Profiles in Leadership: Billy Mills

In a recent class, several of my students admitted they had not heard the story of Billy Mills (okay, all of them). Mills, who is one of my heroes, is someone every KU student should know about- not only because his story is so inspirational- but also because his story says so much about who we are and what we can accomplish.

Without going into a full biography of Billy Mills, which you can read here, I'll just offer a few of his quotations. The first is one he found in a psychology textbook when he was a student at KU. It said that "the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between reality or imagination." It was that simple message that initiated his vision of winning an Olympic gold medal. Another quotation attributed to Mills is the following:

"Every Passion has its Destiny."

This is something to keep in mind as you develop your own goals and set your own vision. Your will to prepare will help determine your own destiny and whether or not your passion is ultimately realized.

Finally, in response to his winning the 1964 Olympic 10,000 meter gold medal (he remains the only American ever to win the event), in what many consider the greatest Olympic upset in history, Mills simply said this:

"To me it was never an upset. I got myself into great shape, I went over there to win the race, and I did it."

In other words, winning became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Mills' vision was realized in Tokyo. If you've never seen footage of the race, you absolutely must watch it.