What Leadership Programs Actually Taught Me
Leadership South Dakota Alumni: Nikki Gronli, Joe Batcheller, Dr. Sara Vande Kamp, and Vince Danh address current LSD class on “How to Run for Office.”
Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting on a "How to Run for Office" panel with fellow alumni of Leadership South Dakota — speaking to the current class about what it looks like to step into civic life.
It was a good reminder of where so much of my foundation was built. And it got me thinking about what these programs actually gave me — and what they didn't.
Leadership South Dakota: Seeing the Whole State
Leadership South Dakota takes roughly 40 leaders from across the state and immerses them in it — Pierre, Rapid City, Brookings, the reservations, rural communities, the places in between. Session by session, you start to understand how South Dakota actually works. Not from a textbook. From the people running it.
What it gave me wasn't a certificate. It was context.
I came away understanding that Sioux Falls doesn't exist in isolation. Our growth, our infrastructure, our economic opportunities — all connected to state policy, tribal relationships, agriculture, and industries most residents don't think about until they feel the effects. Leadership South Dakota widened my lens. And it gave me real friendships — people from Watertown and Winner and Rapid City who I still call when I'm trying to make sense of something.
Leadership Sioux Falls: Understanding Our City's Machinery
Leadership Sioux Falls, run through the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, takes you behind the scenes of our own city. Healthcare. Finance. Local government. Nonprofits. Schools. You start to see how the different parts of Sioux Falls connect — and just as importantly, where they don't yet.
That program deepened my appreciation for the idiosyncrasies of this city. Every neighborhood has its own rhythm. Every organization is solving a piece of the same puzzle. It taught me to ask: how does what I'm doing fit the bigger picture? Who else should be in the room?
That question follows me into everything I do — including this campaign.
Leaders of Tomorrow: Learning to Lead Without a Title
Of the three, Leaders of Tomorrow — run by Bridging the Gap SD — may be the one that changed me most personally.
LOT is built around something radical: leadership isn't a position. It's a practice. You don't need a title or a budget. You need clarity, confidence, and the willingness to go first. The program taught me how to lead from wherever I was standing, define success on my own terms, and build the kind of foundational confidence that doesn't evaporate when things get hard.
I walked out knowing myself better. That's not something you put on a resume — but it changes how you show up everywhere.
The Real Point
I'm not running for City Council because I completed these programs. The programs mattered because of what I did with them. The relationships I kept investing in. The skills I kept sharpening. The work I kept showing up for — volunteering on boards like Sioux Falls Stage & Gallery and Downtown Sioux Falls Inc., organizing Lunar Fest, and showing up at community forums and city council meetings — whether anyone was paying attention or not.
What drives this campaign isn't the accolades. It's the application. Years of building bridges between people who don't always share a language or a ZIP code or a background, and believing that work is never really finished.
Yesterday I got to tell a room full of people thinking about stepping up the truth: the credential doesn't make you credible. The showing up does.
That's still what I believe. And it's what I'll bring to City Hall on day one.
It's always been our city, and now is our moment.
Let's rise together. ☀️
— Vince Danh
Candidate, Sioux Falls City Council At-Large | June 2nd, 2026