Building Bellingham Ep 6: Ray Deck III (Skookum Kids)

This month’s episode covered how a young man grew from being a church youth camp coordinator to leading a major nonprofit here in Bellingham, and how he’s purposely developed his leadership skills along the way.

Last week, Leo sat down with Ray Deck III, who was recently awarded the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce CEO of the Year (link speech). He’s a high-octane human and the Founding Director of Skookum Kids. Throughout their conversation, I kept hearing leadership principles illustrated by the stories Ray told. 

A Leadership Case Study

A leader recognizes that leadership is both a talent and skill. Ray believes that we internally have different levels of leadership talent, and some people are just naturally more inclined to step up, to speak first. Others are not. But both groups need to actively develop leadership as a skill to use it effectively. 

A leader takes risks. In the episode, Ray talks about how in his life, he’s often jumped before knowing where he’ll land. The “need to exit” problem often happens before the “where to next” solution.
A leader sees potential. When Ray moved cross-country to start work at Faithlife, he accepted a job as a blog writer - not exactly what he wanted to do. But, to quote Ray paraphrasing Sheryl Sandberg: “when someone offers you a seat on the rocketship, you don’t quibble over which one.”
A leader tackles the unpleasant stuff. Part of taking initiative is going after the opportunities that we know are there, but are shut behind a combination lock no one has been able to crack. Faithlife had thousands of cold, dead leads that hadn’t been converted to sales in (in some cases) years, and on the side of his regular job, Ray devised a system to warm them and convert.
A leader does extra.  Ray mentioned that he’s almost always had a side hustle. It’s part of taking initiative at work (and how he moved from writing blog copy to leading an experimental projects team at Faithlife), and also cross-training your skill set. Or the side hustle can become the main gig: Skookum Kids started as a side project itself, and grew to the point of being ready for a director right at the time Ray was laid off from his prior work.

A leader asks the right questions. Skookum Kids started with a question Ray had been asking new networking contacts, and happened to ask a social worker at an event: “What does Bellingham need?”

A leader avoids drama. Ray speaks frankly of his layoff experience, but not only does he never speak ill of his former employer, he lists that company’s CEO as a significant influencer in his professional life. 

A leader is prepared - and also has a backup plan. Ray has plenty of speaking engagements, and emphasized to Leo the importance of preparation and practice - scripting the speech, practicing in front of a mirror, planning every component, and always-always-always having two copies.  “It’s when you assume that it’s under control and you don’t need to prep- disaster happens.”

A leader takes on a big problem. “When kids came into foster care, there was no good plan for where they go. The phrase we use sometimes is ‘they’re coming in hot’ - they’re coming from somewhere unsafe ...it's seven pm on a Friday night and we need a foster home NOW. Every community has this problem.” While today it does so much more, Skookum Kids began with Skookum House, the big, bold answer to a big problem in the foster system. Staffed by volunteers from the community, Skookum House is a 24/7 safe place for a child to stay until social workers can learn more about the child and arrange for an appropriate foster placement. 

A leader fails… and learns. Ray shared a tough story with Leo about a hard journey he took earlier this year, when his responsibilities weighed heavy on his shoulders, and he also referenced that episode in his CEO of the Year acceptance speech. He shares frankly that some days it’s easy to just blame the bureaucracy on the other side of a major miscommunication, and some days he was burdened with feeling that it’s all his fault. Months later, he recognizes a balance of ‘somewhere in between’ and instead chooses to focus on growing from the experience.

A leader affirms their people. Leaders don’t have to have all the answers, or all the knowledge, or even the best ...Ray talks about surrounding himself with people who are “humble, hungry, and smart” and also consciously reflects affirmation back to both his team and volunteers at Skookum, and to the community as a whole.

A leader is humble. This is less a principle Ray explicitly shared in the podcast, and more one that he exudes in his interactions, conversations, and speeches. As Founding Director of a major local nonprofit, or Bellingham Chamber of Commerce’s CEO of the Year, he sees himself as simply the steward of something greater, something owned by Whatcom County at large. 

So that’s it - leadership takeaways from the larger conversation about changing how foster care is done, about pivoting from one field to the other, and about always learning and growing. 

 Links

The Episode: Apple Podcasts  |   Spotify  |  Stitcher 

Our Guest: Ray Deck III  | Instagram  |  Facebook  | CEO of the Year speech

His Organization: Skookum Kids  | Instagram  |  Facebook      

Credits

Hosted by Leo Cohen, Cohen Group NW  | Website  | Facebook  | Instagram

Produced and Edited by David Pender Lofgren 

Recorded and Mixed by Andy Rick

Videographer & Social Media Jedi: Cooper Hansley Blog by Tiffany Holden

Recorded at  Binary Studios  | Website  | Facebook  | Instagram

Building Bellingham is a member of The BellPod Network  | Website  | Facebook  | Instagram