Growth Mindsets and Building Trust

Mindset Does Matter

Presented by Inspired Leadership Initiative

Wednesday, January 15, 2025 12:00 pm

Dan Porterfield, President and CEO of Aspen Institute, joins Leadership in Public Conversation for a discussion on his perspective on the importance of, and the role higher education plays, in fostering a growth mindset across generations. We explore how that may change as the future of higher education and the world, at large, continues to evolve.

Prior to his role at the Aspen Institute, he served as the President of Franklin & Marshall College, Senior Vice President for Strategic Development at Georgetown University, and as communications director and chief speechwriter for the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Dan is also the author of the book Mindset Matters: The Power of College to Activate Lifelong Growth about the growing value of college in today’s rapidly changing world.

During the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years, the Inspired Leadership Initiative is exploring the topic of Leadership in Public Conversation. Hear from leaders across disciplines and industries who can speak to relevant topics in today’s world. From a podcaster focusing on fulfillment, to young Notre Dame alumni making their mark in society, and individuals navigating complex current events, all are setting an example for accompanying generations through their personal and professional lives.

Meet the Speaker: Dan Porterfield

Daniel R. Porterfield is President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. He has been recognized as a visionary strategist, transformational leader, devoted educator, and passionate advocate for justice and opportunity. At the Aspen Institute, Porterfield has worked to build upon the organization’s legacy of societal influence and commitment to human dignity while positioning it for a future where it can make its most profound and lasting impacts.

In recent years, the Institute has launched new initiatives focused on criminal justice reform, science and society, economic inclusion, grassroots and community leadership, and more. In the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado, where the Institute was founded and where it maintains its Aspen Meadows campus, it has broadened its partnerships with the local community through the Hurst Community Initiative and deepened its connection with its aesthetic and cultural heritage through the creation of a $20 million educational facility and creativity corridor celebrating the works of Bauhaus master Herbert Bayer, one of the founders of the Aspen Institute.

Prior to leading the Aspen Institute, Porterfield served for seven years as the President of Franklin & Marshall College, a national liberal arts college founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1787.

He is the author of a book about the growing value of college in today’s rapidly changing world, provisionally entitled, Mindset Matters: The Power of College to Activate Lifelong Growth, forthcoming from Johns Hopkins University Press.

Porterfield earned B.A. degrees from Georgetown and Oxford—where he was a Rhodes Scholar—and his Ph.D. from The City University of New York Graduate Center, where he was awarded a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities and wrote his dissertation on the poetry of American prisoners. He has been awarded honorary degrees from Wake Forest University, Miami Dade College, Queens University of Charlotte, Elizabethtown College, and Mt. Aloysius College.

A native of the City of Baltimore, where he was raised by a single mother, Porterfield and his wife, attorney Karen A. Herrling, live in Virginia and have three children.

Building Trust in Public Conversation with Anne Thompson '79

In this installment of the Inspiring Conversations Leadership in Public Conversation series, we were joined by Anne Thompson ’79, chief environmental affairs correspondent for NBC News and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and University trustee. Anne has served the University community in a variety of impactful and meaningful ways, including as a principal speaker and co-founder of Hesburgh Women of Impact as well as an interviewer and moderator of many panels.

Considering her service to the University in multiple roles and her public service as a journalist, Anne’s body of work and impact emphasize a particular social capital, that of trust in public conversation. What better person to flip the script on, then, as interviewee–to provide our audience the chance to hear her perspective about the importance of trust in public conversation and the ways we might build it.

ILI was honored to interview Anne Thompson at our October 2024 signature event gathering of ILI alumni and exploration guests. She treated us with the characteristic insight of a distinguished career in journalism, and with the wit and wisdom of a person of remarkable character. A member of the fourth class of pioneering women who were graduated from Notre Dame, Anne took the audience back to her beginnings (she was an intended philosophy major at Notre Dame, but majored in American Studies), behind the scenes of her career in journalism (from the Gulf of Mexico to the Vatican, from Tom Brokaw to Pope Francis), and into what leadership in public conversation should and can look like today (hint, truth is more important than opinion).

Hers is a vocation at the heart of ILI and Notre Dame. Anne’s goal every day: To get as close to the truth as humanly possible within deadline, whether that is 6:30 at night or 7:00 o’clock in the morning. Drawing a sharp distinction between opinion and journalism, she noted the challenge of breaking out of mindsets that do not listen to people who think differently. If we do not listen, we do not learn, nor can we build bridges.

In her reporting, Anne tries to bring as many points of view as possible into consideration. That does not mean we have to rehash an issue’s debate point over and over, she emphasized. Indeed, to laughter from the audience, she noted that having to repeat over and over again the science on climate change, for instance, would be like having to prove that God exists every time she did a story on the Catholic Church.

Anne recounted one of the first pieces of advice she received in the profession: “Report what you know.” It came from Tom Brokaw. She also recounted advice from Fr. John Jenkins, C.S.C.: “Always leave the door open to a second conversation.” That advice can come in handy when your assignment as a correspondent lands you in a story you never thought you would want to cover. Yes, Anne has covered climate change and the Catholic Church, but those came about as a result of covering business, too, and from the relationships natural to any career in journalism (of course, covering sports is often a natural relationship for a Notre Dame grad).

Noting the “providence” that such relationships afford us, Tom Schreier asked Anne to comment on what relationships are missing from the public conversation. Anne described how she sees journalism as a service toward a genuinely thoughtful conversation. She believes that there is so much more that connects us than divides us, and reiterated the importance of listening to each other through genuine thoughtful conversations.

For democracy to function well, she noted, the electorate has to be well informed. Many consumers choose to get their news from social media and the internet, as opposed to more traditional methods such as local television and newspapers. As a result, people can fall victim to misinformation. Noting that even journalists are susceptible to misinformation, Anne stressed the importance of first-hand knowledge in reporting, and encouraged the audience to be good consumers of journalism and to be on the lookout for misinformation. Doing so entails people vetting the integrity of their information sources as well as people listening to each other and compromising with one another.

Journalists understandably build up walls to protect themselves emotionally, but Anne noted that faith has helped her transcend those walls. She shared that covering the Catholic Church as an NBC correspondent during major revelations in the sex abuse scandal could discourage anyone. But she also knew that if Catholic Charities suffered a loss of donations as a result of people turning away, then the social safety net for innumerable people would falter.

What’s the most promising thing Anne had to say? She shared that aspiring journalists might consider majoring in a discipline that teaches them to think and to write since these skills are everything in journalism. For herself, she said one of her favorite interviews was Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Why? Because she felt smarter walking away from that conversation. The goal is to make things more understandable for people and to think alongside your conversation partner. This is why journalism has been a vocation for Anne, one which requires passion and talent for good writing and thinking.

It was music to ILI ears when Anne said, “I don’t feel like I’ve given all that I have to give.” She left us with a question for our own consideration: How do we take the talents that we have developed over the years and use them for good? And she gave us two ideas: First, remember that you have been using those talents for good all along your journey. Second, know with whom it is you want to stay close, both the truth and your family, Notre Dame included.

Meet the Speaker: Anne Thompson '79

Anne Thompson ’79 is currently NBC News’ chief environmental affairs correspondent, and notably has covered Pope Francis’ papal tour, the United States-China climate deal, and the BP oil spill. Her reports appear across all platforms of NBC News, including NBC Nightly News, TODAY, and MSNBC. Before being named an NBC News correspondent, Thompson had been an award-winning general assignment reporter for WDIV-TV, the NBC affiliate in Detroit, since 1986. In recognition of her contributions to the Notre Dame community and beyond, Thompson was presented with the 2019 Rev. Edward Frederick Sorin, C.S.C., Award, one of the University’s highest honors.