Michael W. Leach - Be Audacious: Inspiring Your Legacy and Living a Life That Matters

Text 2015 by Michael W. Leach

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Leach, Michael W.

Be audacious : inspiring your legacy and living a life that matters / by Michael W. Leach.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-941821-72-5 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-1-941821-93-0 (e-book)

ISBN 978-1-941821-94-7 (hardbound) 1. Young adultsConduct of life. 2. Conduct of life. 3. Self-realization. I. Title.

BJ1661.L43 2015

170.44dc23

2015011455

Edited by Jennifer Weaver-Neist

Cover design by Brad Bunkers and Vicki Knapton

Interior design by Vicki Knapton

Published by WestWinds Press

An imprint of

P.O. Box 56118

Portland, Oregon 97238-6118

503-254-5591

www.graphicartsbooks.com

For the two people who keep my world spinning,
Kamiah and Amanda. Mahalo for your unwavering love,
for believing in this endeavor, and for always
having my back. You are my refuge.

Audacious. It is such a powerful word that has had a major impact on how I want to live my life. I was first introduced to it by Michael Leach when I was a senior in high school, and I am going to share with you my side of the storyhow I have been inspired to be audacious and how it has affected my life. There is so much to tell! Just let it be known that Michael Leach is an extraordinary person who is deeply committed to sharing his bold passions and inspiring knowledge.

Back when I was a senior, Michael was the assistant coach for the Lady Bruins basketball program in Gardiner, Montana, and I was one of two senior captains on the team. The instant Michael came into the gym, I knew my life was going to changeboth on the court and in my heart. Michael spoke a truth and passion about basketball, and he made me dig deeper to find how it fit into life. He became my mentor and friend, inspiring me with the fire he had in him.

One night, when he could not make a basketball game, he gave the other senior captain and me a list of quotes that we were to go through as a team before the game started. It was Michaels way of starting a strong and thoughtful tradition that I was proud to have implemented. From then on, every night before battle, we read quotes from Henry David Thoreau, E. E. Cummings, and people of the like, but what struck me most that night was a quote Michael composed himself:

If you have the courage to be authentic and original, you can therefore be audaciousand thus beautiful.

I was blown away by such simple yet magical words: all I really needed to be was me in order to show other people what I was capable of. It led me to believe in myself and to have one of the best games of my career. Audacious was a word that changed my perspective and gave me a desire to live by its definitionto be bold, courageous, and without fear.

As the years have passed, I have watched Michael grow into his life and reach goals hed set for himself before he even met me. I like to think, though, that I was one of the first to help inspire his vision of spreading the idea of being audacious and sharing his passions with the rest of the world!

I saw a handful of Michaels talks when he worked as a bear education ranger, wearing the green and gray for Yellowstone National Park. His ways of captivating an audience seemed so effortless for him. Once I saw his swagger and stage presence, combined with his in-your-face facts and authentic sense of place, my view of Yellowstone changed forever. Michael was dubbed The Rev, not only because he preached about the wonder and glory that is Yellowstone but because he showed reverence in his heart and in his words. I can still picture him in front of a fascinated audience, quoting Terry Tempest Williams.

He shared his passion for the last free-ranging bison and the controversial politics that surround their wanderings; his concern over the clear-cutting effects in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem; how the grizzly bear is the umbrella species of Yellowstone and an integral aspect of the Ecosystem, as well as the spiritual connection he has to the land. Michael has four generations of history in the tri-state area (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming) and grew up bubbling with excitement about Yellowstone, which he also translates through pictures. His slideshow that focuses on the wondrous places of Yellowstoneas well as the dangers and threats to the area encourages you to search within yourself to find out why Yellowstone is special to you.

Beyond its formal definition, I learned that if you want to show other people how to be audacious then you should live with humility and compassion, and be a leader who fights for the things you believe in. During Michaels presentations, he did nothing but that, and it truly motivated me to strive to live my life that way too.

After leaving the Park Service, Michaels idea of starting a nonprofit called Yellowstone Country Guardians (YCG) became a reality. Determined to continue his Yellowstone sermon, he wanted to pursue the dream of putting youth into action, Inspiring a New Surge (his manifesto) of environmental activism in the area. Though his thirst for change made him vulnerable to the naysaying public, nothing was going to stop him. If there were one point in time that I would say Michael was at his most audacious, it would have been at this time. To take an idea so fresh and young, and then build it into what Yellowstone Country Guardians eventually became is incredible.

I wanted to invest in Michaels journey and participate in any way possible because I knew that he was paving the way for something big. Ideas for advocacy projects started to bloom, including outreach and education programs. Utilizing everything he knew about Yellowstone and the politics that thrive in the area, Michael wanted to take activism and environmentalism to the next level, getting youth and communities more involved. The Yellowstone Leadership Challenge (YLC) became the first vehicle, and I volunteered to be a counselor.

Michaels ambition to promote what is good about Yellowstone Country was fostered by his commitment to fuel a new conservation movement. With programs such as the YLC, the baby steps toward changing the hearts and minds of the people began. Michael expressed his mission like this:

People want to believe in something and they want to believe in something profoundly. What better to believe in than the land and waters that sustain us all?

I have never seen anything like the interaction and motivation that Michael shared on these three-day weekend adventures; the teens that participated in the Yellowstone Leadership Challenges changed my life. Michael encouraged all participantsmentors and guest speakers includedto be appreciative and excited about the place in which we live. Though it is the norm for the locals to see bison meandering through town, and the Yellowstone River swelling and receding with the seasons, our passion should never falter. Michael inspired us all to take pride in this beauty and showed us what makes Yellowstone Yellowstone. He rejuvenated what we had lost, and he established ideas that penetrated the heart. He taught us how to be audacious: to be independent leaders, to share our opinions and to respect the opinions of others, and to have passion for life and passion for self. He ignited the flame in all of usthe audacious goal hed set out to achieve.