Michael "Ranger" Anderson's conception of achievement vacilated from wanting to be in the moment with friends and family to something more befitting an agent of change. Making some major adjustments later in life, he found what achievement looks like changes as life experiences and circumstances change as well. Find out how the desire to make a difference can remain strong even as the scope changes from the wider world to the world within your own four walls.
After high school, guest Michael Anderson was wrestling whether he wanted to arrive at college as a Michael or Mike. It became a moot point after his Boy Scout qualities were immortalized a nickname given to him in orientation: Ranger. Known thusly ever since, Ranger soaked up the experiences of college and yet didn't leave with a clear path in mind. Early jobs in Boston were of the "work to live" sort, providing him enough structure and income to allow him to concentrate being in the moment with friends, a marker of achievement at the time. Recognizing he wasn't enjoying his work, he decided to pack it in for home in Chicago and press reset. After some soul searching he realized he was interested in urban planning and public policy and went back to graduate school.
An early position in municipal planning led him to understand that many of the ways his hands were tied at the local level came from decisions made at the federal level. So he headed to Washington and landed in the Department of Commerce, where he would ultimately spend his career in various analyst and budget director roles. When he realized that the pendulum of achievement had shifted too far to the career and too far from other markers of a well-lived life, he decided he needed to refocus once more. Making some major adjustments later in life, he found what achievement looks like changes as life experiences and circumstances change as well.
In this episode find out from Ranger how the desire to make a difference can remain strong even as the scope changes from the wider world to the world within your own four walls … on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Former Boy Scout Michael 'Ranger' Anderson has a master's degree in urban planning and public policy. He is a long-time budget director within the U.S. Department of Commerce, currently working within the International Trade Administration. He lives in Fairfax County with his wife and pandemic baby. Luckily, Ranger has the balance necessary to be there for them.
For another story about discerning a truer source of personal achievement, listen to our episode with John Strayer.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Ranger Anderson: In terms of achievement, the point that I had deviated from that sort of crawled back out into the light for me, if you will, was wanting to be an agent of change, realizing I wasn't being a difference maker. That sort of, Hey, what are you gonna do to make the world better and make an impact? Cuz this isn’t it.
Leslie Jennings Rowley: Michael Ranger Anderson’s conception of achievement vacillated from wanting to be in the moment with friends and family to something Mor befitting an agent of change, making some major adjustments later in life. He found what achievement looks like, changes as life experiences and circumstances change as well Find out how the desire to make a difference can remain strong even as the scope changes from the wider world to the world within your own four walls on today's Roads Taken with me, Leslie Jennings Rowley.
Today I'm here with Michael Ranger Anderson, and we are going to talk about roads that meander and unexpected turns later down the path, and we'll see where that conversation takes us. So thanks for being with us Ranger.
RA: Thanks, Leslie. I'm delighted to be here and look forward to speaking with you.
LJR: So before we get into the questions that I typically ask at the top of the show, I just need to know: you have always been Ranger to all of us, but I don't know the origin story of that name and I don't know that everyone does. So can you share it with me?
RA: Yes. Yes. It's is kind of the signature piece of my Dartmouth experience, one would say. So it actually was generated coming out of the freshman orientation trips. And so I chose a canoe trip. Two groups combined, I believe. And most of my colleagues were kind of urban oriented kids, New York City, Philadelphia, things like that. And I was coming in as the boy scout, the one who knew how to start a fire and knew how to canoe. So we had a variety of adventures on that trip, including some rough seas on a lake and some other, you know, fire starting challenges. And so they're like, wow, good thing we have a park ranger on the on the trip with us. And so Ranger came back to Mount Moosilauke. So I was introduced as Ranger to our freshman orientation cohort, which then followed me back to campus.
LJR: And you've been Ranger ever since? It stuck.
RA: And I've been Ranger ever since. My professors called me Ranger. The feed has continued cuz I met Dartmouth's friends, sort of pulled me to my circle of friends here in Virginia and DC and so the spill over there was Ranger. My wife met me as a Michael and converted to Ranger based on the, you know, the continued usage. The only thing I haven't had the gumption to do is request Ranger in my work setting, so [LJR: Oh, okay, okay.] Professionally, professionally, I'm still a Michael and that…
LJR: Let's see if we can change that. There’s still time.
RA: That's right. And that could lead to some fun when professional friends become, you know, friends outside of work you know, then, then there can be some crossover, [LJR: code switching}, which is fun switching. But Yeah. And it's interesting, that's just a, you know, just a very early data point in terms of our, the sort of roads taken is, I can remember this summer before college spending an inordinate amount of time deciding if I was gonna be a Mike or a Michael at college.
LJR: And then it didn't matter.
RA: And it didn't matter, you know? So like the things that one worries about.
LJR: That's right. That's right. Well, okay, so let's get us back there. When you were deciding upon Mike or Michael. So when we were in college, you weren't Michael anymore. You had this new persona, but who were you? And when we were getting ready to leave, who did you think you would become?
RA: Yeah, and I think that is a really intriguing sort of backwards looking question. I think I had very different notions of what achievement meant coming in as what I had coming out, right? And sort of how that was valued and what that meant to me. And so, you know, coming in, I certainly had played the academic game to the pinnacle and, you know, viewed Dartmouth as the, you know, sort of reaching the mountain top and was thrilled to be there. Coming from the Midwest, that was not a tradition in my family and sort of the only, only one in my extended family to sort of leave the Midwest. And so that was a big jump. And I think going in, you know, the notion was, I don't know. I, you know, I think that that getting there and then things would take care of themselves, I guess, was honestly kind of my thought. Like, oh, I'm in this networks, you know, I've made it into the, the Dartmouth family and life will be easy from here. Yeah.
I think I had kind of tapped out on sort of academic focus, having worked so hard to get there and found that difficult to continue and honestly realized some of the other things I had sacrificed to get there. You know, in terms of making time for social outings and making time for, you know, late night bulll sessions with friends and, you know, exploring different activities and, you know, time out in the world. So I think to that end, you know, one of the things that was really valuable to me and really important to me was the study abroad program. And I did participate in two programs there. So I did the language study in Germany my sophomore fall, so the earliest one could go [LJR: wow] I went. And then again, junior spring I did the geography program to the Czech Republic, which was my major. And that was really to me, sort of one of the value things about Dartmouth and getting that breadth of, you know, world exposure and opportunity to travel and, and widening my lens.
You know, I think the thing that I've always valued is being curious about the world and being curious about what's going on around me and wanting to learn more. I always get a little bit bored once I become an expert in something, you know. Once it's rote, once it's fully mastered, I look for a different way to do it. When I was walking to work, I was one of those that I wouldn't take the same route, you know, very, you know, kind of mix things up and just want to see different streets and just routine I find can be a bit of a drudgery.
So that was part of the, you know, sort of finding my way at Dartmouth. And when I got to the end as we were, you know, sort of culminating experience, I was really struggling with not knowing what was next. So to your, I didn't have a vision or a goal or a, you know, this is what, this is where I'm meant to be next. And, you know, my mentors and professors were looking to set me up in grad school as sort of a next thing. And I didn't feel like I could give that an honest go.
LJR: Yeah. You've kind of like been the expert at least on some level. And then why keep doing it?
RA: Yeah. And not knowing if that was gonna be the, the career or not. And so I really left Dartmouth without knowing what was next and relocated to Boston. And really the first couple years out was really more that work to live mentality of you know, taking sort of local jobs that would, you know, pay my rent and give me evenings free and weekends free. And spending that time. And so that was the first couple years out were really a little aimless for me, to be honest. And having done that for a couple years I did come to the realization that I did need a purpose. I did need a focus. And that, you know, working 40 hours a week at something you don't care about is still a long time to be doing something you don't care about.
And so, so I actually did pack up and came back to Chicago and kind of hit the reset at home. Had that cringey moment of being a boomerang kid and saying, Hey, mom and dad, I'd like to, I'd like to move back home and figure this out. And they were welcoming of me, thankfully. And you know, so I had that, had that reset, you know. Sort of that drive home packing up the car and, and saying, all right, this, we need to, we need to take another run at this.
LJR: Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, you had said that really when we were in, when we started college, and then when you left college you had a different sense of achievement. So how had that changed actually? What was the achievement as we left? Because it still wasn't goal oriented, like I know where this is going, but I'm sure it had changed. How could you characterize that?
RA: Yeah. I would say what I valued, sort of my achievement at that point was being present and being there for friends and wanting to make sure there was time to have shared experiences.
LJR: That actually is interesting because that squares with a couple of meandering years in Boston where you're working to live and having those nights and weekends to do all of those shared experiences kinds of things. And then are you putting yourself on a path away from that kind of achievement?
RA: I, that's, yeah, it, I think it became, I guess wanting the both and of it, right?
LJR: Yeah. Yeah.
RA: And so, okay, so I've, I've, you know, proven to myself or you know, that I've put the time into, you know, having these great dinners out or, you know, late night gaming sessions or, you know, what, what have you in terms of achievement, the point that I had deviated from that sort of crawled back out into the light for me, if you will, was wanting to be an agent of change, realizing I wasn’t being a difference maker in any way, you know. That sort of, Hey, what are you gonna do to make the world better and make an impact? Cuz this isn't it. [LJR: Yeah.]
You know, and that was something that I think had been in my, in my line of sight coming into Dartmouth and. You know, something that I, that I had kind of put aside as well, you know, it, it'll come.
LJR: Okay. So what was the road from Chicago the second time to that impact? What did that look like?
RA: Yeah, again, hitting the reset button. I tend to jump into things pretty whole hog and so really tried to come at it with a very open lens and I can remember the What Color is your Parachute book as sort of a launch point and really doing these various exercises and looking at career resources about how does one know where they're supposed to be and what they're supposed to do. And so I did some career counseling. I did some, like I said, reading and exercises and at, at one point, Both my parents were public high school teachers. And so that's part of, kind of maybe where my service interest comes from. And so at one point I even, I did substitute teaching when I was home to be like, well, maybe this is, maybe this is in my blood, you know. It was not. It was not.
And so funnily enough, after having gone through all the process parts, I came back to deciding that I, where I wanted to be was in urban planning, which is essentially an offshoot of the geography major that I had started with at Dartmouth. Yeah. So I pursued some entry level work in municipal planning in the suburbs of Chicago in Illinois. And that led to then pursuing a master's degree in Urban Planning and public policy at University of Illinois at Chicago UIC. And that was sort of the real action point. And then once I had completed the master's degree while working, it became clear to me that the challenges that we were facing at the municipal level were often driven by federal policy and sort of our hands were tied in a lot of respects about what we could accomplish at the municipal level. And the municipal level where I was, was a lot of very small ball variance to put a third car garage on your house or you know, sort of aesthetic things. And I was more interested in sort of the, you know, citywide, you know, kind of infrastructure
LJR: Yeah. Mobility and stuff.
RA: Yeah. Yeah. So I ended up deciding that I needed to come out to D.C. And applied for the Presidential Management Fellowship Program. And that was what got me out to DC, you know. My family didn't have a history out here. We didn't have any federal service sort of in our family history. So this was all brand new. And when I came out here in 2004, I knew two people: I knew a Dartmouth alum that was a dear friend of mine and we had kept in touch and I knew a person from my childhood. Those were my two touch points when I moved out here in 2004 and took a job with the Department of Commerce overseeing part of the team that was responsible for oversight of the Census Bureau. And I was hired because I understood how to use demographic data as a planner and the value of demographic data. They also collect economic data. And so I was hired based on my knowledge of sort of their products and services.
LJR: I would say that's like a geography department success story. Are you just trotted out as like you can do things with geography?
RA: Yeah. So yeah. So I was like, alright this makes sense. You know, there's, it's a little tangential, but it's a good space. And I was really focused in the kind of the budget side of things and, and helping them. So my first big project was helping them get ready for the 2010 decennial census, and that required a lot of oversight and a lot of, a lot of sort of deep dives, you know, building up an operation that they like to tout as the largest peacetime mobilization of federal workers, right? It’s the, you know, in terms of the hundreds of thousands of people that are brought on board to, to complete that. So, yeah, so 2004 was the jump out to DC and next year it'll be 20 years for me out here.
LJR: Wow. And that was under that management fellowship, but then like full-time, did you stay in Commerce?
RA: I did. And so the advantage of my landing spot was, I found out quickly that commerce is kind of an interesting beast in that it's a cabinet level agency in one of the original, you know, kind of early federal services, but it's really kind of a holding company for about 12 different bureaus. And so that includes, the biggest one is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA. Census is another big one. Patent and Trademark Office is another big one. And then it goes down to sort of smaller bureaus, International Trade Administration, which is where I'm at now, and then Economic Development Administration, you know, so there's a slew of things that are there. And so my job was sort of at the department level above those bureaus. And so in the course of my time, I've actually, I had served as sort of the budget liaison for all of those bureaus. And so the, back to my earlier point about getting a little bored if I'm doing the same thing—this kept me entertained because I was learning new topics and becoming a subject matter expert on a variety of things as they needed me to focus on different bureaus depending on, you know, sort of what the needs were. [LJR: Yeah.] So understanding, you know, sort of the patent cycle versus understanding, you know, how NOA goes about funding their next satellite versus, you know, understanding the Census Bureau. You know, those are all very different touchpoints.
LJR: I love the kind of vantage of soup to nuts, everything. And then does that mean you at some point find, Ooh, this is. Really quite interesting. Is that how you find a niche within that?
RA: Yeah, the, the new target, I would say at that point became for me, sort of again, to sort of be a leader within federal service. You either take the political route or you take a career sort of civil service leadership route, which is called the senior executive service. And that's the career folks that are assuming all of the leadership posts that are non-political. And so that kind of became my goal to work my way up to that. And with the PMs program, you come in at a GS-9 and the GS scale for government workers caps out at a GS-15 and. By 2011, I had hit the GS-15 and was at the leadership level as a GS-15. Then I'm like, okay, here I am. I'm doing this. I'm going to, you know, become an expert at that level. And started to sort of keep, put my eye towards the SES opportunities. And then I got a new boss and he was very, very supportive and very interested in my development. And I think that's the sign of a good boss is one who doesn't want you to work for them forever. [LJR: Yeah.] Right? And so then, so that was like 2011.
And then I would say I had kind of another big pivot in my life, and that was turning 40 and in 2014, and really sort of taking, kind of coming up for oxygen again, right? And realizing that now I had maybe overcompensated and that the career track was going really well, but I looked around myself and you know, hadn't the benchmarks of well, I'm not owning my own home. I'm not married, you know, I don't have a family at this point. My personal health had slid, you know, just in terms of this bachelor lifestyle, I guess. So, you know, I kind of turned 40 at probably the worst shape of my life. And I was like, well, these areas also need attention, you know, and so I tried to recalibrate. Sort of put the career pursuit a little further on the back burner thinking that it would still happen, but, you know, committed to sort of some health improvements and had some good success there, which then led me into, you know, sort of more actively tackling the dating scene. You know, being more assertive there and when one is dating in their forties, there's a clarity that comes with that. [LJR: Mm-hmm.] And I think when you're dating age appropriate women they have a similar clarity about what's important and
LJR: They know who they are. Yeah.
RA: Yeah. And so that was something that came to fruition in just a couple of years. And so in the personal space then, you know, I think I first met my wife in 2016, 2015 in kind of a friendship circles area. And then we have an, you know, an internal joke where she says she dated me for a year before I started dating her. Yeah. But…
LJR: You had clarity, but maybe not so much.
RA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, okay. Yeah, no, we're actually, we're actually, we actually are doing this thing as a, as a relationship. So then, and again, just in terms of the later in life clarity, Just knew we wanted to be together and knew the clock was ticking on a family. And so started in earnest to build a family. And that was a process that took a lot of science and a lot of help. And so we ended up, after struggling through several IVF cycles, we ended up with a donor egg. And my wife carried that successfully. And so we were pregnant in 2019. And got married in November of 2019, and then had our baby boy in March of 2020.
LJR: Aw. Ooh.
RA: Yes.
LJR: Yo. Okay.
RA: There you go. There you go.
LJR: Were you there for the birth or was this in the period where you couldn't be there?
RA: No. So we, he is literally at the start of the process, so his birthday is March 11th, 2020.
LJR: Oh, just under the wire.
RA: And so the world was going crazy. The hospital was making rules up then changing them by the hour. So I got in, her family got there. My family flew in. My mom and dad flew in from Chicago and they were able to see me and they were able to see her. But he was born two weeks early and had some challenges and so started out life in the NICU and they would not allow anybody else into the NICU except for me. And so my folks flew out and didn't get to see their grandson. And we put, we quickly put them on a plane, say, Hey, the world is locking down. You don't want to be stuck in DC, like, you need to get home. So yeah, so that was a big change. And, and again, just in terms of expectations versus reality, right, is sort of one of our themes here is Megan and I had said, oh, you know, we're doing this kind of at the tail end of all of our friends and family, right? Everyone else is gonna be eager to have a baby around. And it's a novelty again for them. And we're, you know, we had this whole, it takes a village approach, right? And everybody's gonna be so happy to help. And we have this child and…
LJR: No one is around.
RA: …are in a total bubble. No one is around. And it's just the three of us in a one bedroom condo in DC who locked down. And so Matthew was in the NICU for 18 days and we were coming and going from there and came home and I was able to take paternity leave.
And in some respects, I think it was helpful, the pandemic, because we were just laser focused on him, you know? And you know, the world had its craziness and you know, it was very motivating to be like, well, our responsibility is, you know, is this life that's in our house. And so family was very supportive about, you know, respecting the decisions we were making about isolation and, you know, we became well versed in our regular Zoom calls, you know, to share. But it was, it was a hard process. You know, some of the memories that, that we'll be sharing with him is, you know, meeting Megan's family in a parking lot in Target. And letting them look at him through the windows of the car door. Yeah. You know, doing a first birthday on Zoom with nobody around and doing first Christmas on Zoom with nobody around. You know, those were some hard trade offs.
LJR: Yeah. But as you said, like the expectation and the reality…like we throw these first year parties, they don't remember them. I mean, what is what? So yes, it'll be interesting stories that he'll get to tell and hear and, and probably thinks he remembers cuz you've told them so many times. But it might have been just a different wacky if we'd hadn't had the pandemic, so. [RA: Yeah, exactly.] What an adventure though.
RA: It was an adventure and you know, we had this vision of being urban parents. We're there be the parents that take our stroller down to the Mall and you know, send our afternoons walking Smithsonian museums. Nope, none of that's available. Sorry.
LJR: Well, the mall part, right?
RA: The Mall part, that's right. The outdoor part was okay. The out the parks were good. The parks were good, but we did decide we needed to get out to the suburbs, so took the plunge into home ownership in 2021 from the condo. And so now I'm out in Fairfax County, Virginia.
My wife and I have both been maintaining kind of the remote work. I have a, a hybrid where I go into the office one day a week basically. That's been good. And that's, but that's part of you know, again, in terms of what does achievement look like.
Just to circle back to that, I had to really sort of put my money where my mouth was on that, just the last couple weeks. The SES that I report to had left over the summer in July. And so that position has been available and they've been filling it with various acting folks, and I had to really sit down and think about, you know, am I gonna apply for this SES position that has been on my radar, has been sort of a life goal. And at the end of the day the answer was no. I wasn't willing to jump back into the office kind of that multiple days a week to be on call late at night. You know, we, being with the International Trade Administration, we have a global footprint and this is an operations support role and so there are problems that crop up, you know, around the world. And so it was very challenging for me to sort of put into practice that sort of, am I prioritizing my family? [LJR: Yeah.] Or am I prioritizing my career? And at this stage, you know, the family was the right call and being, being home for, you know, dinner at 5:30 is so important to me at this stage cuz we work so hard to get here.
LJR: Yeah. And having that big goal out there, you just now have a new set of life goals. So I think it's really interesting that you had these markers of achievement that might not have come in the right order, you know, as society has told us they're supposed to be. But you've checked 'em all off. RA: Yeah. And, and yet been able to put them in the right perspective and the right priority level, which is I'd say a marker of achievement and success and life well lived. So Ranger, thank you so much for sharing this with us. We're thrilled for your new life and your new adventure. And indeed, thank goodness you're that boy scout, cuz I'm sure you've had to put some things together with duct tape and bubble gum in this period. But we know you're gonna be just fine.
RA: Indeed. Thank you, Leslie. Yes, we're happy with where we are and you know, again, the, you know, the path, though it was meandering, you know, got me to where I needed to be.
LJR: That was Michael Ranger Anderson, a longtime budget director within the US Department of Commerce, currently at the International Trade Administration. His pandemic baby is the one logging the milestone achievements these days, and luckily, Ranger has the balance necessary to be there.
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