S2 E3 - Secret Service Leadership with Todd Lamb

Leadership at scale requires more than position, it requires influence that carries across roles, sectors, and seasons. Todd G. Lamb, President of the University of Central Oklahoma, brings a rare perspective shaped by service as a U.S. Secret Service agent, Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma, and now as a university leader impacting thousands of students.

Joining Dr. Greg Steely on Leadership Unscripted, President Lamb shares how influence shows up in real leadership moments. From the B.R.O.N.C.H.O. Way to leading through complexity, he unpacks how consistent principles guide decision-making across government and higher education. The conversation also explores what it means to lead when alignment isn’t guaranteed and how leaders can still move people and systems forward.

For leaders navigating responsibility, collaboration, and long-term impact, this conversation offers a clear and grounded perspective on influence in action.

Leadership Unscripted is brought to you by Growing Leaders a program of the Maxwell Leadership Foundation. Learn more about Growing Leaders at Growingleaders.com and Maxwell Leadership Foundation by Visiting Maxwellleadership.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Um, students often ask me what was my highlight in the Seabreat Service when I had the assignment of uh arriving ahead of time and I was on the tarmac of a foreign airport. I get in my earpiece that Angels Bravo, 10 minutes out, Angels Alpha, five minutes out, and then you see the blurry gasp, you know, head of your direction. My heart would start to beat fast. And seeing Air Force One land on foreign soil. And here's what I always thought Americans here. And I've been drawn to serving something much greater than myself, collaboration, and trying to leave something better than I found it.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

I'm here on a beautiful campus, University of Central Oklahoma, with President Todd Lamb. President Lamb's journey has been spectacular. He has served in the Secret Service, he has served in the state legislator, former lieutenant governor of the state of Oklahoma, a level five leader, as John Maxwell would say, President Todd Lamb. Kind of your thoughts a little bit. Your host, Greg Stevens. You already did that. Welcome to Leadership Unscripted. That's one of the better ones I've heard. That's really good. Welcome to Leadership Unscripted. I am really excited today. I'm here on a beautiful campus, University of Central Oklahoma, with President Todd Lamb, and you're going to learn so much about an incredible leader. You know, we don't have just regular leaders on here. We have incredible leaders. Wow. President Lamb's journey has been spectacular. He has served in the Secret Service with two presidents. He has served in the state legislator. He's the former lieutenant governor of the state of Oklahoma. And he has been magnificent in his leadership. Now the president of this university. So I want you to welcome audience, a level five leader, as John Maxwell would say, President Todd Lamb. President, thank you for being with us. Well, thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you. That's quite an introduction.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Let's just cut here and just had to make it a very short podcast. I don't know if I can live up to that, but um first time to Oklahoma for you. You're long overdue. I know I am. Uh thanks for finally getting here by way of Atlanta, North Carolina, and all points in between. Uh, but we're thrilled to have you on campus, and it's an honor for me to be on your podcast. Well, thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

And um, we were just talking, I've been to Texas many times. Why in the heck would I go to Texas before Oklahoma? That's a great that's a miss. That's a miss on my part. No offense to my Texan people, but that's a miss on my part. Big miss. Yeah, that's a miss. I haven't met with any college presidents in Texas. I mean, come on. Yeah. Well, it's an honor, it's an honor to be here. So let's jump right in. Let's talk a little bit about because I I gave a little bit of your background. I mean, there's much more there. You have a distinguished career in leadership. Um, but it's a unique journey, right, to go from Secret Service and I'm and many positions before that, to serving in politics, to going in the private sector, and then you're the lieutenant governor, and then you're now the president of university. Talk a little bit about that leadership journey for the audience, and then talk about some of the principles that you've taken along the way in leadership in each of those stops.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Uh well, I I've been fortunate and blessed throughout my career, early on in my 20s, to be around really significant leaders. I worked for a governor uh years ago who was a fantastic leader at that time. He led Ultimate City through the bombing on April 19th, 1995. I saw his strong leadership abilities and skills. I was kind of his right hand aide-de-camp in his hip pocket. Uh, so I got to learn, take notes, and learn. Um, I had a great dad. He's been in heaven almost eight years now. Wow. So very strong leader. He was a football coach for a while. He was an attorney, a prosecutor. He was in the state senate. Um, he was Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Oklahoma. He led in our church, he led in community. And so I had a great uh role model uh in my dad. And then just throughout life, I've had I've I've been fortunate and blessed to work with a lot of other folks that I've been able to emulate and just watch and learn. So throughout my journey from the Secret Service, and you listed the uh some of the high points of the career. Uh I've and the Secret Service is pretty foundational for me. Um so I learned a work ethic, which is very important for leaders, and attention to detail. Yeah. Uh that's kind of what the Secret Service, among other things, uh, they pride themselves on attention to detail, whether it's counterfeit currency investigation or protecting the president, you've got to have attention to detail and uh listening. Uh you've got to listen during your investigations. You have to uh pay attention to your surroundings while you're on a protection assignment, whether it's with President Clinton, President Bush, domestic protection, international protection. So uh simply put, I would say my leadership style is to listen, learn while I'm listening, and then you lead. Yeah. You can't start off with leading. So I know we get some more details, but that that's kind of the inception, the beginning of my career working for a governor on political staff, and then kind of transferring and getting that job with the Secret Service, which is foundational to everything I've done moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Yeah, and what I love about you, President Lamb, is um if as I was reading your bio and your journey, the the first phrase that popped in my mind was servant leader. Because in every one of those positions, you have to be, you have, you have to have a level of service, right? Secret service, right? I guess so. Right. And and even in politics, you're serving the community. Talk a little bit about how that's ingrained in who you are, this servant lead. Because you're the you're the president of university, you you serve the students, right? You're at the service of the students. But a lot of people think when you're the president, you're up there, you know, banging the gavel and making all these decisions, but you're serving the students. And just what we talked about briefly before we went on, and you're teaching two classes and you're serving uh serving your your constituents pretty much. Talk about how that, how you're drawn to that in leadership.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

I I've always been drawn to serving something much bigger than myself, much greater than myself, whether that was the state of Oklahoma, whether that was, you know, the man, the person, the president of the United States, but it really uh was serving the country. Now I want to be very careful to say not in the military capacity, those men and women that stand in harm's way wearing a country's uniform. I'm not comparing myself to them, but serving the uh the country in a civilian capacity as a secret service agent, but serving something bigger than myself. And and one anecdote from the Secret Service that really highlights that um students often ask me what was my highlight in the Secret Service? Can you tell us a story? Well, it's a pretty general anecdote, but I always loved being in a foreign country when I had the assignment of uh arriving ahead of time and I was on the tarmac of a foreign airport, and hearing in my earpiece that Angel, codename for Air Force One, I don't think I I don't think I've talked out of school there, right? But I I get in my earpiece that Angel's Bravo about you know, 10 minutes out, Angel's Alpha, five minutes out, and then you see the blurry gas, you know, head of your direction. Yeah. And my heart was my heart would start to beat fast. Wow. And seeing Air Force One land on foreign soil. And here's what I always thought America's here. No, man, that's and it would make kind of a hair on the back of my neck stand out because Air Force One arrived and America is here, whether I was in Paris, Guatemala, London, wherever, you know, Ephesus, Turkey, wherever I might have been. So uh that, and now serving a university, serving the state of Oklahoma previously in politics, I've enjoyed and I've been drawn to serving something much greater than myself, collaboration and trying to leave something better than I found it.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Man, that's so good. How do you so you're teaching two leadership classes? Right. We talked about this. This wasn't in our pre- I got two books. Yeah. Yeah. I got two books. Show the books. I got the blades because this is amazing. Here's a president of university. Here's what he told me. This is what he said. He said, I gotta be, I gotta be in the classroom. So, but understand how it works in university. As the president, he can't just decide he wants to go into the classroom. He can say, I want to be in the classroom. The provost is the one who said, Okay, I want you to be in the classroom. And that's who that's who makes it happen. So talk about your talk about these classes and what what you're teaching these students.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

And these aren't seminars. I mean, these are creditors. Two hour credit classes. And these books were given to me. I used to practice law. Uh I'm a reformed attorney. Okay. Uh recovering attorney. Okay. And uh so I had a client and uh Bill Spears is his name, and he's a leader in his own right. But he gave me this book first, How the Best Did It, by Thomas Boston. And what I love about this book, it covers eight presidents and it talks about their leadership traits, but also their flaws. And so often we talk about leaders and focus on what they did positively, and we should if they're a good and strong leader, but it talks about their flaws.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

And there are discussion questions at the end of the chapter. It's almost written like a book for a class. Like a textbook almost. So I teach this class in the spring, How the Best Did It. And it's it's called uh good uh Lessons in Presidential Leadership. Wow. And we have a great discussion with the students. And right now, this fall, I teach this class in the fall. It's Lincoln on leadership, again given to me by the same man, Bill Spears. And this is strictly on Abraham Lincoln, and it's kind of the go-to book. Because there are a lot of books written on Lincoln, but they're not a lot of books specifically about his leadership. You get nuggets of his leadership during the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Uh, so this is this is a great book, just strictly on Lincoln. I love it. And uh I I also assigned this fall uh memorization of the Gettysburg Address. I did that in eighth grade.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

I'll repeat that first word again for our younger listeners. What did you say? It starts with an M Memorization.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Memorization. And you know, so you're probably very similar. We're we're close to the same vintage. I think I memorized the Gettysburg Address in the eighth grade. Yes. Now I was a procrastinator in school at times. Yep. I waited until the night before. Yeah, of course. My dad wasn't happy about that. So my mother intervened. My mom sat down with me and helped me memorize the Gettysburg Address the night before was due. So we've got about five students that are there right now with about four weeks left to go in the semester that have recognized the Gettysburg. I have no doubt they all will. But it's it's great to teach leadership because it's so important, uh, whatever the leadership traits, to infuse that into the next generation. And what I love about uh the the folks we study in these two books, there's a lot of grit.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Uh there's a lot of overcoming. Yeah. And there certainly is in these capacities of being president of the United States, uh, serving something much greater than yourself. And when we study George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, among others, we talk about the importance of a magnetic north. That's great. What is what is drawing you? You know, you might have people behind you, but what's in front of you?

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

That's drawing you and giving you course direction.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

I love that. I love that. What's in front of you? Talk a little bit, because it's coming out of this, because you see it every day. In in our world, when we talk about the next generation, a lot of the world wants to talk about the problems with the next generation. We like to talk about the potential of the next generation, right? We don't want to talk about the problems of the next generation. We all have had those problems. You and I had very similar problems. Sure. Every generation. Every generation. Talk about the potential you're seeing in the leadership of the students you're teaching, the students you're walking around on campus here at the university. Talk about all that potential that you're seeing right now of what they're hungry to learn about leadership.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Um, well, a lot of things. One of the greatest advantages they have, and what what I share with a lot of our students, is the runway. You know, I I'm 54 years old. I don't know what my runway is. Yeah. None of us know how many, um, what our our numbered days are. Right. So with these students, the assumption is, expectation is you have a very long runway ahead of you. You have so many opportunities. And so what I see is a real eagerness to learn about leadership, learn about other things while they're on our campus. But also I see this generation as opposed to being focused. So some are folks in very niche industry or discipline or an occupation. But a lot of our students enter this university with, hey, I'm going to keep my options open. And so we do a lot of mentoring here in this office. Anytime I meet a student, I go to Starbucks quite a bit. I did this morning, and usually I buy the uh coffee for the person in front of me, person behind me, really kind of anybody who's in Starbucks. I'll buy the I'll buy the coffee. But then I have a conversation with that student. What are you studying? Why are you studying that? What lights your fire about that? And if I can help you, here's my email address. That's I did that twice this morning. Wow. Uh, but I I'd say um the students are eager to learn, they know their future is limitless. And here at the University of Central Oklahoma, we meet students where they are and we transform them while they're here intellectually, mentally, uh, and we meet them where they are and make sure when they graduate from the University of Central Oklahoma, they're a much different and better person than when they arrive.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

They're ready. They're ready. They're ready. They're ready. I love that. So is that why I saw about 150 students standing outside Starbucks?

SPEAKER_00 12:59

I kept they're waiting for the president to come back. I know our time's limited, but a quick story about that. Uh, this is my third fall as university president. I'm the 22nd president of the University of Central Oklahoma. And so I started doing that early on, buying the coffee. Word got out. Oh, I bet it was my first or second semester. I go to the cashier and buying the cup of coffee for the young lady in front of me. And then the barista was kind of ringing up slowly. And then boom, student behind me. I said, Well, I'll I'll buy that one also. Again, ringing up slowly, kind of slowly, and then boom, the third student. So I thought, is the barista in on this? I think the barista is in on it. So before long, we had eight deep, uh-huh. Eight deep that I bought every cup of coffee and I enjoyed doing it. But I've heard the words out whenever lamb is at Starbucks, get in line.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Yeah, I heard there's a there's a blog that goes out now. It's called the Starbucks Lamb. Yeah, and so they get ready. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Well, and I'm happy to do it because it's a great way to engage the students. And um I I bought a cup of coffee um, I think it was two weeks ago. I was with my wife Monica. Uh, you've got a Monica. Oh, yeah. Uh, you told me, but I was with my wife Monica, and we bought a cup of coffee for a student that had never been to Starbucks before.

unknown 14:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

And we're deep into the semester. Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Um there's a Starbucks on campus, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

That's right. Yeah, there's one here. Yeah, it's not like you can't. Yeah, but that was some pressure. She goes, What should I get? Right. Like we can make or break the coffee career for this young lady. Yes. And then again, why it's important to engage students and meet them. Uh, last week, I think it was la late last week, the student from me, student behind me, both from Austin, Texas. Wow. One's a freshman, one's a junior, did not know each other.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

From the same place. Yeah. How about that? So we got to meet and they got to meet and talk about the whole servant leadership. It's what we talked about. It's what you do. And you're modeling that for your for everybody here on campus. And if they're paying attention, they're going to grab it, which is really great. All right. Don't have a lot of time left, but I I do want to spend some time on the Bronco Way. So again, one of the greatest mascots for collegiate athletics and schools is a Bronco. Because a Bronco don't play, man. A Bronco is a tough, right? Hooves up. I mean, I've seen it all right, right? You got it. I got it, baby. Come on. Um, so talk about the Bronco Way. Talk about where that where that was born, how that came out, and then how that equates to leadership um for your students.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

So I I was hired as president, named president, May of 20 uh 23. And um, is that right? That's right. May of 23. And so I I was traveling and I think I was on a flight somewhere. I had the proverbial napkin, you know, with the water. I got on the plane, got the napkin, and I just started kind of Bronco, UCO Bronco. What do we want to stand for? And what has this university been about since 1890? We're the third largest university in Oklahoma. Wow. And I thought about our history, our heritage. So then I just wrote out Bronco. And for our viewers and listeners, they they need to understand we spell Bronco uniquely.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

At Central Oklahoma. We have an H there. Yeah. I'm the president. I've heard many anecdotes wide or a lot of folklore, but it's B-R-O-N-C-H-O, is how we spell Bronco. So that's why we say roll chose is the apostrophe chose. I'm saying too much. So I just wrote out, I started playing with it. We want to be, I'm going to spell Bronco. We're going to be reflective of our neighborhood, our community, our history as an institution, and be reflective of Oklahoma. And what that means, simply put, is this servant leadership, giving back the community, uh, meeting students where they are, personifying as an institution the Oklahoma standard, which was really uh became well known April 19th, 1995, after the Murray bombing. Yeah. But really, if you look at our history, overcoming the trail of tears with our indigenous tribes, uh, what we did during land runs, where we've been as a state, what we've been through with uh with tragedy and triumph, yeah, we have always personified what became known as that Oklahoma standard, which is servant leadership, giving back, and leaving wherever we are, whatever we're doing, leaving that place better than we found it. That's the bronze.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

I love it, man. As soon as I saw that, first of all, when I saw it, I was like, I'm worried about the university because they can't they're spelling Bronco or our way. But then I but then I read it, I loved the history. I love the history in there because that is such a part of who you guys are, not only as a university, but at the Oklahoma as a state, like you just said. And and as I read it and just heard you say, the first thing that popped in my mind is you're all about the Bronco way is all about adding value before you extract value, right? That's right.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

It's so well set. I should have said that. Uh you said that I'm gonna steal that by the way. You can steal it, absolutely. Yeah, that's right. Adding value before you extract. Yeah. That's what we want to do as a university. And that's what you're doing. That's what we do with our students. What we want to add value to them and maybe extract later after they're very successful alums. Yeah. Don't forget to come back for any country. Don't forget to come back. Buy some season tickets. Exactly. But we want to pour into them. That's what we do here at UCL.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

I love it. All right, rapid fire. Yes, sir. So you're not prepared for these. These are going to be coming at you, baby. Okay. Um, all right. When you're not leading a university, okay, you're not being an incredible husband. Now I haven't asked Monica, but I'm going to assume that she would say 30 years. 30 years. So you something good there, right? 30 years. Congratulations. Thank you. Um, being a great dad. Um, what is it you like to do in your in your quote unquote off time?

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Uh so I do a lot of things, but I exercise pretty rigorously, uh, regularly and rigorously. Uh, usually I'm a five 5 a.m. wake-up guy. Yeah. I'm at the wellness center. Yeah. Uh it's unlocked officially at 6 a.m. I happen to have a key. Sure. So I unlock that wellness about 5 18 a.m. I mean, you can set a clock by me. And so I do that. I lift, I run. Um, I used to hunt more when our son was younger. Sure. I still hunt with our daughter. She loved to duck hunt. Oh, wow. So we duck hunt at least once or twice a year. Love to travel.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

And I had a I had an old boss and the Secret Service really uh in the way to that. And this is quick, rapid fire. But travel at provides a great education. Yeah. When you go to different places, visit different places.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

I love that. All right. I bump into a student that knows you out here. Okay. They've gotten to know you as well as a lot of people. Is this theoretical or is it really dead? No, no. I might after this. I might after this. Um, you want that student to say what about you as a leader?

SPEAKER_00 19:14

He's a student president. Uh we spend a lot of time with our students. I host a lunch with Lamb. Students can sign up to go. I put buy their lunch at the cafeteria, just get to know. I do about five or six students at a time. We talked about Starbucks already. Uh you take the students away from a university campus. Yeah. There's no reason to be here. Faculty, staff, administration, buildings, parking lots. There's nobody here. There are no students. So I'm here for the students. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

All right, last question. Two two kids.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Okay. We we pull them in here, we interview them, and we say, I get I get real nervous. Yeah. Your your dad is a great leader because of why. What do you hope they're going to say?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

He loves his Lord and he loves people.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Man, that's good. That's a mic drop. So hey, thank you for being here. Thank you. Thank you for being with us. Thank you, uh, President Lamb, for having us here at this incredible university. Um, I want you to get out to Oklahoma. I want you to come visit the university. If you've got kids, send them here.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

And you're talking to superintendents among us. Yes. Thank you, superintendents and educators, for your service to the next generation. Yeah. Thank you, buddy. Thank you.