By Kelsi Peace, Features Editor
Kasey Pipes has put words into the mouths of modern-day leaders President George W. Bush and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as their speechwriter. And on Tuesday, Pipes, class of 1995, was honored at the Young Alumnus of the Year luncheon for his own leadership and service to the university.
Pipes, the 17th Young Alumnus of the Year to be honored with the Alumni Association’s award, offered three actions a leader takes: leaders lose, leaders listen and leaders love.
“Someone is going to lead the world,” Pipes told students, “and it might as well be you … In fact, it had better be you.”
Pipes himself set out to lead in the political arena as a member of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger’s staff, equipped with communication and political science bachelor’s degrees from ACU.
“ACU blessed me with a feeling, a sense that somehow I belong,” Pipes said. “That somehow, I posses a talent that I should go out and use for God’s glory.”
Pipes used that talent working as associate director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives for President Bush, where he wrote speeches for the President, Laura Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Lynne Cheney and cabinet secretaries. In 2006, he joined Gov. Schwarzenegger’s re-election campaign as the chief speechwriter.
Today, Pipes owns and operates The Pipes Co., his consulting and public relations firm, in Fort Worth. His biography of former president Eisenhower, “Ike’s Final Battle,” was released in March – a work that Pipes says is more of a character study than case study.
And it is Eisenhower who Pipes holds up as a pristine example of leadership.
“Leaders don’t just do things right, they do the right thing,” Pipes said.
While addressing faculty, friends and family, Pipes directed his message of leadership to students, challenging them to learn to lose, listen and love.
“Today’s setback is the beginning of tomorrow’s victory,” Pipes said.
And while leaders’ losses make them great, Pipes said the ability to listen and connect is just as vital. As is the ability to serve, which ultimately both defines a leader and enables everyone to be a leader, Pipes said.
“[Leaders] don’t just work at a job,” Pipes said. “They have a labor of love.”
His desire for all students is that they find work they can love and labor at, Pipes said. He recalled his own moment of professional glory, when he captured Schwarzenegger’s message – receiving and keeping the faith of his constituents – in a speech Pipes said Schwarzenegger liked and delivered well.
“None of this I’ve planned,” Pipes said while autographing another copy of “Ike’s Final Battle.” “God sort of guides you.”
When he left the university, Pipes said his only solid plan was to attend graduate school. He keeps his ties with ACU, returning to speak to LYNAY and e-mailing Dr. Gary McCaleb and Dr. Mel Hailey, both of whom he calls mentors. McCaleb gave Pipes his first internship while he was serving as mayor of Abilene, and Pipes credits Hailey with “push[ing] me to strengthen my arguments and lose the cliches and talking points” – lessons he said he hasn’t left behind.
Students aren’t likely to leave Pipes’ message behind either. Dr. Royce Money, president of the university, thanked Pipes for addressing the students.
“It’s one of those life-defining moments that you almost don’t expect,” Money said.
“Any politician can make a statement,” Pipes said. “But only a leader can make a difference. And the difference is made through actions, not words [and] over time, not overnight.”
But for Pipes, his words seem to make the difference on their own.
