Higher Ed Utah

(Wendy Leonard, Deseret News) — Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt said he knew the decision to join the presidential cabinet was the right one for him, because he “had gone through a deliberate process” to make it.

“Decisions more than circumstances really shape our lives,” he told Friday’s graduating class of Weber State University students.

Leavitt, who served five-and-a-half years as head of the Environmental Protection Agency and Health and Human Services secretary under President George W. Bush, said going to Washington was a “life-changing decision,” much like new graduates will now be asked to make, including jobs, family, marriage or additional schooling for some.

“The ability to make good decisions,” he said, “is a refining capacity requiring contemplation and thought.”

The “five keys of decision-making,” Leavitt said, involve writing it down, shrinking the uncertainties, examining the biases, counseling with others and deciding when to decide. Those steps will lead to much satisfaction and success, he said.

Issac Goeckeritz, a graduate and successful documentary filmmaker, said in a video played during the spring commencement ceremony that “Weber State taught me to do research … to have an interest in the world around me.”

He said the knowledge gained from decisions made throughout his college experience have made him the person he is today and given him the tools to succeed.

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