Jay Ray Addresses Leadership Council

The Bristol Sports Hall of Fame held its first Leadership Council Breakfast for a new group of students from Bristol’s three high schools, those identified to be a sports team captain/leader during the school year 2017-2018. Mark Ziogas, a BSHOF director and local attorney, was the program’s MC once again with Jay Ray as the keynote speaker for this April 4th gathering at Nuchie’s.

Ray played football and baseball for Bristol Eastern as a member of the class of ’89. He was a football captain his senior year and member of the state championship team in 1988. He went on to WPI to play four years of football, and two years of baseball, the latter as a walk-on.

In starting out, Mr. Ray talked about his leadership in college. He was in a fraternity seeking a national ranking and as a candidate to the lead the group, his inspiring speech led to his being elected its president. Following graduation, he learned along the way to eventually start of eight different companies.

He then talked about the leaders one sees growing up. Those ages seven and eight are generally looking up to the fastest, strongest and tallest. Yet, this doesn’t necessarily make them a leader. A leader at an older age would be someone who has the most influence on his peers and in the end, the best leader is the individual who is an obstacle remover, one who gets things done.

He then broke down good leadership into five segments:

Plan – You first have to have a plan to follow. Make one.

Trust – It works both ways. you have to trust and be trusted.

Accountability – Take accountability for your actions. If you make a mistake, own up to and improve on it.

Perseverance – Keep at it, don’t give up or back off. Keep moving forward.

Listening – You must be a good listener to grasp and remember what someone is telling you. You might need this knowledge sometime down the road. You should also be seen as a good listener from the eyes of the speaker.