In 2003, Steve purchased a property in Hamilton, Montana with the intention of moving to Montana someday … maybe in 5? … or 10? … or 15 years?
Just 3-years later, the Montana bug had bitten Steve so hard that he couldn’t stay away from home any longer … and by late 2007, Montana was his home.
Despite the majority of his corporate clients being located across the country and world, Steve felt a need to become part of the local and state communities. They say that Montana is just one big city with it’s neighborhoods separated by hundreds of miles.
Steve didn’t specifically seek out opportunities to speak to students and youth groups, it just sorta happened.
His message of personal responsibility – called Gumption – was in some ways even more appropriate for youth.
Teaching a child to take personal responsibility for a lifetime somehow feels more important than teaching a worker to take responsibility – and immediate action – in the workplace.
Over the next few years, Steve spoke to dozens of schools and youth groups honing age-appropriate Gumption messages.
The idea of the Montana Student Gumption Tour was conceived in late 2012.
Most of the initial research and and many of the ideas listed on this site first materialized in the Fall of 2012. The initial concept was to speak to every school in a 3 year, 2 month, 14 day, and 16 hour duration – the exact same time it took Forrest Gump to run across America – 4 times!
While that initial goal of creating a full-time speaking tour over a 3-year period never unfolded, the seed was planted. How could the dream of traveling the State and speaking to every single student be possible?
Now the goal is to visit all 1,000 of Montana’s public and private schools over a 10-year period. And …. the plan is to use the support of sponsors. The schools and students of Montana will not have to pay a dime. Steve and his partner sponsors will make it happen!
Steve lives in Hamilton, Montana with his cat and chickens on a 5-acre mini-ranch. The 120-year old farmhouse on the property was an original homestead of 260 acres and is rumored to have been a brothel at one point in time. Today, it’s just a place where Steve likes to mow the lawn … and watch his neighbor’s horses graze in the pastures.
Learn more about Steve and his conference hosting service for business and his days as Forrest Gump for the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
