June 17, 2025

Thirty Minute Mentors Podcast Transcript: Governor Chet Culver

Transcript of the Thirty Minute Mentors podcast interview with Governor Chet Culver
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Adam Mendler

I recently interviewed Governor Chet Culver on my podcast, Thirty Minute Mentors. Here is a transcript of our interview:

Adam: Our guest today is a former governor. Chet Culver was the governor of Iowa and is the last Democrat to serve as governor of the state of Iowa. Governor Culver, thank you for joining us.

Governor Culver: Great to be with you, Adam. Thanks for having me on.

Adam: Great to have you on. Politics is in your blood. Your dad was a United States Senator . You grew up in the Beltway, but you spent every summer growing up back home in Iowa. Your aspiration growing up was to play the NFL, and you were on that path. You played in college at Virginia Tech. Can you take listeners back to your early days? What early experiences and lessons shaped your worldview and shaped the trajectory of your success?

Governor Culver: Well, I was very fortunate to have a front row seat to the democratic process. As you noted, my dad was a congressman from Iowa from 1964 to 1974 and a senator from 74 to 80. So literally my whole life as a young person was kind of in the political arena. And I knew at an early age that I wanted to try it myself. And what was interesting is, you know, my view then was very different. You know, I wasn’t cynical about the process, for example. I remember vividly family dinners where we would talk about the issues of the day and what my dad worked on, whether it was environmental issues or being a member of the Armed Services Committee or focusing on working folks and doing what he could to help them. My perspective was very different, understandably so, and I liked what I saw in terms of the ability to make a difference. I was brought up to believe that public service is important, that it’s a noble profession, and that serving generally, whether it’s the military, a teacher, any type of service is critically important to the fabric of our society. So I wanted to serve and I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to serve both as Secretary of State and as Governor. And I learned a lot of valuable lessons as a kid growing up in that arena. And then that also led to my competitive side when it came to sports. My father and mother both were actually very successful athletes. My mother was a national diving champion in 1955. a swimmer, a diver, a speed skater. My dad played college football at Harvard and so I grew up playing a lot of sports as well and certainly had a love and a passion for football and had a great experience at Virginia Tech. Unfortunately, had some significant knee injuries, but had the honor and privilege of trying to block Bruce Smith my freshman year at Tech. I was on the scout team as a redshirt freshman and he was the starting defensive end. He had just finished his junior year and had 22 sacks, and my job was to try to get in front of Bruce and to slow him down, and I did not do a very good job of that because he was the first player picked in the 85 draft, and he had 17 sacks as a senior at Virginia Tech when he was being triple teamed, and then went on to be the NFL sack leader and had a nearly 20-year incredible Hall of Fame career. So that was the beginning of the end of my dream to play in pro football between trying to block Bruce and having knee injuries. But it was a great experience. I’m going to get together with some of my best buddies from Virginia Tech next week when I’m in Washington for dinner. So lifelong friends for sure.

Adam: Being willing to throw your body in front of Bruce Smith. Man, running for office seems like nothing compared to that.

Governor Culver: Well, that’s true. That’s kind of how I looked at it. Football was a contact sport. Politics is a non-contact sport, but there’s certainly a lot of good competition in both of those fields. I had to focus on something after I could no longer compete at a high level in football. Politics was the perfect outlet and a really healthy alternative. And it served me well to transfer that focus, that commitment, the hard work into politics. I was also fortunate enough to be the co-captain on a state championship basketball team. Went to Bethesda Chevy Chase High School in Maryland. We won the state title in 1984. It was the first time I think we ever won a title at BCC and we’ve never won one since. And we were the third ranked team in the DMV, the D.C., Maryland, Virginia area. And that was an incredible experience to win that title with a great team. Incredible teammates. One of the best coaches I’ve ever had. So learning to win, whether it was in sports, certainly helped me win in politics.

Adam: And before you went into politics, you went into coaching. You taught, you were a coach. What were the best lessons that you learned from that time in your life?

Governor Culver: Well, as I said, service was really important in our family. We were encouraged to find a way to serve. My great-great-grandfather volunteered to serve in the Civil War in the Illinois Infantry. We have a long history of that. My grandparents on my mother’s side were both public school teachers in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for 35 years. They had a huge influence on my decision to go into teaching and my grandfather was a great coach, football and track. So I really wanted to help kids and I love government and history and that’s what I taught and I coached basketball and football. I really found a lot of joy in coaching, especially since I couldn’t play anymore. And that kept my love for football and basketball alive. And then I enjoyed teaching young people the importance of government and our three branches of government and the Constitution and the great rich history of our country. So I think the biggest impact was just watching these young people grow, whether it was becoming a better football player every day and practice and games or the light bulb that went on when they did well in the classroom and they engaged and enjoyed learning about American history or our government. And I’m really proud of my former students today who are now in their mid to late 40s who’ve gone off and done great things in Iowa and across the country. And so it was fun to have five years of teaching and coaching in the Des Moines Public Schools to try to help inspire kids to serve, to compete in athletics, and to go off and do great things after high school.

Adam: And after that moment in your life, you put yourself out there. You ran for office. You ran for Secretary of State of Iowa. You won, and you were the youngest Secretary of State in the United States at the age of 32. Can you talk about that race and what you did to win that race, how you were able to get elected at the age of 32 and what you learned from that experience?

Governor Culver: Well, my dad has always said the two most important things in politics, and I think that arguably the two most important things in life are luck and timing. So it was an open seat. As you said, I was 32. And I was teaching government at the time. And the Secretary of State is the registrar of voters, and is the commissioner of elections. So I essentially took my government class statewide because I would encourage my students to register to vote, to volunteer for different campaigns. I didn’t care, you know, Republican, Democrat. I just wanted these students to be a part of their democracy, to engage and to get involved. And I really enjoyed doing that as a government teacher. And then as secretary of state, I ran on this platform to really focus on 18 to 24 year olds, because that was the demographic group that had the worst turnout. And back in 96, in that presidential race in 1996, the turnout for 18 to 24-year-olds was only 20%. The overall turnout was dismal. It was barely 50%. We had 100 million Americans not vote. in the 96 race for president. So my platform was, look, we have to do something about this terrible trend, especially when it comes to young adults, because our democracy really depends on participation, on voting, on citizens getting engaged and getting involved. And so that was fortunate that I was kind of lucky to have that hook to that office at that time. Again, there was no incumbent. The incumbent was running for governor. It was an open seat. And then how we won, other than having some big, bold ideas, having the platform that I’ve just shared with you, we outworked my opponent. We finished our 99-county tour, and that’s always a big thing in rural states in particular, if you’re expected to go to every county and meet voters in every city and every county across the state. And we finished our 99-county tour the day my opponent started his. So we outworked them on the ground. We outraised them in terms of the fundraising. I knew we had to have the resources to win and we won by three points in a very, very competitive race. And I had some luck too, just in terms of the timing being right.

Adam: You were reelected and then you ran for governor of Iowa. It was a competitive primary. You beat a former congressman and then you ran against another congressman to win the general election. Can you take listeners back to that race and how you were able to get through a competitive primary and a competitive general election and what you learned from that experience?

Governor Culver: Well, again, going back to my athletic career and my love of sports, I thrived in that environment. I loved the competition and we wanted to win. We actually had a six-way primary for the Democratic nomination. The incumbent governor moved on and he didn’t run, so it was another open seat. And we were really focused. I knew. Again, kind of going back to my athletic career that if you want to win, you need a great team. And we put together a fantastic, talented group. My campaign manager was Patrick Dillon. He later went on to work in the Obama White House, but was a super smart, talented, hardworking manager that brought our team together and helped us not only win the primary, but win the general. But again, we had a plan. We were really focused on our plan for Iowa, specifically in every area, education, healthcare, environment, renewable energy. We spelled out why we were the best choice and worked extremely hard to win that primary and then to go on and win one of the most competitive governor’s races in 06. We were tied all summer, I think 44%. And then fortunately at the end we surged and ended up winning by 10 points, but a lot of fun, but a lot of hard work and our vision sold. We did have a mandate to go do a lot of the things we said we would do after I was elected. So I really credit Iowans for giving me the honor and privilege of serving as governor and being able to get a lot of things done once we got in there.

Adam: And as you’re sharing the lessons that you’ve learned from your time growing up, your time playing ball at Virginia Tech, running for Secretary of State, winning, running for governor, winning, a lot of really important lessons that anyone can take away. The importance of hard work, the importance of embracing competition, stepping up to the plate. Surround yourself with great people, building great teams. You’re never going to get anywhere alone. You’re never going to become governor by yourself. You’re never going to become CEO by yourself. You’re never going to get to anywhere of any kind of significance by yourself. It’s about building great teams, surrounding yourself with great people and empowering those people. And when you do that, that’s going to help you get to that place.

Governor Culver: Absolutely. Very well said. And no question that all the pieces have to fit. And I’ll add one more thing. When you’re building that team, just like when a coach is building a basketball team or a football team, you’ve got to make tough decisions. Not everyone can play in the position they want to play in. Some people can’t play at all, but you still want them on the team. You still want them to be a part of the team. And so I was based on my career in athletics. I knew that you couldn’t settle for mediocre. You had to find the best people and put them in the best spot. So that meant having to make tough personnel decisions. In fact, in my governor’s race, I think that I described that we won. There were a couple of managers before. Patrick, Dylan, that weren’t quite meeting the expectation. And so sometimes people are afraid to make those changes. But if you know the margin of error is so thin, you have to have the very best team clicking on all cylinders. And so that was part of the decision making to get the right team in place. And fortunately we did that and it was a lot of fun. As much fun winning the governor’s race as it was a state championship in basketball for sure.

Adam: When you think about building teams, what are the characteristics that you look for in the people who you want to surround yourself with?

Governor Culver: Interesting you ask that question. I had a call this morning with a young person that just got out of the Navy. He had an incredible career. He’s an Iowan from Eastern Iowa, served 10 years with distinction in the military, and flew helicopters. And he is interested in running for office next year in 2026. So he reached out to me. And I know you’re big on mentorship. And that’s one reason I wanted to do this interview. I’d love to help other people directly or indirectly reach their goals and accomplish their dreams. But I told this young man, I said, you know, you really have to find people that are as committed as you are to help you in this journey that you need. people that are going to volunteer, that are going to drive with you across the state, that are all in, that aren’t in it for a paycheck necessarily, that have a passion like you do for winning and for making a difference and for serving. And I told this aspiring candidate this morning, I said, you want to find people that are going to work extremely hard. that are committed, whether it’s on a winning sports team or a campaign, you’re not going to win. You’re not going to be successful if people are not committed and are not giving it everything they’ve got every single day to do what it takes to win. You know, of course the candidate, the coach, they have to set an example. They know if you’re slacking, they know if you’re not committed, they won’t be committed. But like I said earlier, We finished our 99-county tour the day my opponent started his Secretary of State race in 98, and that showed that we were all in, that we were committed, and we also broke fundraising records because we refused to get outspent. You have to have a will to win that is unmatched.

Adam: Something that you’re sharing which is really interesting, you’ve emphasized throughout this conversation the importance of hard work. And that’s something that everyone hopefully understands. It’s hard to make it to the top without working hard. But what really stands out to me is it’s hard to show up every day and put in the work. If you’re not working on something that you love, that you’re passionate about, it’s a lot easier to show up when you are motivated, when you’re driven, when you’re fired up to do what you’re doing. And so much of that comes down to the mission. So much of that comes down to the purpose. You use the word fun. When you ran, it was fun for you. It was a lot of work, but it was fun, and that was because you loved what you were doing, you believed in what you were doing, and then tying it back to, as a leader, finding people who have that same value system, who have that same belief system, who also want to get to that place with you, who are willing to work hard, but they’re willing to work hard because they also believe in what you’re doing and want to do it with you.

Governor Culver: Exactly. One of my very favorite quotes is, become the change that you want to see. So we wanted to change the fact that a hundred million Americans didn’t vote in the 96th election. We wanted to change the fact that only 20% of 18 to 24-year-olds voted. And most Iowans agreed, yeah, we need to change those things. This is pathetic. Republican, Democrat, Independent, that’s not sustainable. Our democracy will not survive. if people don’t vote and participate. And Benjamin Franklin said on the steps of Constitution Hall in Philadelphia after they wrote the Constitution, they said, what type of government have you given us? And Ben Franklin said, a republic if you can keep it. If the people participate and they vote and they run for office and they care and they get involved, then you’ll be fine. And that was 250 years ago. And we still have to remember that lesson today, that it’s up to us, folks. If we don’t like something, you gotta get out there and change it. If you like it, get involved and keep it that way. So you’re right. So once you put your platform together, whether you’re running for president, secretary of state, Congress, you have to inspire people. You have to lead. You have to give them a vision. And you have to believe in that vision. That’s the fun part. When you’re giving a talk about those dismal voting percentages and people are nodding and saying, yeah, you’re right, we got to change that because it’s important for my kids and my grandkids and my great grandkids that we fix that. And so that’s the fun part. It’s not only that you’ve won, now you’re given the incredible honor and privilege of going in there as the new Secretary of State and the Chief Commissioner of Elections and the Registrar of Voters and actually making some big changes to get more people involved. And guess what? We went in there and nearly doubled the voting turnout numbers in four years for 18 and 24-year-olds. And we increased overall voting significantly. And we increased the voter registration numbers significantly. So the cynical side is they do nothing, nothing gets done. And I share that frustration. I get that. But on the other hand, you’ve got plenty of examples out there where people get in there. President Eisenhower was a very popular president. One of the best ever that Republicans and Democrats loved because he meant what he said and he did what he said he was going to do. And so we need more of that, I think. And our expectations should be really high that we do want politicians and elected officials to do what they say they’re going to do. And we pressure them to do that. But it can be done. And I was fortunate enough to both the Secretary of State and governors to deliver on the promises that we made.

Adam: While you were governor, you were faced with a lot of challenges. You led during historically challenging times, the Great Recession. You led through a historic crisis, the worst natural disaster in the history of the state of Iowa. The second largest city in your state was underwater. Six billion dollars of damages to the state of Iowa due to the Iowa flood of 2008. What did you learn from leading through times of crisis? What are your best tips for leaders on how to lead in a crisis?

Governor Culver: We all learned a lot during Katrina. Which was just horrific, the hurricane in New Orleans. We all watched that tragedy unfold on live TV with people on rooftops, stranded, with people stranded in the Superdome with no water and food. It was a disaster of epic proportions. Well, that was 04 and After the election of 06, when all the governors, Republican and Democrats won, there is something called a new governor’s school where you meet before you take office over a long weekend to really zero in on your priorities. It was clear to me even when I ran in 06 that preparedness dealing with natural disasters was going to be my top priority, that having the very best adjutant general that I select relying on our National Guard was critical if and when we had a tragedy because we knew we all had to respond a lot better than the response was in Katrina in 04. So fortunately, that was number one. It was dealing with natural disasters was the most important thing, and budget too, making sure you manage the $6 billion budget at that time efficiently and effectively, that you keep your AAA bond rating, et cetera, that you’re fiscally conservative. So those were my two priorities. And then sure enough, actually about three months into the job, In 07, late February, early March, we had one of the worst snow and ice storms in our state’s history. And at one point, we had 400,000 people with no power. And that was our test run to the 08 flooding disaster. And in that case, in March of 07, we had to go door to door in one entire county, a rural county, to make sure that elderly people were okay. that were in their homes, this is late winter, and we just didn’t want to find out later that someone didn’t make it or that their oxygen tank wasn’t working because it froze. And we literally had the guard door knock every home in that rural county. But we were ready. We had a plan. And we had a great general at the National Guard that led. And in 08, we evacuated nearly 50,000 people in more than 30 counties, got them out of harm’s way before the rivers crested. We were very, very proactive. We got generators in place. We worked with the Army Corps of Engineers on our plan that we knew we had to execute when and if the rivers hit a certain height. And now the devastation, as you noted, was horrific. Six billion. At one point, it was one of the top 10 worst disasters in our nation’s history. And that’s usually based on the damage number, in this case, six billion. But we had problems statewide. We had three tornadoes over that five-week period in the summer of 2008. Twenty-two people died. It was bad. The rain just wouldn’t quit for six weeks. I flew all over the state in these Black Hawk helicopters and we deployed 4,000 troops. Every one of our National Guards men and women were deployed. We prepositioned equipment. We moved troops. We got people out of harm’s way. And that’s one reason a lot of your listeners have never heard about the Iowa disasters of 08 is because unlike Katrina, we handled it. We did the best that we could and we saved a lot of lives in the meantime, but we learned our lessons from the disaster in New Orleans. That’s what all leaders you’ve probably interviewed have shared with you too, is you can learn from other people’s mistakes.

Adam: And it’s something that I have heard from leader after leader after leader who I’ve interviewed. I heard that from General Frank McKenzie, retired four-star general. I heard that from Dr. Mandy Cohen, former head of the CDC. The best way to respond to a crisis is by preparing before the crisis hits, which is exactly what you shared.

Governor Culver: Yep. And we set up an emergency operations center. I live there. essentially, 24-7. We had all the communications from 99 counties, the emergency management teams from 99 counties coordinating, talking, deploying troops and moving equipment. And then I was present. I mean, that’s the other thing, the other lesson learned is You need to be there in the action, in the fight. We saw President Bush in New York after the horrific 9-11. He was standing on a pile of rubble with a blow horn telling people it was going to be okay. That’s leadership. You got to be there. You got to show up. You got to touch people and talk to them and hug families after they’ve lost loved ones in tornadoes. We had a Boy Scout camp over in western Iowa that got hit by a tornado and tragically we lost four kids. And it was unbelievable. They were just out camping at a Scout camp and they got hit by a tornado and I had to go meet with all those families and talk to their brothers and sisters and it was a night I’ll never forget. All the families met at a middle school in Western Iowa. We had the names of all the kids listed, and we had to inform the families if their son was one of the victims. But I was there, and that’s the least I could do. Our emergency operations center is here in Des Moines, out at Camp Dodge, military National Guard camp headquarters. And it was around midnight. And we had learned about the tornado hitting the scout camp. So they said, that’s all we can do. And this is the update. You can go home and get some rest and we’ll have you back out here tomorrow morning at 630. And I said, no, I’m going to Western Iowa right now. We’re going. Let’s drive. Let’s go. And I drove through the night and was in those families at that middle school when I got there at two in the morning. So. You need to show up. You need to be present. You need to be engaged. You need to care. And if you don’t, if you don’t want to do those things, you’re in the wrong job.

Adam: Leadership starts at the top. There’s no substitute for leading by example, for showing up, for being present, for being there. You said it.

Governor Culver: And I think sadly in the political world, sometimes people stay too long and maybe they lose that passion and people notice it. But that’s true in any sport, business, or politics. You want to have leaders that care, that are giving it a hundred percent. every day, because you know what? At the end of the day, we’re the lucky ones. We have the privilege of serving in these roles. What a credible honor. What an amazing opportunity to lead a state as governor, as secretary of state. That’s a gift. You need to recognize that. You need to realize it and appreciate it. And life is short. Your time to serve is not known. Whether it’s a health issue or your term of office expires, you get beat. You need to do as much as you can every single day when you’re given that privilege of serving and leading. And I try to do that.

Adam: What do you believe are the key characteristics of the very best leaders? And what can anyone do to become a better leader?

Governor Culver: Well, you have to have big, bold ideas. You can’t just say, I want to be governor to live in the mansion or to fly around the state. You have to have a grasp on the issues, the policies. There has to be a fit. So if you want to be the next CEO of Coca-Cola, You’ve got to come in there with a plan, with an agenda. What are you going to do differently that no other leader has done? What is your vision? And you can’t fake that. So, you know, in our case, I’ve explained our platform when I was Secretary of State and the candidate for Secretary of State. When I ran as governor, I said I want Iowa to be the national leader in renewable energy. We want to be the very best in wind energy production. We want to lead in manufacturing. of making the towers, the turbines and the blades in Iowa. So that’s just an example of really diving in at a policy issue level, because that’s what’s going to motivate your team and the voters is that vision, that idea. So that’s really important. We’ve talked about the relentless pursuit of winning, of hard work. That goes without saying. You have to be all in, physically, mentally, emotionally invested. A little luck helps. That’s important. Timing is everything. We saw it with the new Pope, Pope Leo. It was his time. We’ve never had an American Pope, but he was the right person at the right time to lead the church. No one thought that would happen. So that was fascinating how that unfolded. I would say teamwork, making sure that you have the team around you to execute the plan, to win the campaign. So ideas, hard work, and team. And I guess passion and the love, the joy, and the fun of being in that arena. You gotta make it fun. You have to enjoy the journey. So those would be the four things.

Adam: Governor Culver, what can anyone listening to this conversation do to become more successful, personally and professionally?

Governor Culver: Well, I think it starts by listening to the interviews. Really, because you can learn so much from those that have come before you. I’ll give you a perfect example. So President Kennedy was my hero, I guess, politically. Obviously, my dad, too. But I was fascinated with his life. his story, his biography. How did he do it? How did he become president? And I really encourage your listeners to listen to biographical podcasts like this one, to listen and learn from other leaders that have had success in their fields. That’s really important. In reading those good biographies, you can find the best three on any president. There are some really bad ones, frankly, that you might get misled if you read it. But first in his class was a great biography on Bill Clinton. David Moranis wrote it. He won all sorts of awards. You can learn a ton about President Clinton reading that book, what made him tick, What was his passion? Why was he successful? And in the President Kennedy example, in 1952, he won his Senate race. He was the youngest candidate for Senate in the United States. He won by the narrowest of margins. He had the closest Senate race in the nation in 52. He almost lost. He was a congressman. This got him into the Senate in 52. He was elected president in 60. So he knew that he was going to run for reelect in 1958. And he was just scared to death that he almost lost in 52. So he committed to never being outworked. He said, this is not going to happen to me again, if I have anything to do with it. And he then became the hardest-working senator and the hardest-working candidate for reelection in 58. And he ended up winning by the biggest margin in the nation in 58. So he won in 52 with the thinnest margin in the nation. And he won reelection six years later by the largest margin. And he said it in this book, it was just that I was committed. No one was going to outwork me. So you read a lot of things about President Kennedy. But one of the most important things I took from his example is that he would refuse to get outworked. And yes, he had all sorts of luck and he had resources financially, et cetera. We all do. We all have luck. What I took away is, you know what, that’s the one thing I can control. Kobe Bryant was the same way in basketball. I know you’re a Lakers fan. No one outworked him. He’d work out three times a day. During his pro career, he would work out three times a day. when most guys that he competed against were fine working out once. Okay, so why was he one of the greatest ever? Well, maybe because he worked harder than anyone.

Adam: Governor Culver, thank you for all the great advice. Thank you for being a part of Thirty Minute Mentors.

Governor Culver: My privilege. It was a lot of fun. And keep up the great work, and I’ll continue to be one of your listeners. And thanks for what you do as well, Adam.

Adam: I really appreciate it. Thank you again.

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Adam Mendler

Adam Mendler is a nationally recognized authority on leadership and is the creator and host of Thirty Minute Mentors, where he regularly elicits insights from America's top CEOs, founders, athletes, celebrities, and political and military leaders. Adam draws upon his unique background and lessons learned from time spent with America’s top leaders in delivering perspective-shifting insights as a keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. A Los Angeles native and lifelong Angels fan, Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders.

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