Forging The Leaders Of Tomorrow
10/26/2023 10:20:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The summer offseason is a time often used by collegiate basketball players to stay in shape, work on their craft, and spend time with their families. In addition to physically preparing for the season ahead, junior Ben Knostman also found time to focus on strengthening his abilities as a leader.
Knostman, a 6-foot 5-inch combo guard from Dayton, Ohio, spent a week at the Emerging Leaders Initiative (ELI) this summer, a weeklong program hosted by The Center Consulting Group that aims to offer student-athletes with opportunities to grow as leaders both in their sport and their personal lives.
"I honestly had not clue what I was getting into," said Knostman. "Billy Dunn was the one that reached out encouraging me to participate about a week before the season ended."
Dunn, who serves as Lehigh men's basketball's Student-Athlete Support and Enrichment Coordinator, also holds a full-time position as a senior consultant for The Center Consulting Group. Dunn works closely with the ELI and knew that Ben would be a perfect fit for the program.
"Ben is a player that I connected with early in his career at Lehigh and see leadership skills in him that will make a difference in the basketball program, on campus and in his career," said Dunn. "Connecting him to a program like ELI offered him a week-long intensive into the leadership skills that will allow him to grow personally and leverage these skills to serve others well."
The program seeks to provide young leaders with the opportunity to examine their own leadership style/practices and learn from other leaders across various professional fields. The participants get the chance to hear from multiple guest speakers each day and learn a variety of methodologies such as personal development, team building experiences, leadership compass, and more.
"Our team at The Center Consulting Group has a collective passion to impact hundreds of Emerging Leaders and be a part of their leadership journey," said Dunn. "Leading ELI allows me to invest in young leaders and live out giving away what I cannot keep to gain what I cannot lose. My faith is the center of who I am and this gives action to that faith."
One of the major focus points of the group sessions involved identifying one's strengths and weaknesses. Knostman found this exercise to be especially helpful as he begins to navigate what his career after basketball will look like.
"The strengths and weaknesses thing was really cool. I could see everything about myself, even tendencies that I didn't know I really even had," said Knostman. "I might actually go back for an interview this summer, going along that road and seeing what the consulting field looks like, what they do on a day-to-day basis, and seeing what my future holds."
Not only does ELI help prepare student-athletes for their post-graduate lives, it also can be beneficial to growing players' leadership qualities in their respective sports as well. Dunn believes that there are many facets of his program that are applicable to the game of basketball.
"The foundation of any successful team is a WE mentality. You will not win with low to medium character guys, and the Emerging Leaders Program speaks first to a person's character," said Dunn. "ELI focuses on developing strong communication skills, ethics in leadership, knowing the lead in you and other topics that give young and emerging leaders tools to be the best version of themself."
Knostman agrees that ELI's lessons are ones that he hopes will help him on the court this season.
"A lot of those things can be taken on the court," said Knostman. "How to approach somebody, how to deal with conflict in an organization and how to solve it. There were athletes from many different sports in attendance, so the lessons we learned were able to be simplified into each specific sport."
Through his work at ELI and The Center Consulting Group, Dunn has been able to combine his career with his passion for basketball to be able to provide student-athletes with this immersive experience. Dunn hopes that his work allows basketball players to reach their fullest potential on both the hardwood and the game of life.
"We live in a complex world where suffering is real and needs are great," said Dunn. "The young men that come to Lehigh to play basketball are gifted athletes and excellent students. I hope that my investment leads to student athletes in men's basketball being entrenched in integrity and character to impact our world in a positive and deep way. We get to speak into the lives of 'future makers' and that is special."
Knostman and Dunn now set their sights on the 2023-24 campaign, which is set to begin next week. Be sure to purchase tickets for the home opener against Cornell on November 6 or purchase a season-pass for both men's and women's basketball.
Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Knostman, a 6-foot 5-inch combo guard from Dayton, Ohio, spent a week at the Emerging Leaders Initiative (ELI) this summer, a weeklong program hosted by The Center Consulting Group that aims to offer student-athletes with opportunities to grow as leaders both in their sport and their personal lives.
"I honestly had not clue what I was getting into," said Knostman. "Billy Dunn was the one that reached out encouraging me to participate about a week before the season ended."
Dunn, who serves as Lehigh men's basketball's Student-Athlete Support and Enrichment Coordinator, also holds a full-time position as a senior consultant for The Center Consulting Group. Dunn works closely with the ELI and knew that Ben would be a perfect fit for the program.
"Ben is a player that I connected with early in his career at Lehigh and see leadership skills in him that will make a difference in the basketball program, on campus and in his career," said Dunn. "Connecting him to a program like ELI offered him a week-long intensive into the leadership skills that will allow him to grow personally and leverage these skills to serve others well."
The program seeks to provide young leaders with the opportunity to examine their own leadership style/practices and learn from other leaders across various professional fields. The participants get the chance to hear from multiple guest speakers each day and learn a variety of methodologies such as personal development, team building experiences, leadership compass, and more.
"Our team at The Center Consulting Group has a collective passion to impact hundreds of Emerging Leaders and be a part of their leadership journey," said Dunn. "Leading ELI allows me to invest in young leaders and live out giving away what I cannot keep to gain what I cannot lose. My faith is the center of who I am and this gives action to that faith."
One of the major focus points of the group sessions involved identifying one's strengths and weaknesses. Knostman found this exercise to be especially helpful as he begins to navigate what his career after basketball will look like.
"The strengths and weaknesses thing was really cool. I could see everything about myself, even tendencies that I didn't know I really even had," said Knostman. "I might actually go back for an interview this summer, going along that road and seeing what the consulting field looks like, what they do on a day-to-day basis, and seeing what my future holds."
Not only does ELI help prepare student-athletes for their post-graduate lives, it also can be beneficial to growing players' leadership qualities in their respective sports as well. Dunn believes that there are many facets of his program that are applicable to the game of basketball.
"The foundation of any successful team is a WE mentality. You will not win with low to medium character guys, and the Emerging Leaders Program speaks first to a person's character," said Dunn. "ELI focuses on developing strong communication skills, ethics in leadership, knowing the lead in you and other topics that give young and emerging leaders tools to be the best version of themself."
Knostman agrees that ELI's lessons are ones that he hopes will help him on the court this season.
"A lot of those things can be taken on the court," said Knostman. "How to approach somebody, how to deal with conflict in an organization and how to solve it. There were athletes from many different sports in attendance, so the lessons we learned were able to be simplified into each specific sport."
Through his work at ELI and The Center Consulting Group, Dunn has been able to combine his career with his passion for basketball to be able to provide student-athletes with this immersive experience. Dunn hopes that his work allows basketball players to reach their fullest potential on both the hardwood and the game of life.
"We live in a complex world where suffering is real and needs are great," said Dunn. "The young men that come to Lehigh to play basketball are gifted athletes and excellent students. I hope that my investment leads to student athletes in men's basketball being entrenched in integrity and character to impact our world in a positive and deep way. We get to speak into the lives of 'future makers' and that is special."
Knostman and Dunn now set their sights on the 2023-24 campaign, which is set to begin next week. Be sure to purchase tickets for the home opener against Cornell on November 6 or purchase a season-pass for both men's and women's basketball.
Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
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