The word leadership has appeared more in the past few comments on the Voyageur forum, when discussing the manoeuvrings at the ASA Board level. The natural questions are who is leading, why are they leading and do they have the moral authority and capacity to lead.

 I would argue that the current board by their very actions in getting to this point, their treatment of staff, their attitudes towards the soccer community and their character killing messaging do not have the moral authority to lead the ASA.

 In their leading edge work on Leadership, Kouzes and Posner ^{[1] , [2]} have researched the habits, characteristics and traits of great leaders in the private and public sectors, and documented the five characteristics of exemplary leadership, and the foundation of leadership.

 In their work they list the four qualities/characteristics of admired leaders as

•          Honest

•          Forward-looking

•          Inspiring

•          Competent

These are the top characteristics that constituents (who have clear expectations of their leaders) look for in their leaders.

So as we approach the ASA annual general meeting and the various zone and district gatherings to elect those that would run the soccer programs across this province, it would be incumbent on each candidate to do some navel gazing, and figure out if they have the “right stuff”. Those of us that elect these people need to question each one and determine their alignment with these characteristics and reject the wolves in sheep’s clothing that try to convince us that they have “our” best interests at heart.

I have to be honest. In looking at the list of ASA Board members on their website I have not had dealings with two of them (although I question the optics of an EMSA’s law firm’s lawyer being “appointed” to the board). Of the rest I have worked with, or dealt with them all, and have to say that each and every one fails all or most of the “characteristics” test shown earlier, some from my very own personal experiences and some simply from the optics of their actions this year.

Kouzes and Posner draw one further conclusion from their study of excellent, respected leaders around the world, the foundational quality of credibility. “Only credible leaders earn commitment, and only commitment builds and regenerates great organizations and communities”.

 None of the present Board has that quality from my perspective, and as such, when I look to elect a leader for me at any soccer organization’s AGM, credibility will be a cornerstone, along with the traits of honesty, foresight, inspirational and competency.