After conducting 10,284 interviews, a former Canadian No. 1 tennis player and international entrepreneur says that being a great leader boils down to 25 traits.
Peter Burwash, who has been named one of the 100 most influential forces in 20th century tennis, discussed his experiences in sports and business with over 50 students at College Hall yesterday.
In his book The Key To Great Leadership, Burwash suggests that there are 25 essential characteristics of great leaders, ranging from assertiveness to the ability to take conscientious notes. The book also gives some quirky tips, such as not hiring professional psychiatric help.
"A psychiatrist is just someone who asks you questions for money that your wife or girlfriend asks you for free," Burwash said.
Burwash emphasized that people make decisions based on small details.
"We should sweat the small stuff," Burwash said. "I nearly named my book In Search of Carrot Juice. The Hilton Hotels always have carrot juice waiting for me in my room and I always go back."
He peppered his talk with descriptions of his experiences with famous leaders.
Burwash said he realized the power of speed reading when former president Jimmy Carter read three of Burwash's books in one night. At the time, he was serving as a tennis coach to Carter during a Hawaiian leadership forum.
Burwash also emphasized humility and appreciativeness.
"I write a thank-you note every single day of my life," Burwash said. "Humility doesn't mean thinking less of yourself; it means thinking of yourself less. If God or [whomever] you believe created the world wanted us to congratulate ourselves constantly, he'd have given us longer arms."
Burwash said that "the purpose of great leaders is to make great people" and lamented the current focus in business on the bottom line.
Burwash said that though his grades were all D's -- except for a single C -- in college, he is currently a featured international speaker for Fortune 500 companies such as IBM and is the president of Peter Burwash International, the world's largest tennis-management company.
Burwash has coached a variety of tennis players, from Carmel, Calif., high-school students to Serena and Venus Williams.
Burwash said that he prefers giving talks at colleges because the question are "amazing," and the students at the presentation seemed to take his advice seriously.
"He highlighted that appreciation, recognition and creative freedom are the main drives of humans. I think people forget that," College sophomore Emma Hall said of Burwash's talk.
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