“I’ve always been passionate about what makes someone great at inspiring others. Because of this passion, I determined that the best way to become the best leader possible was to cultivate an environment in which we could have productive conversation about leadership qualities, listening to the established leaders in our community.”- Michael Kelley ’17
When Kelley looked for an opportunity to develop his skills as a leader at Jesuit, he struggled to find a place for such action. In his search, he turned to Assistant Principal of Student Life Mark Knize and the two eventually realized that no such place existed. Thus, they decided to take matters into their own hands, forming the Leadership and Ethics Club.
Kelley defined the goals of the club: “To understand the history of great leaders and their unique leadership, to develop the skills of good leadership and ethics, and to apply these skills and knowledge across all fields of society in order to inspire the best out of others.”
The few meetings that the Leadership and Ethics Club have held mainly comprised of the members brainstorming not only what makes someone a strong leader but also ways that the average person can be a leader in their daily life. Club member John Pritchard ’17 said, “In my opinion, a leader is someone who leads by example, simply by making good choices without needing recognition. A leader needs to understand good ethics so they can make the right decisions as they lead by example. I joined the Leadership and Ethics Club so I could improve my ability to lead others and I knew that Michael would do a great job in uniting a group of young men as they pursue this common goal.”
Kelley voiced his opinion saying, “Obviously [becoming a good leader] starts with a solid foundation of high moral character. With this character, I believe that one must be able to inspire others to follow his or her example. Serving others in order to inspire others to do the same is true leadership.”
Another aspect of the Leadership and Ethics Club is that the club recruits proven leaders to come speak to the members, explaining what being a strong leader means to them. An example of one of these great leaders is respected commercial realtor Bill Cawley who answered Kelley’s call and gave the club the pleasure of his presence on February the 29th. Kelley commented on his desire to have Mr. Cawley come speak to the club, noting, “Mr. Cawley is a very successful commercial real estate professional, who has directed over 950 million dollars in total assets. More importantly, however, he is a man of high moral character who believes that integrity is his greatest business attribute. Because of his high moral character and leadership qualities, I knew that I would be doing the Leadership and Ethics Club a disservice by not reaching out and asking him to come speak. Luckily he was gracious enough to accept our invitation and it was a major success in growing our leadership skills.”
I was lucky enough to be present as Mr. Cawley spoke on how he balances family life, religion, and his work. Mr. Cawley faced struggles in his life that he was fortunate enough to be able to overcome. The ability to overcome tough obstacles is a quality necessary to a strong leader, becuase it serves as an example that it is not the ability to avoid adversity that makes a good leader, but rather the ability to overcome the adversity and become stronger from it. Mr. Cawley explains that the decisions that define a leader are “the decisions you make when nobody is looking.”
Mr. Cawley explained that he truly felt success when he felt at peace with himself. He explained that he believes you need to put “God first, your family second, and work last.” He said that once he was able to find the perfect balance and realize that if he lived his life morally, the success would follow. He stressed that the key to becoming a strong leader was doing the little things when nobody was looking, because soon doing the right thing would become a habit. Lastly, he said that, “if people do not see you as credible, you will never find success.”
Mr. Cawley’s speech essentially said that if you are able to live ethically and not put too much focus on accumulating wealth, the success will find you along with happiness, which Mr. Cawley has proven through his vast amount of success in life. He said good leaders are able to lead by example and learn from their mistakes. Kelley gave his thoughts on Mr. Cawley’s words, commenting, “The main message that I personally took away is that you don’t have to be a crook to be very successful in business. I think today that our politics and media looks at businessmen as vile and greedy. It was very refreshing to hear someone promote how business leaders could possess integrity and success at the same time. On behalf of the entire Leadership and Ethics Club, I would like to formally thank Mr. Cawley for coming to speak to us.”
The Leadership and Ethics Club looks to act on Mr. Cawley’s words as they strive to become the best leaders they can be.
If you are interested in joining the Leadership and Ethics Club contact Michael Kelley ([email protected]) or Mr. Knize; all are welcome.
