Marlene Johnson is coming home for a night to share experiences from her life both in and out of the public spotlight.
The Braham native who became Minnesota’s first woman lieutenant governor will come to the Braham Event Center on Sunday, Sept. 29 for a conversation about her new book, “Rise to the Challenge: A Memoir of Politics, Leadership and Love” that will start at 1 p.m.
The event is free, but registration is required at https://scoutandmorganbooks.com/events/
Johnson said growing up in a community such as Braham gave her several special gifts.
“One is that the neighborhood helped raise us when we were very small,” she said. “We could wander around playing in the neighbor’s yard, and the neighbor would look out for us — and would tell us if we were misbehaving, because our parents would support them. There was an embracing of the children in the neighborhood that was very special.
“And another aspect of going to a smaller school is that the nature of opportunities means students have to participate in more than one thing. If you want a band and a choir and other things, students have to participate in more than one thing to keep them going.
“And in a small town, you travel to other towns for competitions and such. We had a sense of a larger Minnesota, and I think that’s very special.”
Johnson, who served under governor Rudy Perpich from 1982 until 1990, wrote a book that is not the traditional chronological recitation of her life.
Instead, much of its focus was on her eight years as lieutenant governor.
And that was by design.
“The first draft was more chronological, and my editors said, ‘There are a lot of good stories here, but the chronology framework does not help the reader. It will be more interesting for the reader if you can identify the themes and weave the examples from your life [into it],’” Johnson explained. “Then I rewrote it with that new frame in my mind — and I enjoyed it a lot better that way.”
Johnson said she liked that style of the book because it resulted in a better understanding of her life and the decisions and events that influenced it.
“I think it helped me think about the things that were the common threads in my life,” she said. “One of the things that I learned was that leadership is something that I always exercised. When I was lieutenant governor, I was not in the top position, so I was leading without a position of authority, but from a position where I could have influence. I could help people have conversations and help people understand our goals and how we were approaching things.
“But I didn’t have the authority to do things because I was No. 2. Then when I was the CEO of NAFSA, the National Association of International Educators, I did have a position of authority. But one aspect of my leadership was to build a team. So it became clear to me that, while I was in the position where ‘the buck stopped,’ I couldn’t lead the organization without a team that shared my values, saw things as I did, and was committed to working as a team.”
The second focus of the book was on her late husband Peter, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2010. That led to her attention to his care while she continued to serve as NAFSA’s leader.
“When I was in a role of caregiving for my husband, who was unable to care for himself, I understood in a very different way that I had a capacity for leading — even though I had no capacity or responsibility for the day-to-day work, because the staff of his nursing home was doing that,” she said. “But if I wanted to influence how they did their work and create new opportunities for Peter, I had to engage as a member of the team.”
The book also includes several reflection points following major events, which Johnson said also is by design.
“It started when I started keeping a journal,” she explained. “Keeping a journal is a reflective process. When I first started keeping a journal, it was for very personal reasons: I was having a hard time in my personal life, and I wanted to reflect more, think about things more actively.
“I came to appreciate the value of that writing discipline, so I’ve kept some form of a journal for most of my adult life. I write some every day, and I keep a second journal where I write periodically.”
Johnson said she also kept two journals during her time as lieutenant governor.
“I continued my personal writing in the evening, but I also kept a ‘working’ journal,” she said. “Those journals have been donated to the historical society. …
“I have a friend, Elisabeth Griffith, who is a historian, and she has often commented to me that writing journals is such an important thing for historic purposes.”
One of the striking comments Johnson made in the book came when Perpich was looking for a woman to join his ticket while he ran for the governor’s office in 1982.
On page 48 Johnson writes, “I had read the articles and the names being suggested [for lieutenant governor] and had written in my journal, ‘If he wants to win he’ll ask me to run with him.’”
Bold, right?
“The reason I thought that because the news reports had been listing the women he had contacted, and they were women I knew — and were friends,” Johnson explained. “They all would have been good in the position.
“But I thought I would bring more to the campaign. I was from a small town, and I knew the state quite well. I had organized the women’s business owners, I had organized the women’s caucus, and I had traveled around the state more as a small-town area.
“And, while I had always thought of myself as a Democrat, I wasn’t as wedded to the party endorsement process. It wasn’t painful to run against the party’s candidate [Warren Spannaus].”
Johnson spends much of the book talking about the rise of women in both business and politics, which she said remains a work in progress.
“I feel the work we did helped build us to where we are today,” she said. “You don’t move from 1 to 10 in one day; you have to go from 1 to 2 to 3 until you get to 10. What we were doing was the early stages of the women’s movement. …
“The work was an essential part of getting to where we are today. There are many people involved in that, and it was an exciting time that I enjoyed. I feel good about my contribution.”
At the Braham event, which is hosted by Scout & Morgan Books in Cambridge, Johnson will hold a conversation led by Tim Nelson of Minnesota Public Radio about her life and the book.
Johnson said she hopes readers take several lessons from the book.
“My life has not been linear, and many people live a life that isn’t linear — and some are uncomfortable with that,” she said. “Many people think that, to be successful, people must climb an organizational ladder.
“What I have learned is that thinking about what you have learned provides experience for the next opportunity or adventure — and that can provide a very meaningful life, which I have had. …
“And I hope that those individuals who are in a caregiving role with find the book helpful. That is a role that is happening for more and more people … And it a role that is increasingly important. I hope that what I have shared will give some support and guidance to people who are experiencing that.”
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