by Jevan Sadler
Zions Bank
Guest Blogger, Young Leader Member
Being a member of the United Way of Salt Lake Young Leaders for nearly three years, I have had the opportunity to attend many of the Lunch with a Leader events and am always impressed with the accomplishments, success, and the dedication to community service of the Leaders who speak. November’s Lunch with a Leader, featuring Craig Wagstaff, was no exception. Mr. Wagstaff is the Executive Vice President and the Chief Operating Officer of Questar Gas.
I arrived at the newly built LEED certified Questar building, made my way to the board room, and was promptly greeted by Mr. Wagstaff and spent several minutes getting to know him.
Craig has worked for Questar for 28 years and has had 16 different jobs in the organization. Needless to say, he had many experiences to share and much advice to offer. Craig spent the majority of the time during lunch discussing the importance of integrity in management and the concept of “servant leadership,” something I was unfamiliar with until this lunch. A servant leader is someone who is a servant first, who has responsibility to be in the world, and so he/she contributes to the well-being of people and community.
The lunch was very conversational and, towards the end, Craig varied from the typical format I have experienced with other lunches. Instead of opening himself up to questions from us, he asked us all questions instead. He wanted to hear from us about what challenges we experience as leaders in our organizations, what mentors we have had in our careers, and what made those mentors special to us. It was interesting to hear everyone’s responses and I think this was indicative of Craig’s desire to continue learning and improving his leadership and mentor skills.
Overall, I was very impressed by Craig and hope I can follow in his path of continued learning and self-improvement.
To find out more about Young Leaders or how you can become a Young Leader, visit the UWSL website.
