Friends of Stanford Wrestling,
Our new athletic director, John Donahoe, talks often about servant leadership.
In a traditional leadership model, the leader sits at the top of the organization. They define the vision, set the goals, and everyone below works to serve that leader in pursuit of the mission. Servant leadership flips that structure. The leader’s role is not to be served, but to serve. The focus shifts from authority to responsibility, from position to people.
It is a term that probably gets thrown around in MBA programs and corporate retreats, but when applied honestly and consistently, it is a powerful approach to leadership. Not just in business, but in life.
I have a simple theory. People who spend most of their energy worrying about themselves, advancing their own interests, and protecting their position tend to live less fulfilled lives. On the other hand, people who orient their lives around serving others, helping others grow, and contributing to something bigger than themselves tend to experience deeper meaning and satisfaction.
I sometimes wonder if this is part of why mental health challenges are so prevalent among college aged students. College is designed as a time to focus almost exclusively on yourself. Your future. Your résumé. Your outcomes. While that focus is understandable, it can also limit opportunities to serve others, which is often where purpose and fulfillment are found.
That is one reason I push our team to engage in the community. Not only because it allows our athletes to have a positive impact on the place they live, but because it feeds their spirit. It reminds them that they matter beyond wins and losses, and that their presence can make a difference in someone else’s life.
As a coach, I am incredibly fortunate. I wake up every day with the responsibility of figuring out how to make the people around me better. I get to work with 30 young men who are at a formative stage of life, still deciding who they will be and what they will stand for. Being able to serve them in that process is a privilege I do not take lightly.
While my primary job is to help them become better wrestlers, I view wrestling as a vehicle for something bigger. We are trying to help them become better men, and part of that is preparing them for life beyond the mat. One area where we want to continue to grow is in professional development through mentorship and internship opportunities.
We do a solid job here, but I believe we can do better. And to do that, we may need your help.
I am looking for more servant leaders to join us in supporting these young men. People who are willing to invest a little time and energy to help someone else grow. And in my experience, those who step into that role often find they get just as much, if not more, out of the experience than the person they are helping.
Specifically, we are looking for three types of individuals.
First, individuals who can provide both mentorship and internship opportunities. This is the gold standard. Offering guidance and a professional opportunity can be truly transformational for a student athlete.
Second, individuals who want to serve as mentors. There is a saying that youth is wasted on the young. I never fully understood it until later in life. Our wrestlers would greatly benefit from the perspective, wisdom, and experience of people who have already navigated careers, setbacks, and successes.
Third, individuals who can offer internship (undergraduate) or job opportunities. You may not have the bandwidth for a mentorship role, but you have the ability to hire interns and want access to some exceptional Stanford student athletes. We are especially interested in opportunities in the Bay Area so our athletes can remain on campus to train over the summer, but we are open to any opportunities that would be available to the team.
This does not need to be a heavy lift.
For internships and jobs, we would simply ask you to communicate with me once a year about available opportunities, timelines, and the type of candidate you are seeking.
For mentorship, we would establish a quarterly call between mentors and mentees as a baseline level of engagement. Some relationships may naturally grow beyond that, but quarterly connection would be the minimum needed for this to be meaningful and effective.
If you are interested in making an impact on our program and engaging in servant leadership in a very real way, please fill out the form below. It does take a little bit of time, as we try to gather enough information to make thoughtful and effective connections, but that upfront investment helps ensure the experience is valuable for everyone involved.
Form for mentorships, internships, and jobs:
https://forms.gle/h738xoNUf768nQpN9
