Educational Leadership Shadow and Interview

Justen Little
2020 Summer EL 501 Foundation of Leadership & Organizational Section 01
University of Mount Union
 Selecting a Leader

The leader I selected is, Mr. Walker, who graduated from Cedarville University. From there he became
an Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Calvin College for 2 years in Michigan. Then, Head Men’s
Basketball Coach at Trinity Christian College in Chicago, NAIA div 2 for 7 years. Then, Head Men’s
Basketball Coach at Malone for 6 years. Worked one year in the business field. Lastly, 5 years and
counting as Athletic Director at Hoover High School.

Shadow Log

Date: Time: Location: What we did:

6/15/2020 8:30-11:30 am Hoover High Scheduling, he
School made phone calls
to other AD’s to
confirm next
seasons schedules
for basketball,
wrestling, and
swimming. Made
sure coaching
forms and online
forms updated.
Talked to me
about SALT (what
my leadership
platform will be
about). Talked to
each coach who
was doing
workouts
(football,
basketball, and
cross country).
6/16/2020 12:00-3:00 pm Hoover High Fundraising,
School making calls and
communicating
with local
businesses.
Prepping for
facility plans. Did
the interview.
Talked to each
coach who was
doing workouts
(football,
 basketball, and
cross country).
6/17/2020 11:00-1:00 Hoover High Prepping for
School media, programs
for sports
particularly
football is what
he wants to start
planning. He
talked in great
detail about how
the fundraising
works, which is
really good
because I didn’t
know the behind
the scenes stuff
like that when it
comes to being an
AD. Talked to
each coach who
was doing
workouts
(football,
basketball, and
cross country).
 Shadow Behaviors

I noticed a bunch of positive and awesome leadership behaviors from Mr. Walker who is the
Hoover High School AD. He has a calm way of approaching situations and how he talks with people.
Some behaviors I noticed were that he was always asking if there was any way he could help. He asked
numerous times to his coaches, “is there anything you need from me?” before he left any conversation
with all the coaches. Another behavior I noticed was just how much he communicated with people. You
could tell he enjoys talking to people. I even noticed how polite and friendly he was to the custodians. I
feel like his leadership behaviors just naturally turn into managerial behaviors without him ever telling
someone what to do. He has a way of communicating his ideas, thoughts, and uses appropriate
comparisons to relay his message. He’s influencing but he’s also so genuine that you can tell that he is
not a “just tell you what you want to hear” kind of guy. His behaviors are passionate and you can tell his
integrity is top of the line. What I noticed and was impressed by was how well he was able to talk to
other people. It was hard to tell when he was calling other AD’s about schedules, but you could just
sense that the conversation was leading towards an agreement for the teams to play each other. The
way he handles his conversation is through pure, comical, meaningful, and understand approaches. It
seems like his leadership skills just come naturally. Like he is not even trying. He’s just being himself
and things are getting done in a productive and timely manner. One thing I also noticed was that he also
likes it to be known that he is around. For example, he will “check in” on each sport, but he’s not doing
it to “grade/judge” how the coach is doing. He is simply just being there to make sure that he is
providing the coaches with everything they need. With this coronavirus going on, the workouts and
numbers for kids per group has changed. So, that is something that he is also making sure that coaches
are following guidelines, for example, wearing a mask or cleaning the balls after you use them. But, he’s
not there to “rip” a coach if he sees something. I observed him calmly go over to a coach. When he
came back I said, “Everything all good?” He responded with, “Yeah, there’s technically not allowed to be
4 players to a basket so I reminded her of that, so I gave the coach a great 3 person shooting drill that I
used back when I coached that she could use so that way there isn’t 4 players at that hoop.” This
behavior just sums him up. I observed that he didn’t want to “scold/punish/be upset” with the coach,
and he did it in a way that benefits the program because it’s a great shooting drill, but also so that
guidelines are being followed. Even though having 4 is close to 3, it was integrity that wouldn’t allow to
have 4. I feel like there’s some AD’s or coaches out there who wouldn’t care if they saw 4 people
because it’s really close to 3, but he was able to stay true to himself. But, his calm demeanor and how
he presented the situation and outcome to the coach really stood out to me. Lastly, he was very
passionate on his plans for fundraising and also starting up a SALT (Student Athlete Leadership Team)
that he would like me to be part of, which will probably be part of my leadership platform. I was able to
observe his passion, commitment, trust, integrity, and how he motivates people to see his vision on not
just one sport at Hoover, but for each and every sport which is 25 programs at Hoover.

His behaviors really stood out in the books that we read in this course. He used coach’s
strengths to their advantage for workouts. He wasn’t trying to tell the coach what drill to do. He was
only doing it to follow guidelines. So, he still gave the coach her strength of being able to encourage,
motivate, and push her players to be better. He just helped out on a weakness of her not technically
following the rules correctly. He was true to himself. I didn’t see him acting one way towards one coach
and then acting completely different towards another coach. I observed the same thing when he was
making phone calls. He didn’t change who he was as a person no matter who he talked to. I also sensed
that he was able to “Read the Room” when he was talking with different people. He understood when
conversation was over and not be awkwardly standing around. Even though he was the only one in the
office since it’s summer and the secretaries aren’t working now so I wasn’t able to see him communicate
with a group of people, he was still able to “Read the Conversation” whether it was in person or on the
phone. I can only imagine he does a great job if not better when it comes to conversation amongst a
group of people. Also, he shared a lot of characteristics that I really thought were “Above the Line”. I
mentioned most of them already about his integrity and passion. But, his main motivation is making
Hoover high school sports the best experience for a current student, parent, local business, or any
community member of North Canton. I was able to observe that he values what he does. There wasn’t
one time when I heard any BCD from him. If there was ever an issue, he was the first one to figure out
that change needs to be made, and finding out what the best approach is and how to do it. Another
thing that I observed that I thought was “Above the Line”, is that he mentions (even in the interview),
that he likes to operate on the 3 E’s: to equip, to empower, and to evaluate. He talks about them in the
interview but I thought these were really good behaviors to have when it comes to being a leader to 25
programs.
 Interview Questions

1.) How did you first get involved in leadership?

“Well I had an opportunity when I first started coaching. I’ve been involved in coaching
since I got out of college and it started with coaching college men’s basketball first. But
had the opportunity to be an Interim AD and serve as assistant athletic director even as
part of my responsibilities as coaching at the college. I feel like that an opportunity that
I had to get me involved with the leadership side of it. I’ve always enjoyed the
administrative side of things a little bit. So, when it was time to get out of coaching, I
was doing something in the business world for a little while for one year and the
opportunity came up to be an AD. So, I think it fit my skill set and what I enjoy doing in
terms of leadership and administration. So, got some good experience right when I
started and all my way through. And, at the end of the day I think most of our coaches
are leaders right? I mean that’s what you do when you coach, you lead. And so you
learn a lot about it so what you do is applicable to the team or if you’re on the
administration side. And, I think at the end of the day, there’s a lot of crossover
between those two things. This job has been my first experience in the public
institution and that has its own unique set of challenges that is different than any of the
private schools where I worked earlier in my coaching days. That’s really where I got
started with it.”

2.) What is your personal philosophy and/or definition of leadership?

“ Well, I think whenever people talk about leadership, to me, people ask if I have the
definition and well I don’t know that I have a really good book definition. But, I think it’s
the ability to motivate people around a central purpose and move them towards that
goal, right? So, that can take a lot of different tracks and things, but at the end of the
day your job as a leader is to be able to set and cast a compelling vision and enable
people and then get people to move towards that vision to be successful and get them
to buy into that. So, to me that’s leadership in a nutshell, but there’s a lot that goes into
that as you know.”

3.) Who is your leadership role-model/mentor? Why?

“I don’t know that I would say that I have a leadership mentor or role model of one
person. I think I have just been able to take bits and pieces and learn from a lot of
different people about leadership. Sometimes some of the things you learn about
leadership are really about things that you have seen from maybe other leaders that
didn’t work well. Like, Hey, I got to know now that I can’t do that moving forward. But,
I don’t know that I would say there is only one leader that I try to model myself as. I try
to learn from a lot of different people and I think every time you are in leadership you
are surrounded by other leaders so you are always learning from them and taking the
 best of what they do and try incorporate that. And, unfortunately, sometimes you learn
by your own mistakes and learn by the process.”

4.) What are some resources that ever leader should know about?
“That’s a good question. For me, I’m not a huge book guy. But, I have read some really
good books on leadership. I’d say from a coaching/leadership perspective, there’s a
book called “Season of Life” by Joe Ermon? I think it’s a must read. I think it’s a great
book about bringing people together and how you deal with people. Obviously, there’s
a lot of great books out there that focus on leadership. But, again from my personal
experience, it’s been by the people I am surrounded by. And so to me, the resources
are you asking questions of the people who are leading you or above you. Even here,
the superintendent Mr. Wendorf and principal Mr. Bornstine have had a phenomenal
impact on me and my leadership style and looking into different things and how I view
things and how that works in this context.”

5.) What are the outstanding skills or abilities of effective leaders you have known?
“Well again, I think to me it starts with casting a compelling vision that people want to
be apart of you know. Great leaders are able to do that. It’s interesting, if you watch
leaders who are successful, they are always able to get high caliber people to buy into
their idea. And, sometimes people say they are good because they have high caliber
people around them, and I say, well they have high caliber people around them because
they are good. They have been able to cast that vision. Whether you look at it form a
coach perspective or a school leadership perspective or whatever the case may be, I
think when you see leaders or organizations that are struggling, it’s often because you
will recognize because they are not able to give a vision that compels quality people to
join their team of leadership. Another thing that great leaders can do is empower their
people. So, they are not “me” people, they are not “everything’s got to be done my
way” people, they are people that if I have brought good people and convince good
people to where we are going I need to give them the freedom to work and do their
things. To me, it’s the three E’s: to equip, to empower, and to evaluate. That third one
evaluate is important. I think great leaders evaluate and if you are afraid to evaluate
people then you will never give them the freedom and empower them to do their job
probably because you are afraid of where it’s going to end up. Sometimes it’s easier to
micromanage things and do it yourself, then to empower people and evaluate them. To
me, you got to equip them which is give them the resources they need to be successful.
You empower them by letting them go loose to go do it. Then you got to evaluate and
ask yourself if this is working or not working. My experience, some people are really
scared to evaluate but you got to do that because it’s all part of the process.”
6.) Have you observed differences in the way men and women lead? If yes, describe. If no, why do
you think this is?
“ I suppose there are times there are differences in the way people lead but I don’t
know that it’s exclusive just to gender. Sometimes we may think that women tend to be
more empathetic in their leadership style but I’ve also seen some really good men who
model those same characteristics and have been successful. So, I don’t think there
should be any stereotype on that. I think as leadership has evolved we have seen an
increase in women as leaders and I think people have figured out that there’s an aspect
that is missing in any company and that is necessary for any of us whether we are male
or female. And knowing people and investing in people and understanding people is
what a leader can do regardless of gender.”

7.) What are the major reasons leaders fail in positions like yours?
“To me, the number one non-essential in leadership is there’s no shortcuts when it
comes to integrity. I think people get sideways when they start getting themselves in a
hole when there’s no integrity. It’s hard and I’ve learned this even more in the last 5
years even with all the coaching I did, is that people don’t like to hear the word “No.”
And you have to be okay with it and you have to be okay that you are not going to make
everybody happy. You want to treat people right and treat people fairly and you want
to treat people with a positive attitude and a good outlook all the time. But, that being
said, they are not all going to like your decisions. And, you have to be okay with that. I
think a lot of leaders get sideways because of integrity and because they want to be
“people pleasers” and they want people to always happy. When you try to keep
everyone happy, you end up keeping nobody happy. I think my daughter summed it up
a few years ago when she was in middle school. She said, ‘Dad, I think I got your job
figured out. No matter what you decide, I think fifty percent of the town hates you and
fifty percent of the town likes you. That’s the reality of it. And, I think for a lot of
people, they can’t live with that discomfort that there’s people that don’t like my
decisions and people are upset about it. But, it is what it is and there’s days where I
don’t like it either but it’s part of the job you know?”

8.) If you had to train someone to replace you in your current job, what key abilities do you search
for?
“Well, I think if it was my job as it currently is, I think it would be somebody that has to
be organized because there’s a lot of moving parts. I’m probably not as organized as
others in the fact I’m not as detail oriented. So, I think someone who is really detail
oriented would be really successful at this job. But, I also think the key piece of it is that
you have to know people and you have to be able to relate to people. And, you can
have all the games assigned and scheduled and all that. But, at the end of the day,
education and athletics are people businesses. And, if you don’t understand people and
don’t know how to work with people and that goes with handling conflicts between
 coaches and parents or athletes to handling conflicts within the coaching staff to
understanding people from a fundraising standpoint and other things. So, all of those
things that require different skill sets and different pieces that are involved, but at the
end of the day to me, it’s all about being a people’s business. I think someone who can
relate to people and understand people. If you can’t get along with people then it gets
really hard in a hurry.”

9.) What have been your biggest leadership challenges and celebrations?
“I think my biggest leadership challenges, is that as a leader, you are ultimately
responsible for a group of leaders under you and what they do. Some of those
challenges have come because the people below aren’t doing the right thing and you
have to figure it out. Sometimes when they aren’t doing the right thing, the question is
“Did I not give them the information they need to do the right thing or did I not equip
them well enough to do the right thing or empower them. So, that all falls on me, so I
have to ask myself those tough questions and that’s part of it. But, those things have
been challenges. Also, trying to have a directed focus is a challenge. As a current high
school AD it has kind of morphed from what it was 15 years ago. Back then you could
probably have the schedules done and make sure the officials were all there then you
probably did your job fine. Now, in my opinion, part of being an effective AD is are you
in the community? Are you raising money? Are you doing those kind of things? That’s
been a little bit of a shift in how these positions are nowadays. Money is hard to come
by in the education system so how do you come up with different ideas, ways, and
methods to fundraise for your programs. To me, the challenge is trying to be good in all
those areas and there’s a lot of areas. So, when you focus on only one area, the other
ones start to slip a little bit, so you are constantly playing the juggling game. I enjoy
trying to find ways to raise money for our athletic programs, and if I could do that all
day, I’d like that, but the truth is, I still have the other areas of being an AD that I need
to tend to. Part of that is me growing as a leader and finding ways to manage my time
better and how to do those things. One of my most exciting things are to see the teams
have success but also to see when we are able to get people to buy in when it doesn’t
come to a particular sport. For me, the idea that if we are helping everyone get better
then we are getting better and that’s good for everybody. It’s not about helping one
team. It’s about helping each team. Whether it is during games or when it comes to
fundraising. We have had many donors give great donations and they have said how
great it is because the fundraising doesn’t go to just one team. It goes to Hoover. So,
that is exciting when that vision is casted to the community as well.”

10.)What are some words of advice that you would give to a new leader?
“One thing is that to know as a leader, unless you are the top top dog, there’s always people
above you. You better understand and be able to communicate with those people and know
what they expect out of you. I don’t know if I would still be in this job without the leadership of
Mr. Wendorf (NC superintendent). He’s phenomenal to work for and I feel confident that I’m
 doing what he wants me to do and he’s going to support the decisions I make. Not only do you
need to know who’s above you, but you also have to know who’s around you. People inside or
outside of your organization. You need to have people that you can ask tough questions and see
if it makes sense in their world, so you can make the best decision possible. People to bounce
ideas off of is really important. People who are going to tell you the truth and say that you
made the right choice and people are going to tell you that you made the wrong choice and
need to go another direction. You need truth tellers around you. If you can have the right
people above you and the right people around you, then it gives you a good chance to lead the
people below you.

11.) What is probably the biggest challenge(s) that you face on a daily basis?
“The biggest challenge probably is the time management that I mentioned earlier.
Juggling the different hats and what not. But, the other thing is that you are trying to
deal with 25 different programs all of whom think their program is the most important.
Underneath that, however many kids and families who think their kids experience is the
most important. I don’t mean that in a bad way. But, I understand it because I was a
coach and I know what it was like to push for my program because that was my job and
not worry about what the other programs were doing. So, I get it. I just want to make
sure I am able to give them the resources they need to be the most successful. That’s
my challenge. There will be that tension in that and leadership where you are not
always going to be able to get what you want. But, that’s tension you live with and
that’s okay. That’s a good thing because both parties are doing their job in some way.
But, that is a constant everyday 365 days a year where coaches and parents want more
than they need. So I think that’s difficult in this context. It’s not always easy, but we
keep working at it and overall it’s a great place to be working at.”

12.)How do you go about implementing new changes? What is the process? For example, when
you took the job, did you feel there needed to be changes? If so, how did you implement those
changes?
“I think that change is always happening. There’s always change going on. So, when I
first got here, I think there were some things that needed changed but the first thing I
did when I got the job was taking time to listen and not try to change too much. Just try
to figure certain things out, how people felt about certain things, to look for strategic
opportunities to change. Early on in an organization, you only have a little bit of change
that people can stomach. There’s been times where we learned the hard way and tried
to change too fast and people weren’t ready for. So, we had to go back and say ‘Well,
we can’t do that, so let’s try a different way.’ I think that the process of change and
moving people to change is selling the win-win. How is it going to benefit the sports
teams and how is it going to benefit the businesses who are giving donations and
fundraisers we do. It went from each program asking the same local business for
 donation after donation. So strategically I said, ‘What if we create one corporate
business partnership and make tiers to see what would be included in that package in
terms of marketing, we just ask for one donation a year that a business can write that
spreads out equally to all the programs with promise that their ads will be in the
programs for each sport. Just things like that has been some changes that have been
implemented. Since, the teams and businesses see this as a win-win, you are more
inclined to get more support, which then leads to more people seeing the vision that
you are casting. We were able to make more of a stream line approach and that in turn
ended up getting us more donations because other local businesses were jumping on
board. Those are the kind of things where you listen and you try to figure out where’s
the problem then you try to get the support of people. Before you start the initiative,
you explain to your coaches and your booster club, this is how we think it will work and
what we think it will do and explain to your businesses how it can be a win-win. So,
those are the kind of things that you look at and try to correct the problem by figuring
out how it can benefit multiple parties.”

13.) What do you tell yourself (think about) or what is your method that you choose to use before
you have to “confront” someone who isn’t doing their job the way it should be done?
“I think one thing I have learned and try to teach athletes and ourselves is that
whenever there’s confrontation it’s important to say, ‘This is what I see, this is how I
interpret this, and what do/did you intend by this.’ A lot of times, you know sometimes
what you see and how interpret it, may not be what that person intends. So when you
have to confront something to change something, sometimes it’s a matter of the person
that hasn’t seen it that same way. So, you have to help them see the problem if it is a
problem. So, starting with factual information, then talk about how you perceive that or
what the issues it seems like, then you ask the person ‘How did you intend it or how did
you perceive it?’ Again, it might be not what you thought of. And again, this is all about
evaluation. For example, we survey students on how they viewed the team. Not
because I’m going to use that as a primary factor to judge how a coach was perceived,
but if a student had a misunderstanding, then as a coach they would need to know that.
Not that they have to reinvent or do something different. But, maybe just need to
explain it so that person understands clearly. So, now I can collaborate with my coaches
about what we need to do in order to see where the miscommunication was and how
we can go about it for the future to not have the same mistakes. I want to be able to
help them explain it better so everyone gets it or help them change so that everyone
gets it. I think having that approach to confrontation instead of guns a blazing tends to
work better because it helps the leaders grown and learn.”
14.) How do you capitalize on the strengths of the people you lead?
“You try to put them in positions where they are going to be successful. If you can create
positions or opportunities that allow people to move forward in their strengths, but also try to
encourage them to build a team around them to compensate their weaknesses. As an AD,
trying to help coaches frame their strengths but also try to support you and give you the
resources you need to help build those weaknesses. Also, finding out what people are
passionate about and help put them in that sweet spot. Then, trying to find the right people or
myself to help them build on those weaknesses. We all have things that we aren’t as strong in
and that’s okay, but building the right team builds success. When you find people who are
passionate and gifted it goes a long way for future success.”

15.) How do you “read the room” to make sure meetings are staying focused and productive?
“I think sometimes there are some meetings you just have to get information out and to just
plow through. In this business, with short amount of times dedicated to meetings with
everyone’s different schedules, just hammering out information is all that can be done. But,
when the meetings aren’t information overload, getting people to be engaged in the meetings
helps. Getting engagement is crucial. Are they asking questions? One thing I have tried to grow
at is when leading meetings, learn how to ask questions better. I want to make the questions
meaningful to them and their program so it will keep them engaged. Another win-win situation.
People have to feel that the information they are receiving is practical and relates to them. You
might have to draw that connection for some people and get them hooked and engaged in what
is being talked about. Ask the people in the meeting a question of how it will benefit their
program so you can get a sense if someone understands what is being discussed. If that doesn’t
work, try another example to relay the message more effectively. Put it in their world, so they
will feel more excited and engaged.”

16.) What is the best thing about your job? What do you enjoy the most?
“The best thing about my job is I work for great people. I work in school system where my kids
go and it’s a great thing for my family. At the end of the day, you are helping kids and coaches
formulate experiences that will impact them for the rest of their lives. That’s the fun part of the
job. The part that I enjoy the most is the fundraising and working on facility planning. That’s
just always something that energizes me. Coming up with something that will be the best for
the most people. Finding out what it looks like and attacking it. I enjoy it because it is a people’s
business and I enjoy communicating with others. Some of the job gets tough with late games or
practices, but it’s all worth it and I really enjoy what I do.”
 Interview Reflection Paper

Overall, I am really happy that I chose to shadow Mr. Walker. He is a great person and a great
person to work for. I chose to shadow him because one day I might potentially want to become an
Athletic Director. Besides teaching and coaching, I really don’t think I would want to become a Principal,
Curriculum person, or Guidance Counselor. So, AD would be a route that I might want to get into which
is also why I am taking this class and getting my master’s in Coaching. I also chose to interview and
shadow him because I knew he would be in the school daily. Since it’s summertime there’s a lot of
teachers and administrators who aren’t in the building. But, I knew he would be because he told me
and his son has also been coming to our basketball workouts. Besides all those things, I mainly chose to
shadow him because he is someone that I look up to because he has been a successful head basketball
coach at Division 2 colleges. So, from a coaching perspective, I’ve always tried to pick his brain when it
comes to coaching over the last 2 years since I have been a basketball coach at Hoover. He has great
insight and always tries to relate things to people in a way that they would understand it more clearly.
Since, I’ve been taking this class and learning about leadership, I thought shadowing and interviewing
him would be a great resource in learning more about leadership in order to be the best that I can be.

What I learned the most during this interview was how much of a people’s business education is
and more specifically how much it is in the high school sports. There’s way more to his job than hiring
coaches and setting schedules for each of the 25 teams. He also spends a great amount of time
fundraising to make more money to help build team facilities or being able to provide his coaches with
more money so that their team can be equipped with the best resources possible to be successful. He
spends time with communicating with local businesses in order to provide donations to the school, he
deals with the media side of home games since some sports are put on television during events, and
also how he spends time putting together marketing packages based on how much businesses donate
that ensures ads or signs that go onto the field, court, or any program. I definitely learned that there is
more to being an AD then just sports. Being able to communicate with people effectively I think is very
important. Staying true to yourself and not just investing all your time into one sport like football
because it will make the most money. Investing in all sports will actually cause more unity within the
teams for greater student sections and also will cause more money to be donated because businesses
like that it helps the whole school, which then leads to getting the community involved in seeing the
great things that are happening. Seeing him, as former basketball coach, you might think he would want
to make that the best sport at Hoover, but it’s not even close to that. He has an equal passion for each
and every sport. He wants all of them to be successful. So, I think that’s important and something I
learned because you’re going to get more buy in from students and the community when each sport is
performing at its best. Another thing I learned that he talks about it in the interview and I mentioned it
in the shadow behaviors, but I really think the 3 E’s are going to be something that I can incorporate into
my leadership arsenal: to equip, to empower, to evaluate. I think they are key things that will help any
great leader be successful.

Everything that I have learned from this interview is pretty close with what I have learned in this
course. I mentioned specific details in the Shadow Behaviors in the 2 nd paragraph. But, I really think
that I learned from observing him and from the readings in class, is that as a leader, you have to allow
people to have free reign and be themselves, but you also have to convince them that the vision you
have needs to be the same vision they have. If all the people you are leading have the same vision you
have and have the free reign, then they will each use their strengths to produce the best results. When
it comes to being a Hoover AD, since there are 25 programs, it’s 25 units strong. Being in position like
an AD, you will definitely have to “Read the Room” appropriately because there will be hundreds of
meetings and thousands of conversations that you will have with various different groups.
Communication with students, parents, alumni, faculty, other administrators, assistant and
superintendents, community members, owners of local businesses, etc. will occur on a daily basis. So
being able to “Read the Room” is ultra-important and I think as experience happens, you naturally find
yourself customizing to it. Question 15 in the interview deals with “Reading the Room” and I think he
makes very good points about relating the material to them by putting it in their world so that they have
a clearer understanding of the material. Mr. Walker was never a teacher, but what he does is teaching.
He presents new material to people and tries to find the best ways to solve the problems that need to
be solved. Being able to relate any information to someone and being able to convince them that this is
what it should look like and this is how we can do it is a great tool to have for being a leader. I have
observed that in my interview and also with what I have learned in class.

When it comes to change, take a look at question number 12 in the interview. I think Mr.
Walker makes a great point in his win-win scenario. When both parties see it as a win, then it’s a no
brainer that the change should be made. He also talks about how when he first got there he listened for
the first few months. He was self-aware that too much change can cause people to jump ship. So, he
spent time listening and trying to figure out what was currently being done. Then, he strategically came
up with a better way to get donations from local businesses. Then, being able to cast that vision to his
coaches and to the local businesses made it a confirmed win-win. So, it was almost as if he was a
bystander at first, then became a mover, then follower. It was a process to incorporate that change and
he knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight. We talked about learning how to listen and being able to
talk effectively in this class and how it can benefit any leader. I think he possesses all those
characteristics. Again, it is a people’s business that he is in so being able to understand people and
being able to relate to people is how he incorporates change. I also like that Mr. Walker and Urban
Meyer and myself have the same view on change. Change is always going to occur and evolve and so
should our learning. Being able to give his “followers” with the 3 E’s is part of how his change happens
for the best. Casting a compelling vision to where you are able to relate and convince others to have
that same vision will allow for great change. He also states that there are times that there will be
tension and he thinks that’s actually a good thing because he thinks in some degree that means both
people are doing their job correctly. But, people able to understand people and relate things to people
helps overcome that kind of tension because that’s tension you can live with when both people want
what’s for the best of the greater good and not just themselves. Overall, I think just being able to have
honest conversations with people and doing it in a way that motivates them to see and understand the
clear vision will help accomplish any goals in successful change.

Lastly, I wanted to reflect on something that I think I will be doing as part of my Leadership
Platform. He wants to start a program at Hoover High School called SALT (Student Athlete Leadership
Team). He wants to have 1 to 2 kids per team for each of the 25 programs to where they can meet
monthly to talk about leadership. They would be asked to be part of the group from their coaches.
Doesn’t have to be the best player, but someone who is considered a leader so hopefully the captains or
someone that a coach could see as a potential captain since they may be underclassmen. The goal of
the group is to build leadership skills by presenting leadership development to where school initiatives
are taken upon the students. Having leaders with their peers can be very helpful in developing a school
culture that is contagious to the rest of the students at the big high school. For example, there has been
some issues regarding race and a program like SALT would be helpful in bridging that gap because these
students would be leaders of their team and hoping that they would be able to impact the greater good
of the school. There would be guest speakers, whether it is alumni, business owners, well-respected
people in the community or in the athletic world. He has been wanting to start this group when he got
here, but hasn’t been able to. He thinks with my help, this could be something that we could initiate
and I would love to be a part of that. We will be discussing more in the future of what it could possibly
look like. Without knowing what’s happening next year because of COVID it’s hard to get a specific
answer on what it will look like, but we’re going to try our best to get it going. I will be using my
knowledge from previous experiences, what I have learned in this course, and what I have learned in
this interview to bring the SALT to the table. Yes, that pun was intended!!!!
 References

Kantor, D. (2012). Reading the Room: group dynamics for coaches and leaders. San Francisco, CA:

Jossey-Bass

Rath, T. (2008). Strengths based Leadership: great leaders, teams, and why people follow. New York,

NY: Gallup Press

Meyer, U. & Coffey, W. (2015). Above the Line: lessons in leadership and life from a championship

Program. New York, NY: Penguin Books