Billy Davidson Research Paper

Billy Davidson helped develop valuable insights about leadership that can be put into practice by not only his words, but mostly his actions. From an early age, Mr. Davidson was taught the importance of family and its values. In addition, one of the most important value and leadership trait Mr. Davidson was taught through his childhood was to give back and help others. The saying “for the people” comes to mind when thinking about Mr. Davidson’s leadership style and impact he has had. Mr. Davidson’s old sister goes on to mention “Ours was a very unusual, very loving, very caring family. And always, the idea was to give back. There was always that feeling that you had to take care of other people.” (William Davidson Foundation, 2018) Mr. Davidson

Davidson was when his father and uncle were killed in a car crash in 1941 when Mr. Davidson was only 19. However, the silver lining within this tragedy for Mr. Davidson was him realizing the importance of community. Although he knew the relevance his family and extended family had within the community, when it came time to mourn his father, he was about to see the community come together and be there for him and his immediate family. The loss of his father made him feel the true meaning of charity of not only money wise, but time and effort to just help others in need. Fast forward to the early 2000s where Mr. Davidson hired recent Pistons guard, hall of famer Joe Dumars as president of Basketball Operations for the Pistons, it is clear on the impact of leadership Mr. Davidson had on Mr. Dumars. The hall of famer says about Mr. Davidson “This man was one of the best givers I’ve seen in my life. And I don’t mean just financial. I’m talking about his time, his spirit, his heart. There are some people you meet in life and think, man, this is just an incredibly good person, that was Bill Davidson.” (William Davidson Foundation,

Nowadays, some may say to be a leader you have to make incredible speeches and push everyone to their limits. Mr. Davidson led by example. He led in ways, many leaders today do not lead. His “for the people” mentality made him the successful leader he was. He made his employees feel appreciated, like they belonged and were important to the company. When employees feel that way, it makes them want to work harder and more efficient to ultimately make the company successful. Mr. Davidson had a different perspective from everyone else. His outlook on the way to lead was doing right by others in and out of his community. Those values had made him a great