C-Suite: Sam Dean

Fast fact: Dean was one of the 100 delegates selected to help provide feedback in the formation of the Nation of Makers, a national nonprofit launched in 2014 to support America’s maker organizations through community building, resource sharing, and advocacy.

What is the best business advice someone has ever given you? When I said yes to this amazing opportunity to help build the Scott Family Amazeum here in Northwest Arkansas, a trusted nonprofit leader in the Bay Area who was going through a large museum project talked to me about his journey and what to expect. He said you’re going to have a lot of amazing highs and lots of lows — your job is to balance those out, stay even-keeled, keep moving everything and everyone forward, and have fun while doing it. Your work is helping others make plans for and gain a sense of the work. Now roll up your sleeves and get to it — often a good decision today is worth more than a better decision a month from now.

Which skills do you think are most important when it comes to leadership? Being able to know yourself and what makes you tick is incredibly important. Taking time to listen before speaking or seeking to understand before trying to be understood. Know when to ask for help, and when to give help. Servant leadership is an important mindset of building teams that support and respect each other and is part of the foundation for creating a space where leadership, and followership, happen at every level.

If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be and why? I would love to trade places with any one of the astronauts up on the International Space Station. It has always been my dream to go up into the atmosphere to see the Earth in a new light. Who knows, with William Shatner going into space in the past year and advances with private spaceflight, maybe it could still happen within my lifetime.

What’s your favorite movie or television show? When the lights go down in a theater, popcorn and soda are in hand, I think the Sam who works in a children’s museum and science center really wants to hear the opening soundtrack to “Star Wars” roar, horns blaring and lasers blasting. It’s epic in scope, it’s about heroes’ journeys and is fun to watch filling out the extended universe even as we speak. I think a little bit of me hopes that every time I walk into the movie theater, maybe this time they got the movie wrong, and we’re going instead today to a galaxy far, far away.

Do you think artificial intelligence (AI) can take jobs in your industry? AI will definitely be changing the landscape of our industry. And some of those ways will be positive, and some will be negative. It will change some of the expectations of what you need to know to be able to do your job most definitely, as every revolutionary toolset has. Our work, then, is trying to understand where we can build on the promise of these tools to better spark and nurture the curious and creative spirit in all of us, which is our Amazeum Core Purpose, while keeping our humanity intact. I get excited about the possibilities of expanding the creativity of our team and our community, of allowing more people to better express themselves through the use of tools that help you take your ideas and make them manifest and able to be shared with the world. A world of more human creativity, not less.

How significant to you is developing a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) culture within your organization? This is essential to the DNA of our organization, being a place that is inclusive and fosters a sense of belonging, for both our team and for our guests. It has to be rooted in our genetic code, in how we think about ourselves, our work and our connection to our community. We want everyone to be able to bring their whole selves to their work here, their visit here or their partnership with us. It’s a continual journey for us — working on ourselves and in concert with our community partners and trusted friends, one day at a time, one program at a time, and one meeting, reflection and training at a time.

If you had $1 million to give, what would you support? What wouldn’t I want to support? I would start by continuing the great work the Amazeum team is doing extending deep STEAM learning, in partnerships with schools, libraries, and other community groups out in the more far-flung parts of our and neighboring states. There are a host of groups and agencies doing such amazing work all around the region, focused on supporting kids and families, and we’d want to help fuel their capacities, too. How can we help make sure kids have full bellies, warm beds, and opportunities for curious and inspired minds and hands?

What are your thoughts on working from home? From home, being able to jam through a higher volume of work and getting focus time to really plumb some key ideas and plans, while listening to Elvis Costello and singing out loud, is pretty miraculous. Working at the coffee house or park can help create a nice moment of social or nature connection. But at work, when you see kids’ faces pressed up on the glass of my office laughing because of the toys in my window, that is just precious. Hours in the week are needed for all three.