August 27, 2025 • 21 mins
Steve Grove is a leader whose career journey has spanned Silicon Valley, state government, and now the publishing world. Steve is the CEO and Publisher of the Star Tribune, Minnesota’s largest news organization. Before that, he served as Commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development, and earlier, he spent more than a decade at Google helping to build its news and civic engagement initiatives.
Steve recently added another chapter to his story with the release of his memoir, How I Found Myself in the Midwest: A Memoir of Reinvention. In it, he shares the personal journey of leaving the fast-paced tech world, returning to his roots in Minnesota with his wife and twins, and rediscovering the power of community and place.
Steve shares why he wrote this book now, what he hopes readers take away, and what the process of writing a memoir taught him about reinvention and about himself.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
Everyone has a life story.
Every single person on thisplanet could write a memoir and
write an interesting one, ifthey took the time to be able to
do it.
And I guess for me, when you doit, you start to analyze your
life a little bit with a thirdeye, because you're trying to
write about yourself like acharacter, if you will, and that
was therapeutic for me and itwas also an exercise in
self-discovery.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast,
where we take a deep dive intodestination development and
focus on a wide range of topics,from tourism and entertainment
to economic development andentrepreneurism and much more.
I'm your host, bill Von Bank.
Today, we're joined by SteveGrove, a leader whose career
journey has spanned SiliconValley, state government and now
(00:58):
the publishing world.
Steve is the CEO and publisherof the Star Tribune, minnesota's
largest news organization.
Before that, he served ascommissioner of Minnesota's
Department of Employment andEconomic Development, and
earlier he spent more than adecade at Google, hoping to
build its news and civicengagement initiatives.
Steve recently added anotherchapter to his story with the
(01:20):
release of his memoir how IFound Myself in the Midwest, a
memoir of reinvention.
In it, he shares a personaljourney of leaving the
fast-paced tech world, returningto his roots in Minnesota with
his wife and twins, andrediscovering the power of
community and place.
We'll talk about why he wrotethe book now, what he hopes
(01:41):
readers take away and what theprocess of writing a memoir
taught him about reinvention andabout himself.
Steve, welcome to the GrowingDestinations podcast.
Thanks, bill, good to be here.
Welcome back, we had you onabout a year ago.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
When you were giving an update on the Star Tribune
and your new role, and sincethen, obviously, the Star
Tribune has rebranded and somany new activities.
We will talk about that, but Ifirst want to talk about this
new venture that you've startedfor yourself.
It's writing a book, and thetitle of your memoir is how I
Found Myself in the Midwest.
It's both personal anduniversal.
(02:15):
Why did you feel now was theright time to write and release
this book?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I don't think a lot of 47-year-olds write a book
with the word memoir in thetitle, so I had to kind of put
that self-conscious thoughtaside and follow what I felt
like was a story worth tellingat a unique time.
In some ways my story is reallycommon.
It's a boomerang story.
I left Minnesota and came backMany Minnesotans do but the
journey of kind of leavingGoogle and going into state
government right during thecrisis of COVID and George Floyd
(02:39):
and then going on to the Stribto try to reimagine media in a
new age just kind of afforded mesome insights that, as I
thought about them and sharedthem with folks outside of
Minnesota, felt like it might bea book and so started talking
to people outside the state,talked to Simon Schuster, my
eventual publisher, and ended uplanding on a storyline that we
felt might be uniquely resonantright now.
And really that core message isthe power of going local to
(03:02):
make change in a really fraughttime.
And it's a personal story, butit's also a story about our
state.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Well, you've led in different worlds Silicon Valley
to start with state governmentand now publishing.
Did some of those transitionsand pivots inspire the urgency
of telling your story at thispoint?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I think so, and also I think that there are not
enough people, unfortunately,who kind of leave the private
sector and go into government,and so the kernel of it was that
of like, maybe more peopleshould try leaving places like
Google and taking a stint insideof government.
I ended up finding it beingreally inspiring, super
impactful.
I learned a lot.
I think a lot of the clichesabout government not working
(03:39):
turned out to maybe not be astrue once you're inside and you
see, man, there's a lot ofreally great, innovative public
servants here, and so, yeah, Ifelt like that was kind of the
beginning of this story.
But then I think the broaderjourney of sharing, coming back
to a state as a native son witha fresh pair of eyes and
Minnesota being kind of acharacter in the book which it
is, was, I hope, a helpful wayto share some insights on this
(03:59):
state and where it might go at apretty dynamic time.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Leaving Google to work for the state.
I had to chuckle about some ofwhat you said in the book
regarding the advice you gotwhen you first started.
Can you share a little bitabout that?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Well, of course, the first thing is don't go in there
and be the Google guy and belike a cartoon of yourself and
come in, and so the advice iswell, hey, bring some of the
innovation of Google, but don'ttell everybody the government
has to be run by Google.
I also got advice from peoplewho were very cognizant of kind
of the bureaucracy and thethings that would slow you down,
and one person in particulartold me that you'll run into a
(04:35):
lot of weebies, and a weebie issomeone who will say we be here
before you got here and we behere when you're gone was his
sort of nickname for it.
And that really stuck with me,because that is a true of any
job where you're a politicalappointee and you come in for a
bespoke period of time, and it'swhy a lot of political
appointees don't focus on thingslike culture and how the place
runs, because, look, you're justthere for a minute and so you
(04:56):
want to get some big wins foryour boss or yourself and move
on.
And I didn't really view itthat way, and I actually found
that when I focused on theculture of deed and how to
strengthen it, which I think theplace was really ready for it
turned out to lead to, I wouldsay, a lot greater impact,
especially when crisis hit withthe pandemic.
So, yes, there are weebies inany organization, but I ended up
thinking that maybe wasn't thebest advice.
(05:16):
The best advice was to go inand try to invest some time and
energy in listening to your newcolleagues and reshaping a place
for the better.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
You mentioned you're 47.
So what surprised you mostabout looking back and
documenting your journey rightnow, at this stage in your life?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, when you write a book like this, you don't know
quite what's going to come outuntil you start putting pen to
paper.
And some of the more personalcomponents of the book were
surprising to me in the way Iended up weaving them into the
broader story of my own journey.
Here I talk a lot about thefertility journeys my wife and I
faced ultimately successful,but a journey like anyone who
has them will recognize.
I talk about my relationshipwith my parents and my faith and
(05:52):
coming back to a state andfinding my place there and even
just the concept of makingfriends in your forties and how
you do that when you're cominginto a new community after
having been gone for 20 yearsand why that's kind of hard and
maybe uniquely hard in Minnesota.
So some of those pieces thatwere more personal, I didn't set
out having them scoped out aschapters, but when you're
writing kind of a transplantsjourney, they they end up being
(06:14):
quite relevant.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I think, yeah, there's, there's the Minnesota
nice, and sometimes I thinkmaybe just remove the N, and
sometimes it's ice.
I think that's right.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
I mean, you know, it's a thing and we all kind of
joke about it and it's, it'sthere but I also think that it
is a welcoming place.
You just have to be a bit moreassertive, and that's kind of
the lesson that Mary and Ilearned as we started inviting
people over and reaching out andalso, kind of, for me, making
friends in your forties got tothis point where it's like, well
, look, worst that can happen issomeone doesn't want to hang
(06:42):
out with you.
Or worst that can happen is youknow you reach out and it isn't
great, but you know that's notthat bad.
You just got to keep going, andpeople all want the same thing.
They want a sense of connection.
Especially now in our digitalworld has, I would say, kind of
lightened our social skills inways that we need to reinvest in
.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
When you moved back to Minnesota, was it as easy for
Mary, your wife, as it was foryou?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I would say it was probably a little harder for her
.
I mean, she grew up in SanDiego, which you know, 75 and
sunny every day.
She is very tough andresourceful and a great
community builder, so I thinkshe took very naturally to it.
But I don't pull any punches inthe book about moments where we
felt quite stuck.
And there's actually a wholechapter called Stuck where we've
kind of been here for a year.
The honeymoon had worn off thisadventure of moving to a new
(07:25):
state which always was for us,you know, designed to be a
chapter, we'll see where it goes, kind of thing Kind of fell
down and we were like, well gosh, do we really want to be here?
We took a trip back out to thevalley.
We're like, oh, back home it'stwo degrees, here it's 72
degrees.
You know, we've really found alot of hope through community
and through people.
She started a venture firm herethat's very focused on
(07:46):
connecting with companies in ourstate and for anybody.
You come to the state and it'sjust a great place to live.
I mean your podcast lifts thisup all the time about Rochester,
and it's true of other citiesin our state as well.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
It's got a lot going for it and especially when you
have kids, you realize, man,there's a lot to love.
Reinvention is central to yourmemoir.
What does reinvention mean toyou, and how do you hope readers
will apply that concept totheir own lives?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
I think it's a pretty common American trait and I
think for all of us we havelittle moments of reinvention
when you're trying something new.
Their scale may be differentfor different people but I come
to see reinvention is more oftenthan not a superpower when you
can go to one sector of theeconomy or one job or one
opportunity from another and youaren't a part of that
(08:27):
institution or sector frombefore, you bring a fresh pair
of eyes.
I mean, for me, leaving Googleand going into government, I
didn't know the first thingabout how to run a 1400 person
bureaucracy and there'schallenges to that for sure, but
I also was able to bring afresh pair of eyes to it.
And same thing with the Strib.
I mean it's 157 year oldnewspaper.
I did not spend my career innewspapers but Glenn and the
board who hired me to come inwanted somebody who didn't have
(08:50):
a whole legacy of experience.
So I guess reinvention to me itcan be scary but the insight
I've had in doing it myself andI hope others would resonate
with us is that often it's asuperpower because you're
bringing new sets of skills toan opportunity that is different
.
And you know the theme ofreinvention in my book isn't
just personal but it's about ourcommunities and states.
I mean, I think thatMinnesota's institutions need
reinvention.
(09:10):
I think our country'sinstitutions need reinvention.
I make the case that goinglocal to do that reinvention has
the highest chance of successand hopefully those who read the
book will find some inspirationin that.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Another reference to superpower in your book is when
you talk about the startupcommunity in Minnesota and that
its superpower is that it's notlike Silicon Valley.
Can you explain that?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Silicon Valley succeeds in part because of its
swagger and I don't mean to saythat there are a lot of other
factors and variables of course,stanford and the silicate
industry and all the earlystartups and ecosystem that were
built there.
But today its culture has a lotof swagger to it, and for good
reason.
They've done a lot of greatthings in that market and I was
impressed by it.
But Minnesota's market is alittle bit different.
It feels a bit morepurpose-driven.
(09:53):
I feel like the startups here inour state, especially in
Rochester, are focused onsolving real problems, not just
on gobbling up people'sattention on their phones, and I
think that's kind of a hallmarkof this economy that we as a
state need to lean into.
It's part of what defines us.
We're out there solving majorhealth crises and food crises
and we're using the latesttechnology to solve problems
that really matter to people.
It's why this state has suchhigh business survivability.
(10:15):
People who start things herestick with them for longer than
almost any other state in thecountry.
So you got to lean into thatand I think here in Rochester in
particular, you got to leaninto that.
When it comes to medtech, wewere far and away the best
medtech ecosystem in America andyou know that is a hard earned
place to be.
It's not inevitable, but thatdefines us in ways that we need
to market and brand more often,I think.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
You're a busy leader, executive and family man.
How did you carve out the timeand space to write a memoir?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't.
I wish I'd had a plan before itbefore.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I started.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
It sounded like a cool idea.
And then you suddenly get thebook deal and you're like I have
to actually do this thing so.
But I enjoyed it.
I mean it was such an honor toget to do.
I'm an early morning person, soI would write most days from
five to six or five to 630.
I try to carve out a little bitof longer chunk on a Friday and
on the weekends, but I didn'twant it to kind of consume
family time and vacation time,so I tried to be careful about
that.
And then I had a good editor.
(11:05):
I mean, my editor is a womannamed Stephanie Frerich.
She's from St Cloud, minnesota,but works at Simon Schuster as
a VP over there.
So she was instrumental inhelping me be efficient and
effective.
No one writes these thingswithout a good editor and she
was very helpful on that front.
But I enjoyed the process.
I like to write.
You end up writing at leasttwice as much as what ends up in
the book.
(11:25):
But the journey for me wasitself a learning experience, so
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
How would you describe the process, reflective
therapeutic, challenging all ofthose?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, it was all those.
It was kind of therapeutic thatyou mentioned that word.
It kind of sticks out.
I mean, everyone has a lifestory.
Every single person on thisplanet could write a memoir and
write an interesting one if theytook the time to be able to do
it.
And I guess for me, when you doit, you start to analyze your
life a little bit with a thirdeye, because you're trying to
write about yourself like acharacter, if you will, and that
(11:56):
was therapeutic for me and itwas also an exercise in
self-discovery.
You know, if you're going towrite a good book, you got to go
deep.
If you stay flighty, that'sgreat.
Some books are made for that.
But this is kind of a deeperbook.
It's a nuanced book and Iwanted to do right by myself and
my family.
And you know I learned a lotabout what I like and don't and
what makes me me.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Were there parts of your story that were difficult
to put on paper and, if so, howdid you decide what to include
or leave out?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
because of that, felt a little stifled by it.
My parents weren't happy aboutthat and for most of my adult
life wasn't very spiritual or atleast didn't go to a church.
Part of my journey coming backto Minnesota was rediscovering
faith, and that's a verypersonal thing, and my
reconciliation with my parentson that front was really
wonderful and ultimately becamea story I felt like might
inspire others to find a faithpath that works for them and
reconcile things with theirparents if they can.
(13:03):
And that journey for me wasreally great.
But to write it took a lot ofcare and of course I had to
involve my parents in that.
I wasn't going to write aboutthat relationship without their
blessing and for them to be ableto read that as I wrote it and
react to it was really powerful.
It made us stronger and closertogether.
So it was a really, reallyspecial thing to get to do.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Did you write this book as more of a personal
project, or did you also see itas a contribution to the larger
conversation about the Midwestand even leadership?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I think probably both .
I mean write a book about yourlife and it is very much a
personal journey, but I didn'twant it to be.
I didn't think it would be anygood if it was myopic.
It had to say something biggerabout this moment and I do think
at this moment we face somepretty unprecedented challenges
and, for whatever reason, theselast two career stops that I've
(13:53):
had, both in state government,at the Strip, have been at their
core about taking kind ofestablished institutions,
whether it's government or media, and trying to modernize them
and make them work for a new era.
And I guess I would say in amacro sense, I think we need a
lot more of that across thespectrum of our major
institutions.
Trust is falling in all mattersof society, whether it's
(14:13):
military or religion orgovernment or media or big tech,
and that's a uniquely Americanproblem, but it is very solvable
if we create some innovationinside of these institutions and
rather than what's happening inWashington right now, which I
think has an intent that is good, which is to make our
institutions run better, but theimpact and methodology is just
to essentially destroy them, Ithink an innovative approach and
(14:38):
an approach that starts locally, I would argue, has a much
better chance of success, and soI hope that the book
contributes to those who arelooking for some hope, a way to
change or grow their community.
You don't have to leave yourjob and join state government or
join a newspaper to do it, butthere's small ways you can do it
too, or ways that are different.
But we've got to invest inthese institutions if we're
going to make them stronger, andso the book makes that case.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Many people dream about leaving the big coastal
hubs to return home, but noteverybody takes the leap.
What do you hope your storysays about life opportunity and
community in the Midwest?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I hope that it gives people a sense of possibility,
you're right to say.
I mean, I often met a lot ofMinnesotans out in the Valley
who were like God, it'd be funto live back there, but I
couldn't get a job or I couldn'tmake as much money or or I
don't know I just something'sholding me back.
We actually did it, and weactually did it and many others
have.
We're not alone and we found adifferent kind of a life, as
dynamic.
It is exciting, if not more,but different, and by my own
(15:27):
choice, my journey has been morelocal.
But even if you are on thecoast and you're thinking about
living here and you don't wantto have a job that is rooted in
the state or local.
There are some massive globalcompanies doing incredible
things here in Rochester morethan any place else.
So this is not a parochialstate.
I think we all know that it's avery global state and I don't
think you can say that for everystate in Midwest.
(15:47):
But it's a unique identifier ofMinnesota that this is a state
that looks to the world, and sopart of what I hope the book
does is for anybody looking atit, no-transcript, and Minnesota
is a place worth coming.
It is a destination and notjust a flyover state.
My working title for the bookwas Flyover.
No More Publisher didn't likethat as much.
I still kind of like it, butyou know it got some cachet.
(16:07):
It kind of made that pointanyway.
So yeah, this isn't flyovercountry.
We all know that.
Your podcast says that everyday.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
What do you want readers, particularly
Minnesotans, to walk awaythinking or feeling after
finishing your book?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
particularly Minnesotans, to walk away
thinking or feeling afterfinishing your book.
Well, I hope Minnesotans inparticular get a bit of a better
sense for our history and I'mno historian, but the book ended
up being classified as acultural anthropology book on
Amazon, for example, because itdoes get at the kind of history
of our state and why we are theway we are, I hope, in a really
accessible way.
So Minnesotans get a bettersense for identity, a bit more
(16:40):
pride for it.
It's not a book that is arah-rah Midwest rules.
You know there are no paradoxeshere.
It does examine our challengestoo.
But I think, and I know that atleast as I conclude the book, I
lift up Minnesota as a placewhere as better as much as any
place in the country has a shotat helping social reinvention
happen at a time when we need it.
So I hope people leave the bookwith a sense that reinvention
(17:04):
is possible whether it'spersonal or in your community,
and that you don't have to haveit all figured out to try
something new.
And that for me, was a biglesson.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
In your book you write about the sausage making
behind legislation, specificallyhow Launch Minnesota got
started.
Can you give us just a littleinsight into that.
It was really a great read.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Oh thanks.
Yeah Well, I didn't know howlegislative processes worked
until I was inside the systemand it's inspiring and in some
ways, troubling.
But a lot of backroom dealshappen to make stuff happen and
you have to make the casebroadly that something matters.
And it was inspiring in thesense that what made Launch
Minnesota real is the startupsand entrepreneurs who would come
to the Capitol and talk to therepresentatives.
(17:39):
That really does matter.
I think people might think itdoesn't, but actually showing up
and making a case to yourlegislators makes a huge
difference in how they view whatneeds to be done.
Launch Minnesota it was a smallprogram it is currently not
funded by the state government,which gives me a lot of concern
because I think it's somethingwe need to keep going but was
really meant to put our startupecosystem on the map through
(17:59):
dollars directly to startups andincentives for venture
capitalists to invest here.
And the gristle of how it gotdone involved a lot of back and
forth and some senators andrepresentatives alongside myself
trying to navigate our wayforward, but ultimately with the
same intent, which is to createsomething that's really special
and puts our state on the map,and ultimately it got through
and I learned a lot about how tonavigate state politics in that
(18:21):
process, but was really happyit was successful.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Has writing this book changed how you think about
your next chapter, personally orprofessionally?
What's ahead for you?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
You're a young guy.
Well, I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed public service.
I could see myself going backto it in some way I'm not sure
quite how yet, but definitelyreflecting on the experience,
especially in government, andrecognizing what I liked about
it was good for me, it wastherapeutic after four years
that were quite intense.
But also I was like, yeah, Icould do a version of that in
some other role in the future.
I'm not sure what that is.
I don't have any particularplan.
(18:50):
This book isn't some strategyon that front, although I know
people might look at it andthink that.
But yeah, I don't know.
I would say right now.
The strip is a really powerfuland important chapter for me.
It's.
I'm really excited by it.
The public service you get todo in journalism is powerful.
We've just begun ourtransformation.
So I feel as emboldened nowwith the strip as I did when I
started and I'm excited about itand I've got some great
(19:12):
colleagues there.
We're really trying to reinventmedia for a new age and we've
got a shot I think more than anyother paper in the country, if
you ask me, because we've got agreat owner and a great
community.
That demands good journalism.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
So I'm enjoying it.
That is a great lead in to endthis podcast.
And a year ago we talked aboutyour new role at the Star
Tribune and that was I don'tthink you had announced the
rebranding or even the new namewhen we chatted.
So can you fast forward a yearfrom the last time we spoke and
you've kind of hinted at it alittle bit.
But obviously a reinvention forthe Star Tribune too.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Yeah, it's just a year out from this.
In fact, it's the State Fair,as we're talking about this
podcast, and so we relaunched atthe State Fair last year.
It's been a heck of a year, Imean.
Adding Minnesota to that brandand expanding our reporting
coverage across the state is abig deal.
We hope we've gotten that right.
Here in Rochester We've hiredSean Baker alongside Trey Muse
and we have Victor Stefanskicoming often because of his
(20:05):
healthcare coverage beat.
So we're trying to really earnthat Minnesota in the name.
Just recently we relaunched ourwhole high school sports effort
around a brand called StripVarsity in an effort there to
really lean into high schoolsports and being an exhaustive
hub for that coverage.
We hope it's a goodsubscription play because
parents want to see their kid'sname in the paper, but also adds
a new value to the market whereit hasn't been there before.
(20:28):
So, yeah, we're trying allkinds of new things.
Some of them will work, some ofthem won't, but we want to run
the place a bit more like a techcompany with the credibility of
a journalistic institution.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So we're on our way, steve Grove, publisher, ceo of
the Star Tribune, but today wespoke to you as an author from
how I Found Myself in theMidwest.
Thank you for being our gueston the Growing Destinations
podcast.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Thanks for having me, Bill.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Thank you for tuning in to the Growing Destinations
podcast and don't forget tosubscribe.
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
Everyone has a life story.
Every single person on thisplanet could write a memoir and
write an interesting one, ifthey took the time to be able to
do it.
And I guess for me, when you doit, you start to analyze your
life a little bit with a thirdeye, because you're trying to
write about yourself like acharacter, if you will, and that
was therapeutic for me and itwas also an exercise in
self-discovery.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Welcome to the Growing Destinations podcast,
where we take a deep dive intodestination development and
focus on a wide range of topics,from tourism and entertainment
to economic development andentrepreneurism and much more.
I'm your host, bill Von Bank.
Today, we're joined by SteveGrove, a leader whose career
journey has spanned SiliconValley, state government and now
(00:58):
the publishing world.
Steve is the CEO and publisherof the Star Tribune, minnesota's
largest news organization.
Before that, he served ascommissioner of Minnesota's
Department of Employment andEconomic Development, and
earlier he spent more than adecade at Google, hoping to
build its news and civicengagement initiatives.
Steve recently added anotherchapter to his story with the
(01:20):
release of his memoir how IFound Myself in the Midwest, a
memoir of reinvention.
In it, he shares a personaljourney of leaving the
fast-paced tech world, returningto his roots in Minnesota with
his wife and twins, andrediscovering the power of
community and place.
We'll talk about why he wrotethe book now, what he hopes
(01:41):
readers take away and what theprocess of writing a memoir
taught him about reinvention andabout himself.
Steve, welcome to the GrowingDestinations podcast.
Thanks, bill, good to be here.
Welcome back, we had you onabout a year ago.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
When you were giving an update on the Star Tribune
and your new role, and sincethen, obviously, the Star
Tribune has rebranded and somany new activities.
We will talk about that, but Ifirst want to talk about this
new venture that you've startedfor yourself.
It's writing a book, and thetitle of your memoir is how I
Found Myself in the Midwest.
It's both personal anduniversal.
(02:15):
Why did you feel now was theright time to write and release
this book?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I don't think a lot of 47-year-olds write a book
with the word memoir in thetitle, so I had to kind of put
that self-conscious thoughtaside and follow what I felt
like was a story worth tellingat a unique time.
In some ways my story is reallycommon.
It's a boomerang story.
I left Minnesota and came backMany Minnesotans do but the
journey of kind of leavingGoogle and going into state
government right during thecrisis of COVID and George Floyd
(02:39):
and then going on to the Stribto try to reimagine media in a
new age just kind of afforded mesome insights that, as I
thought about them and sharedthem with folks outside of
Minnesota, felt like it might bea book and so started talking
to people outside the state,talked to Simon Schuster, my
eventual publisher, and ended uplanding on a storyline that we
felt might be uniquely resonantright now.
And really that core message isthe power of going local to
(03:02):
make change in a really fraughttime.
And it's a personal story, butit's also a story about our
state.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Well, you've led in different worlds Silicon Valley
to start with state governmentand now publishing.
Did some of those transitionsand pivots inspire the urgency
of telling your story at thispoint?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I think so, and also I think that there are not
enough people, unfortunately,who kind of leave the private
sector and go into government,and so the kernel of it was that
of like, maybe more peopleshould try leaving places like
Google and taking a stint insideof government.
I ended up finding it beingreally inspiring, super
impactful.
I learned a lot.
I think a lot of the clichesabout government not working
(03:39):
turned out to maybe not be astrue once you're inside and you
see, man, there's a lot ofreally great, innovative public
servants here, and so, yeah, Ifelt like that was kind of the
beginning of this story.
But then I think the broaderjourney of sharing, coming back
to a state as a native son witha fresh pair of eyes and
Minnesota being kind of acharacter in the book which it
is, was, I hope, a helpful wayto share some insights on this
(03:59):
state and where it might go at apretty dynamic time.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Leaving Google to work for the state.
I had to chuckle about some ofwhat you said in the book
regarding the advice you gotwhen you first started.
Can you share a little bitabout that?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Well, of course, the first thing is don't go in there
and be the Google guy and belike a cartoon of yourself and
come in, and so the advice iswell, hey, bring some of the
innovation of Google, but don'ttell everybody the government
has to be run by Google.
I also got advice from peoplewho were very cognizant of kind
of the bureaucracy and thethings that would slow you down,
and one person in particulartold me that you'll run into a
(04:35):
lot of weebies, and a weebie issomeone who will say we be here
before you got here and we behere when you're gone was his
sort of nickname for it.
And that really stuck with me,because that is a true of any
job where you're a politicalappointee and you come in for a
bespoke period of time, and it'swhy a lot of political
appointees don't focus on thingslike culture and how the place
runs, because, look, you're justthere for a minute and so you
(04:56):
want to get some big wins foryour boss or yourself and move
on.
And I didn't really view itthat way, and I actually found
that when I focused on theculture of deed and how to
strengthen it, which I think theplace was really ready for it
turned out to lead to, I wouldsay, a lot greater impact,
especially when crisis hit withthe pandemic.
So, yes, there are weebies inany organization, but I ended up
thinking that maybe wasn't thebest advice.
(05:16):
The best advice was to go inand try to invest some time and
energy in listening to your newcolleagues and reshaping a place
for the better.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
You mentioned you're 47.
So what surprised you mostabout looking back and
documenting your journey rightnow, at this stage in your life?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, when you write a book like this, you don't know
quite what's going to come outuntil you start putting pen to
paper.
And some of the more personalcomponents of the book were
surprising to me in the way Iended up weaving them into the
broader story of my own journey.
Here I talk a lot about thefertility journeys my wife and I
faced ultimately successful,but a journey like anyone who
has them will recognize.
I talk about my relationshipwith my parents and my faith and
(05:52):
coming back to a state andfinding my place there and even
just the concept of makingfriends in your forties and how
you do that when you're cominginto a new community after
having been gone for 20 yearsand why that's kind of hard and
maybe uniquely hard in Minnesota.
So some of those pieces thatwere more personal, I didn't set
out having them scoped out aschapters, but when you're
writing kind of a transplantsjourney, they they end up being
(06:14):
quite relevant.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I think, yeah, there's, there's the Minnesota
nice, and sometimes I thinkmaybe just remove the N, and
sometimes it's ice.
I think that's right.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
I mean, you know, it's a thing and we all kind of
joke about it and it's, it'sthere but I also think that it
is a welcoming place.
You just have to be a bit moreassertive, and that's kind of
the lesson that Mary and Ilearned as we started inviting
people over and reaching out andalso, kind of, for me, making
friends in your forties got tothis point where it's like, well
, look, worst that can happen issomeone doesn't want to hang
(06:42):
out with you.
Or worst that can happen is youknow you reach out and it isn't
great, but you know that's notthat bad.
You just got to keep going, andpeople all want the same thing.
They want a sense of connection.
Especially now in our digitalworld has, I would say, kind of
lightened our social skills inways that we need to reinvest in
.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
When you moved back to Minnesota, was it as easy for
Mary, your wife, as it was foryou?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I would say it was probably a little harder for her
.
I mean, she grew up in SanDiego, which you know, 75 and
sunny every day.
She is very tough andresourceful and a great
community builder, so I thinkshe took very naturally to it.
But I don't pull any punches inthe book about moments where we
felt quite stuck.
And there's actually a wholechapter called Stuck where we've
kind of been here for a year.
The honeymoon had worn off thisadventure of moving to a new
(07:25):
state which always was for us,you know, designed to be a
chapter, we'll see where it goes, kind of thing Kind of fell
down and we were like, well gosh, do we really want to be here?
We took a trip back out to thevalley.
We're like, oh, back home it'stwo degrees, here it's 72
degrees.
You know, we've really found alot of hope through community
and through people.
She started a venture firm herethat's very focused on
(07:46):
connecting with companies in ourstate and for anybody.
You come to the state and it'sjust a great place to live.
I mean your podcast lifts thisup all the time about Rochester,
and it's true of other citiesin our state as well.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
It's got a lot going for it and especially when you
have kids, you realize, man,there's a lot to love.
Reinvention is central to yourmemoir.
What does reinvention mean toyou, and how do you hope readers
will apply that concept totheir own lives?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
I think it's a pretty common American trait and I
think for all of us we havelittle moments of reinvention
when you're trying something new.
Their scale may be differentfor different people but I come
to see reinvention is more oftenthan not a superpower when you
can go to one sector of theeconomy or one job or one
opportunity from another and youaren't a part of that
(08:27):
institution or sector frombefore, you bring a fresh pair
of eyes.
I mean, for me, leaving Googleand going into government, I
didn't know the first thingabout how to run a 1400 person
bureaucracy and there'schallenges to that for sure, but
I also was able to bring afresh pair of eyes to it.
And same thing with the Strib.
I mean it's 157 year oldnewspaper.
I did not spend my career innewspapers but Glenn and the
board who hired me to come inwanted somebody who didn't have
(08:50):
a whole legacy of experience.
So I guess reinvention to me itcan be scary but the insight
I've had in doing it myself andI hope others would resonate
with us is that often it's asuperpower because you're
bringing new sets of skills toan opportunity that is different
.
And you know the theme ofreinvention in my book isn't
just personal but it's about ourcommunities and states.
I mean, I think thatMinnesota's institutions need
reinvention.
(09:10):
I think our country'sinstitutions need reinvention.
I make the case that goinglocal to do that reinvention has
the highest chance of successand hopefully those who read the
book will find some inspirationin that.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Another reference to superpower in your book is when
you talk about the startupcommunity in Minnesota and that
its superpower is that it's notlike Silicon Valley.
Can you explain that?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Silicon Valley succeeds in part because of its
swagger and I don't mean to saythat there are a lot of other
factors and variables of course,stanford and the silicate
industry and all the earlystartups and ecosystem that were
built there.
But today its culture has a lotof swagger to it, and for good
reason.
They've done a lot of greatthings in that market and I was
impressed by it.
But Minnesota's market is alittle bit different.
It feels a bit morepurpose-driven.
(09:53):
I feel like the startups here inour state, especially in
Rochester, are focused onsolving real problems, not just
on gobbling up people'sattention on their phones, and I
think that's kind of a hallmarkof this economy that we as a
state need to lean into.
It's part of what defines us.
We're out there solving majorhealth crises and food crises
and we're using the latesttechnology to solve problems
that really matter to people.
It's why this state has suchhigh business survivability.
(10:15):
People who start things herestick with them for longer than
almost any other state in thecountry.
So you got to lean into thatand I think here in Rochester in
particular, you got to leaninto that.
When it comes to medtech, wewere far and away the best
medtech ecosystem in America andyou know that is a hard earned
place to be.
It's not inevitable, but thatdefines us in ways that we need
to market and brand more often,I think.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
You're a busy leader, executive and family man.
How did you carve out the timeand space to write a memoir?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't.
I wish I'd had a plan before itbefore.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I started.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
It sounded like a cool idea.
And then you suddenly get thebook deal and you're like I have
to actually do this thing so.
But I enjoyed it.
I mean it was such an honor toget to do.
I'm an early morning person, soI would write most days from
five to six or five to 630.
I try to carve out a little bitof longer chunk on a Friday and
on the weekends, but I didn'twant it to kind of consume
family time and vacation time,so I tried to be careful about
that.
And then I had a good editor.
(11:05):
I mean, my editor is a womannamed Stephanie Frerich.
She's from St Cloud, minnesota,but works at Simon Schuster as
a VP over there.
So she was instrumental inhelping me be efficient and
effective.
No one writes these thingswithout a good editor and she
was very helpful on that front.
But I enjoyed the process.
I like to write.
You end up writing at leasttwice as much as what ends up in
the book.
(11:25):
But the journey for me wasitself a learning experience, so
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
How would you describe the process, reflective
therapeutic, challenging all ofthose?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, it was all those.
It was kind of therapeutic thatyou mentioned that word.
It kind of sticks out.
I mean, everyone has a lifestory.
Every single person on thisplanet could write a memoir and
write an interesting one if theytook the time to be able to do
it.
And I guess for me, when you doit, you start to analyze your
life a little bit with a thirdeye, because you're trying to
write about yourself like acharacter, if you will, and that
(11:56):
was therapeutic for me and itwas also an exercise in
self-discovery.
You know, if you're going towrite a good book, you got to go
deep.
If you stay flighty, that'sgreat.
Some books are made for that.
But this is kind of a deeperbook.
It's a nuanced book and Iwanted to do right by myself and
my family.
And you know I learned a lotabout what I like and don't and
what makes me me.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Were there parts of your story that were difficult
to put on paper and, if so, howdid you decide what to include
or leave out?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
because of that, felt a little stifled by it.
My parents weren't happy aboutthat and for most of my adult
life wasn't very spiritual or atleast didn't go to a church.
Part of my journey coming backto Minnesota was rediscovering
faith, and that's a verypersonal thing, and my
reconciliation with my parentson that front was really
wonderful and ultimately becamea story I felt like might
inspire others to find a faithpath that works for them and
reconcile things with theirparents if they can.
(13:03):
And that journey for me wasreally great.
But to write it took a lot ofcare and of course I had to
involve my parents in that.
I wasn't going to write aboutthat relationship without their
blessing and for them to be ableto read that as I wrote it and
react to it was really powerful.
It made us stronger and closertogether.
So it was a really, reallyspecial thing to get to do.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Did you write this book as more of a personal
project, or did you also see itas a contribution to the larger
conversation about the Midwestand even leadership?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
I think probably both .
I mean write a book about yourlife and it is very much a
personal journey, but I didn'twant it to be.
I didn't think it would be anygood if it was myopic.
It had to say something biggerabout this moment and I do think
at this moment we face somepretty unprecedented challenges
and, for whatever reason, theselast two career stops that I've
(13:53):
had, both in state government,at the Strip, have been at their
core about taking kind ofestablished institutions,
whether it's government or media, and trying to modernize them
and make them work for a new era.
And I guess I would say in amacro sense, I think we need a
lot more of that across thespectrum of our major
institutions.
Trust is falling in all mattersof society, whether it's
(14:13):
military or religion orgovernment or media or big tech,
and that's a uniquely Americanproblem, but it is very solvable
if we create some innovationinside of these institutions and
rather than what's happening inWashington right now, which I
think has an intent that is good, which is to make our
institutions run better, but theimpact and methodology is just
to essentially destroy them, Ithink an innovative approach and
(14:38):
an approach that starts locally, I would argue, has a much
better chance of success, and soI hope that the book
contributes to those who arelooking for some hope, a way to
change or grow their community.
You don't have to leave yourjob and join state government or
join a newspaper to do it, butthere's small ways you can do it
too, or ways that are different.
But we've got to invest inthese institutions if we're
going to make them stronger, andso the book makes that case.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Many people dream about leaving the big coastal
hubs to return home, but noteverybody takes the leap.
What do you hope your storysays about life opportunity and
community in the Midwest?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I hope that it gives people a sense of possibility,
you're right to say.
I mean, I often met a lot ofMinnesotans out in the Valley
who were like God, it'd be funto live back there, but I
couldn't get a job or I couldn'tmake as much money or or I
don't know I just something'sholding me back.
We actually did it, and weactually did it and many others
have.
We're not alone and we found adifferent kind of a life, as
dynamic.
It is exciting, if not more,but different, and by my own
(15:27):
choice, my journey has been morelocal.
But even if you are on thecoast and you're thinking about
living here and you don't wantto have a job that is rooted in
the state or local.
There are some massive globalcompanies doing incredible
things here in Rochester morethan any place else.
So this is not a parochialstate.
I think we all know that it's avery global state and I don't
think you can say that for everystate in Midwest.
(15:47):
But it's a unique identifier ofMinnesota that this is a state
that looks to the world, and sopart of what I hope the book
does is for anybody looking atit, no-transcript, and Minnesota
is a place worth coming.
It is a destination and notjust a flyover state.
My working title for the bookwas Flyover.
No More Publisher didn't likethat as much.
I still kind of like it, butyou know it got some cachet.
(16:07):
It kind of made that pointanyway.
So yeah, this isn't flyovercountry.
We all know that.
Your podcast says that everyday.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
What do you want readers, particularly
Minnesotans, to walk awaythinking or feeling after
finishing your book?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
particularly Minnesotans, to walk away
thinking or feeling afterfinishing your book.
Well, I hope Minnesotans inparticular get a bit of a better
sense for our history and I'mno historian, but the book ended
up being classified as acultural anthropology book on
Amazon, for example, because itdoes get at the kind of history
of our state and why we are theway we are, I hope, in a really
accessible way.
So Minnesotans get a bettersense for identity, a bit more
(16:40):
pride for it.
It's not a book that is arah-rah Midwest rules.
You know there are no paradoxeshere.
It does examine our challengestoo.
But I think, and I know that atleast as I conclude the book, I
lift up Minnesota as a placewhere as better as much as any
place in the country has a shotat helping social reinvention
happen at a time when we need it.
So I hope people leave the bookwith a sense that reinvention
(17:04):
is possible whether it'spersonal or in your community,
and that you don't have to haveit all figured out to try
something new.
And that for me, was a biglesson.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
In your book you write about the sausage making
behind legislation, specificallyhow Launch Minnesota got
started.
Can you give us just a littleinsight into that.
It was really a great read.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Oh thanks.
Yeah Well, I didn't know howlegislative processes worked
until I was inside the systemand it's inspiring and in some
ways, troubling.
But a lot of backroom dealshappen to make stuff happen and
you have to make the casebroadly that something matters.
And it was inspiring in thesense that what made Launch
Minnesota real is the startupsand entrepreneurs who would come
to the Capitol and talk to therepresentatives.
(17:39):
That really does matter.
I think people might think itdoesn't, but actually showing up
and making a case to yourlegislators makes a huge
difference in how they view whatneeds to be done.
Launch Minnesota it was a smallprogram it is currently not
funded by the state government,which gives me a lot of concern
because I think it's somethingwe need to keep going but was
really meant to put our startupecosystem on the map through
(17:59):
dollars directly to startups andincentives for venture
capitalists to invest here.
And the gristle of how it gotdone involved a lot of back and
forth and some senators andrepresentatives alongside myself
trying to navigate our wayforward, but ultimately with the
same intent, which is to createsomething that's really special
and puts our state on the map,and ultimately it got through
and I learned a lot about how tonavigate state politics in that
(18:21):
process, but was really happyit was successful.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Has writing this book changed how you think about
your next chapter, personally orprofessionally?
What's ahead for you?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
You're a young guy.
Well, I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed public service.
I could see myself going backto it in some way I'm not sure
quite how yet, but definitelyreflecting on the experience,
especially in government, andrecognizing what I liked about
it was good for me, it wastherapeutic after four years
that were quite intense.
But also I was like, yeah, Icould do a version of that in
some other role in the future.
I'm not sure what that is.
I don't have any particularplan.
(18:50):
This book isn't some strategyon that front, although I know
people might look at it andthink that.
But yeah, I don't know.
I would say right now.
The strip is a really powerfuland important chapter for me.
It's.
I'm really excited by it.
The public service you get todo in journalism is powerful.
We've just begun ourtransformation.
So I feel as emboldened nowwith the strip as I did when I
started and I'm excited about itand I've got some great
(19:12):
colleagues there.
We're really trying to reinventmedia for a new age and we've
got a shot I think more than anyother paper in the country, if
you ask me, because we've got agreat owner and a great
community.
That demands good journalism.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
So I'm enjoying it.
That is a great lead in to endthis podcast.
And a year ago we talked aboutyour new role at the Star
Tribune and that was I don'tthink you had announced the
rebranding or even the new namewhen we chatted.
So can you fast forward a yearfrom the last time we spoke and
you've kind of hinted at it alittle bit.
But obviously a reinvention forthe Star Tribune too.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Yeah, it's just a year out from this.
In fact, it's the State Fair,as we're talking about this
podcast, and so we relaunched atthe State Fair last year.
It's been a heck of a year, Imean.
Adding Minnesota to that brandand expanding our reporting
coverage across the state is abig deal.
We hope we've gotten that right.
Here in Rochester We've hiredSean Baker alongside Trey Muse
and we have Victor Stefanskicoming often because of his
(20:05):
healthcare coverage beat.
So we're trying to really earnthat Minnesota in the name.
Just recently we relaunched ourwhole high school sports effort
around a brand called StripVarsity in an effort there to
really lean into high schoolsports and being an exhaustive
hub for that coverage.
We hope it's a goodsubscription play because
parents want to see their kid'sname in the paper, but also adds
a new value to the market whereit hasn't been there before.
(20:28):
So, yeah, we're trying allkinds of new things.
Some of them will work, some ofthem won't, but we want to run
the place a bit more like a techcompany with the credibility of
a journalistic institution.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So we're on our way, steve Grove, publisher, ceo of
the Star Tribune, but today wespoke to you as an author from
how I Found Myself in theMidwest.
Thank you for being our gueston the Growing Destinations
podcast.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Thanks for having me, Bill.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Thank you for tuning in to the Growing Destinations
podcast and don't forget tosubscribe.
This podcast is brought to youby Experience Rochester.
Find out more about Rochester,Minnesota, and its growing arts
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