Retired Army Colonel Lou Huddleston Speaks Leadership at Methodist University’s Lura S. Tally Center

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A few hundred Methodist University students poured into the school’s Huff Concert Hall on Monday and were treated to an eye-opening presentation on morals, ethics, and values from Army Colonel (ret.) Lou Huddleston, a leadership consultant and entrepreneur from Fayetteville.  

“The path that you’re on now will greatly influence the path that you’ll be on as you go out into the world,” Huddleston said. “As a young person, what you come to value now will be who you are 10, 20, 30 years from now.” 

Presented by the Lura S. Tally Center for Leadership Development at MU, Huddleston shared both personal stories and hard-hitting experiences that he related to the students and the university. He mentioned some of MU’s mission-statement values “truth, virtue, justice, and love” and he asked the students: “Do you have a moral and ethical compass? If the answer is ‘yes,’ do you then have the moral courage to use it? A moral compass is useless if you don’t have the courage to speak up and say ‘No. Don’t do that.’” 

The Lura S. Tally Center for Leadership Development was started 25 years ago at Methodist University when a group of faculty and community leaders recognized an opportunity to design a program that would teach leadership, an ability essential to success in all careers. Then N.C. Senator Tally supported the program and more than two decades later, hundreds of MU graduates have greatly improved their career options as a result of stronger leadership ability.  

“What resonated with me most was when (Huddleston) talked about looking to the person you will be 10, 20 years from now,” said Kyle Schlegel, a sophomore from Philadelphia who was in the audience along with MU President Stanley T. Wearden and other MU staff and faculty. “It’s great that they can bring in leaders like this who have persevered to find success.” 

Huddleston is the President and CEO of Operations Services, Inc. (OSI), a management consulting firm he founded in 2010 in Fayetteville. OSI provides government organizations with professional services in areas such as leadership training, information technology, cyber security, systems analysis, logistics, and management. Before launching OSI, he served 31 years in the U.S. Army in conventional and joint warfighting commands, retiring as a colonel. 

Dr. Drew Ziegler, chair of MU’s Political Science Department and director of the Tally Center for Leadership Development, shared with students the opportunities they have at MU to participate in new and expanded leadership activities. One of those is the Leadership Fellows Program, which provides an array of leadership courses and opportunities to students who want to develop such skills.  

To learn more about the Center, Leadership Fellows, Leadership Studies, Camps, and more, visit methodist.edu/talley-center.