Mississippi State University students and faculty enjoyed a presentation by Tennessee Valley Authority Chairman Glenn McCullough Jr. last Thursday in the John Grisham Room of the Mitchell Memorial Library.
The speech, part of the Morris W.H. “Bill” Collins Speaker Series, was sponsored by several MSU campus organizations, including the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, the MSU Libraries’ Congressional and Political Research Center and the Stennis Montgomery Association.
McCullough remembered and praised Sen. John C. Stennis several times during his speech, calling Stennis a man who “leads by principle instead of politics,” and believed “a life lived to its fullest is a life that gives something back.”
Setting goals, serving others and making decisions based on principles were key themes of McCullough’s presentation. He urged the students in the audience to choose, write down and work towards obtaining achievable goals.
“What do you want to do with your life?” McCullough asked.
McCullough gave examples from his experiences as TVA chairman as well as examples from his time as mayor of Tupelo, to demonstrate the importance of setting goals. He said the three most important goals of TVA were to create affordable power, improve the quality of life and provide leadership for sustainable economic development.
“What does that mean? That means career opportunities,” McCullough said.
He said only about 100 of the thousands of positions provided by TVA were filled by MSU graduates, but he wanted that number to grow.
McCullough also pointed out the importance of obtaining goals in a fair and principled way. He emphasized TVA’s duty of “environmental stewardship.” He said TVA spends one million dollars a day to install and maintain filters to reduce coal emissions.
“But it’s the right thing to do,” he said, “because [coal] is very affordable as a fuel and it is plentiful.”
McCullough also spoke of the importance of developing both vision and leadership.
“Vision is simply the ability to see what the future can be. It starts with the vision of your own life. What do you want to accomplish for your own life? What impact do you want to have on the lives of others?” he asked.
“Leadership happens when somebody steps out because they are wanting to make a difference,” McCullough said. “They want to make a difference in the lives of others in their community, their state and their nation.”
The next speaker in the series will be former Mississippi governor William Winter. Winter will speak March 6.