Sally Jewell, the 51st U.S. secretary of the interior, spoke to the Elon University community about her life experiences, ethical business practices and how she navigated opposing interests during her time in government.
Jewell spoke in LaRose Digital Theatre Oct. 30 as part of a speaker series by Elon’s Center for Humanity in Business. As secretary of the interior, Jewell managed U.S. national parks and public land, as well as wildlife conservation.
During her speech, Jewell mentioned that a recurring theme throughout her life was finding common ground
“Success looks like bringing people together around a table as human beings with very different interests and giving them an opportunity to get to know each other as human beings, because there is always common ground,” Jewell said.
In an interview with Elon News Network after her speech, Jewell said that this generation in particular needs to become better at surrounding themselves with differing opinions and actually listening to them.
She said that she thought part of the problem was the lack of agency and abundance of oversight preventing children from finding differing viewpoints.
“These are not things that are setting young people up to be themselves, to let themselves shine, to understand ‘what do I believe?’ versus ‘what am I told to believe?’” Jewell said.
Jewell mentioned that teachers and students should work to have constructive discussions, and mentioned that conservative students in particular can have problems feeling respected on campus.
Jewell was nominated for secretary of the interior by Democratic former President Barack Obama, and has donated to Democratic candidates in the past.
Elon freshman Logan Baines came to the speech because he saw an email about it.
“I feel like it’s something that a lot of people need to realize that, that is an ongoing issue in the political community and that we need to be more aware of the sides that other people are taking,” Baines said.
Jewell said that as she was going through Senate confirmation to her position, she was warned not to trust anybody in Washington D.C.
“I learned, of course, that there are a lot of people that you can trust, and there’s a handful that you can’t,” Jewell said during her speech.
Jewell said in her speech that during high school, she planned to become a dental hygienist. Today, her resume includes executive positions at REI and Costco, positions as a petroleum engineer and a commercial banker, and service as the secretary of the interior under former President Barack Obama.
“Those early years were an opportunity to say, ‘what can I bring?‘ and to learn how I could blend my knowledge with the knowledge of the people I was working with,” Jewell said during her speech.
“Her talking about the issues that she went through trying to get government support and dealing with trying to find out the common ground between people, I think that was really nice to hear about,” Baines said.
Jewell said in her speech that she thinks of ethical business like a four-legged chair, with each leg standing for employees, customers, shareholders and community. However, she also mentioned that business models like REI, of which she was CEO, can shake up that model.
“When I went to REI, one of the legs was missing, because the customer and the owner were one and the same,” Jewell said in her speech.
During her speech, Jewell said that early in her career, one ethical business lesson she learned was about honesty. She denied oil loans on the grounds she thought they were being overvalued — and, later, some of the companies that had requested loans went under. She repeated throughout her speech that ethics and good business can coexist with focus on long-term goals.
Baines said that Jewell’s speech inspired him to pay more attention to sustainability and good business practices moving forward.
“When people think of business, they think of, like, just hoarding themselves,” Baines said. “But people in business can impact the greater good.”