As a young man, David Rankin had never given any thought to becoming a college professor, let alone an administrator of higher education. His mother had moved back to Arkansas from Tennessee--first to Hot Springs, then to Junction City--after his father had died in World War II and he had just begun college. After a stint at factory work, he decided he preferred higher education and was attending Louisiana Tech University. "David, have you ever thought about being a college professor," asked E. Carl Jones, professor where David was then currently enrolled. "It never crossed my mind the first time," David replied. "Colleges of business are growing like wildfire and they need young instructors to come out and help," Jones told him. He had just successfully completed a presentation the previous week in class and decided to give it a try. He was accepted to Middle Tennessee State University and decided he liked the field, so he later began a doctorate program at the University of Mississippi, where he met another student from South Arkansas. That was Louis Blanchard of Magnolia, who went on to become a long-time professor of accounting at SAU. Rankin told Blanchard if they ever had an opening in finance at then-Southern State College to let him know. After David and wife Toni had talked it over, he decided to submit a resume. One day the phone hanging on the wall in their married student apparent rang and David answered it. On the other end was the president of Southern State! "I answered the phone and he said, 'Mr. Rankin, this is Imon Bruce at Southern State College, and we want to offer you a job as assistant professor of business at'—and I had told Toni, if they will offer me at least $8,000 I’ll go to SSC. He said, "We’ll offer you as assistant professor of business for eight thousand and forty dollars.' I said, 'Dr. Bruce, sign me up, I’ll be there.'" He began his career here in 1968. David had married the attractive redhead--literally the girl next door in Junction City--and the two have three adult children, all of whom live near the family home. John and Curt are involved in the family timber business and Beth Anne Rankin Baker recently completed her doctorate from Vanderbilt University. David has a gift for making the complicated simple and interesting. The "dismal science" as economics has been called is something David is passionate about. Witness his latest book, The Economics of Freedom written by Dr. Rankin with the assistance of daughter Beth Anne. The two have been promoting the book locally and a copy is available in our local library or for sale in the SAU bookstore on the square in Magnolia, Arkansas. The book is also available through his website, RankinEconomics.com, where you can read his blog posts or watch the two-minute videos on a variety of topics. It's even possible to see money growing on a tree as you take in topics like inflation, government regulation, and debt monetization, each in about two minutes! He currently serves as the chairman of the Governor's Council of Economic Advisors, now under his fourth governor. When the current SAU president resigned to go to Henderson, the Board of Trustees asked Rankin to return as interim president while a search is underway for his successor. He will serve in that position until June and becomes what I assume is one of few to be former president, president emeritus and interim president of an institution of higher education. Having read up on all of his accomplishments, I must admit to being somewhat awe-struck at the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Rankin, and not the least because I know next to nothing about economics. But David's ability to make a complicated topic clear and his unfeigned humility made the interview really fly by. As a long-time student of leadership, I asked him what he thought were traits of an effective leader. "First," he replied, "I think you have to do everything you can to get rid of the ego. Pride and ego is just a downfall and they can just carry you down." And second, he says, is the ability to listen to people. "You have to listen to people, you have to be a participatory person," David told me. "That doesn't mean you allow all the organizations to make the decision, but you want to know and you want to be where people can come and look at you and say, 'I've got a complaint.'" If you want to listen to people, I highly recommend you take a listen to today's podcast. You'll then want to pick up your own copy of his book, where you'll learn the importance of freedom to our economic system. You'll also learn the "secret weapon", what David calls the "secret sauce" of capitalism that is available in few other economies. As always, click below to listen to the podcast and be sure to share this with others. You may learn something about the "dismal science" you weren't expecting!
