President shares notes on leadership

Following are excerpts from President David A. DeCenzo’s remarks delivered during the University’s Leaders in Training closing ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 2. 

… We are all stewards of someplace for a very short period of time, and the best thing that we can do is to leave a place better when we leave than when we found it…

… To be the most effective leader that you can be you have to have one thing – followers.  If you don’t have people that follow you, no matter how good you think you are, you are not a leader…

… The only sustainable power that effective leaders have is…the respect that you have earned from others.… 

… What I would challenge all of us as we look at our leadership styles and as we move forward is recognizing that it is that interaction with others, it is that respect that they have for you that you have to practice every day because you can lose it in a heartbeat… The minute that respect is lost, you have lost your ability to lead…

… [Sometimes] you have leaderless groups and somebody rises from that group, it doesn’t have to be a formal legitimate position, but they rise and others begin to follow.  That’s why you don’t have to be ”management” to be a leader. If you have the respect from others, there is nothing that you can’t accomplish…  Generate that respect… 

… People do recognize we make mistakes – admit those mistakes…

… Where leadership really comes about is where you have to make those tough decisions.  And anytime you are faced with making that difficult decision, your followers are watching you, and they want to see a behavior out of you that is consistent, they want to see a behavior out of you that is looking at what is best for the organization and the values that you bring are going to be critical because the bottom line is they may disagree with the decision you made, but they should never disagree with the foundation upon which the decision was made.  If you are doing it for the betterment of the organization and you are doing the right thing, it’s hard for people not to respect you.… It’s being consistent in doing what you know is absolutely right.