these things out in the world that people are terrified of being in charge of or it’s too overwhelming for them. No, all day to that I knew what overwhelming was. I lived it as a child.

Daily Disciplines and Habits of Highly Successful Leaders

The Power of Reading, Relationships, and Never Quitting

George Wright III: Did you have a routine? Did you have daily disciplines that you instilled in your life that has what, even to this day, kind of carried through? Anything in particular that you would draw out?[00:17:00]

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: Something that’s been fascinating to me is I’ve spoke all across the nation and actually outside of the country multiple times on this. There’s a common denominator amongst a lot of us, and that is, I was an avid book reader. I would read anything I could get my hands on. It was my escape. I could spend hours at the library.

To this day, I still have stacks of books all around me and life lessons learned in books, being able to jump into another person’s life for a little bit and have a little break from my own. Things like that. And, but reading was really my escape and a lot of it too was being social. I was always really social and loved my friends. Just really depended on friends and relationships and I was good at relationships and that has really served me well.

George Wright III: John, there’s a [00:18:00] lot of individuals out there that are overcoming challenges and obstacles and things there. We talk a lot about vision and roles and goals, but the daily disciplines as well. But I think having that eagerness to learn, read, grow, challenge yourself, that’s pretty common. That’s, that’s the common of top leaders, top individuals. Wouldn’t you say?

Applying Family Values and Maternal Instincts to City Leadership

John Harding: Absolutely, and we see that in your life. I wondered as you made that transition, George, to asking her about your office and running the office, running for office and now having really played a key role, you would say, as a team member, I’m sure you know nobody leads alone, but I’m curious, were there specific values that you picked up when you were younger and that you incorporated in your life now with your children and your husband. If we were to say, Hey, what is your mission? And we’re still on the individual side, but what, if there’s anything you’re willing to share, like what’s your vision of your [00:19:00] personal life now with your family?

What are some of your values and goals related to that?

George Wright III: ‘Cause also juggling that like you’re, speaking specifically to your individual personal side, you have this, like you said, a family and individual goals and things versus the city individually. How do you manage the difference there and what are some of them 

John Harding: And maybe your roles, if you’ll just throw that in and just tell us. I think people would be fascinated with, you have a very successful home you’ve created, I would say, given your circumstances, hearing your story, even way back when you were younger. I am impressed with your mom. I’m impressed with your, you are a product and a fruit of a lot of difficulty there that you shared, but something amazing and good, values and mission and vision and, happened there, but share whatever you would about that.

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: Yeah, I, there’s, it’s really interesting because [00:20:00] trying to instill that in your children is unique. So I’ve always been really sharp with my mind. I have this crazy mind that remembers things and can come up with things. And I, again, I pro, it probably goes back to my reading of just consuming any book I could possibly, staying up all night reading was not odd for me. But I would come up with things to my kids like Kaufusi’s never quit. End of story. “Mom. I hate soccer. I’m hot. I’m, I’m the heaviest guy out here. Everyone’s small and faster.” I don’t care. Kaufusi’s never quit. Little models like, that are just mantras, that even I put those in my mind and, choose your friends wisely for you’re going to tend to be like them. I mean, I can, I’ve got a bunch just flying through my mind that I used for myself growing up that I would read in a book or capture in somewhere on an advertisement and lock those in my brain, and it kind of was [00:21:00] what directed my pathway with some of these, swing for the fences. I use that here at the office all the time. Nobody’s gonna be mad at us for trying. We’re gonna try. So those are just some of the things that I’ve been able to use.

Something else that’s been really fascinating to me in this position has been how much of my maternal instinct. I use my maternal instinct and my mothering skills every day as the mayor, and that always throws people off, but I…

George Wright III: Yeah. In what way? Yeah.

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: When I’m in a conference room with 11 wonderful, much smarter than me men and we’re fighting and pushing and kind of just pushing each other on why? Tell me the why.

I have learned to just, I’ll have these little moments of, that reminds me of Bronson and Corbin fighting over swords in the backyard. How did I calm that one down? And then in comes to my maternal instinct [00:22:00] and I go to work with it, and it has served me really well. So I’m here to tell you, women, there’s not a moment of your life that is wasted, that you might think, oh, I’m not being productive ‘cause I’m an at-home mom, and I am here to tell you, throw that out the door. ‘Cause all of those you’re having on a day-to-day basis, regardless of where you’re at or the impact you’re having, will impact you in your future for the good.

Provo City Leadership Principles: Mission, Trust, and Decision Making

Official Mission Statement – “Exceptional Care for an Exceptional Community”

George Wright III: Yeah, that’s a great perspective to have as well, especially if you’re a leader, because a lot of people see leadership as this thing they’re gonna get to, or they’re gonna be, but your whole life, you’re building up to that. And this is a great time to maybe segue a bit now into the leadership and team management because as you said, you’ve had times where there’s resistance and there’s different decisions that need to be made. And, and I’m curious, because you run a very successful team, what are some of the guiding principles that you use on a day-to-day [00:23:00] that you can think of that really have helped you to establish such a successful team overall? And like John said, you have this internal team with the city, but then you have an external facing responsibility to the public. So how do you manage those and what are some of the things you’ve done to really build this team around you?

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: Well, I tell people all the time, being the mayor is not a job. It’s a lifestyle. You’re always the mayor all day, every day. Another piece is when I first won this mayoral position, I couldn’t sleep, and so I wrote a single-space two-page document of all my weaknesses because in this position you get to appoint a deputy mayor and I thought, okay, I have got to be so strategic on who I pick. I don’t want someone that agrees with me. I don’t want someone that’s just me mirrored. I need someone that thinks different, that knows more about this ’cause I don’t know anything about it. And [00:24:00] so picking your deputy mayor is critical and that’s how I picked my deputy mayor and something else I use all the time is I tell, and people are just thrown by this, but I say all the time, I didn’t get in this seat to get reelected.

I took this seat to do the right thing, so I’m going to do the right thing regardless if it cost me my career in this position or not. And that one gives people pause ’cause it’s unique, but it really is how I feel. I say it when I need to say it, and it’s the truth. I stand by it.

John Harding: Let me just connect to that and ask you, Mayor, do you have something like a personal mission statement if we ask you that? Because you’re, I can just in that comment, you’re drawing on the depth of who you are and what you’re about, and it really helps you where you are. But I was just curious, do you have a personal mission statement?

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: So it’s really interesting. When I became mayor, there was no mission statement, and I [00:25:00] am really big, like I said on these one-liners and things that can play through my mind that help me stay on task and stay focused. Our mission statement we came up with is “exceptional care for an exceptional community”.

And the reason why is because that word “exceptional” has stuck with me since the first time I heard it in about seventh grade is, what does it mean to be exceptional? What does exceptional look like to you? ‘Cause it’s different to other people. But I have a very good outline of what exceptional means to me, and I use it on a daily basis of trying to be exceptional, not just average. Not basic, not good enough, but let’s take it up a notch and let’s figure out how we can be exceptional on a daily basis.

Building Trust with 1,400 City Employees and Provo Residents

George Wright III: I love that you said that because John, what we talk a lot with individuals about, and she made the comment that her values play the key, right? So [00:26:00] having the mission and having the values be what leads your life rather than, most people have their tasks and obligations and responsibilities lead it, and then they bump it up against that. But you’re leading from your values and things and how big of a deal is that with leadership. That’s amazing. 

John Harding: It’s huge. And it matches too. You took responsibility early in the things you’ve described. You have courage, you have this grit. How would that extend to the citizens of Provo and kind of go, go that step because and say, what are some of the maybe outcomes from having such a powerful mission and trying to make that happen in the future for everybody that moves here?

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: Yeah. I’m a real believer of loving the people you, that work for you. And you ask my employees, there’s 1400 of them when we count every employee, there’s [00:27:00] 820 full-time. And when I came into office, I was the, like you stated, first woman mayor, I’m the 45th mayor, and they had never had someone cry a boardroom over the budget. I cried in the boardroom over the budget my first year.

John Harding:  Was it? Was it tears of joy or sadness?

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: Just, this is so tight. We’ve gotta make it work. But–

George Wright III: You’re passionate about it. Yeah. I see that.

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: And they’ve never had a mayor that tells the police officers, I love you guys. Thank you so much for what you do for this community. You ask any of them and they’ll be like, yeah, she tells us she loves us all the time and I really do, and I, and they feel that love and because I pour that out to them, it has just trickled down. The community, again, being born and raised here has served me well. I don’t talk to anyone for more than 10 minutes where they didn’t know one of my sisters or [00:28:00] my mom or my grandpa didn’t teach them at Provo High in the business department. There’s just a lot of interconnections, which has also served me well. We have a reputation in Provo, back to my siblings, of being hard workers. When you talk to people, they’re like, yeah, you guys, your mom was a hard worker. You kids were hard workers. I’ll take that reputation every day.

George Wright III: Yeah, that’s a pretty strong value. And it seems like you do a lot of trust building and leading from purpose and leading from mission, and I think those things all help to build trust. Wouldn’t you agree?

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: Exactly. And so much of it is trust and getting the community to trust you. When I first became mayor, it wasn’t so tricky, but with a lot of the stuff that’s going on in the federal level and just all the various levels of government, the trust issue has become significant. We focus on building trust every day in the way we work, the way we lead, the way we interact.

[00:29:00] I tell my people all the time, I love and appreciate you, but just know when you’re out picking up the garbage cans or, what, you know, fixing a sidewalk, pouring concrete, you are the face of the mayor and that is what you have to remember is you’re representing me. And that needs to be positive, interactive, engaging. All of those things matter more than ever now, because the level of trust in government is so low. So I, we do these trainings and I do these pump up talks and, all the time.

John Harding: Do you have, Mayor Kaufusi, a way that you measure trust or that you can tell, Hey, we’re going up, or we’re struggling here. Do you have a way to, how would you look at that as a leader? That’s a powerful principle, right? Timeless principle.

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: It is and [00:30:00] just my own personal inner meter of when I’m out in the community and I’m speaking, like tonight I’m going into an a pers- a citizen’s home to meet with people because there’s an issue that was brought to my attention. And so my motto is, I go to them. I don’t, nobody wants to come into a government building. No one. That’s weird.

But I’ll tell you what, when I’m in a living room surrounded by 25 neighbors who are concerned about X, Y, and Z. That’s where I win the day because I hear them, I let them speak and then I tell them how I’m gonna handle it and what I’ll do for them. And the trust is how you measure, that’s how I can measure the trust and where we’re out in the community. It’s tough being in this position ’cause you get a lot of naysayers and a lot of angry folks. But I have to just raise above it and realize I’m doing the right thing for the majority. I can’t [00:31:00] get honed down in the grumpy minority because we’re better.

I always say Provo’s better than that. I was being interviewed on Fox News and CNN, and I just said, listen, it is the people. It is our community. We know our neighbors. We know who lives next door to us in Provo. We watch out for each other. It’s a unique city and it really is how I feel about it. Just being a local born and raised, I can tell my chief any street in the city, and he’s always blown away how I know it faster than him.

Thoughtful Decision-Making for Provo’s Rapid Growth

George Wright III: It’s interesting because you, you talk a lot and I can tell just from the topics that you bring up with trust and exceptionalism and excellence and passion and things like that. And yet it’s one of the fastest growing, most dynamic regions in the country, especially in tech. And so you have all these probably growth initiatives, and yet you’re, you’re doing that. I’m curious how you balance that between the mission and purpose and trust that you’re creating, but also this need to [00:32:00] perform and build and grow in such a fast moving and very successful at doing it, sector.

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: That is, that’s really true because I tell the team all the time, growth’s coming. And it’s either gonna roll over, so we’re gonna get out ahead of it. And so we do. I tell all the time, every decision we make, are we gonna look back in 30 years and be glad we made this decision? So I also do something that they don’t love, but all my directors and chiefs, I go around the room when there’s a major decision to be made. I’m really thoughtful. I put a lot of thought into the decisions for the city, and I go around and say, if you were the mayor, what would you do? It puts a whole different twist…

George Wright III: And pressure, right? Yeah.

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: And then I get to hear all this feedback and they’ll tell you, she does this game and we hate it so bad. And then she always says, I’m gonna go home and sleep on it. I am not one of those that makes quick decisions. I put a lot of thought and prayer and [00:33:00] take in everything, and sometimes I’ll go with them and sometimes I’ve made decisions that I haven’t listened to a single one of them and just gone with my gut on the decisions.

Advice for Leading Your Personal Life with Intention

The Power of Self-Reflection and Sitting in Silence

George Wright III: Wow. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. Man, I wish we had a whole bunch more time to get into things. John, I’m curious if you have kinda some final questions and thoughts for the mayor. And we appreciate your time ’cause we know you have so much going on in the middle of running for a third term. So, any final thoughts that you have? 

John Harding: Yeah, I do. And I wish we had more time. So again, we’ll need to catch up to you, Mayor. I would just like to thank you again for being on and congratulate you on your life, how you’ve led your life. You’re still very young. Right? You have much to do, but you’re so impressive and I’m thankful for what you’ve done.

I also think you’re to be congratulated, any CEO that’s [00:34:00] been in a role, rarely nowadays is a CEO, a leader in a role eight years. You’ve done that and you’re pursuing, you know, service to help serve further. George, I have two questions or invitations for you, Mayor. If, thinking of our listeners, thinking of both younger, older men and women, wherever they may be, people who want to lead their personal life. And all of us have obstacles. No one knows some of the private obstacles, and then some things are more public. But I wondered if you would be willing to just offer suggestion or advice to someone, all of us listening about one thing that might stand out among many that you’d say. To lead your own life, I found this to be powerful. 

Now, if you’ll think about that, George, I have [00:35:00] one more and Mayor, one more. In your leadership role, where you have clearly, I think this role has more people to criticize the decisions you make than any other company role. Any leader of any company across the world. A mayor with all the citizens. So would you also have advice because you’ve successfully shown there’s evidence, there’s tons of awards, best city to live in, best run city, but just on your character as well, you’re to be complimented. So as a leader, would you also maybe offer something to those that are leaders and I think I would like to say, we have this belief, Mayor, that, I’m sure you share, but that in every individual is greatness. And also in every individual is a leader. The ability to lead their own [00:36:00] life and contribute either in a formal position or informal to be a great leader. So could you offer an individual suggestion and then one related to a leader. And thanks again for joining us.

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: Such great questions. The first one that I, it just comes to mind, is nowadays with all the static noise and everything that’s at our fingertips and distracting, I would say don’t be afraid to be alone and sit by yourself. And have zero distractions. I have found I do some of my best reflection and decisions and just pivoting when I am not afraid to sit and be still by myself and in complete [00:37:00] silence.

I think nowadays that’s hard to do and yet it is a skill that I value and if you don’t practice it, you lose it. ’cause it’s really easy to be on your phone or to be distracted or there’s so much out there now. But sitting still and really taking in a self-evaluation on a daily basis. And it’s a little bit different than personal prayer or meditation. It’s really a self-reflection and not being afraid to just be with yourself. That has been really helpful to me and has really served me well. And what was the other question?

Leadership Tips: How to Nurture the Leader Inside Every Person

George Wright III:  And by the way, that’s a difficult thing to do. I appreciate you saying that. ‘Cause I think that’s something that people have a hard time doing. And then to your other point on a leadership level, what advice or what feedback would you give individuals that, because we [00:38:00] do feel that most everyone has a leader in them, right? Everyone has a leader in them. And in order to really, truly nurture that leader, would you have any recommendations or thoughts that you would put out there?

Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: I think it, being a leader can be really scary and intimidating, and we all have it in us. Like you stated, everyone has leadership in them. It’s just a matter if you are gonna be brave enough to nurture that leader and let that leader come out. And as that leader starts to come out, be okay with it and bring it out even more and more. Because nowadays it’s scary to be a leader. It’s much easier to stay behind your phone and behind your screen. That’s kind of a safe place for a lot of people, but I’m telling you, trust the process of bringing that leader out and being brave. And nurture that leader because that’s what’s gonna make change your life.

Final Thoughts and Closing – Thank Your Mayor Michelle Kaufusi

George Wright III: We appreciate that, that is such great, valuable advice, and you’re [00:39:00] a true inspiration for individuals at so many different levels because you’ve accomplished a really inspiring story from a family, a business, a community, leadership level. So thank you so much for joining us here today, and, John, appreciate you being here as well.

John Harding: Great to be here.

George Wright III: If you’re listening to this, please do us a favor. Hit us up, let us know what you’re working on. Let us know what you’re struggling with. We wanna bring value for you, and we look forward to hearing more from you as we continue to bring you great interviews like we have here with Mayor Kaufusi. So, thank you guys. Have an amazing day and we’ll talk with you soon.

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About Mayor Michelle Kaufusi

Michelle Kaufusi has served as the 45th mayor of Provo, Utah since December 5, 2017, and is the city’s first female mayor. Born and raised in Provo, she earned a B.S. in Geography from Brigham Young University. Prior to being mayor, she served on the Provo School Board and in other civic roles; as mayor her oversight has included major infrastructure projects, an emphasis on fiscal responsibility, public safety, and smart growth. Her leadership has seen Provo earn national recognition as a “Best-Performing City” multiple years in a row.

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