Stephen Pendergast '18
J. David Brown, president and CEO of the capital region YMCA and former member of the Siena College Board of Trustees, visited Siena as part of the ongoing spring semester School of Business Lecture Series. Brown, a humorous, conversational, and charismatic speaker challenged students with his lecture by asking them about their ‘why.’
“Why?” is an important question to ask oneself. It gives one purpose, and that purpose, according to Brown, is what drives improvement and personal growth.
A ‘why’ is something that Brown believes challenges one to find their individuality, to grow, and to influence people around them. A ‘why’ is not purely self serving, and is often found when doing something for others that they cannot possibly repay the doer for.
Brown put his ‘why’ into action as he exemplified Franciscan values during his time serving on the Board of Trustees. During his time, he found an opportunity to both hone his ‘why’ and help others to find theirs. Through his influence and using his lifelong passion for helping others, he opened doors to those who may not have been aware that the door was there. He took his YMCA kids on tours around Siena and some of them, including Brown’s daughter, wound up choosing Siena because of him. Brown’s ‘why’ led him to do this, and he trusted Siena to help his students find their ‘whys’ as well.
Brown was not always aware of his ‘why.’ He started his bachelor’s degree at Robert Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York and majored in business. According to him, his undergraduate period was directionless, though not a waste, and college was an outlet primarily for basketball.
During his time at Robert Wesleyan, he worked at the YMCA as a janitor. The YMCA, though at the time he wasn’t aware, soon became his outlet for his career and the connections he made through his janitorial position helped carry him on after graduation.
Like many recent graduates, he struggled to find meaningful employment. After about a year of job searching, Brown applied to be a youth director for the YMCA. It was this job that clarified his lifelong passion: helping and investing in other people.
As he climbed up the ladder at the YMCA, he developed his five tenets to finding one’s ‘why’ and ultimately success.
1. Have a plan, a vision, something unique to the individual holding it that has a goal of some kind. The plan should be personal, subject to change, and goal oriented.
2. Organization. Not only is having a clutter free space important, but most importantly a clutter free mind, and Brown believes the two are connected.
3. Prioritization. He stressed that all must prioritize their plan. Without ambition, plans will never come to fruition.
4. Flexibility. Failure is only a door to the next opportunity. On the opposite end of the spectrum, comfort leads to stasis. One should never be too comfortable in their life, as stasis stunts growth and dulls the mind. To stress this, Brown stated that, “when you’re comfortable, it’s time to move on.”
5. Stay fit, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Brown believes that a holistic approach to one’s humanity, and a firm faith in God or of one’s choosing, is the grounding for a productive life. He said, “Whatever you choose to do God is your pilot . . . he will get you home safe.”
All five of these tenets working together will help students in their discovery and journeys to completing their 'why' for existence.
