Dana Drew Shaw, transcript, November 15th, 2017
Chane-won-in: What is your background?
Drew Shaw: I was born into a sport family. I have grown up around basketball. My
father was a Division One men basketball coach. I was a student athlete at the University of Toledo. I stayed until the Law School at University of Toledo to have my undergrad and legal training. I met my husband at the University of Toledo: Casey Shaw which was draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, he played 12 years professionally. I also played three years professionally when I used to live in Europe. My background was not only as an athlete but also as a professional in sport business because I worked as a sport attorney representing coaches, administrators and athletes.Chane-won-in: How your background led you to this position?
Drew Shaw: So, obviously, the sport was intertwined, it was a life style, it was
a part of how I grew up. Sport is something that I do love and it was a naturally transition to be able to work in sport business. My passion is teaching I think it is because my father has also is doctor degree as a teacher and my mother was an elementary school teacher. I was able to combine my passion in teaching and sport administration.Chane-won-in: What experiences have most shaped you as a leader?
Drew Shaw: I think leaders emerge usually out of trails and hardships. One of my
favorite scripture is "to consider joy when you face trials". If I look at my background, probably one of the defining moment for me was when I got a ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) injury and I was not able to play for 1 year. A lot of time when you have trials and challenges in life you have an opportunity to grow and develop. I think good leaders as to experiment successes and failure to be a good leader. It is during those tough times that you really develop leadership skills.Chane-won-in: How did sport help you to build your leadership?
Drew Shaw: If you look at sport: the highs, the lows, the challenges, the
successes, the failures really prepare you for life. Through sport, I have learned how to be a servant. You are with other people, you are in a team so to be successful everybody has to do well. Sport in general just naturally encourages people to be aggressive, to take initiatives. Sport just translates in so many ways because what you experiment in sport is a kind of small model of what life is.Chane-won-in: I saw you were a point-guard in Toledo University, how this
position helps you to learn how to lead people?Drew Shaw: I think that position in basketball is really important. I was really
blessed because my coach allowed me to really be a leader on the floor. I was allowed to make decisions. However, I think leadership emerge more off the court and how you live your life. But in sport, you learn how to be consistent, not to say one thing and do something else, by being an athlete.Chane-won-in: To what extent living in Europe during several years have changed
your vision and your personality?Drew Shaw: Completely, it gives you a different perspective of the life when you
live cross-culturally. Anytime you have an opportunity to spend an expending time in a different culture is a such value. I lived 12 years in Europe when my husband was playing professionally. The better thing is just to make friend from all around the world no matter what the culture is the relationships are important. I think for a leader understands the background of the people you work with, understands their experiences, understands their culture that they come from helps you to lead in a much more efficient and empathetic way. When you understand why people do the things they do because of culture or past experience.Chane-won-in: I totally agree with you because I am from Europe but I have got
also a double culture because my father is Chinese and my mother is from India. It is really important to understand cultures to understand who people are and how they work. For example, in Asian countries it is totally different the way to work.Drew Shaw: Did you grew up in France? Does that integrate in your own life?
Chane-won-in: Yes, I grew up in France but I took some elements from the two
other cultures. I consider myself as a citizen of the world.Chane-won-in: What does leadership mean to you?
Drew Shaw: Personally, my faith motivates my action and I feel a lot of time
when we talk about leadership it comes from inside. We talk about natural born leaders, people who have charisma or have ability to led other-- I think it comes from inside. I think that leadership is taking my faith and putting it into action and the way that I love my life is when I got honored and it allows to other people to see that I have something special and they want to follow it.Chane-won-in: What or who has been your greatest influence?
Drew Shaw: It will be a combination of my parents, my mom and my dad. I have
seen the occupation of my dad as a coach, he had the opportunity to lead several success teams. When he retired he was the 6th most successful coach in NCAA history. I have seen him lead with humility and lead in a positive way. I have also seen my mom leading in a very silent and respectful way being strong and leaving out her life. I think a leader has to affect the life of other people. For me, my dad and my mom are leaders because they impacted the life of so many other people.Chane-won-in: How do you measure success and how do you learn from failure?
Drew Shaw: When you fail if you don't learn something from your failure you will
continue to experiment the same failure until you get it right. It is like when you are repeating when you shoot free throw. You have to learn from your failure. As far as measuring success and failure it will be more about what progress you are making from your failure.Many times, when we measure successes and failures from tangibles ways, we look
at how much money you earn, how many championships you have won or how many companies you own those are goods indication of success but I think they are not accurate because there are so many intangibles that we have to consider in order to define what success is. Sometimes success is the small thing, for example giving a smile to someone or helping somebody during a challenging time is more meaningful when you look back to your journey of life.Chane-won-in: What advice do you have for building relationships and trust in an organization?
Drew Shaw: I think the most effective tool that people have is the relationship
that they build, develop and maintain. Not only from a business stand point but also from a personal stand point. Relationship is the way that transactions happen. I think being intentional is so important, if you make relationship about you and what you can get out of the relationship people can quickly sense it and there won't be a connection. Being true is really important.I also think it is important to know to say "I don't know" when you don't know
because you are not expected to know everything. You have to have a certain level of humility in every relation that you have.Chane-won-in: I agree with that I think you have to know to say that you don't
know something even if in classes for example people expect from you that you know everything. Most of the time people fail because they are not able to ask questions.Drew Shaw: I think good leaders ask questions. They ask more questions that they
provide answers for. Asking questions is a great way to get information. Sometimes we see asking question as a weakness but it shows your leadership strength when you ask questions and learn new information.Chane-won-in: What do you want your legacy to be?
Drew Shaw: I love this question because I love to ask it to other people too. It
shows what your motivation and your purpose in your life is. I go back to my greatest legacy which could be living my faith and pointing out Jesus Christ to people. If you want tangibles I hope my legacy is my husband and my children considerer me as a good wife and a good mom. I hope it extent to those with who I have relations and beyond. I want to impact them. I want if people describe me in three words they say: I'm positive, I'm a servant and I'm humble.