A passion for promoting leadership and servitude

Lee County is big enough that you could live most of your life here and not see how individuals, industries, government and history form an interconnected web. But Steve Scott believes that if you do see it, your life and the community will be richer for it.

Last August, he founded a nonprofit organization called the LEAD Foundation Inc. Through it, Mr. Scott directs a 16-week program aimed at showing any working-age person, no matter if he is a bartender or executive, Lee County's big picture. It is meant to give them a broader understanding of who they are in the community's scheme of things and an idea of how their involvement is tied to everyone around them.

"If everybody does a little bit, then the whole boat rises for the community overall," Mr. Scott said.

The course, which meets once a week for six hours, is filled with field trips throughout the county. Students — who so far have ranged in age from 22 to 65, Mr. Scott said — interact with leaders and events that teach them about the environment, the arts, government, agriculture and nonprofit groups. They learn about schools from teachers, hospitals from doctors, soup kitchens from people who run them, local history at museums or historic sites, or what it's like to be a police officer on third shift. They make visceral connections to their community and get a clearer picture of the way diverse groups and interests can serve each other well.

SCOTT "They are listening, seeing, smelling, touching the community," Mr. Scott said.

Over the course of 15 years, Mr. Scott helped develop and run a similar program called Leadership Lee County, for the Southwest Florida Chamber of Commerce, before being laid off last year during budget cuts. That program, which began in 1985 and from which Mr. Scott graduated in 1988, still exists. He acknowledged his disappointment in the chamber's decision, but said starting his own program was an opportunity to continue the work on his own terms. His new classes of 15 students are smaller than before, and the course is similar to the one he shaped at the chamber.

"I worked for years to develop the right type of program," Mr. Scott said. "The concepts I used over there and the connections I had in the community obviously come with me over here as well."

Courses like LEAD Foundation's have been around for about 50 years, Mr. Scott said. They are taught through private nonprofit groups like his or public groups throughout the nation, including at colleges and universities. From 2006 to 2008, Mr. Scott was chairman of the national organization that promotes servant leaders, The Community Leadership Association.

They promote the kind of leadership known as the "servant leader model" or "community trustees." A teacher, parent, Little League coach, school board committee member or volunteer at a nature center are all examples of servant leaders or community trustees.

"These men and women, whether they know it or not, are trustees," Mr. Scott said.

And the people he hopes to attract to his program are just as diverse. "If you look at the Village People, that's what we need to be," he said. "Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief. That's what we really want. And it's good if they come from all over the region because then they have different perspectives. That's what we do — we learn from each other."

Mr. Scott, 57, moved to Lee County in 1983. Before directing leadership courses, he sold insurance and tried out other careers like real estate. He grew up in Johnstown, Ohio, and went to Ohio Dominican College,

earning an associate's degree

in law enforcement and a bachelor's in business. He also served in the Air Force.

Mr. Scott, who is married and has three children, said his passion for the work is derived from the overwhelmingly positive feeling gained in serving others. Many students who have taken his course can also attest to that, Mr. Scott said. At the conclusion they are charged with finding a nonprofit to offer some volunteer time at.

"It gives them a buzz," he said. "The endorphins kick in, the adrenaline. They are very satisfied emotionally, mentally and physically."

Classes start in the fall and spring. The next one is set to begin Oct. 1. For more information or to receive an application, visit www.leadfoundation.org or contact Mr. Scott at Steve@LEADFoundation. org or call 332-LEAD. Tuition is $2,750 and covers all materials, meals, ground transportation and lodging for the duration of the program. A limited number of scholarships are available for demonstrated need and tuition can be paid in installments if needed.