Student Athlete Leadership Panel moderated by Dr. Kenny Herbst, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Business Program. Join the following distinguished Alumni Deacon Athlete Panelists for a conversation about leadership lessons learned:
Kelly Dostal, Director of Inside Sales, Dell Technologies
Kreg Rotthoff, Sales, Manager, Blackbaud
Amogh Prabhkar, Vice President, Barclays Capital
Leadership Insights
- Continuous Improvement
- Being effective in crisis
- Be innovative when you are ahead – invest in your strengths
- Share your ideas for change
- Culture has to value learning and improvement
- Always question how you do things and change as environment does
- Ensure you bring in diversity and create a climate of inclusion
- Leading change
- Lead by example
- Reward behavior supports change
- You must earn people’s trust
- Be sure to communicate the reason for change
- Advice for Student-Athletes
- Need to know who you are and your leadership style
- Be accountable, approachable, and respectful (not necessarily liked)
- Be authentic to yourself
- Use role models to learn about leadership
- Lead by example
- Give credit to people for success and take the heat for failures
- Uplift your teammates, help them see and realize potential
- Great Leadership Challenge
- Motivating people to bring their full potential to the mission– everyone is unique and need to change leader behavior
- Getting people to align on goals and give all to achieve them
- Identify poor performers or unethical people and invite them off the team
- Support boss’ vision and plan by communicating as your plan
- Shaping Ethical Culture
- Set expectations for behavior – code of conducted – each quarter
- Leaders need to check on ethical behavior
- Clearly outline values
- Model core values
- Be aware of potential blind-spot with exceptionally talented people
- Balancing Desire to Be Right vs. Being Liked
- Set the example to earn respect and credibility
- Chose the right behavior that will move the team forward
- Encourage Honest and Transparent Communication
- Provide people a forum to provide feedback
- Model transparent communication and good listening skills
- Seek feedback from others
- Conducted regular development counseling sessions and focus on what person can do to get better
- Be open to receiving feedback and take action on the feedback or close the loop if not actioning feedback
- How Did You Get Your First Job Out of Wake
- Inventory strengths and interests and look for job in that area
- Take risk and apply for a role out of comfort zone
- Being an athlete makes you highly competitive candidate (coachability, GRIT, Goal oriented, work ethic, high performer, confident, decision-making under pressure, use to working in team, resilience, ability to learn from failure, adaptability, learning mindset)
- Ensure athletics is just one part of you – do not just focus on athletics
- Leadership Regrets from College Days
- Holding a friend accountable – be direct and confront immediately
- Make the best decisions at the time, reflect, and learn
- Who was Your Leadership Role Model?
- Coaches (e.g., Averill)
- Teammates
- Seek mentors who you respect in your organization