Insights Through the Rearview Mirror with Jon Kramer and Paul Kramer

Harry LaRosiliere: How to Use Your Purpose and Passion to Inform Your Decisions

How can I identify my purpose and passion?

Why should I not be afraid of making decisions that I may later regret?

Jon and Paul welcome the first African-American mayor of Plano, Texas, Harry LaRosiliere, who shares his guiding principles when making any decision, and his failsafe practice of using his purpose and passion to keep him on the right track as the leader of his community of almost 290,000 residents.

3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED

• Heed the four Ls of leadership when making important decisions. All leaders need to realize that they have to be fully accountable to their people and take responsibility for their actions. To this end, a leader must make sure to LISTEN in order to get the right amount of input from those around them. They must LEARN from their mistakes. Leaders also LEAD BY EXAMPLE, being the first to enter the building and the last to leave. Leaders LET GO and trust their team, giving them the space, they need to succeed. Finally, leaders need to know when to LEAVE, because no matter how successful (or unsuccessful) you become, there is a time to leave your position. Leaders do not build followers. They build other leaders.

• Heed the three Is when making important decisions. Make your decisions based on purity of INTENT to do the best for your community, out of INTEGRITY or a refusal to compromise your values, and from a place of INTELLIGENCE which comes from doing ample research on the issue you are making a decision on. Adhering to the three Is does not guarantee that you make the right decision, but it does make you comfortable and resolute in your next step.

• No matter the outcome, remember your purpose and passion. The one thing Mayor LaRosiliere knows is that he wants to do his part to make Plano a better place, day-by-day. Instead of being caught up in sound-bite politicking and making big, sweeping promises (ex. cut taxes, shrink government, etc.), The Mayor prefers to wake up every morning with a focus on making his community a little better by the end of the day. This is how he avoids falling into the pitfalls unique to his life and career and helps him stick to his particular purpose and passion.

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE

• Mayor LaRosiliere’s five Ls of leadership [04:30]

• Why Harry started a photography studio after graduating with a geology degree [10:49]

• Moving to Plano, Texas and becoming a financial advisor [15:06]

• Harry on discovering his calling to be mayor [20:32]

• Mayor LaRosiliere’s three Is of sound decision-making [31:40]

• Does being African-American have an influence over one’s decision-making process? [34:05]

• What is driving the divisiveness we see in modern U.S. politics? [37:26]

• Has Mayor Harry ever made a decision that he regrets? [43:49]

• Mayor Harry’s guiding principle when making decisions [45:52]

• Mayor Harry’s parting thoughts on decision-making [50:30]

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Mayor Harry LaRosiliere’s life journey is a great American story. Born in Haiti, Harry moved to New York with his family when he was just three years old and became a U.S. citizen at age 18. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1985 and moved to Plano, Texas in 1994. Driven by a passion for public service, Harry volunteered with various nonprofit groups followed by service on a variety of Plano city boards and commissions before becoming a city council member. He was nominated and elected mayor of Plano, Texas in 2013 and elected for a second term in 2017.