As part of my investigation, I have examined the way relationships in leadership have on success and have focused in on the leadership attributes that are most valuable and what makes an effective and responsible leader.
Through this investigation, I quickly learned the importance of culture and how yet many of these leaders feel they lack creativity at times, that the reinforcing of the values of the institution and the importance of the student-athlete overall experience translates to more success for their program.
These great leaders also reiterated the importance of having a team around them who have the same visions, the motivational level they possess, and are self-driven in every aspect of their life.
The three leaders that I have chosen to do my investigation on are all Athletic Directors, and all three of them coming from different backgrounds and serving at institutions with many different political expectations and have many different goals for themselves both personally and the goals for their program.
As the great Vince Lombardi said, “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal which is worthwhile.”
One question that I believe has to be addressed, not just with the Athletic Directors or any leaders in higher education, but all leaders in our great country is are we comfortable being held directly accountable to someone higher up than your position, even when things go wrong. That is one of the main questions I attacked first in my investigation.
The first leader that I want to talk about is Felix Hinojosa, the Director of Athletics at the El Paso Community College. Felix Hinojosa is in his 6th year at EPCC and has had many successes in his short time, but no success bigger than the development of great student athletes and athletic facilities.
When I asked this first question to Hinojosa about being held accountable, he brought up this example as something that he wasn’t “the leader” parse, but was one of the influential pieces behind the success of the athletic programs.
“The most difficult part of this job is demonstrating patience. I was so used to having a lot of control with my previous job, but I knew how important this one was, and because of that I had to be open to a lot of people’s different innovative ideas.”
The main word that stuck out to me was patience. It is something that I definitely want to improve in my own leadership qualities, yet it is also something that someone with years of experience on myself still wrestles with daily.
He went into more detail on how he now had to respond to the President, the board of trustees, the City of El Paso, and even the State of Texas.
The second leader that I interviewed for my investigation is Bobby Mesker, Director of Athletics at Sul Ross State University. How he differs from Hinojoso is that he is still relatively young in both age and overall experience.
Yet he has made tremendous strides. Since 2011, the SRS baseball program has finished 5 out of those 6 seasons as a top 30 program in the nation for Division three baseball.
The remaining sports have seen tremendous success at the Division three level, such as Women’s soccer making the postseason every year under Muse, and the Men’s basketball team finishing top 10 in the nation in 2015.
The main goal that SSU focuses in on is for their program to be a “Team First program”, where the goal for each student-athlete to grow with their teammates and ultimately their leadership qualities.
I asked the same question to lead off my interview with Mesker and he said “At SSU, my success is strictly dictated on our student-athletes are a great example for our entire University.
The frame that Mesker was able to apply to his work is obviously a symbolic frame, yet he said it was not always like that. “When I took over as AD, I wanted to have everything perfectly planned out and 100% structured, regarding goals and how I wanted things to flow.
As I have matured and gained more experience, I have learned how the importance of focusing on the individual, culture, and the inspiration we all have is the way I now want things to run.”
It was very neat to learn this, as he has had to evolve as a leader both with time and success and he still feels that he is constantly changing and growing as a leader.
I asked Mesker what has been important for his program when talking goal setting. I wanted to know exactly how they set goals and how structured their goals are.
“We want to focus in on the decisions that we have made that have made this program a better place for our student athletes. If we focus in on the decisions we might regret or wish that we had over, then it would stay in the thought process as bigger and bigger decisions are presented.
For example, if I choose to make a coaching change and the new coach comes in and is not as successful, does it benefit me or others around me to dwell on the decision I made, or focus on the future with this current coach and how I can do everything in my power to help him or her better.”
“Minimize the expression of negative feelings and being rational” (Bolman 2013 pg.165) That is exactly what Dr. Stewart, as well as these other two leaders have demonstrated in such a proficient way is that they are walking examples of positivity and productive energy.
Just having an interview with these men, I could feel the energy and pride that they have obtained with their roles in higher education and collegiate athletics.
These are all examples of the highest success that these leaders have achieved for their program, yet now the difficult part for them is going to be able to sustain that success.
I asked all of these leaders about how they handle a dramatic change in success and how to sustain that.
“Stay true to our core values and stay the same course of action” (Hinojoso)
“Continue to over-emphasize what our program stands for and continue to strive towards a certain goal daily” (Mesker)
“At a small junior college, with the success we have obtained it is imperative to continue to obtain the positive culture and if that is constantly sustained within all of our athletics, then skies the limit.”
All of these responses have one thing in common. Responsible. These leaders take on the challenges and do not shy away from them and they are fearless in pursuing excellence.
What makes a responsible and effective leader is what this investigation was all about. I feel to have gained a much coherent understanding of what that does look like through these three Athletic Directors. I have learned that taking pride in every single aspect of leadership is how you continue to grow as a leader.
I have learned the importance of balancing your social and family life with the work life; because if things are not stable outside of the work place, things will trickle in to your organization and affect those around you. I have learned that the relationships with your co-workers and establishing a philosophy.
