Working with People You Admire Is Hugely Important: Interview with Taylor Reveley IV, President of Longwood University

Several years ago, I interviewed Taylor Reveley IV, President of Longwood University, in an interview originally published in Thrive Global. President Reveley is a presidential historian and was the youngest president of an NCAA Division I university upon becoming president of Longwood. Here is an excerpt from our interview:

Adam: How did you get here? What failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Taylor: This at first will sound like a stroke of incredibly good luck, which it definitely was, but it also taught a hard lesson. Relatively early in my career I got the amazing opportunity to be involved as an attorney with the National War Powers Commission, co-chaired by Secretaries of State James Baker and Warren Christopher, in the mid to late 2000s. The Commission had spectacular members, including Doris Kearns Goodwin, and they all worked hard across partisan lines and ideology to craft proposed legislation to solve one of the most important unresolved issues in U.S. law: who gets to decide what and when with regards to use of military force. They crafted a compelling and concise statute that would do enormous good. Presidents Bush and Obama gave close personal attention, as did key members of Congress. But now more than a decade after the release of the Commission’s report, the status quo prevails. The hard lesson is that a good idea — even a brilliant, well-honed, and vital idea — doesn’t rise to execution on its merits alone, or even with the dedication of the influential. You just have to keep working hard.

Adam: Who are the greatest leaders who you have studied and what have you learned from studying them?

Taylor: George Washington, Lincoln, and FDR are in a category of their own, scholars and the public would all agree. A trait they share is a simultaneous eagerness for hearing and understanding divergent opinions and the resolve to make decisions and advance, even in the face of powerful and well-articulated disagreement. That might sound easy or like common sense, but in practice, human nature drifts to only advancing when there is unanimity, or alternatively to huffy unilateralism.

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Taylor: Working with people you admire is hugely important. My great friend and longtime mentor is Gov. Gerry Baliles, former governor of Virginia. My great good luck is that my dad and my granddad were both college presidents too, so I’ve learned a lot just around the dinner table also. And reading history is something I always recommend — it’s like a virtual reality chamber to gain vicarious experience.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, managing, and leading teams?

Taylor: Maybe it’s advice that cuts against the example of Washington, Lincoln, and FDR. All three fostered a “team of rivals” to one degree or another. But all three had the advantage of their rivalrous teams being united in pursuit of an unambiguous goal — like winning World War II. In my experience, except in a crisis with an unambiguous goal, it is far more important to have harmony of personalities and viewpoints on a diverse leadership team, with complementing rather than rivalrous perspectives.

Adam: Longwood the 2016 Vice Presidential Debate. What did you take away from that experience?

Taylor: The idea to put Longwood’s name in the hat actually came from a discussion in my U.S. presidency class one day a couple of years before the 2016 election. Knowing somewhat the crushing demands of a national election, what impressed me most about Tim Kaine and Mike Pence that day was how gracious and centered they both were when talking with me and with students. The modern vice presidency attracts strikingly capable public figures.

Adam: What do you make of our current political climate and how do you see things playing out?

Taylor: I think most about the fact that today’s college students — the generation coming of age — has largely just seen discord in politics over their lives. But interestingly, that seems to be giving them strength and inner steel. And history would suggest that there is ample cause for optimism. America has seen far more perilous times and passed through the trial to greater and greater success.

Adam: Maybe most importantly, I learned that we have a shared love of napping. What are your hobbies and how have they shaped your development as a leader?

Taylor: I do love a good nap! Doing this job while having twins who are [young] has taught me the importance of sleep. I’m a reader and a traveler, and an old athlete — I played football in college. All three of those in a way forge a resiliency. But these days I find that keeping up with the work and interests of those closest to me outside of work is very energizing. Maybe it’s the shift of perspective. My wife Marlo is a tech entrepreneur. The twins’ godfather is an independent filmmaker. I relish the new ideas, as well as recognizing across contexts familiar patterns of human nature.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one-on-one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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