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McKenzie Robinson | SBJ

Citizen Inc. Q&A: Clif Smart

Missouri State University

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Clif Smart, the MSU president who’s leading 20,000 students and the next generation workforce, is the guest for Citizen Inc., Episode 10, from SBJ Podcasts. The following Q&A is from the show, co-hosted by Springfield Business Journal’s Eric Olson and United Way of the Ozarks’ Greg Burris and recorded at ADsmith Studio.

Eric Olson: Let’s start with the mission and vision statement of the university because I think that’s a key hinge to the conversation. Community engagement is a written value. Why was that selected and how does it play out in the daily lives on campus?
Clif Smart: It was back in 1995 (with) President [John] Keiser. There was consensus that we wanted to have the mission of public affairs. The legislature ultimately passed a bill giving us that as a state mission. Subsequently, we have defined that around three pillars: ethical leadership, cultural competency and community engagement. Our goal is we want people to graduate from Missouri State University as citizen scholars – citizen chemists, citizen managers, citizen musician – so that they learn as part of their time at the university the importance of engagement. So, we do service learning, volunteer hours and bring speakers to talk about and model this behavior.

Greg Burris: I think I’m an example of how people get infected by that. It does get into your blood; if you cut me, I bleed maroon. The idea of the public affairs mission and civic engagement has made a marked difference in my life. It’s part of how I approached being city manager and definitely in leading United Way of the Ozarks. It’s something I think we see in younger people maybe more so than my generation.
Smart: Something that you’ve said, Greg, as we’ve talked over the years, it’s the difference between owning and renting a car. If you’re a citizen in your community, you take ownership in it and you want to make it better. It’s meaningful to you. It’s connected with the things that you do and it’s the mindset that you have. None of us care about our rental cars; we just don’t want to have to pay more if we ding them. But we’re just using them and turning them back in. Corporate citizenship is different – it’s that ownership.

I think students coming to college, that resonates with them. They want to make a difference; they want to be engaged; they want to have a say in what’s happening on their campus and later in their community.

Burris: It’s the difference between living on a community and in a community.

Olson: Clif, do you find students enter the school with that interest in mind already?
Smart: So many of our students do want to make a difference in their campus – whether that’s sustainability, climate, race relations – there are all sorts of issues that students are engaged in. Now the other side of that, this 19- to 20-year-old group is also very focused on career. They are looking at return on investment in a college education and are they going to be employed, will they be able to start their own business. It’s a nice mix of people that do want to be engaged in the workforce but also want to have a say in that workforce and want to be engaged in the community.
Olson: Let’s stay there and try to get into the mindset of these students. How do they grade or gauge companies? What are they looking for when these offers are coming?
Smart: Salary still is important, but it’s not the only thing. Location is very important. What the city looks like. Are they going to be able to be engaged in the city? What are they actually doing at their job, what’s the progression? They’re going to evaluate the company to see if it aligns with their principles. Are they going to have the ability in those charitable organizations that matter to them? Are they going to have free time? And they may use their free time for volunteering. So, there’s this whole mix of quality of life and quality of place issues that now feed into that analysis of return on investment and salary and benefits.

Olson: Is there anything you would say to a CEO about this idea of corporate citizenship and how to influence their staff and change a culture? What are some first steps?
Smart: Any significant employer in town needs to appreciate what we’re talking about. I’ve had business leaders say, why do we care about what downtown looks like, why do we care if we’re daylighting Jordan Creek? We care because your 22- to 30-year-old workforce cares about that. And they’re picking a community.

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