Born on a pair of Levi’s in a small trailer and circumcised by a doctor whose surname was Butcher, Daniel Burleigh’s entrance into the world seems like the beginning of a modern-day Charles Dickens tale.
In many ways, Burleigh’s life has mirrored some of literature’s most beloved protagonists with his formative years scarred by abuse and peppered with interesting characters. While such challenges could have held him back, Burleigh, like Dickens’ precocious Pip, turned them into a quest for improvement.
The 2007 Marriott School MBA graduate now works at Microsoft and runs an organization dedicated to improving the foster care system. His personal mission is to help young people reach their full potential. It’s no small goal, but then Burleigh has always had great expectations.
Ambitions Realized
As an eleven-year-old, Burleigh dreamed of becoming an industrial psychologist, someone who helps businesses create ways for their employees to be successful.
“I knew it was an elite job and would take expertise,” Burleigh laughs, “but I didn’t really know what it was.”
After years of life lessons, his dream materialized when Microsoft recruited him three years ago. Burleigh joined the HR team as part of an accelerated career rotational program.
The fast-paced company has proved a good fit for Burleigh, whose passion for creativity has amplified his varying responsibilities in HR analytics, organizational development, and staffing. There’s one role, however, he likes best: change agent. It’s an idea he got from Kerry Patterson, one of his favorite MBA professors.
“Dr. Patterson talked about becoming ambulatory psychologists, where we explore the company, find critical uncertainties, and jump in to tackle those issues,” Burleigh says. “In each of my roles I’ve tried to approach things in that way regardless of my title.”
It may seem that Burleigh was always destined for a corporate career, but the early chapters of his life pointed him in a far different direction.
Hard Times
Burleigh was the second son born to young parents struggling to survive. The couple had eloped in college, dropping out just short of graduating. His father took a job as a house painter, and the growing family was forced into a transient lifestyle, moving wherever there was work.
“My parents never really settled down,” Burleigh says. “The one core piece of stability came from being members of the LDS Church.”
Even with their roots in faith, poverty and the constant moving took a toll. Burleigh’s father began spending more time away, and his mother’s frustration grew.
Burleigh remembers hiding in the closet as a small child, watching his mother hit and slap his older brother. “My brother took the brunt of my mother’s physical abuse,” Burleigh says. “He became my protector, and I became his comforter.”
When Burleigh turned twelve, his parents separated. His mom took the three younger children to the East Coast to be with her family, while Burleigh and his older brother stayed with their dad in Utah.
Burleigh’s father had adopted the teachings of a Native American shaman and was living in a tepee in American Fork, Utah, when the boys joined him. It was a hot summer, and they lived without electricity or running water. To make matters worse, their father’s unsteady income provided a diet of raw noodles and hot dogs. “It was a terrible time,” Burleigh remembers.
Life initially seemed to improve when the boys and their father moved to Payson Canyon that fall. Their father had arranged for them to tend goats in return for a plot of land to live on. But when his older brother ran away, thirteen-year-old Burleigh found himself alone with just his cocker spaniel, Chelsea, for company. When his father did return from work, his moods were dark. Burleigh knew things needed to change.
Rising Action
One morning after he and his father spent the night in an unlocked Orem business after finishing a painting job, the pair walked to Provo’s Pioneer Park. Sitting on a picnic bench, Burleigh watched his father lie down to rest. Very slowly his father pulled out his pocket-knife, unsheathing the blade. He brought the steel edge up to his head and, in one swift movement, chopped off his long ponytail.
“I could tell he was giving up,” Burleigh says. “Right then I knew I had to get away from him.”
Burleigh started walking and found himself at the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS). He was soon taken into custody as a foster child.
Plot Twist
When Burleigh arrived at his first foster home, his new foster parents seemed welcoming, but he soon found things weren’t so rosy. He and the other foster kids were relegated to the basement and harshly punished for normal behavior.
“The foster parents were good people, but they didn’t have the patience to deal with children who’d been through traumatic experiences,” Burleigh says.
Although the foster home wasn’t all he’d hoped for, Burleigh was blindsided when he saw his caseworker waiting for him after school one day. He was told that his foster family didn’t want to care for him anymore and had stuffed all his belongings into two black garbage bags, leaving them on the front porch.
“I was rejected at such a deep level,” Burleigh explains. “I thought, ‘Is this what it means to be a foster kid?’”
Pivotal Point
With the long ride back to DCFS behind him, Burleigh stared at his caseworker’s desk. Piled high with crumpled papers and files, the desk bore all the signs of an overworked employee. Burleigh’s caseworker looked up and met Burleigh’s gaze.
“Daniel, I have a large caseload,” he said, “but out of all the young people I know, you have the most legitimate excuse to fail in life—if you were to go to prison, be homeless, and ruin your life, I don’t think society could blame you.”
With Burleigh’s eyes fixed on his, he continued, “That said, in the end it’s your choice. You have the ability to be successful regardless.”
“Those words hit me to the core, and I knew they were true,” Burleigh recalls. “At that moment I recognized that I could overcome my past.”
A Fresh Page
Unfortunately, Burleigh still faced immense challenges in his next foster home, where he was exposed to illegal substances and immoral behavior.
The feeling was immediately different, however, when he walked into his third and final foster home. The couple was only ten years older than Burleigh and had three young children of their own. They welcomed him, explaining their values and expectations. Then something happened that Burleigh had never experienced. The foster mom smiled at him and asked, “Would you like to be part of our family?”
Burleigh’s answer was an emphatic, “Yes!”
Burleigh flourished in his new home. He went from barely passing to the top of his class, excelling in English and Japanese. His anger slowly slipped away, and he even started therapy with his birth mother to rekindle a relationship.
“They were a happy, loving family that really accepted me,” Burleigh says. “That eventually helped soften me. It was life changing.”
Those changes soon trickled into Burleigh’s spiritual life. He started attending church again and added a new goal—to serve a mission.
Trial of Faith
Called to serve in Okayama, Japan, Burleigh slipped into the role of missionary with ease. His service even brought his family together, and for the first time in his life, Burleigh’s birth mother did something consistent—she wrote to him each week. Everything seemed to be going well until the news came.
It was Father’s Day when the mission president called Burleigh into his office. He proceeded to explain there had been a car accident—Burleigh’s birth parents and niece had been killed in the crash, and his sister, the sole survivor, faced a lifetime disability.
In one tragic moment, Burleigh’s life was upended. Though the following weeks were overwhelming, the experience helped Burleigh forge connections with the people he taught. “I knew my testimony was unique and had a way of impacting people,” Burleigh says. “Sharing it with others helped me to heal.”
The Next Chapter
Despite the hardships he faced in the field, Burleigh successfully completed his mission and returned home ready to tackle his childhood dream. He enrolled at UVSC, studying psychology, and took a job at Nature’s Sunshine working in international marketing.
Burleigh wondered how he could combine his increasing business acumen with a degree in psychology. When he stumbled upon the BYU Master of Organizational Behavior web site, he knew he had found the answer.
“The MOB program electrified me,” Burleigh smiles. “It was exactly what I wanted.”
When the MOB was rolled into the MBA program in 2002, admission standards rose even higher. Burleigh put all his effort into preparing for the program. In what Burleigh describes as a miracle, his GMAT score was exactly what he needed to be competitive, and he was soon accepted.
Character Development
Though Burleigh appreciates what he has accomplished, his unique life path has given him a larger sense of purpose.
“The foster care system fails to help young people transition successfully,” Burleigh explains, noting that his success is the exception. According to a recent study, only 2.5 percent of the children raised in foster care ever complete a four-year degree. “They aren’t set up for success, and we want to change that,” he says.
His organization, Social Enterprises, is aiming to create partnerships with businesses and other groups to improve the foster care system. The nonprofit is based on a framework created by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. While the organization is in its infancy, several individuals have already become involved at the organization’s web site, socialenterprises.org, sharing their experiences.
Storybook Ending
While many of Dickens’ characters faced devastating tragedies and complex challenges in the pursuit of their destinies, a common theme bound them together—it is the ability to love and be loved that leads to a happy ending.
“I count my marriage to my wife, Brittany, as my greatest success,” Burleigh says. “All the good that I have in my life has come because of that blessing.”
Married for twelve years, the couple now has three children. For Burleigh, his happy family is what he’s always wanted.
“I have my own family, and I can pass on to my son and daughters the good things in my life,” he says. With many chapters still to be written, Burleigh knows he can face life’s challenges with the irrefutable determination he’s found within himself since landing on that pair of Levi’s.
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Article written by Megan Bingham
Photographed by Jed Wells
