Nate Feltman: Mentorship lessons from ‘In the Room’

I have been fortunate to have many incredible mentors and role models during my early years, in law school and in law practice, in politics and in business. In addition to my wonderful parents, who provided constant encouragement to reach high, there were so many individuals along the way who taught me valuable lessons and skills.

Mentors change lives. Anyone who has found success will tell you about a mentor who changed the trajectory of their life. On my “Off the Record” podcast with the Indiana 250, I have interviewed more than 50 prominent Hoosiers, including Vice President Mike Pence, former Gov. Mitch Daniels, university presidents Pam Whitten and Mung Chiang, and business leaders Mickey Maurer, Chuck Surack and Jeff Smulyan. Every one of them credits a mentor for their path and success.

I have written before about my business (and life) mentor Mickey Maurer. Working alongside him for two years while he served as secretary of commerce under Gov. Daniels was like earning a graduate degree in entrepreneurship, negotiation and leadership. When Mickey stepped down, Daniels entrusted me to follow him as secretary of commerce, a testament to how mentorship multiplies opportunity.

But one mentor I have never written about is my uncle Ed Simcox.

Uncle Ed served as Indiana’s secretary of state from 1978 to 1986 (from the time I was 8 years old to 16 years old). I remember sitting at the family table during holiday gatherings, mesmerized by his stories. He made public service feel meaningful. Those stories shaped my curiosity about government and laid the groundwork for my own path in law and civic life. Many of those same stories appear in his recently released memoir, “In the Room.”

Reading the book over the holidays brought back a flood of memories from family gatherings. The early chapters describe his upbringing in La Porte and his start in public life after working on Gov. Ed Whitcomb’s campaign, which led to his appointment to the Indiana State Highway Commission. He would go on to chair the Republican state convention every other year from 1986 through 2022 and successfully mediate sensitive intraparty disputes over the years.

The book revisits the 1984 “Bloody Eighth” congressional dispute between Republican Rick McIntyre and Democrat Frank McCloskey. Simcox certified McIntyre as the winner, but ultimately the Democrat-controlled Congress had the final word and declared McCloskey the winner. Simcox outlines how this dispute led to the Republicans’ 1994 majority and perhaps contributed to the polarization and intense partisan divide we experience today.

Faith also runs deep throughout his story. He writes about his long involvement with Charles Colson’s Prison Fellowship, a ministry built on service and redemption. That work became a defining part of his life after public office.

Simcox also recounts his disappointment at not being chosen by Gov. Robert Orr to fill Dan Quayle’s U.S. Senate seat in 1989, a position that eventually went to Dan Coats after Mitch Daniels declined. And his chapters on official trips to the Soviet Union rekindled my own memories of hearing those stories as a boy — tales that later inspired me to study Russian at Indiana University and practice law in Russia in the 1990s.

“In the Room” offers real leadership lessons and a front-row view of five decades of Indiana politics. More than that, it reflects a life devoted to faith, family and service. I’m biased, but I think every Hoosier could learn something from it.•

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Feltman is publisher of IBJ and CEO of IBJ Media.