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VOL.3 | ISSUE 1 | SUMMER 2009
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Tony Lucas, former director
of Administrative Services
for Public Safety

on leadership

Tony Lucas served as the director of Administrative Services for Sacramento State’s Police Department beginning in 2007, leaving at the end of July 2009 to accept a position with the Department of Defense. With broad experience from many sectors and numerous honors to his credit, Lucas brought a fresh perspective that helped engender many positive changes in the department. The ABA on leadership feature is one of the ways in which ABA promotes the sharing of ideas to help develop leadership capabilities across the division.  Lucas discusses his thoughts on leadership below.
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►Leadership is the art of “painting a meaningful vision” that people understand and want to be part of.

►To be a leader is both a tremendous honor and a responsibility. It is an honor to be entrusted with the vision to which many will commit their efforts.  A leader is also ethically responsible for supporting employee efforts and helping them realize their potential.  

►A successful leader has foresight and intuition, a strong sense of ethics, good listening skills, and is a reflective practitioner. This means reflecting against current and past organizational practice, researching the literature and theory, analyzing emerging processes and practices, then implementing and monitoring performance to evaluate results.

►The most inspirational leaders have the imagination and courage to implement something new and transformational. For example, following the devastation of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, Mike Mullen, then the Chief of U.S. Naval Operations, envisioned a Navy that could serve not only as a military fighting force, but as a force for creating peace. As a result, U.S. military vessels and personnel were used to rescue and assist effected citizens, and sailors and marines became goodwill ambassadors for the U.S.

►It is important for each employee to be a leader. If you are performing a task that can be done better, you need to step up, be a leader and advocate for change and improvement.

►Sacramento State helps its students define and articulate their own personal visions. In that way, the University is helping to change the world, one student at a time.  Sac State’s tagline -- Leadership begins here – reflects this.

►Favorite leadership quote:  “The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet,” Theodore M. Hesburgh, president emeritus, Notre Dame.

►Recommended reading: 

  • Leading Change, by J.P. Kotter
  • Managing with Aloha, by Rosa Say
  • Leadership is an Art, by Max Dupree