When I look back – it seems as though My Leadership Story began when I was in grade three, though I obviously didn’t know it at the time. The evening of my grade three Christmas concert in rural Newfoundland is my first vivid memory of truly understanding the impact my brother’s presence had on those around him. I can still picture my classmates coming to me extremely excited saying he was there – and I remember running the entire length of the school hallway to joyously jump into his arms. While I was just excited that my big brother came home from his first fall away playing hockey to surprise me at my concert, the excitement of all my peers had little to do with his big brother status – it was because the hometown hockey star Cleon Smith was in their presence. While on the surface that sounds like the kids were excited to have a “celebrity” in their midst, over the years I realized it had nothing to do with his stardom and everything to do with how he made the people around him feel.
Cleon took the time to ask how people were doing, he made everyone feel important, and he spent the most time with those that needed it most. Cleon spent hours that Christmas on the backyard rink with young kids that looked up to him, he brought home any OHL swag he could get his hands on to handout to local kids, and he dragged his eight-year-old sister along for the ride whenever possible (including his photoshoot for the local paper as photographed below). While I didn’t know it back then – my eighteen-year-old brother was the leader I still strive to be to this day.
What did he do for summer work? Construction. What degree was he working towards during varsity hockey? Engineering. Baby steps. I have a long way to go to leave the wake my brother did – but I have the perfect real-life example of how I want my leadership to make others feel.
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