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Gee reflects on the deeply human dimensions of leadership — the relationships, humor, and empathy that sustain him through crises. Gee explains true leadership is equal parts courage and humility, guided by curiosity and compassion. He emphasizes that while universities are built on ideas, they are held together by people, and leading them well means finding purpose in connection.
You know, the small things, the big things. I mean, I love people. I found really interesting people. I always have - I kind of keep a posse, I call them, of people that I keep track of and I take a lot of joy in their achievements. And I really want to make sure that I can be there to personally help some through. That's number one.
Number two. You know, I've always found a lot of joy in the fact that my family has appreciated and valued what I do. They don't yammer, and they take full advantage of it. My first wife, as I shared with you, died when my daughter was 15, going on 16.
I had one of two choices, either leave the presidency or, or just embed her with me. And I took her everywhere, all over the world. I mean, it was a great experience for her, but she took a lot of joy out of being a part of that. And so that's important.
There's a lot of joy and achievement when people do great things or when they're doing something right now. I nurtured a young guy from the Cleveland Clinic, by the name of Ali Rezai. And I brought him to Ohio State to build a brain center, he's wonderful. And then I convinced him to come to West Virginia. I got the Rockefeller family to provide us a big opportunity for him, the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, which is now one of the leading neuroscience institutes in the world. I take great joy.
He's kind of like my son. And I mean, he's also tough to manage. I got him up and yelled at him every once in a while and say, ”You have to do this, you have to do that.” But that's the joy you had. Those relationships of success are an opportunity to see people grow and most importantly, they help you to grow. I mean, I've learned so much. I learned something every day. And that is the joy of being in a university is that it is a seminar. And every day it is a seminar.
I think that the most difficult really occurred most recently for me, because, out of COVID, so many institutions had structural deficits. And, West Virginia, this wonderful and great institution had a structural deficit of about $45 million.
Now, the overall university's budget is about 10 billion, you know, and the smart thing, if you just want to let things go, would be to, to put it under the rug. I could have done that. But I decided that in order to advance the university, I needed to use this structural deficit as a way to really make the changes that are necessary.
So that's what I did. And it was very difficult because I had to land a certain number of people, go, I closed departments, I reorganized, university in many ways. But I used, you know, they say the crisis creates great opportunities. But in this instance, I didn't manufacture the crisis. We didn't have a deficit, but I used it as a way to create change.
Now, I had a lot of confidence that I could get it done because I had the support of the board. I had a very strong administrative team, and I had worked that legislature like a show shop on me. I had made certain that they knew exactly what I was going to do, so I planned it out pretty carefully.
And then I announced my retirement. I said, I'm going to be gone in two years. And this is what we have to do in these two years to get this done. You know, you both have no confidence. You have all of this and none of that concerns me so much as getting in a good place.
And I and and for my successor in this instance and, funny, he he I talked to him the other day, his name named Michael Benson, that community. And he said, oh, my goodness gracious. I'm glad you made all those decisions because it was really hard. And he's wrong and he's new and, you know, all the things that happen.
And, so every once in a while, tough decisions with long term gratification. But that one, that one was a tough one for me.
My family's always been very supportive. Secondly, while I really follow my own admonition, I have a very thick skin. I've developed it over time. Not easy. I do not read social media. I participate in it. On the one hand, but I don't read anything because if I did, I probably wouldn't get up in the morning, you know, because right now, right now, people will always find some reason, to be to be despairing or to, to say things about what you're doing and, and, and then, I am writing a book on humor and higher education.
And one of the things that I've done over time is I created all these great stories and all of the things that, that are, that make me kind of smile. Even in the midst of all these things. I think I was telling you the story that that just when I announced my retirement and I was out late one night with students and these, and these.
I was coming out of a pizza parlor [at] about 10 or 11 at night. These two guys walked by, and one of them said, “Isn't that Gordon Gee?” And the other guy said, “No, he's dead.” I mean, you know, I love that story. I keep all these emails and so forth because I think it's very important to be a serious person, but not take yourself too seriously.
And I've always been able to ride through the waves by having a certain sense of humor about some of the things that are happening.