1 QUOTE

“Effective leaders are simply teachers who help people grow, regardless of whether they are in a classroom or on a court.”

- John Wooden, former UCLA head basketball coach

1 NOTE

Dr. Steven Sample was a modern day renaissance man. He possessed and developed many talents - electrical engineer, innovative leader of education at the highest levels, musician (he was the youngest member of the St. Louis Philharmonic orchestra, performing as timpanist at age 14), inventor, professor, author, outdoorsman and football fan.

I learned about Steven Sample during my USC campus ministry days. Dr. Sample served for nearly 20 years as the 10th President of the University of Southern California. Under Sample’s leadership, USC solidified it’s status as one of America’s premiere research universities and emerged as a global leader in communication, media technology and life sciences. In 1988, USC held open enrollment in fall semester fifth week. That’s right, you could walk into admissions, sign up and instantly become a Trojan. In 2000, Time Magazine and the Princeton review both named USC their ‘College of the Year.’ A profound transformation like this does not happen by accident. Steven Sample was the man who engineered the blueprint. In the early 2000s he was interviewed at a major Christian conference. His wisdom was next level. I was determined to learn everything I could from him.

While serving as President, Dr. Sample created and co-taught a wildly popular undergraduate course, ‘The Art and Adventure of Leadership.’ This course became Sample’s brilliant leadership book The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership. This work has been translated into six languages. Every dollar from sales were given to fund USC undergraduate scholarships.

For the spring quarter, I will share a weekly leadership insight from Dr. Stephen Sample. Next week we will learn together to ‘Think Grey!’ The great ones don’t retire. They teach.

1 QUESTION

Who are your favorite teachers (classroom, court, church or life) and why?

Until Next Tuesday,

John