Leadership & Life Stories

By David Forsell
President, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. My father lost his dad at age six, and was an only child raised by his factory-worker mom. His best friend was a dog named King. A self-made man, he graduated with an MBA from the University of Chicago, and was a utility executive while I grew up. He worked hard to provide for his family.

My mother was a stay at home mom and an artist. The dining room was her studio. She was a restless and creative soul, curious, interested in expanding her world, exploring its diversity, serving those in it, and appreciating its beauty.

By chance, she befriended a teenager in a Chicago hospital. Soon we, a white suburban family, were regularly visiting Jenny, her eight brothers and sisters, and their single mom, a Puerto Rican family living in a two-bedroom west side apartment. My mom helped settle a Vietnamese family at the end of the war. I’ll always remember gobbling up lots of Mrs. Nguyen’s egg rolls when we’d share dinner together! Later in her life, after moving to New York City’s upper west side, my mother would often walk to a Harlem church to tutor kids after school, or to a shelter to serve soup to the homeless.

And she’d walk her kids into the fields and forests...I have to admit I thought she was a bit nuts when she’d stop the car, pulling over to admire the corn “taller than all of us!” She’d make us walk into the rows, and waxed eloquently about "nature’s perfect order..." Those experiences shaped me, and the values undergirding her experiences were obviously imprinted upon me.

And, that hospital visit I mentioned? A genetic illness had to be treated, an illness my mother passed to me along with that values system of hers...It’s called von Hippel Lindau syndrome, a genetic disorder causing kidney cancer, and brain, spine and eye tumors that often debilitate those it afflicts. My mother, intense to begin with, got even more so as she eventually succumbed to the disease. But her life, though cut short, was full, good, and rich, actualized through her art, her service and deep appreciation for the miraculous world around us.

Just a year or so after she passed away, as I walked the 1200 block of Roache Street here in Indianapolis, I realized I was walking in my mother’s footsteps. I was walking with Kenneth Ward, a minister who had a dream for a vacant lot across the street from Community Missionary Baptist Church. A dream that the littered plot where gangs held court could instead be a garden and playground where children would tend the earth, plant trees, and grow vegetables to feed the neighborhood’s elderly. And with his vision, and some help from KIB, it is just that.

I never thought I’d lead KIB. When I’d steered a challenging budget toward a black ink finish in my first year, and then saw the company grow three-fold in five years, I began to realize that I just might be walking in my father’s shoes, too.

And how do I respond to a life that may be cut short? To do my best to lead, to serve, to live fully, to respect and consider all living things, and to deeply appreciate the beauty in every day.

How then, to lead? What values do I hold dear, and do my best to carry out in practice?

Have Passion for What you Do: It is the foundation of success, and without it, the tough days get tougher. Operate with Care and Respect for Others: Value all people; operate from trust, with maximum flexibility. Be Authentic: You aren’t fooling people when you’re not genuine; and, it gets pretty uncomfortable trying to remember what you’ve told to whom, doesn’t it? Operate with Purpose: Know where you are going and why. Share your Vision: Dare to aspire; seek support and buy-in to realize the vision.

Have Courage: Be willing to take a stand, even if you’re alone. Take reasoned risks; feel the fear and do it anyway. And...Have Joy: Take your work seriously, but have fun doing it. Mischief is absolutely expected! How does your life story shape your practice of leadership?

David Forsell is President of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc, (KIB), a private, non-profit organization that unites people to beautify the city and improve its environment, fostering community pride. In his role, David oversees more than 40 full and part-time staff. In 2008, KIB coordinated more than 500 community improvement projects, with the help of more than 44,000 volunteers, and redeveloped a vacant Fountain Square warehouse into the city’s first green civic building. David is a member of SKL Class XXIX and serves as a Vice-Chair on the Lacy Leadership Association board of directors, where he directs the Programming Task Force. David is also a participant in this year’s Hoosier Fellows Program, which is managed by the Randall Tobias Center for Leadership Excellence at Indiana University. He is a frequent presenter on quality of place issues at the annual LLA Opportunity Indianapolis program.

David is happily married to his lovely and talented wife of 18 years, Shannon. They live in Watson McCord, which was recently named one of "Indy’s Unsung Neighborhoods."

Contact David at dforsell@kibi.orgto share your feedback on his leadership lesson.