Jon Metz
Dr. Jon Metz, head women’s triathlon coach at Daemen College, has co-authored a book about leadership and the importance of developing common purposes, values, and aspirations for organizations to attain success. The second edition of “Shared Vision: Building Team Success in Highly Competitive Environments” helps leaders collect, articulate, and understand the beliefs of individuals within their organization, and to use those individual beliefs to develop a pathway to collective success.
The book is a collaboration between Metz and a fellow triathlon coach, Dr. Danny Powell of Trine University (Ind.). Powell was the solo author of the first edition of Shared Vision, but he and Dr. Metz have bonded over, ironically enough, their shared vision of team-building and student-athlete development through coaching their respective college triathlon teams. They began work on the book’s second edition about a year ago.
“Most leadership scholars and practitioners agree that exemplary leadership practices and behaviors are learned through experience, ” said Metz. “Leadership practices and behaviors, which derive long-lasting results, are learned through a lifelong, deliberate journey of purposeful training, reflection, change, and improvement. We believe that one of the best laboratories to begin this lifelong journey is the court or the field of play. Many life lessons are learned through athletics. Learning how exemplary leaders can change lives and organizations through sport is an effective way of teaching life lessons that will transcend the game and change our world.”
Metz has led the Daemen triathlon program since its inception in 2015, nurturing it through the past five seasons as one of only a handful of NCAA-sponsored triathlon programs in the country. Triathlon, which combines swimming, biking, and running into a race-style event, was termed an Emerging Sport For Women by the NCAA in January 2014, establishing a 10-year window for the formation of 40 intercollegiate programs. Metz has been at the forefront of those expansion efforts, not just with the program here at Daemen, but also in assisting USA Triathlon and in his past role as president of the Collegiate Triathlon Coaches Association.
He also possesses a strong background in educational leadership. After earning a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from Florida International University, Metz went on to earn a master’s degree in education and a certificate of advanced study in educational leadership, both from SUNY Buffalo State. He most recently earned a doctor of education degree from D’Youville College.
“Shared Vision” is available for purchase at amazon.com.