The quality of the coach-athlete relationship is important to athlete development and overall performance in sport. To better enable coaches to foster this relationship, this study was designed to use an integrative personality framework (McAdams, 2013) to gain a deeper, more contextualized understanding of the athlete. Using a case study approach, two Division III collegiate soccer players completed a three-part survey that profiled these individuals as a social actor (layer one), motivated agent (layer two), and autobiographical author (layer three). Results are presented for each athlete, yielding rich, yet different, personality profiles. These profiles identify particular traits, motives, and personal stories that uniquely shape the personalities of these individuals. We discuss the efficacy of using McAdams’ framework as a guiding structure for helping elite coaches better understand their athletes and, subsequently, further develop the coach-athlete relationship. We also discuss the use of McAdams’ framework in the sport context and how it might provide useful insights for advancing the psychological profiling of athletes.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to enhance understanding of shared leadership in a military academy setting. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative methodology was selected to ask senior cadets about a shared leadership concept at the United States Coast Guard Academy, known as the “corps leading the corps.” Cadets responded to, “what does the corps leading the corps mean to you?” via a paper and pencil survey. Cadet responses were coded using content analysis. Findings Three higher-order dimensions emerged from the data: autonomy and empowerment, developing self and others, and role modeling. Originality/value The paper provides emerging leaders’ commentary to incorporating a shared leadership concept within an educational environment.