The word leadership carries different meanings for different people. For most athletes, leaders are coaches or typically older, more experienced teammates, those who have been “around the block” and seem some things. Those who have a good idea of what to do in a crisis situation.

Those same values, experience, willingness to act, and more, are markers of whom employees look to for leadership in the working world.

In politics, we look up to those who speak like we do, think like we do, and share our value systems, since that is who we would prefer lead us.

Last Thursday, we at the Daily Mining Gazette shared our concerns with the condition of the MacInnes Student Ice Arena after a weekend that saw paint fall from the ceiling throughout a weekend of home hockey games. It was a scene that left several community members in attendance worried about the state of the building, an unintended consequence of a combination of conditions.

Like the large amount of construction the area has seen throughout the summer and fall, repairs of this nature are impossible to do before they happen. Those in leadership positions know something like these situations can happen, but often the hope is that they do not.

The paint issue at the Mac is a great example of this. When inspected during the summer, the paint was not a problem. Combine a warm summer, a warmer fall, and the use of fans to try to help dry things out, and a perfect storm of conditions come about to create falling paint.

Credit goes out to Athletic Director Susanne Sanregret and the rest of the Athletic Department at Michigan Tech for their rapid response. On Sunday, the university sent out an email announcing that there would be no public hockey or student skate on Wednesday or Thursday of this week due to ice arena maintenance.

The Daily Mining Gazette is excited to see how quickly this came together. These situations are never easy, given the number of moving parts necessary to bring about the work necessary, from budgets to equipment to the personnel necessary to get the work done.

To us, this is leadership in motion.