On Monday, I had the opportunity to make my second visit to the Huntsman Cancer Institute and Treatment Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Off the bat, the name of the facility might make it sound like a solemn-feeling hospital. While there are certainly some stark reminders of the fragility of life, a visit to this center is truly an uplifting experience.

Jon Huntsman, Sr. is a self-made billionaire who overcame an impoverished Idaho upbringing to become the Founder and CEO of Huntsman Chemical Corporation. Instead of stockpiling wealth, he became one of the world's top three philanthropists, providing aid to many nations over the years. After losing his mother to cancer and battling the disease himself, he decided to invest in research and treatment to eventually find a cure. His first order of business was to create a learning center where patients would be able to study the affliction to better understand its innerworkings. He then decided to link up with the world's largest human genome database (with roughly 10,000,000 records) to find hereditary trends and markers that might be able to predict risk factors. The center was also one of the first to open up their research progress to the world (instead of trying to compete for a cure that could eventually be a windfall). This stance of cooperation over competition was unique at the time. Finally, he built a state-of-the-art treatment center with breathtaking quality. He and his good friend Bill Marriott made a pact which shows their confidence in the facility. They decided that when (not if) they find cures for various cancers, they will transform the hospital into a luxury hotel. It won't be difficult to do, the building is already exceptional, complete with gorgeous courtyards, great craftsmanship and some of the best views of Salt Lake City that you can find.

The college students that I am mentoring this week really enjoyed the visit to Huntsman. Jon is an alumnus of the same organization to which they belong, as is his son (Utah governor Jon Huntsman, Jr.). More importantly, his philosophy of cooperation over competition is one of the major themes of their leadership program this week. Yesterday, we were discussing the drawbacks of the American mentality surrounding competition. We often walk into situtations with the assumption that we much be fierce competitors with others in order to reach our personal goals. In reality, there is usually enough differentitation of needs and plenty of resources, and cooperating with one another to ensure that everyone gets what he/she needs is the better strategy. Of course, merit-based rewards are still important, but to ignore the needs of our fellow man is to concurrently ignore the opportunity to become a great leader.

For me, the timing of my two visits to the Huntsman Institute were interesting. The first one was a month after I learned that the wife of one of the members of my sales team had been diagnosed with a particularly difficult form of Leukemia. During the ensuing 15 months of her life, I learned a lot about how families deal with these types of diseases. My coworker became one of my personal heroes in the way that he served his family during and after his wife's time on this Earth. My wife and I flew out to visit them for her last birthday and it was a lesson in marriage that can't be obtained any other way. Thus, this second trip to the Huntsman Institute brought that experience full circle.

Cancer is still one of the top two leading causes of death in the United States. I'd encourage you to take a closer look at the Huntsman Cancer Institute online. If you feel compelled to support their cause directly, you can do so at this link.