Leadership Lessons From An Interim AD With Fresno State’s Rob Acunto

Summary

• - There’s an aspect of being the interim AD where you’re trying to provide stability in people’s minds. Tell me about that.
• - It’s almost impossible to be in a leadership position and not have the culture take on your philosophy. Tell me about that - you’re not necessarily trying to be overbearing with how you operate but it’s natural when you’re in a leadership position.
• - So you can tell by the energy in the room where the institution is in its search for a new AD?
• - How long does it take for people to accept that?
• - You talk about the 6 Guiding Principles that you’ve always had.
• - At what point in your career were these six principles revealed to you?
• - The Citadel sounds like it was a transformational experience.
• - How many people around you in Athletics were military?
• - And the greater campus was military?
• - So the culture of the rest of campus was ingratiated into the culture of Athletics? Understanding that the way to communicate, the way to operate was very much military.
• - You went to Fresno State as the Deputy AD to sharpen skills that you felt needed sharpening - and then the AD position opened up and being the interim was not what you originally signed up for but this is where we are. Tell me about your thought process.
• - So when you go to the Citadel and you’re learning all of these lessons you’re using now, did you ever have the thought, “If I knew this when I was coaching, I’d be a whole lot better at what I was doing.”
• - How would that have helped you if you were still coaching?
• - At this point in your career - you’ve sat in the chair before, you have a philosophy that you can articulate well and people buy into it - what do you get from being an interim AD?
• - Four times as interim - I imagine that after your experience at the Citadel, the lens is different.
• - Leave us with your 6 Guiding Principles for leading an organization.