This week, we had the privilege of listening to Coach Tanasoiu at our Rose Cafe series. Coach Tanasoiu embodies the characteristics of a great and effective leader and mentor. What makes him such an inspiring and motivating leader?

1. He is humble and always grateful. Coach Tanasoiu grew up in a Romania to a working-class family. When he made it into a very selective tennis competition that was to be held in Miami, FL, his family had to work very, very hard (including selling their family car) to get the money necessary to buy him round trip tickets from Romania to Florida. Thus, Coach Tanasoiu does not take his success for granted, he is always very grateful, very thankful to his family, friends, mentors, and generous sponsors that helped him get to where he is now. It is very important that a leader is humble. When a leader is humble, he/she comes to notice how each and every person he/she encounters is talented, unique, and has something special to offer the team. This brings us to the second point, he really, really respects his team. 
2. Coach Tanasoiu respects and loves his team. What really stood out through out his entire talk was how grateful Coach Tanasoiu felt to be able to work with such talented tennis players, and such unique, intelligent students. You can tell that Coach Tanasoiu loves his team! It is very important for a leader to love and respect his team, because this helps the leader also be loved and respected by his/her team. 
3. Coach Tanasoiu is very dedicated to selecting players who would fit well into the team culture. He talked about how he would talk with the players’ family, teammates, and coach for months. He would fly into various cities to observe potential players play at different settings, and stress levels. He dedicates so much time to really get to know each individual player in order to select the players who would thrive in Cornell’s tennis program. An important part of leadership is to select the right people, people who would thrive in the culture, who would work well with the rest of the team.