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@TomBrady
behaves as if he's never won anything, that each day is a new day to prove something to himself & his teammates. Brady's humility creates followers & hard workers willing to put winning first.
Let’s all be more humble. Tom has proven it works.
The Miami Heat are in the Eastern Conference Finals for the 3rd time in 4 seasons.
How have they checked egos and sustained culture year after year?
In part, by avoiding a Pat Riley concept called “The Disease of Me.” These are its 6 danger signs (and how to avoid them):
In the coming weeks, there will be lots of "first team meetings" in offices, classrooms and locker rooms.
It’s typically a time where rules are established. Some leaders will have dozens.
But Bill Belichick has just 4 — and they apply to us:
Jurgen Klopp is admired by coaches across all of sports for his brutal honesty, intense passion and dry wit.
In his first ever meeting with his Liverpool club, he wrote “TEAM” on the board.
But his 4 letters stood for some unique values — and they’re relevant to any leader:
A loss is one of the hardest things for any coach or leader to process.
But we can do irreparable damage to our teams and ourselves by acting on emotion and saying the wrong thing.
Bill Walsh had 7 “Don’ts” after defeat — and they’re relevant for any leader:
Many teams across sports and business fall apart, but it's not because of lack of talent or strategy. It's because of a Pat Riley concept called “The Disease of Me.”
It’s when ego interferes with the ability to serve a team.
These are its 6 danger signs (and how to avoid them):
Ted Lasso is quirky and, at times, downright silly.
But if you peel back the humor, the show actually has some crucial lessons.
Here are 10 that are applicable for any leader:
Joe Maddon is widely considered one of the best baseball managers of this era.
In 2016, he guided the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series title in over a century.
How did Maddon establish an elite culture?
With 13 core principles — and they're relevant to our own teams:
Erik Spoelstra is a two-time NBA champion considered by many to be the best coach in the league.
How has he gotten superstars and role players to buy in to Miami Heat culture over the years?
With 4 key leadership strategies — and we can utilize them as well:
Fairleigh Dickinson pulled off one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history Friday night.
How has Coach Tobin Anderson built an aggressive and disciplined culture in under a year at the university?
With 4 key program values — and we can apply them to our own lives:
Nick Saban believes there are 4 essentials to improve:
1. Identify the goal
2. Define what it takes to achieve it
3. Are you willing to put in the actual work?
4. Do you have the discipline to do it every day, even if you don't feel like it?
In the weeks ahead, lots of leaders will try to establish a culture & identity with their teams.
Some will do it through rules, others will implement general views & philosophies.
But Nick Saban does it with 5 specific program values — and we can apply them to our own lives:
Steve Kerr has won four NBA championships in his first eight seasons as a coach.
How has he gotten his players to sacrifice and buy in?
With 4 very original team values — and they apply to any leader:
Virginia’s Tony Bennett is regarded as one of the top coaches in college basketball — winning his 400th game on Saturday and a National Championship in 2019.
How has he built a truly elite culture?
With 5 unique program pillars that we can apply to our own lives:
Phil Jackson won 11 NBA titles — with three different three-peats — as a coach.
How did he get superstars like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaq to buy into the team and check their egos?
With 11 core principles that are relevant far beyond basketball:
Georgia Football Coach Kirby Smart believes great leaders of any kind must accept 3 costs:
1. Making hard decisions that negatively impact people you care about
2. Being disliked despite attempts to do the best for the most
3. You'll be misunderstood
Dan Hurley will coach in his first Final Four tonight — the sixth in UConn history.
How has he built a tough, hard-nosed culture in his five years at the school?
With 4 core principles — and we can apply them to our own teams:
Bill Belichick is often considered the greatest football coach ever.
How has he won six Super Bowls while establishing a culture of discipline, intelligence and accountability year after year?
With 5 crucial leadership rules:
Erik Spoelstra’s Miami Heat hold a 2-0 lead over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
How has Spoelstra gotten superstars and role players to buy into Heat culture over the years?
With 4 key leadership strategies — and we can utilize them as well:
6 most important words: “I admit I made a mistake”
5 most important words: “You did a good job”
4 most important words: “What is your opinion?”
3 most important words: “Let's work together”
2 most important words: “Thank you!”
1 most important word: “WE”
The All Blacks are one of the most successful sports teams of all time — winning nearly 80% of their rugby matches since 1903.
How did they establish a truly elite culture and become an unmatched dynasty?
With 15 core principles that are actionable for any leader:
The Navy SEALs perform high-risk rescue missions, hunt the world’s most dangerous terrorists, and collect top-secret intelligence.
But it wouldn’t be possible if they didn’t also have an elite mindset.
Here are 5 key SEAL concepts/mentalities worth knowing:
The Miami Heat have made 3 of the last 4 Eastern Conference Finals.
How has the team checked egos and established one of the elite cultures in sports?
In part, by avoiding a Pat Riley concept called “The Disease of Me.” These are its 6 danger signs (and ways to prevent them):
Bill Parcells is considered one of the greatest NFL coaches ever, winning two Super Bowls over his impressive career.
How did he get buy in and establish a culture of discipline and toughness year after year?
With 4 key philosophies — and we can apply them to our own teams:
Bill Parcells coached four different NFL teams in his career — winning 172 games and two Super Bowls.
How did he successfully take over new franchises and consistently establish his culture?
With 4 key philosophies that any new leader can adopt:
Kirby Smart just led the Georgia Bulldogs to their second-straight National Championship — the first coach to do so since Nick Saban over a decade ago.
How has he built an intense and successful culture?
With 4 key program values — and we can apply them to our own teams:
Coach
@EricPMusselman
's mom crafts hand-written notes with her recommendations for improving the team.
Instead of ignoring this motherly advice, Musselman shares them with his players — demonstrating to the team that he, too, can accept some coaching.
Sir Alex Ferguson is often considered the greatest soccer coach of all time — winning 38 trophies and 13 Premier League titles in 26 seasons with Manchester United.
How did he manage players and mold successful teams year after year?
With 8 philosophies any leader can apply:
“Houston.”
It’s the one word nine-time NBA champion Steve Kerr would utter to himself before every free throw he attempted as a player.
Here’s what it means — and how we can apply it to our own lives:
Dabo Swinney has won two National Championships and seven conference titles in 15 seasons as Clemson football head coach.
How has he established a program of discipline, grit and sacrifice?
With 5 key philosophies any leader can apply:
Commitment.
It’s an often-cited program value for coaches and leaders.
But to Miami Hurricanes Coach Jim Larrañaga, commitment really has unique 4 levels — and we can apply them to our own teams:
1. Be on time
There is zero tolerance for tardiness with the Patriots.
Family situation, bomb cyclone, car accident, etc. It's too hard to decipher what's legitimate and what isn't.
So no excuses. Late is late. You are to be there at the designated time.
Pat Summitt won eight National Championships and more than 1,000 games over her remarkable coaching career.
How’d she build a culture of discipline, sacrifice and accountability?
With her “Definite Dozen” rules — and they’re relevant to any leader.
Bill Parcells coached four different NFL teams in his career — winning 172 games and two Super Bowls.
How did he successfully take over new franchises and consistently establish his culture?
With 4 key philosophies that any new leader can adopt:
4. Speak for yourself
You don’t answer for anyone, and no one answers for you.
Be accountable, handle your assigned responsibilities, master the task at hand, onto the next one.
Belichick knows blame deflection can tear at the fabric of any organization.
“Compliment others more. You’ll barely remember you did it, but the other person may never forget you did. Kindness has unlimited upside.” - James Clear
1. Chronic Feelings of under-appreciation
It’s nearly impossible to achieve anything worthwhile if you’re consumed with getting credit.
Make peace with it now: Not everything you do will be celebrated.
Find small wins and share in others’ success.
So, how do you avoid “The Disease of Me?”
To Riley, it’s about tradeoffs. The best organizations:
•make sacrifices
•don't look for individual credit
•cheer on their peers
•speak with one voice
•make the bigger picture abundantly clear
Many know this, fewer executive it.
Ultimately, Walsh’s principle come down to:
-Owning failure
-Eliminating excuses
-Shielding team members
-Focusing on the big picture
-Expressing gratitude
-Shifting our mentality to the next challenge
Crucial ideas for anyone who just suffered a painful loss.
2. Put team first
With the Patriots, it’s never about what’s best for the individual but what serves the collective whole. Players know this as soon as they sign.
Can you put individual preferences aside, ignore stats, and do what helps those around you?
Not everyone can.
3. Do your job
By handling your specific, individual responsibilities, you are helping the team.
By reaching outside the assigned role, you may be hurting it.
Key question: What is your job relative to what the group is trying to do in this specific situation?
One of the hardest achievements in any culture is making those aware of the difference between the worker and the work.
Attacking “the work,” not the “worker," is a guiding principle for any sustainable culture.
The Pyramid of Success.
It’s been referenced in locker rooms, boardrooms and classrooms for decades as essentially a blueprint for achievement.
But a year before John Wooden passed away, he admitted he accidentally left off a crucial value.
Here’s the story:
In essence, Belichick’s rules may seem simple and obvious. But that’s part of their brilliance. They are:
-short
-memorizable
-intentional
-actionable
-set a greater organizational tone
When we craft our own, let's keep these features in mind.
Confrontation is a necessary part of communication.
It requires self-confidence to be willing to speak the truth to those who might not want to hear it.
When we consistently speak the truth to those we lead, we can embrace confrontation as a good tool.
Giannis Antetokounmpo garnered lots of attention last week for his perspective on failure.
His message was essentially a 2-minute masterclass in humility and persuasion.
Here are 5 things Giannis did — and how we can more effectively engage an audience, too:
It’s easy to focus on
@paugasol
's championships, but it’s really his grit, his commitment to growth, and his willingness to get outside of his comfort zone that we can learn from as leaders.
They're skills that translate far beyond any basketball court.
Michael Malone will coach in his first NBA Finals game tonight.
But in 1995, he almost quit coaching to become a Secret Service agent.
"I could be working for the treasury department doing detail for the President and getting shot at,” he said.
Here’s his crazy career story 🧵
Dan Campbell is one of the more popular coaches among NFL fans right now.
Why?
He captivated “Hard Knocks” viewers in the first 5 minutes of the series with brutal honesty, quirky analogies and charisma.
Here’s what he did (and how you can win the audience, too):
Nick Saban has long credited his college coach, Don James, for developing his coaching philosophy.
James was a big believer in competitive maturity and its 3 components:
1. You vs. You
2. Love and welcome adversity
3. The will is greater than the win
1. Communication Requirements
Spoelstra can get fiery in huddles and doesn’t hesitate to share his views. But he has 3 rules when engaging with players:
-Eye-to-eye communication
-Nothing is personal
-Talk is about a specific occurrence
In short, be bold, brief & specific.
Leaders aren’t scared of confrontation; they're willing to be brutally honest.
8 qualities they must have:
1. Honesty without fear of confrontation
2. Directness. Don't pull punches
3. Set the standard, become the standard
Read the rest ⬇️
Legendary
@GeorgetownHoops
Coach John Thompson passed away one year ago today, but his lessons in communication, motivation & conflict navigation remain relevant for leaders of all backgrounds.
Here are 3 lessons of his we'd be wise to reflect on ⬇️
We can be direct & still be kind
We can be grieving & still find joy
We can be a listener & still have a voice
We can be a leader & still need guidance
We can be creative & still need inspiration
We can be independent & still need support
For all of the things that
@TomBrady
does on the field, this little 60sec exchange with his son is a deep portrait of the man and illustrates what makes him so special.
Brady's No. 1 attribute, one we all should copy, lies in his genuine, humble behavior.
After losing to Georgia on Monday night, Alabama Coach Nick Saban needed to take some of the disappointment off of his players' shoulders and bring the focus back to the process, not the result.
He avoided the 7 "Don'ts" after a loss.
With every shirt he rips off after a big win, every table he hops up on or the unbridled enthusiasm he exhibits on Twitter,
@EricPMusselman
is in complete harmony with his core competitive nature.
Last week, Jay Wright walked away from basketball after 21 seasons as the head coach at Villanova. What made Wright so successful? What made him such a great leader?
There are 4 quotes in particular that shed insight into his leadership beliefs.
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@TomBrady
reminded all of us that no matter how much we’ve been counted out, cast aside, dismissed for a perceived weakness, we can all become better year after year.
And we can all use humility as the most powerful leadership tool of all.
#ThankYouTom
Kerr's values really have little to do with basketball.
They humanize the leader, thus motivating higher performance levels:
•make the work more fun
•keep mind on the right now
•empathize w/ team members
•compete to improve
Worthwhile ideals that can elevate our own teams.
We often discuss the importance of mental toughness, but miss key opportunities to practice it.
We seek comfort while still expecting results.
Then, if we don’t get these, we complain that our team lacks the mental toughness needed to handle adversity.
3. Leadership vacuum resulting from the formation of cliques & rivalries.
Teams within the team. It frequently leads to distrust, resentment, badmouthing and animosity.
Great teams in any field have one mission, one voice and are abundantly clear about their larger purpose.
Coach Prime doesn't tolerate excuses and encourages his players to take responsibility for their lives, focusing on small daily victories until winning becomes a habit and a mentality.
Some might view the show "Ted Lasso" as overly silly, but if you peel back the humor, there are still 10 very tangible takeaways for us as leaders.
1. Be a goldfish
2. Be authentic
Read the rest in today's
#DailyCoach
⬇️
Nick Saban’s greatest strength is that he does not have complexity bias. He never searches for complex solutions & is instead pragmatic in his approach to large or small problems. They all look the same to him.
Simple is not easy, but it’s often smarter.
Too often in life, we accept labels people place on us because they allow us to make sense of our lives.
@PatMcAfeeShow
understood that labels are fundamentally simplistic. More than anything he knew betting on himself was the best wager he could make.
“Pain doesn’t tell you when you ought to stop. Pain is the little voice in your head that tries to hold you back because it knows if you continue you will change.” ―
@kobebryant
Rules of Life:
- Make peace with your past so it won’t mess with your present
- Don’t compare your life to others, and don’t judge them
- Stop thinking so much, it’s alright not to know the answers
- No one is in charge of your happiness, except you
Vince Lombardi is a coaching icon.
But before winning five NFL titles with the Green Bay Packers, he was an anxious 35-year-old headed to coach at West Point.
The soul-searching inspired him to create the “Lombardi Model of Leadership” — and we can apply its 6 elements:
Spoelstra’s leadership philosophy really comes down to:
-Setting a lofty standard
-Challenging undesired behavior
-Ingraining the right habits
-Incorporating doses of compassion
Leadership skills relevant to any team.
T = Terrible to play against
Great teams in any field are major disruptors to the competition. They ID weaknesses & vulnerabilities and feast on them.
When we look at our opponents, how can we:
•Take away what they do well?
•Expose what they do not?
•Compete on our terms?
When
@CoachBillSnyder
took over at Kansas State, his initial focus wasn’t improving his talent base or overhauling the locker room. It was implementing the “16 Wildcat Goals for Success.”
These goals are still relevant to leaders of all walks.
Jason Kelce did 5 things during his retirement speech on Monday that we may want to apply as well:
1. Share relatable anecdotes
2. Thank non-obvious people
3. Articulate the “why”
4. Routinely pause
5. Go into detail about those who matter most
2. Paranoia over beating cheated out of one’s rightful share
Are you consumed with increasing your “personal brand” over the team’s?
If this is the focus, little else will matter.
You’ll essentially have empty achievements on a poor team and fail to get recognized either way.
We must understand there will be bad days, battles, huge scars, which should NEVER deter us, only make us stronger.
We must also understand that perceptions are meaningless — proving yourself each day is what matters most.
4. Feelings of frustration even when the team performs successfully
Success isn’t for an individual — it’s for the whole. But one negative voice can really drain the excitement out of it.
Key Q to routinely ask: How can I better fit what this specific group is looking for?
1. Discipline
Saban believes there are 2 pains in life: the pain of discipline & the pain of disappointment.
But if you master the former, you won’t deal with the latter. Discipline:
• do your job
• don't allow emotion to cloud judgment
• what’s right > what’s convenient
“Through adversity we have a choice. We can run away from each other or we can run towards each other. Remember, connection breeds commitment.” -
@JonGordon11
Ultimately, FDU’s values come down to:
-Selflessness
-Extreme devotion
-Having tough talks
-Pursuing the highest ambitions
Worthwhile ideals for any leader taking over a team.
6. Resentment of the competence of another
Someone starts rooting for a teammate to fail. It’s truly cancerous and can take a team from the top to the bottom.
This mentality must be confronted and now allowed to fester.
Simple rule: Cheer for your teammates’ success.
“Never neglect small details, even to the point of being a pest. Moments of stress, confusion and fatigue are exactly when mistakes happen. And when everyone else’s mind is dulled or distracted, the leaders must be doubly vigilant. Always check ‘small things.'” -Colin Powell
2. Embrace conflict
“To get to the other side, you have to go through the fire,” long-time assistant David Fizdale said.
In other words, don’t shy away or become passive about enforcing the standard you believe in.
Don’t get into conflict debt with your team.
Lots of teams with great ambitions in sports and business fall apart — but not because of lack of vision or talent.
They crumble for a variety of other reasons.
These are author Pat Lencioni's 5 common dysfunction of a team (and how to avoid them):
We as leaders must set the boundaries; we must teach those we lead what the standards are.
Remember, establishing standards for your organization is not power-hungry; it's culture-hungry.
And culture wins every time.
.
@DollyParton
donated $1M to COVID research, then waited for her name to be called to receive her shot. She didn’t expect preferred treatment, nor did she want it. She didn’t donate the money for recognition. She did it simply to help as best she could.
Texas A&M Basketball Coach Buzz Williams recently delivered a powerful high school commencement address with 3 critical lessons:
1. No guard rails
2. Climb your own mountain
3. What's the aim?