2022 MDLF Daniels Prize Award Winner Bill Oesterle’s Remarks

The Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation presented Bill Oesterle with the Daniels Prize Award on Thursday, December 8, 2022 at the MDLF Annual Event, presented by Thompson Thrift. The below written acceptance remarks were delivered by Ben Ledo on behalf of Bill.

We hope his inspirational message which you can read and watch below instill in you a sense of courage and adventure as well as pride and ownership as you think about your role as a positive change-agent.

Bill has had a profoundly positive impact on the lives of countless people in Indiana. He is an innovator and deep thinker who consistently challenges Hoosiers to think bigger about how we can create positive changes in our state. He is also a bold and fearless advocate for policies and initiatives he believes will help Indiana continue to flourish and exemplifies the MDLF principles of personal responsibility, individual liberty and the importance of private industry.

Thank you Bill, for being a trailblazer for not only our tech ecosystem, but for our entire state. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that your influence on the business community can be traced through hundreds of headlines over the past decade. You are truly a Hoosier luminary!

These remarks are delivered by Ben Ledo. He is my old friend and "OG" Mitch warrior. Thank you, Ben.

Thank you. This is wonderful, truly wonderful.

There are many reasons why winning the Mitch Daniels award is incredible, but far and away the best reason is he has to sit there and listen to me for the next 5 minutes whether he likes it or not!

Just between you and me, it was a very good thing for me that he wasn't on the selection committee for this award.

For over 30 years I have had the remarkable experience of living in the orbit of Mitch Daniels. Even though I was just a tiny asteroid caught in the giant gravitational pull of his presence, the experience was extraordinary.

I wish I had time to tell you all the stories and share his endless attributes. But, I don't. So I picked one of my very favorite things about Mitch to talk about today.

Mitch Daniels has a powerful sense of adventure. It is an underappreciated feature of his.

Let me tell you about adventure. Adventure involves big ideas. It involves real risk. As a result, it demands courage. By definition, the outcome of an adventure is uncertain, and there is a meaningful cost of failure. In my mind, adventures involve and impact a lot of people. Events without these things are simply contests, not much more than games.

In 2004, Mitch took an ordinary contest for Governor and turned it into an adventure. For him, the election was about much more than just winning office. No, he set out to change the very idea of what it means to be a Hoosier. You see, in 2004 the zeitgeist of the previous 150 years was that Hoosiers hate change. Our alleged narrow-mindedness was the stuff of historians' entire books. It was the political dogma that powered every political talking head.

Mitch rejected this lazy view. In fact, he despised it. So instead of simply running for office, he undertook an adventure to destroy this conventional wisdom. When it was over, he, quite literally, rewrote Indiana history.

It is one of the highlights of my life that I was a bit player in that grand drama. I don't have time to tell you all the amazing stories about that special campaign. It was something to behold. I would call the whole thing unique, but as it turns out, it wasn't.

After leaving the Governorship, Mitch immediately launched a new adventure at my beloved Purdue University. It has been no less ambitious or impact full.

Mitch is directly or indirectly responsible for all of my own Big adventures. They have defined me, and I have loved them all, but my time for adventure is nearly over. So, I am here to ask what are YOUR plans?

If you are looking for projects, let me suggest a few.

Indiana's public health ranks 41st in the country. Our civic health is 42nd. Critically, we are 40th in average educational attainment, and the average is DECLINING. So is our total employable workforce. Let that sink in, for the first time in HISTORY we will have fewer able bodied workers than in the years before.

Mitch's motto for the state was "Aiming Higher." I fear that it is becoming "Well, you can't fall off the floor."

These problems are enormous. If you don't  have solutions today, so what? Adventures don't begin with solutions. They begin with big problems and a bunch of courage. The courage to combat problems armed only with the belief that you CAN solve them. The courage to marshal the people and the resources. The courage to believe you can win.

Mitch has provided us all a master class in public courage.

Mitch often quotes John Adams. As a final bit of encouragement I will quote him here.  "“Public business, my son, must always be done by somebody. It will be done by somebody or other. If wise men decline it, others will not; if honest men refuse it, others will not.” IF NOT YOU, THEN WHO?

Mitch ignited all the great adventures in my life. I am so very VERY grateful to him. What adventure will he inspire for you?