The Team Leadership Report

Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time and Bob Bowman was Phelps’s coach since he was a teenager. Bowan included mental imagery or visualization as a part of Phelps’ mental training. Bowman instructed Phelps to watch a “mental videotape” of his races every day before he went to sleep and when he woke up in the morning. Phelps would visualize every aspect of swimming a successful race starting from the blocks and culminating in a celebration after the race was won. Bowman would instruct Phelps to “Put in the videotape” during training sessions to help motivate Phelps to push harder. Bowman believes that mental imagery helped Phelps develop the habit of success.  “We figured it [imagery] was best to concentrate on these tiny moments of success and build them into mental triggers… It’s more like his habits had taken over. The actual race was just another step in a pattern that started earlier that day and was nothing but victories. Winning became a natural extension.”--

What I really learned was the most important thing that you can do as an Athletic Director is to focus on people. We really are who we are because of the people around us. When you have good people, everyone is moving in the same direction, everyone is prioritizing the student-athletes first, then the rewards are untold in numbers. The gratification from that is why we do what we do. Tough decisions are a part of any leader’s job. But it’s inherent in human nature to be resistant to change. People don’t like change. That’s how organizations and corporations move forward though. You can’t just stand still. No matter what business you do or what industry you are in, leaders move programs forward. You’ve got to have the courage to make decisions that maybe will not be popular, but will move the organization forward. We must remember this isn’t about you or me. It’s about the student-athletes. I feel strongly that we have to listen to what they want and their needs. We may not always follo

Success is a direct result of making a commitment to a task, having the conviction to follow through, and having the character and attitude to make the kind of choices that will allow you to have success. Commitment is your dedication to your task, your organization, and your teammates. It is an unwavering display of loyalty to the process and to achieving the desired result. Many centuries ago, Roman soldiers attempted to invade the island of England by attacking the cliffs of Dover. Just across the English Channel from France, the cliffs served as a close entry point for invading soldiers. But they were not easy to climb and overtake, especially when they were being defended. For years, the Romans tried to take the cliffs, failing, and retreating each time. They would get into their rowboats, which they launched from their ships, row to shore, try to scale the cliffs, and then return to their ships, time and time again. Finally, a Roman captain made a decision. He ordered that on the

“We like confidence because it feels good and gives us a sense of control. The alternative would be constant anxiety,” said Eric Barker, author of “ Barking Up the Wrong Tree .” We live in a culture that reveres self-confidence and self-assuredness, but as it turns out, there may be a better approach to success and personal development--self-compassion. While self-confidence makes you feel better about your abilities, it can also lead you to vastly overestimate those abilities. Self-compassion, on the other hand, encourages you to acknowledge your flaws and limitations, allowing you to look at yourself from a more objective and realistic point of view. Both have merits, but many experts believe that self-compassion includes the advantages of self-confidence without the drawbacks. In his book, Mr. Barker asserts that productivity culture often promotes faking confidence without considering these drawbacks. Namely, when you fake it, you may start to believe your own lie, which can lead t

Here’s an interesting passage from Anne Lamott, found in Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life . "You get your intuition back when you make space for it when you stop the chattering of the rational mind. The rational mind doesn’t nourish you. You assume that it gives you the truth because the rational mind is the golden calf that this culture worships, but this is not true. Rationality squeezes out much that is rich and juicy and fascinating." The great French mathematician Henri Poincaré said something adding to our understanding of the roles that both rationality and intuition play in discovery: “It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.” Furthering our understanding, here is a quote by Steve Jobs on the same topic: “Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect, in my opinion.”  The people in the Indian countryside don’t use their intellect like we do, they use their intuition instead, and the intuition is

There are four reasons why people lie--four fundamental misunderstandings that lead to deception. There are four lies we tell ourselves before we share untruths with others. You’ll see these played out by leaders everywhere because these universal truths aren’t reserved for politicians or corporate raiders.  No One Will Ever Find Out – the foundational first lie. What we see played out in the news every day is the sound of outrage, when the lies are uncovered. Starting with you, and your conscience: Is discovery dangerous, for your latest initiative? When your job becomes a game of hide and seek, nobody really wins.\ No One Will Get Hurt. It’s wise to remember the Hippocratic Oath (the oath sworn by all medical doctors): “Do no harm." Like the tree that falls in the forest, the undiscovered lie still makes a sound – because the liar always hears it. The lie behind the why is often "protection" - either protecting others or protecting yourself. Michael Flynn was trying t

  Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was one of the great scientists and physicists of our time, truly one of the great minds of humanity. He made his mark as an original genius, starting with his work on the Manhattan Project in his early twenties, through winning a Nobel Prize for his work in developing an understanding of quantum mechanics, and finally as a much-loved professor of undergraduate physics at Caltech. The Feynman method of thought was developed by a man who refused conventional wisdom at all turns and who sought to build his mental computer from the ground up. This was how Feynman approached all knowledge: What can I know for sure, and how can I come to know it? It resulted in his famous quote, “You must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” Feynman believed it and practiced it in all of his intellectual work. “When Feynman faces a problem, he’s unusually good at going back to being like a child, ignoring what everyone else thinks… He was so unstuck — if

  As coaches, we expect results immediately as well. While we understand the value of wins and losses, we know we must have other measures during the crucial building period as we are establishing the foundation on which to proceed. We focus on improving our starting point. We want our team to be better at the beginning of the next season than we were at the beginning of the last season. If we improve every day in practice, that means we enter the next practice or the next game at an improved starting point every time. This philosophy brings results because it forces you to focus on improving just a little bit every single day. If you do that, you will make consistent progress and eventually win games. Consistent short-term improvement leads to long-term success. It’s not always about hitting the home run or focusing solely on final results. The “simplicity of success”—leading our team to do the basic things every day to implement our plan—contributes directly to improving the starting

Listen to the conversations around you. Do you hear your colleagues and team members talking about what’s possible, or are they complaining about the past? Are conversations moving people forward or are they bringing people down? Do people support each other or gossip? Here are eight practices to raise your conversations within your team. Get present.  Noise and distraction are everywhere. If you can maintain the discipline of really listening to what the other person is saying you will stand out. The other person senses your energy and magnetism even if they can’t put their finger on it. Stop looking at your phone or computer when you are engaged in conversation.  State your intention.  Know your intention before an interaction to avoid getting distracted. For example, “My intention for this conversation is to make sure we are on the same page,” is a better direction than shooting from the hip and talking about all the things that aren’t working. Setting an intention requires you to l

 When people worry less about the quality of their work than about how they're perceived by coaches you've got fear. When the daily conversation is the discussion of whose stock is rising and who is falling in the coaches’ eyes you've got a fear infestation. When people have to stop and ask themselves, "Is it safe to tell Johnny my idea?" you have a fear problem in your organization. On a healthier team, the paradigm "I win when you lose" is quickly nipped in the bud. When statistics rule. All teams have performance goals but the metrics don't allow for the different roles team members must play. When there is an overabundant amount of rules. The more a coach drones on and on about their rules the less trusting the players are.  When staff members consider lateral communication suspect. There are some coaches who actually get jealous when a team member confides in another coach. When information is hoarded. If team members learn about an event affect

Check out these books for leadership wisdom to help you lead with courage, compassion, and emotional intelligence.  The Infinite Game Description “In this revelatory new book, Simon Sinek offers a framework for leading with an infinite mindset. On one hand, none of us can resist the fleeting thrills of a promotion earned or a tournament won, yet these rewards fade quickly. In pursuit of a Just Cause, we will commit to a vision of a future world so appealing that we will build it week after week, month after month, year after year. Although we do not know the exact form this world will take, working toward it gives our work and our life meaning. Leaders who embrace an infinite mindset build stronger, more innovative, more inspiring organizations. Ultimately, they are the ones who lead us into the future.” From The Author:  I wrote this book not to convert those who defend the status quo, I wrote this book to rally those who are ready to challenge that status quo and replace it with a r

Don't feel entitled to anything you didn't sweat and struggle for. Here are several proven strategies you can use to help prevent a culture of entitlement on your team. Don’t reward mere participation.  Does your boss or athletic director get excited simply because you showed up for work? Do you get a trophy or ribbon for every year you coach? Then why do parents expect and allow their children to get a trophy for every season they play! At an early age, we condition kids to expect a trophy and praise for merely showing up. Earning a highly-coveted trophy was once a huge incentive for kids to train, compete, and win. Trophies used to be special, rare and awarded only to the legitimate winners. Now they’re indiscriminately handed out like candy to whiners, winners, and everyone in between. Almost every kid in America has a shelf full of participation trophies collecting dust merely for showing up and participating. If we want to crush a Culture of Entitlement, we have to stop re

Marcus Aurelius was born into an established Roman family, but not the royal lineage. From these beginnings, it would seem a remote possibility that he would one day become emperor of the Roman Empire, let alone one of the most famous Roman emperors. Today we are left with his journal, his Meditations. The work has guided both powerful and common men and women for thousands of years. While Meditations was never intended for publication, it remains in print to this day and is perhaps as popular as ever. The journal shows that the most powerful man on the planet was going through the same problems that we deal with today. Through reading Meditations, we are left wanting to become a better person. Marcus reminds himself over and over to detach his emotions from the difficulties of the world, to maintain his composure during tough times, and to treat all fates as equal—prosperity and poverty, success and failure, life and death. Here are a few of his quotes from the book. At dawn, when you