Great Leaders

Leaders are born, not made. Or is it that leaders are made, not born? I used to think they were born because when you meet a great leader they have already become a great leader. You rarely get the chance to see the development of a person as they become a great leader. The first thing I want you to think about is the difference between what makes a leader and what makes a great leader. You have leaders all around you – the manager of the local coffee shop, or the restaurant you eat at or even the person who is telling you what to do at work. These are some examples of leaders, but are they great leaders?


Barrack Obama just recently became the 44th President of the United States. He is a great leader, as are all of the previous 43 presidents. Any person who reaches the most powerful position on earth should be considered a great leader. It does not matter what his background is. President Obama had a rough upbringing that shaped his ability to lead and get people to follow him. Many of those who previously held the position of president came from much better home lives, and some will say that it is because of this, that they had a huge advantage when seeking the Oval office. That is probably true, but they still had to get the majority of the nation to follow and believe in them. Does being a great leader make you a great president? Definitely not. History has taught us that some of the greatest leaders ended up becoming some of the poorest president’s.


Because of my life, I have been fortunate to see leaders and great leaders in every economic class you could imagine. Many of the leaders who I considered great were the ones who could get me to follow them and believe in their visions. Here is a list of the people that I consider to be great:


Otto Kretzner -was a football player who was a couple of grades higher than me in Germany. He was in charge of a gang of about 35 kids from the base we lived on in Germany. Whatever Otto did, we all did. I think back now to all the trouble we used to get into and still can’t believe that we did some of the things we did. The one thing I can remember is that he used to make everyone feel like they were part of a bigger thing. Being thirteen at the time and having all those friends who spent every waking hour together was like having another family. As a matter of fact, I would have rather spent time with the gang then with my real family; it was so much more fun. Otto had a unique way of making each person feel like they were important. He always included each of our opinions before he would make a decision. It didn’t matter what the situation was; we all followed.
Otto ended up having a successful career in the military and now owns his own IT company.

Lenny Joyner- was my first boss at my very first job. Lenny was my first real encounter with a boss and he made a lasting impression. I was 16 years-old and I was in tenth grade when I decided I needed a car. Of course my parents told me I had to get a job if I wanted one. I ended up getting a job at Wendy’s flipping burgers where Lenny was one of the Assistant Managers. He was such a great leader that he could get me to work almost forty hours a week while I was still in school. He also had great talent in making everyone believe that the job we were doing was so important. Even though all we were doing was flipping burgers, it seemed like it was the most important thing going on in the universe. Our crew never had customers waiting even during rush hour and his crew always made the most money for the restaurant. He would always reward us with free food after we went the extra mile for him. Lenny ended up becoming Head Manager of that restaurant then Area Manager of all the Wendy’s.
The last I heard Lenny switched companies and was in charge of training all the Managers of all the Taco Bells on the East Coast.

Staff Sgt Spears- was my first real boss in the military. He was 26 at the time but was so much more mature than most guys his age. I was still in the “trouble” phase of my life and ended up finding it on a regular basis. On one occasion I got in a fight on Norfolk Naval Base against two sailors. I ended up getting the better of both of them and one of them was taken to the hospital for a broken jaw, but it also landed me in jail. They called him at 2 am and he drove out to the base which was about 45 minutes away. I was completely innocent and after I told him what had happened he stood behind me unconditionally. I remember being amazed at his reaction to my story; he believed everything I told him, which was a first. I was always in trouble, so having someone believe my story was shocking to me. Monday morning he went with me to see my CO who got a call from the CO of Norfolk Naval Base. Standing at attention I stood there and listened on the speaker phone to all the ranting and raving about how he never wanted to see me on his base again and wanted some major disciplinary action taken. He got off the phone and asked me if I had anything to say. Before I could reply, Ssgt Spears stood up and spoke for me. He proceeded to say how the MPs that picked me up told him that I did not start it and that I was defending myself. I am not sure if that was true but it got me completely off and by the end of the conversation I was getting a pat on the back for beating up two sailors. He protected me and even risked his career to do it. Ssgt Spears was a great leader and went on to become a Sgt Major which is the highest enlisted rank in the Marine Corps.

Frank Cucci - I was a kick boxer at the time and I thought I was doing the most realistic martial art out there. Everything we did was full contact and we didn’t get points for pulling our punches. We got points for trying to knock the other person out. I knew about Thai Boxing at the time but assumed it was just like kick boxing except they allowed you to kick, knee and elbow. Boy, was I wrong! The first time I was able to spar with one of his students, I was shown how much more effective this art was for combat. I was 24 and had already earned three Black Belts. I was also a semi-pro kick boxer when I joined his academy. I went in and, once again, put on the white belt and started another journey. Frank was a different kind of leader. He never really seemed like he wanted or cared to be a leader but everyone just put him in that role. He was so skilled at everything he did that when he spoke you would listen. I trained under him for many years and went on to work a security detail with him and it was like that in everything he did. He is still to this day one of the most gifted athletes I have ever met -- he could watch someone do something and duplicate it almost exactly. That is how he would lead; he would show you how to do it and do it right besides you. He was a perfectionist and wanted you to get every detail. That is what made everyone around him so good.
Frank now runs one of the largest MMA schools in the country and his security company has grown to one of the biggest in the world.

Dave Lane- When I moved to DC, I needed a job because Martial Arts didn’t pay the bills so I ended up working for a company that worked for the World Bank. I had no experience in the kind of job I was doing and it was very technical; it involved a lot of work in something I hate -- math. I still have a hard time calculating how much tip I should leave at a restaurant. Dave was only in charge of a few guys but he took care of all of us like we were his kids. He knew how many hours I was putting in trying to get my school started and he always let me put that first. My daily schedule was get up at 5 and head to the metro. We started work at 7 so we could get done by 3. I would then head to the school and start teaching kids at 5, and the night didn’t end till after 9:30. If I was in bed before midnight I was lucky. This schedule went on for the first four years that I lived in DC. Dave knew I was working hard and would never give me a hard time if I was late or if I fell asleep on the job. He would always just ask if I got the job done and if I didn’t he would jump in to help me. He knew what my dreams were and he believed in them as much as I did. He also knew I was there physically doing the job but my mind was always on Martial Arts. Most of the time the whole lunch hour was spent talking about my goals and plans for my school. Always being supportive and helpful, he would ask questions that would make me think about the situation. At the time I had a partner in the school but I was very new and naïve to the world of business. I still based everything on a handshake and trust. Dave tried to get me to be better at treating it more professionally, but it took many years before I listened.
Dave went on making a lot of money in real estate and opening his own dog breeding business. He is now retired at the age of 48 and living his dream on a farm in WV selling Goldendoodles.

Mrs Smith- September 11, 2001 was a huge turning point for my life. Shortly after, I went to work for one of the wealthiest family in the country. The world had turned into a scary place and the upper echelon of our society was taking every precaution money could buy. After 9/11, my security skills were suddenly in high demand.
The wife of a billionaire is who I was hired to keep safe; the job was great and I did things that I never ever dreamed of getting to do. If you have ever watched an episode of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” you can understand. Wherever Mrs. Smith went, I went. Her list of friends included some of the most powerful people in the country (First Ladies, billionaires, princesses, senators, CEO’s etc….), so every day was different and exciting. I actually got to see and meet all the people I had only seen on TV. I was also able to see how they acted without the camera on, which proved to be a whole other story.
The one thing that always amazed me about Mrs. Smith was her ability to make everyone feel like her equal. She never acted like she had money; she dressed well but not how you would think a billionaire would. What I quickly learned is that the people with the most money never flaunt it or show it. After two years of spending almost sixty hours a week with her, I realized that every day she was trying to educate me. I never had any interest in what was going on in the world but her daily questions would have me running home and studying so I wouldn’t be caught off-guard. She would also ask me questions about my personal life and she is the reason I got married and why I also bought my first house. Before I started working for Mrs. Smith my life was going in circles and I had no direction. She changed all that and did it because she genuinely cared.


These are only a few examples of the great leaders that have shaped my ability to lead. I am a firm believer that you are not born a great leader; your leadership traits come from your past experience and every single person can learn to be a great leader. If you take a look at each person I listed, I gave an example of what made their leadership style work and why I consider them great-

Otto- Made everyone feel important and part of a bigger group and tried to include everyone in whatever the group did.

Lenny – Made everyone believe that the job they were doing was the most important job in the world, even though it was only flipping burgers, the world would end if they didn’t do it.

SSGT Spears-Trusted me and believed whatever I told him; and he always protected me even if it put him in danger.

Frank Cucci- Was so skillful at whatever he was teaching that it made you want to follow in the hope that you would be the same.

David Lane- Had empathy and knew that I had my own dreams which he also wanted me to achieve.

Mrs. Smith- Never looked down on me and always tried to make me strive for more.


I try to take these lessons and implement them in my leadership style. Every day I learn new things about leadership and I know that I will never have it completely figured out, but my goal is to become a great leader like the ones I have worked under. Just like everything in life, it is a skill. Skills need to be honed, developed and nurtured. I hope I’ve offered you a glimpse into what makes me think the way that I do. Each of the persons that I have mentioned have helped me to become the leader that I am. If I can pass along what I have learned from them, to even one individual, I will then know that I am on the path to becoming a great leader myself.