In the mid 1970’s Pol Pot and his communist Khmer Rouge controlled Cambodia.During his bloody reign from 1975 to 1979, it is estimated between 1.5 million and 2 million Cambodians died of starvation, torture, execution or disease.

At the same time a handful of starving college kids at a college in America, led by a finance major with big ideas, rescued one small family from Pol Pot’s executioners.

In college, a bunch of us young guys played ball together, went to church together, studied together and took our girl’s out for ice cream together.

Dwayne Nielson and his sweet wife Sandy were just another struggling student couple.  A news magazine had showcased the tragedy of the Cambodian genocide taking place half way around the world and Dwayne felt compelled to do something about it.  Dwayne did a little homework and got several of us together and shared his vision of saving one of those families slated for extermination.

We learned of the Tolstoy Foundation with connections in Cambodia that could help us rescue a family and bring them to Utah.

To rescue a family, we needed to raise money and provide evidence we could provide for the family once in Utah. Together, we developed a plan to raise the money and to provide for the family.

Remember, we were a group of poor college kids – mostly broke, trying to support young families, living from meager pay check to meager pay check working part time jobs that paid very little.  To take on a project like this seemed foolish.

Each of us eagerly jumped in – One developed a plan to raise funds, another researched the job opportunities, another housing, another immigration requirements, yet another developed a plan to provide the food and clothes and still another the cultural integration.  It was exciting.

We raised the necessary money, we secured jobs for the family at a local factory, found an inexpensive apartment, furnished it, loaded the cupboards with food and awaited the arrival of our new family.

Once they arrived we all busied ourselves in getting them settled and welcomed, and we began forming life-long relationships. There were many months of hard work before and after the family arrived, which we won’t discuss here, but… Together, we rescued a young Cambodian couple and their two daughters and an uncle from the death camps in Cambodia and relocated them in the safety of Provo, Utah.

What we didn’t know was that this young mother was expecting a third child. A third daughter was born 6 months later. A few other family members were brought to America later that year. After a few years the father moved the family to Fresno, CA where he opened a little used car dealership.

He retired a few years ago a millionaire and has tried countless times to take us back to his native land to show us how grateful he is for what we did for his family. The three daughters are well educated, have married, and are raising families of their own.

Leaders who have ever accomplished great things have all followed the laws of leadership and understood, whether consciously or not, the laws of human behavior. They have obeyed the same formula, the same principles the General Theory of Leadership for as long as history has been recorded.

It starts with fostering trust,

Then creating a vision

Sharing that vision to engage allies and followers,

Developing a strategy

Transforming change

Review and assessing success and failure and modifying strategies.

This family was rescued from execution because we all liked and trusted Dwayne.

He had an idea to do something about the genocide in Cambodia – half a world away. He shared this vision with a group of men he respected and together we developed a strategy to accomplish the vision. Then we went to work getting it done. We made it happen.