Blog Post #2: The Work Continues

By Mike Highfield. President & Chief Academic Officer

In 1776, America was still an idea rather than a nation. The thirteen colonies were divided by geography, culture, and competing interests. Communication was slow, resources were scarce, and success was far from certain. Yet during the summer of that year, a relatively small group of delegates gathered in Philadelphia and undertook what would become one of the most consequential acts in American history. Much attention is rightly given to July 4, 1776, the date printed atop the Declaration of Independence. The story of independence, however, began several weeks earlier.

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution before the Second Continental Congress declaring, in part, that “these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” It was a remarkable proposal. Lee was asking thirteen colonies, with different economies, different interests, and sometimes very different ideas about their futures, to separate from one of the most powerful nations in the world.

The resolution set in motion the process that would ultimately lead to the Declaration of Independence. Yet Lee was not present when the Declaration itself was formally adopted. Family obligations required him to return to Virginia before Congress completed its work. Thus, the man who introduced the resolution that launched the process was absent for its culmination. But the work continued.

Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration between June 11 and June 28. Committees completed their assignments. Delegates debated and revised the document. Others stepped forward when needed. On July 4, Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence.

I have found myself thinking about that lesser-known piece of American history quite a bit recently.

This summer marked an important transition for me personally and professionally. After three years as Provost and Executive Vice President at Mississippi College, now Mississippi Christian University, I stepped away from a position and an institution that had occupied a significant part of my life. During those years, I had the privilege of working alongside talented faculty, staff, administrators, trustees, and students as we addressed challenges, pursued new opportunities, and planned for the university’s future.

Although my time at MC has ended, the university did what good institutions do. New leaders assumed new responsibilities. Faculty continued teaching. Staff continued serving students. Decisions continued to be made. Plans continued to move forward. The work continued.

There is something both humbling and reassuring about that realization. Leadership positions can consume an enormous amount of our time and attention, and while we occupy them, those responsibilities can sometimes make us believe that we are more essential than we really are. But none of us owns the institutions we are privileged to lead. We simply have responsibility for them for a period of time.

A few weeks before completing my service at MC, I experienced that lesson from a different perspective at the Graduate School of Banking at LSU.

For the first time in 15 years, I was unable to be present for part of our annual session. In fact, I missed the entire first week. I did not even get to teach my Financial Markets class, something I have always looked forward to each May. I had a pretty good reason.

My wife, Shelley, and I traveled to Annapolis to watch our son, Tyler, graduate from the United States Naval Academy. It was one of the proudest moments of our lives. However, nearly 1,000 miles away in Baton Rouge, the 76th Session of GSBLSU was underway. I wasn’t there, but once again, the work continued.

Faculty members stepped into classrooms, including my own, and did an outstanding job. Classes were delivered as planned. Students remained engaged. From both an academic and operational standpoint, the session proceeded remarkably smoothly.

That did not happen by accident. Our faculty bring extraordinary expertise and professionalism to GSBLSU each year. Our staff spend months preparing for the arrival of hundreds of bankers and faculty members on the LSU campus. Corinne, Theresa, Julianne, Victoria, and Madison manage countless details, solve problems before most of us know they exist, and do much of the work that allows the school to operate so smoothly each May. My absence simply gave me an unusual opportunity to observe the result from a distance.

As our nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I think there is an important lesson in Richard Henry Lee’s story. Great institutions do not depend upon a single individual. They endure because people embrace a common mission and are willing to carry that mission forward when called upon to do so.

That does not diminish the importance of leadership. In many ways, I think it helps define successful leadership. One of our responsibilities as leaders is to build organizations in which talented people understand the mission, know what is expected of them, and have the ability and confidence to act when their teammates are not in the room.

Richard Henry Lee eventually returned to Philadelphia and signed the Declaration of Independence, placing his name alongside Thomas Jefferson’s. I was fortunate to return to Baton Rouge for the second week of our session, reconnect with our faculty and students, and participate in the graduation ceremony for the GSBLSU Class of 2026.

My role, of course, was considerably less consequential than Lee’s. But the small parallel caused me to pause and think differently about leadership and institutions. After all, over the course of just a few weeks, I watched the work continue at GSBLSU when I could not be there for our annual session. Shortly thereafter, I stepped away from Mississippi College and watched the work continue there as well. There is a lesson in these experiences.

For 76 years, GSBLSU has continued to evolve while remaining true to its mission of preparing bankers for leadership. No single person created that legacy, and no single person can sustain it. Each generation of faculty, staff, trustees, alumni, and students inherits something built by those who came before and accepts a responsibility to leave it stronger for those who follow. That is true of GSBLSU. It is true of our banks, universities, businesses, and communities. And, in a much larger and more important sense, it is true of our country.

We are all temporary custodians of institutions that we hope will outlast us. Our responsibility is to do our part while we have the opportunity, strengthen what has been entrusted to us, prepare others to do theirs, and leave behind something worth carrying forward.

Then, when our time comes to step aside, the work continues.