Lessons from The Park
What did I learn at The Park? (From the book Rebound: From Pain to Passion – Leadership Lesson Learned) I learned about meritocracy. Meritocracy is defined as a system in which the talented are chosen and moved ahead on the basis of their achievement. Skin color didn’t matter. Income didn’t matter. Your ability to help aContinue reading “Lessons from The Park”
Ingredients of a Good Leader: Servant
Serve the people around you and the community in which you work. That is servant leadership. When I think of a servant leader I think of Dean Smith. He always looked for ways to serve the people around him – his assistants, his players and his community. In the 1960s as an assistant coach atContinue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader: Servant”
Ingredients of a Good Leader: Integrity
Integrity is defined as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness”. Davidson Head Coach Bob McKillop recently told me, “Truth is one of the casualties of our culture”. What a sad commentary of our times. Integrity is lacking. Why? Lack of church going people? Lack of the family unit? PressureContinue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader: Integrity”
Ingredients of a Good Leader: Toughness
Toughness is a quality a leader must have to withstand the daily challenges of running any organization. Whether you lead your family, a business, a sports team, or a public entity you need mental toughness. Leaders face many different challenges on a regular basis. Some challenges are smaller than others. Some problems need immediate attentionContinue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader: Toughness”
Ingredients of a Good Leader: Accountability
Accountability is defined as the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility. (The following is an excerpt from Rebound: From Pain to Passion. To be released in March, 2021)Don’t be afraid to hold your staff accountable for their performance. They need this to grow. The top performers want to be held accountable. They are competitive peopleContinue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader: Accountability”
Ingredients of a Good Leader: Good Senior Staff
Surround yourself with smart people that are loyal to you and your vision. Then give them their roles and let them go to work! You can’t do it all. You must attract talented people to join your team. Why did I use the word “attract” instead of “hire”? Because you hire someone for a job. You attractContinue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader: Good Senior Staff”
Ingredients of a Good Leader: Communication
Communication is a two way street. Most people think of how we communicate – deliver a presentation, talk to person, send an email or text – and not how we receive information. How we receive information may be more important than how we deliver information because it will help us understand our audience better. AsContinue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader: Communication”
Ingredients of a Good Leader: Discipline
“A disciplined person is truly a free person.” – Dean Smith When Coach Smith said this to our team years ago it was confusing to me at first. Discipline seems restrictive, not freeing. Coach then explained that a truly disciplined person makes good decisions that lead to freedom. For example, someone that runs up theirContinue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader: Discipline”
Ingredients of a Good Leader: Strategic
“A dream without a plan is just a wish.” – Katherine Paterson A leader can have competence, emotional intelligence and a great vision, but if they don’t have a strategic plan they will greatly limit their chances for success. Where do you begin? You begin with the end in mind. In basketball we planned toContinue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader: Strategic”
Ingredients of a Good Leader: Vision
Vision for a leader is critical because if you don’t know where you are going how do you expect people to follow you? To create a proper vision you need five things: Inclusion – Involve your senior staff in developing your vision. Having input leads to buy-in. Buy-in leads to commitment. Commitment leads to momentum.Continue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader: Vision”
Ingredients of a Good Leader: Emotional Intelligence
I lost my job as the head coach at North Carolina in 2003. It was an awful time in my life, but like any athlete or coach I wanted to learn from defeat and get better. I decided to go on a leadership journey. I took an executive class at The Wharton School in Philadelphia.Continue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader: Emotional Intelligence”
Ingredients of a Good Leader: Competence
Competence may be the most important ingredient of a leader. A leader may communicate well, may have good emotional intelligence and all the other key ingredients I noted in my previous blog, but if they are not competent nothing else matters. When I refer to competence I am referring to a leader’s knowledge of theContinue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader: Competence”
Ingredients of a Good Leader
When I think of the best leader I have been around I think of Dean Smith. He was my basketball coach at the University of North Carolina. I strived to be like him when I coached and often fell short. Nevertheless, I continue to try to lead like he led our teams in the earlyContinue reading “Ingredients of a Good Leader”
Mindset of a Champion – The Four E’s
With LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA Championship I wanted to share with you what I believe is the “Mindset of a Champion”. One of my favorite leadership books is Jack: Straight from the Gut, by Jack Welch. He was the CEO of General Electric. He shared “The Four E’s” listed below.Continue reading “Mindset of a Champion – The Four E’s”
Pivoting
“With an ever-increasing number of career choices, 30 percent of the workforce will now change careers or jobs every twelve months.” — Career Change Statistics In today’s workplace, you need to be prepared to pivot into a new job or career. People get fired, positions get eliminated, and companies are bought out on a regularContinue reading “Pivoting”
Protocols
Protocols keep your priorities in check. Legendary North Carolina Coach Dean Smith prioritized his time in this order: 1. Current players 2. Recruits 3. Former players If a former player was on the phone with Coach and a recruit called to talk with him, he would have to hang up and talk with the recruit.Continue reading “Protocols”
Decisions
“Put a picture of your family on your desk. This will be a reminder that every decision you make should be in their best interest.” — John Black When I was a head coach, I felt the need to fire an assistant coach. It was the first time I was going to do this. ItContinue reading “Decisions”
Beyond the Speech
“What is beyond the speech?” As the November election approaches, Donald Trump and Joe Biden stand before us giving speeches about their beliefs and policies. They often say negative things about each other. The candidates and their political teams do everything in their power to make each candidate look good while trying to make theContinue reading “Beyond the Speech”
Discipline
Do you have what it takes? Does our country have what it takes? I doubt it! It would be a great time to attack our nation. Oh, yeah, it is under attack! COVID-19! Why can’t we improve our nation’s COVID numbers? Why are so many people overweight? Why are so many people in debt? Discipline!Continue reading “Discipline”
The Importance of Training
Great athletes train. They prepare for competition through practice. Practice includes drills to create winning habits. Practice includes simulations that create game like situations and game like pressures. Practice also includes mental preparation. Seeing yourself being successful in live action. Visualization. The mind is a powerful tool. Coaches then need to trust the preparation thatContinue reading “The Importance of Training”
Respect
As our country deals with civil unrest one word continues to be in the forefront of my mind. RESPECT! I run a leadership practice and I teach about values driven behavior. Core values are critical in every organization and in every human being. The core values I tried to instill in my teams since 2005Continue reading “Respect”
Take a Knee
We are at a critical time in America. Racism has divided our country. It has gotten ugly, but maybe it needed to get ugly for people to become uncomfortable enough to change. Change needs to start at the grass roots level. Laws and policy won’t change one’s belief system. Belief systems change through education. EducationContinue reading “Take a Knee”
Personal Board of Directors
Just like a big company has a Board or Directors to advise the CEO on making strategic decisions that are in the best interest of the corporation, people need a Personal Board of Directors (“PBOD”) to help us navigate the big decisions in our lives. I have been blessed to have valuable members on myContinue reading “Personal Board of Directors”
Truth Tellers
We all need truth tellers in our lives. Whether you are leading a company or leading your household you need someone that will tell you the truth. Easier said then done! Keys: You need to invite people to tell you the truth. You need to create an environment that is safe for that person toContinue reading “Truth Tellers”
Leadership is like Golf
Leadership is like golf. You have some whiffs and you have some great shots! When you think you have it figured out you hit one out of bounds! Then you have to calm your nerves, address the ball and take another swing at it. It the end, you can’t forget to get regular practice sessionsContinue reading “Leadership is like Golf”
Coaching Scars: E+R=O
Every leader has moments that they can look back on and cringe. A moment where they reacted harshly in a staff meeting or in a game where someone said something or did something they didn’t like. That harsh reaction by a leader will leave an emotional scar, not only on the employee or player, butContinue reading “Coaching Scars: E+R=O”
Three Keys to Leading during Crisis
It is easy to lead during good times, but true leaders earn their stripes during crisis. I have witnessed many leaders over the years mismanage the basics of leading during crisis as they succumb to the pressures around them. The keys are simple. Executing them….not so much. 1. Tell the truth Don’t sugar coat aContinue reading “Three Keys to Leading during Crisis”
Intention vs Interpretation
I experienced many challenges as a leader. After being forced to resign as the basketball coach at UNC in 2003 I went on a leadership journey. I wanted to “Learn & Grow”. I have finally put my thoughts to paper in preparation of writing a book. It is a lengthy and, sometimes, emotionally draining process.Continue reading “Intention vs Interpretation”
Sales is like Fishing
Sales is like fishing. If you want to catch big fish you have to be strategic in your pursuit. There are several steps to put yourself in position for a successful expedition. Step 1: Plan. Where do you fish? When do you fish? What tackle do you use? What will give you the best chance toContinue reading “Sales is like Fishing”
The Power of Remembering a Name
Rogers Healy is a longtime friend from Dallas that I got to know when I coached at SMU. He recently sent me a random text. Here is the exchange: Rogers: Coach, just sending you love. You mean a lot to me and you played a major part in me gaining confidence in my 20’s. BeContinue reading “The Power of Remembering a Name”
