Running head: CURRENT LEADER 1 HOPE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY LEADERSHIP SKILLS LDR3100 Instructor: John Hoetker CURRENT LEADER Name: Pedro Vicente E-mail: pedro.vicente@hiu.edu Phone: +351929164150 Semester: Spring 2022 Date: 02/03/2022 CURRENT LEADER 2 Current Leader Leadership is a very popular topic in our current society due to the generalization of knowledge and practices on a global scale. The human ambition to seek perfection and maximum efficiency leads many theorists to lecture on the phenomenon of leadership. Man is a gregarious animal, so the human relationships that are established between human beings are increasingly complex and decisive. Team management and leadership are increasingly scrutinized and success factors, as “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northouse, 2019, p.43). This characteristic is revealed at various levels of society, such as politics, business management or sport. The world of sport has always attracted my attention, and as a tennis player, there is a figure that fascinates and influences me, the one that for many is considered the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) of this sport, Novak Djokovic. When I was young, I only saw Novak Djokovic as my favorite tennis player, but as I grew older, I started to see that he was definitely more than just a great athlete. He was also a role model as a human being. Djokovic grew up in Serbia, which was an uncommon sport there at the time. Therefore, many people did not believe that his dream to become one of the best ever could become true, and I, being from Portugal, can relate to all the skepticism that he went through. Seeing him start from nowhere, having to face the two best ever tennis players and reach all his dreams without changing his personality had a huge impact on me. It made me feel like I was able to be my true self and believe that I am the person in charge of making my dreams come true. Nowadays, as one of the best tennis players ever, he still remembers all the hard work and all the hard conditions that he had to face to become who he is today. One of his qualities that makes me believe that he is my role model, is the fact that CURRENT LEADER 3 he created the Professional Tennis Player Association (PTPA) to combat all the problems and unfair conditions that professionals tennis players have to face in order to make a living from tennis. For example, during the 2020 Australian Open the most famous players like Djokovic, Serena Williams, etc… had their own private apartments, while the other players were put in hotels with bad conditions. The meals did not have the expected quality for an athlete, and some players found bugs and rats in their rooms. Most of the players complained, but no one had enough power to make a change. Djokovic, even without have to deal with those conditions, stood up in the name of the athletes, and fought the other players’ battle as if it was his own. In the same tournament, fires were devastating Australia in that summer. All of the tennis community got together to help fighting their difficulties. Novak Djokovic ended up being one of the people that contributed the most among the tennis players, contributing $25,000. Another aspect that I really appreciate about Djokovic is the fact that he was always the “bad guy” in the spectator’s point of view because he was the one that challenged the dominance of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. There are many examples of Djokovic’s games where the crowd did not treat him the best way, for unfairly reasons. All of his actions are scrutinized and sometimes miss interpreted, because he always wants to show his point of view and fight for his ideas, even when it is easier to not say his opinion. Even being treated like the “bad guy”, he always tries to help his professional colleagues, and always appreciates the support and the atmosphere that the crowd creates, even if sometimes they are extremely hostile to his person. In my opinion, that shows a huge love for himself and knowing that he is doing the right thing. That gives me confidence to be myself and to accept that sometimes things are going to be hard, but the best way to overcome the difficulties is by being myself and still practice what I think is right. CURRENT LEADER 4 Great leaders are not exempt from making mistakes, and in certain circumstances, they may have difficulties in overcoming less positive moments. Often these errors do not result from actions or words but from the way in which they communicate, one of the increasingly relevant aspects due to the massification of the media and the globalization of knowledge. In the recent case of the Australian Open, the difficulty in communicating his position was decisive, as Borjana Slipicevic mentions in her article in the Toronto Star newspaper: “Be thoughtful about the communication channels you choose. Djokovic published his apology via an Instagram post. This failed in terms of getting his voice heard by the broader public. Having consistent communication with a few chosen media outlets would’ve helped.” 2021 Australian open was not the first time that Djokovic struggled with his way of communication. Novak Djokovic decided that he did not wanted to take the covid vaccination, which created a huge media talk about his own decision. The idea that he was against the vaccination was scattered all over the media, which is not true. Due to medical issues and to the fact that the vaccination is still experimental, he decided not to take it. Unfortunately, the rumor that he is anti-vaccination spread all over the world, even after he donated huge amounts to Serbian and Italian hospitals to fight covid. In addition, as Ivan Loncarevic, the chief executive of QuantBioRes, said, “He is one of the founders of my company we founded in June 2020” “We aim to develop a new technology to fight viruses and resistant bacteria and we decided to use COVID as a showcase”. Obviously, Novak Djokovic is not perfect. Some of his flaws coincide with mine. Sometimes he gets too temperate on court. The way he tries to be perfect during the game, can make him frustrated. This shows how he is a transparent person, which sometimes he allows his emotions to get the best out of him, and I can clearly relate myself with that. Shortly, Djokovic is my leader because he has been my role model for a few years. The way he accepts that he is not perfect and does not let his personality be affected by his CURRENT LEADER success makes me believe that he is the right person to follow. All the support he gives to charity and to his career colleagues’ shows that he still has is own core values established. 5 CURRENT LEADER 6 References Maheshwari, R. (2021). Leadership Lessons From Tennis – A Racket over a racket? The Experts' Mouth. https://fromtheexpertsmouth.com/leadership-lessons-from-tennisdjokovic-racket/ Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. “Novak Djokovic Holds Major Stake in Firm Making Drug to Combat Covid-19.” The Japan Times, 20 Jan. 2022, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2022/01/20/tennis/djokovicbiotech-firm/. Person. “Tennis Stars Who Have Donated to Australian Bushfires.” News, News.com.au Australia's Leading News Site, 24 Jan. 2020, https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/australian-open/tennis-stars-who-have-donated-toaustralian-bushfires/news-story/b62468be594c436c3bb03e0aac1c12db Slipicevic, B. (2022). Novak Djokovic’s unforced errors a teaching moment for leaders. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/01/18/novak-djokovicsunforced-errors-a-teaching-moment-for-leaders.html?rf .
