Who do you admire as a leader?

There are a couple of different leaders that come to mind when I think about those I admire in leadership positions. The first and most important that comes to mind is my grandfather, Frank Kush. He was a head football coach for many years at ASU and also with a couple of professional football teams. Growing up around him I’ve received many lectures about life and self-leadership. Accountability, responsibility and keeping my priorities straight are some of the ideas that have stuck with me over the years even though they’re not always easy to adhere to. My grandfather was an exceptional leader that was and still is highly respected. I admire my grandfather because he had a vision and was able to move his followers towards that vision. Relating to our discussion question this week, I would classify his leadership style in more of a traditional view. In regards to his players, he was very strict in practice and games and the players understood that when you were told to do something you did it. Otherwise, there were always consequences that ensued insubordination. This style in comparison to today’s views on leadership may seem archaic. However, what he did as a coach worked and it worked very well. To quickly contrast, my grandfather also took a lot of pride in listening to his assistant coaches. He understood that the success of the team and how good he was as a coach depended on the competency of his coaching staff. I admire my grandfather for being ahead of the game by not allowing himself to be corrupt with power. Listening to those you work with is an extremely important factor in an organization’s success and overall effectiveness of the leader or leaders. Other reasons I admire my grandfather are the multitude of characteristics that make for a great leader which include: integrity, determination, good work ethics, sociability, knowledge and experience. These are only a few of the traits or characteristics employed by my grandfather, but they are important and are the ways I try to emulate my practices as a leader. I have learned so much from my grandfather as a leader. His success is a direct derivative of putting into practice good leadership styles and characteristics. I also learned from my grandfather that knowledge through experience in invaluable. He never learned about leadership in a classroom, rather he learned through his own reflections on the experiences he has had in his life and it takes years to develop these concepts simply through life experiences. I’m hoping to apply these concepts to my own practices so that I may experiment with what works and what doesn’t work. Coupled with drawing upon the knowledge of past leaders I look forward to the wealth of knowledge I will accumulate.