Xiao Wang, LT'16
Xiao Wang, LT’16 Reflects on LT’s 40th Anniversary
Engaged leadership is the foundation of thriving communities.
For 40 years, Leadership Tomorrow has worked at the forefront of civic engagement to cultivate a network of inclusive, courageous, and curious leaders across Puget Sound. As we celebrate this special milestone, we are proud to highlight stories from LT alumni who continue to shape our region into a vibrant, vital community where all can thrive. Explore moments from their leadership journeys, past and present, as we consider collectively what challenges and opportunities lay ahead in the next 40 years—and beyond.
What makes LT special is how it convenes a cross section of leaders in different fields and from different backgrounds—who would typically be unlikely to interact—around a set of focused topics centered on a common goal.
Research demonstrates that diverse groups work more effectively than homogenous groups, but only when folks feel safe enough to voice differing opinions. LT is one of the few environments in life where that manifests—where folks from diverse lived experiences can have respectful debates around complicated topics in order to expand their perspectives and points of view.
This spirit of bringing together people from different backgrounds and creating an environment of critical thinking and debate has been an important influence to the way I lead Boundless and build our team. We have folks from all different backgrounds and points of view who are united in our mission of transforming immigration but have different philosophies around how to best get there. Fostering a healthy environment for debate around these ideas is critical to our success.
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It's not often in life that you can make new deep friendships as an adult. To be able to find that among my LT class is something I will always treasure.
Xiao (right) with his LT’16 classmates
I came to LT with experience in both education (government) and economy (tech and financial services), and I saw, rather myopically, those two levers as the way to change the system for the better. LT greatly expanded my understanding and appreciation of the other pillars of a healthy community and how intertwined they are.
Jaime Herlich and Becky Witmer in my class brought me into the world of arts. I used to live in New York City, but I never really took advantage of the arts scene. Here in Seattle, with their encouragement, my wife and I became consistent patrons of the arts, which culminated in me joining Seattle Rep’s board of trustees a few years ago and helping them navigate this post-COVID arts world.
Xiao (right) with classmate Jamie Herlich (left)
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Our world is becoming increasingly insular. Due to a combination of factors—feed algorithms, social networks, manipulative websites—the perception across this country that anyone who thinks differently or is part of the opposite party is bad and deserves to be vilified has never been higher. This polarization, combined with record increases in wealth disparity and mental health crises, the rise of AI, and expanding globalization, is a barrier to the development of a truly healthy and inclusive community.
LT has the opportunity to take a leadership position in the Seattle region and help shape leaders for decades to come. By expanding everyone's horizons and creating space for everyone to feel intellectually uncomfortable at times, LT plays a critical role in improving the thoughtfulness of leaders trying to solve fundamentally hard problems across society.
When you're trying to innovate in a field that hasn't changed in generations—immigration, for example—there’s a natural tendency to come in thinking you know better than everyone else. That will get you nowhere. Participating in LT helped me see that, in order to drive stuck systems towards positive change, you need to approach them with curiosity and humility. This will help you understand why things are the way they are, and identify opportunities to nudge, push, shove, and cascade change.
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