Mehran Assadi took an hour out of his day on Wednesday to discuss leadership with a Montpelier audience who doesn’t usually get the attention of a major company’s CEO: Elementary school children.
Mehran met with two different classes from Montpelier’s Union Elementary School. They are multilingual students who are learning English as an additional language.
The classes are part of a summer camp that Montpelier schools run to help the children practice their English before school starts and to get better connected with the community.
Many of the children are immigrants or children of immigrants and some of their family members work at National Life.
The theme was “leaders and leadership.”
Each of the classes had a chance to hear about his own background and to ask him questions. They learned, for example, that he speaks two languages and understands but is not fluent in two more.
Mehran told the kids that “leadership is a privilege.” And he explained how he approaches his job. “Being a leader is being a coach, just like the Little League team,” he said. “That’s what leaders do is coach and mentor people.”
