FOOTBALL

Feb

2024

Leadership Lessons from the Gridiron Part II

In less than seven days many people will be watching the latest battle for the Lombardi Trophy during the Super Bowl. Last week I shared part one of a three-part series on leadership lessons from Super Bowl coaching legends.

Since we are approaching the Super Bowl I thought it would be appropriate to highlight leadership lessons from the one the trophy is named after. . . .Vince Lombardi. Coach Lombardi was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers in the 1960’s and won five National Championships in seven years including the first two Super Bowls.

In his book Run to Win Donald T. Phillips highlights many leadership lessons from Coach Lombardi’s career, but I will focus on just three in this post.

Teamwork

“People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses or the complex problems of modern society.”

Vince Lombardi

Building a team can be a challenging process. As a leader you must take a group of individuals with their own agendas and get them working together toward a common goal. Lombardi loved the idea of getting group of individuals to work together as a unit. What helps us do that?

Put the team in front of our own individual agendas. Human nature causes us to naturally consider our desires before others. As a leader the challenge is to provide a big enough “why” that everyone wants to align their agenda toward the teams. The job of the leader is to create a compelling vision that unifies the team and keeps them unified.

Desire Over Ability

“I’d rather have a player with fifty percent ability and one hundred percent desire, because the guy with one hundred percent desire, you know, is going to play every day, so you can make a system to fit into what he can do.”

Vince Lombardi

People need ability, but the challenge as a leader is to discern where their desire is. Hiring people can be one of the more challenging parts of leading. It may be tempting to hire the talented person even if you don’t know their desire level.

I have worked with individuals who are talented but lazy. Ultimately it ruins the culture and brings others down. On the other hand, an individual who is willing to learn, work, and grow can develop skills, and if they are on board with the vision, will continue to be an extremely valuable team member you will always find a place for. Your job as the leader is to find the best fit with what skills he or she has.

Culture of Discipline

“[Lombardi] established his authority by setting the rules, explaining them clearly, and enforcing them evenhandedly. . . creating a culture of discipline on his team.”

Donald T. Phillips

Culture will eat leadership for lunch. As a leader you mold the culture. Just as a football coach creates the culture on his team, so as a leader you can mold your team’s culture. Phillips gives us three keys: set, explain, and enforce the rules.

Within your organization or team are the expectations of how you do things clearly explained? Are they clearly enforced? If not, it may be a sign you need to get clear on what expectations you have for your team. Clearly explaining what you expect and holding people accountable to those expectations will create a culture of discipline and results.

How are you doing in these three areas? Which one do you need to work on in the next week? Need accountability or help thinking into your leadership? Contact me for a no-cost-powerful coaching experience. In the meantime, lead well.

Jan

2024

Leadership Lessons from the Gridiron Part I

Two people run full speed at each other and crash into one another with nothing but some plastic armor to protect them. This is football simplified. Since we are just a couple weeks away from the Super Bowl I thought I’d highlight some legendary football coaches and the leadership lessons we can learn from them.

In this blog I am going to explore lessons from former USC and Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll. Years ago I read his book Win Forever which I will draw on for some of his principles and how we can apply them to our leadership.

Know Your Philosophy

If you are a basketball fan, then you are familiar with legendary basketball coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success. This was his philosophy in one diagram. During a period in between coaching jobs, Coach Carroll developed his own pyramid which defined his philosophy of leading and coaching.

Brene Brown in her book Dare to Lead emphasizes that “clear is kind.” When I meet one-on-one with leaders, I find that clarity can be the biggest challenge. If the leader is unclear where they are going, the team will be even less clear. As the leader get as clear as possible on where you are going and what are the key priorities (beyond money) in your organization. This philosophy will be your North Star to keep you pointed in the right direction and a roadmap for decisions along the way.

Use Competition as a Tool

“However successful you may be, there is always some element you can improve upon, some achievement to exceed.”

Pete Carroll

I have had the opportunity to be around successful teams when as a strength and conditioning coach. Becoming successful was a lot easier than staying successful. As Coach Carroll suggests above, there is always room for improvement. Keeping this in mind helps the team stay hungry.

How does competition fit into this? I would suggest the healthiest way to use competition is to get individuals to compete against themselves while working with one another toward a common goal they are attempting to achieve. When a leader uses competition to pit people against one another it creates backbiting and politicking. This will encourage an unhealthy team. Help team members set goals and allow them to see how they rank against one another, but make any reward tie to the team effort which maintains unity of purpose.

Practice

Recently I was preparing for a talk I was going to give to a group of professionals. I don’t enjoy talking to the wall or a camera, but I need to. There is part of me that wants to wing it, but I realized during this time that in my years of playing sports I had no problem preparing and practicing for the game because I knew it was necessary to perform at my best. This is no different with any other skill.

Leaders are busy, but they still need to create time to practice and grow. Maybe as a leader you need to improve your delegation skills, how you lead a meeting, or how you communicate. Take a minute and get feedback from your team on where you need to grow. This will show you where you need to practice. Maybe you need a coach to help you or invest in some sort of training. We all have areas for growth and practice helps us improve.

When you look at these three areas, which do you need to focus on this week? Put time in your calendar today to focus on the area you need to make a priority in order to lead and build a more productive team. Need help thinking into your leadership? Contact me for a no-cost-powerful coaching session. Lead well!

Jan

2023

Learning From Legendary 49ers Coach Bill Walsh

Although I am a Los Angeles Rams fan, I have to admit that Bill Walsh, coach of the San Francisco 49ers from 1979 – 1989, was a legendary leader. I read his book The Score Takes Care of Itself a while back, and below are a few principles we can learn from his leadership.

Have a Philosophy

“Your philosophy is the single most important navigational point on your leadership compass.”

I have read books by many successful coaches, and they all have this idea in common. John Wooden had his “Pyramid of Success.” Pete Carroll has his “Win Forever” philosophy and if we look at other sectors of leadership, leaders have a philosophy.

In a resource I created called Leadership Theory 101, I explain eleven theories of leadership which I won’t go into here. I see in Coach Walsh’s statement that effective leaders have a philosophy. This is our guide on why, what, when, and even how we do what we do. This will be at the center of our decision-making process. Our philosophy will be our compass.

Growth not Goal

“I directed our focus less to the prize of victory than to the process of improving . . . about the quality of our execution and the content of our thinking; that is, our actions and attitude.”

As Walsh developed his philosophy he, like other great coaches, chose not to focus on winning but the process that would help them get to that outcome. When we get too focused on the result, we lose our drive if we have a loss that seems to prevent us from accomplishing the goal.

When leading our teams, we must have a goal or vision. That provides the why behind what is done each day, but as McChesney, et al. discuss in The 4 Disciplines of Execution, the lead measures are the daily actions that will help us achieve the goals we seek. As we keep our team focused on the habits that will bring results, the results will come.

Culture is Critical

“Champions behave like champions before they’re champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners.”

Maybe you’ve heard the idea that culture eats leadership for lunch. As a leader, Walsh had a philosophy that helped create a culture. If the standard we expect as leaders is only held up when we are present, then we don’t have the culture we seek yet.

When the leader is not present, but the performance standard remains, you have created a culture. If people are not meeting expectations and others on your team hold one another to the expected standard . . . you have the culture you desire. This culture tied to your philosophy and expectations will reinforce and continue to help you accomplish your goals.

Reflect on these three areas for a moment today and evaluate how you are doing in these areas. Do you have a culture of followers who do what you want when you are there? Or are you developing leaders who are excited about the vision and help others work to accomplish the shared vision? Need help developing the leaders around you? Contact me and let’s explore ways I can help you and the leaders around you grow to create a culture that builds champions. Lead Well.

Nov

2021

Ohio State and Michigan Football and Leadership

I have had the opportunity to be on the sidelines watching many football games. Football is a game of constant momentum shifts, planning, and strategic adjustments. This past weekend I did something I rarely do . . . watched an entire college football game, but unfortunately not on a sideline or even in the stadium.

Some of you may know I am an Ohio State fan. Now I either gained or lost respect from you, but after this weekend if you aren’t a fan, you get to gloat. After watching the game, I thought I’d pause to consider possible leadership lessons that enabled Michigan to finally break their eight year losing streak.

Mental Errors

If you aren’t familiar with the OSU vs. Michigan rivalry, this is one of the most intense rivalries in college football. Both teams came into this game with a 10 – 1 record and a lot to either gain or lose. In a game with so much at stake mental errors can make a huge difference. Michigan committed one turnover from an interception, but OSU had 66 yards in penalties (two-thirds of a football field) with most of them happening before the ball was snapped.

Similar to a football game, for leaders small mental mistakes can make a critical difference when the stakes are high. The more intense the pressure, the more critical to manage our mindset. Through preparation and an appropriately engaged mindset, not overly excited and too anxious nor under excited and apathetic, we can lead more effectively and prevent minor mistakes that compound into major problems.

Execution

Every game will have errors, but as I watched the Buckeyes bobble kickoff returns twice and struggle with what appeared to be an overpowering Michigan front line the principle of execution came to mind. At no point did the Buckeyes quit or let up, but Michigan seemed to be executing more effectively in every way. From a fan’s perspective it seemed Michigan had an effective offensive plan to dominate the OSU defense and defensive strategy to make the Buckeyes earn every yard.

One of a leader’s first responsibilities is to have a plan. The more challenging part can be executing that plan. Football coaches create effective plans through hours of studying the opponent, strategizing with the staff, and practicing the plan. Effective leaders do the same. They prepare for hours, study and understand the needs of their key people, and train their team. All this enables effective execution when the meeting comes.

Taking Advantage of Momentum

At halftime the game was close and could have swung either direction, but Michigan stopped OSU on the first offensive drive of the second half therefore shifting momentum their direction. They leveraged that momentum to increase the pressure on OSU by continuing to score.

Leadership expert John Maxwell highlights momentum as one of the key laws of leadership. In his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, which I take groups of leaders through to help them grow their leadership, he states:

“Even average people can perform far above average in an organization with great momentum.”

When a salesperson gets a sale he or she has momentum and is inspired to get more sales. When a leader has had a success in moving the vision forward it energizes the leader to try something else and continue championing the vision. Momentum is a leader’s friend. . . use it.

Now that I have humbly admitted Michigan on this day was the better team take a minute to think about your leadership. How are mental errors impacting your team? Where do you need to execute more effectively? Where do you have momentum you can leverage to accelerate your success or that of your team? Want to create an environment to help you think strategically into your leadership? Contact me and let’s discover any way I can serve you or your team. Lead Well.

Oct

2019

An Athletic Leader for the Next Generation

“Where do you want to sit?” I asked my son

“The very top.” So we climbed up the stairs to the top row of bleachers in the corner of the endzone at the Southern Illinois University football stadium.

Almost a decade earlier I had first met this young man at one of my camps. He was quiet, but focused . . . rare among Junior High aged boys. This year is his Senior year in college and my son and I drove about four and a half hours so I could be sure to see him play at least once.

Why would I do that?

Many reasons, but one was because of the kind of man he is becoming. Yes, he is a great athlete and very good at what he does on the field, but why I wanted my son to be able to watch him and meet him was because of the man he is becoming.

At times people complain about the next generation. If we are honest, people complained about our generation when we entered the workforce. I want to share with you three qualities in this young man that makes him a great leader and will continue to help him grow as a leader in whatever he does.

Humility

Ever since I’ve known Jeremy he has always exemplified this characteristic. Let me clarify something. Humility does not mean thinking less of oneself because he is a very confident young man. It does mean thinking of oneself less. Even after the game smiling and willingly giving high fives and talking to young boys and others. He is good at what he does on the field, but there is no arrogance in him. He exemplifies the idea of team over self.

Perseverance

I have known Jeremy for at least a decade and my role in his life for years was as a strength and conditioning coach. If you don’t know much about the role of this coach, everyone loves to hate this coach because he or she pushes you to do what you do not want to do. In the six plus years I coached him I cannot remember him ever complaining (at least not so I could hear it). He had injuries and setbacks, but he pushed through and never gave up.

Positive

One thing I always see on Jeremy is a smile. Now, I am sure life is not perfect for Jeremy and just like all of us, he has plenty not to be happy about. He chooses to be positive. I have talked to him occasionally as he has been at college and even though the season would not be going well, he was always positive. I am fairly certain this is an intentional choice he makes which is part of what enables him to be a great leader for his teammates.

For those who don’t think there are leaders in the next generation. . . . there are and Jeremy is just one of them. Now, what about us. How are we doing at maintaining humility, persevering through our leadership challenges and staying positive? Need help with breaking through your mental barriers? Contact me for a complimentary coaching session. In the meantime, lead well!