Throughout his time as a top Greco-Roman upper-weight, the United States wrestling community had the privilege of getting to know Jon Anderson as an athlete who was effective and fun to watch on the mat, and full of important pieces of wisdom and insights off of it.
Anderson was a unique presence for the US program. Not only was he an elite competitor, but he also simultaneously had to manage his career as an Army officer (and husband, and father), which he still does today. When Anderson was not training for tournaments, he had his hands full. And not once did he ever complain — not even when he was forced to miss participating in two consecutive World Team Trials events due to his Army responsibilities. The first time this occurred came in 2018, when Anderson was called upon to deploy to Afghanistan. He was gone for just under 12 months but still had his mind on training. As originally reported, thanks mainly to a gentleman named Kevin Roberts, Anderson and his unit received a fresh Resilite mat that was shipped all the way to Afghanistan so that the wrestler could keep…wrestling.
If that were not enough, Anderson returned to the States and Greco-Roman action the following winter and was certainly seen as a serious contender in the 87 kg class; then literally the day before the ’19 Trials tournament in Raleigh, NC was to start, Anderson had to bow out in order to take an assignment at Fort Knox. The class and professionalism with which he handled both situations are recommended to revisit, which you can do here and here.
But Anderson is, of course, remembered for much, much more than missing a pair of Trials events. He was a mainstay on the US National Team, a Military World silver medalist in ’14, a Pan-Am Games champ in ’15, and was in general a dreaded figure for opponents to face due to an all-out, fire-breathing, in-your-face-style that chugged through all six minutes of each match, provided Anderson didn’t get them out of there before the bell.
Anderson on Leadership
While Anderson will remain tethered to his forays as a Greco-Roman powerhouse in the minds of fans, coaches, and contemporaries, he is foremost an expert on how one should conduct themselves as a leader. This particular topic resides firmly in his wheelhouse, and on multiple occasions he shared valuable insights on what true leadership actually entails.
Anderson has ascended to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army and is currently serving as the Commander of the 1st Battalion-26th Infantry Regiment based at Fort Campbell. But back when his first featured 5PM interview was published (in March of ’17), he had just been promoted to Major. Even then, Anderson delivered a thorough yet easy-to-absorb assortment of examples pertaining to leadership ideals and principles from which everyone can learn — and indeed apply according to their own objectives, be them personal or professional.
Anderson on what leadership means to him
“Leadership is the primary focus of the military. Trust, and showing genuine care for others. Focus on continuous improvement — what the Army calls Subordinate Development. You’re also working on improving soldiers in your unit. Recognizing the success in others and having that relationship, that genuine care for others. Leading by example. That gives you the ability to give constructive criticism, as well.
“I look at leadership as a tool and it is a lifestyle. It’s who you are. Good leaders enhance individual and unit performance. Defining the purpose of direction and influencing others to accomplish a mission — that’s the definition of leadership that I have, and it is what the Army teaches. But you have to understand that there is a difference between a natural leader and an organizational leader. There are a lot of people who are good natural leaders but organizational leadership is more of a learned skill, and the Army has one of the best ways out there to teach it because they give you so many opportunities to practice. What I mean by that is at West Point, you have leadership positions. You get a chance to screw things up and learn from your mistakes. And you get a lot of chances to get it right. Eventually, you find out who you really are and how to best influence others to accomplish that mission.
“As a 2nd Lieutenant upon graduating from West Point, you’re a platoon leader for the other soldiers, the NCO’s, and you’re put in charge of a lot of men and women’s lives, so it becomes a little more serious. From there, it continues to grow. You get more chances to lead more organizations and develop yourself and others. Up to company command, I’ve done that. The next step for me will be battalion command, which is a thousand soldiers. That is the essence of success in the military, good leadership. You can’t have success without good leadership.”
“Another thing I will say about the Army is that there is a misconception. It is not just about compliance. That’s what a lot of people think, that people of higher rank tell the lower ranks what to do. Certainly, that is there when needed. But that isn’t what the best leaders do. They don’t have compliance, they have commitment. They have people who are on board and share the same passion and unity among all people in the unit, and everyone is an important part of what we’re doing. You are part of a team and you are out there to perform well in the most important situations and ultimately fight and win our nation’s wars. People join the Army to be part of a team that does that, and leadership is what makes it possible.”
Anderson on how he married leadership ideals that he learned from the Army to his career as a wrestler
“Both of them take leading by example, being out front and leading the way. It is not always about being the fastest person on a run or placing the highest in a tournament. It is about having a positive attitude or that core mindset that anyone can feed off of you saying, You know what? I can get better, too. That drives others to step up their game and push each other. Wrestling is more of an informal leadership role. I think both of them take a large amount of emotional intelligence. You can be a smart person, well-educated, but if you don’t have that social awareness or self-awareness of when or how to say things to certain people, then you are going to miss a point and lose credibility. I think I have applied that emotional intelligence to both sides really well and it is part of a winning organization.”
FURTHER READING: Jon Anderson’s Major Commitment to Leadership, Passion, and Improvement (March 2017)
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