Leading Narratives

Former NC State head basketball coach and player Sidney Lowe reflecting on his Coach Jim Valvano: In the huddle, even with Coach V’s enthusiasm, when it was time to be calm he always spoke very positively. Whether it was about a guy we needed to stop or if we were going to shoot a free throw, he always said positive things. Now, what he would do after the other guys broke for the court, he would grab me and say something different. Like if he told Lorenzo or Cozell that they were going to make a foul shot like it had already happened he’d say to me, “Sidney, if he misses this thing, foul the first f*%$er you can.” Of course, I knew what he was doing. Here’s a situation—one game he told us that we had to take the open shot, and so if it’s there, we take it. “I want Sidney to penetrate and make something happen, find the open man, I don’t care who it is, just get it to the open man.”And as we are going out he stops me and says, “Now you know I want it to go to Thurl or Dereck!

Former St. Louis Cardinal’s manager and hall of fame member, Tony LaRussa thinks the biggest challenge in leading a team today is having players fight through the distractions and concentrate on true professionalism. Even as low as the high school level of sports, players today get too distracted by the chance to make money, so they chase statistics and attention. So players really need to fight through all of that and really stress being as good a professional as they can be and the rest of the stuff falls in place. To assist in helping players manage these distractions LaRussa maintained a close relationship with Bob Ladouceur, the highly successful high school football coach at De La Salle High in Concord, CA. “From talking with Bob I learned so much about his relationships with the players and the importance of the process. The winning is a result of doing a lot of things right. He's really been great. I've tried to adjust some of our philosophies based on things or tip

When a player or colleague comes to you with a problem, don’t preface your advice with “if I were you”. That locks the person into tackling the problem one way. It also can restrict the development of problem-solving skills because the person is relying on you to fix the problem. A better way is to phrase your advice in terms that allow others to learn from your experience, not simply repeat it. They receive your advice then they go about solving the problem themselves. Example: “I remember having a similar problem once before. Would you like to know how I solved it?” or "Here are some things that I think will help you solve the problem you have." --Adapted from Real World Lessons in Leadership _____________________________________________________________________ A Season In THEIR Words Print Edition $24.99 Instant Download &19.99 Print & Download $31.99

How you cope with failure tells people a lot about your leadership ability. When things go wrong, experts recommend these 3 tactics: Keep a broad perspective. Most failures, while inconvenient, don’t spell disaster. Stay focused on the big picture. Try something different. Don’t keep repeating what doesn’t work. Seek insight. Find something valuable to learn from the mistake. Learning from mistakes can eliminate a lot of future ones. Good leaders know that failure is not final. When leaders approach failure from the proper perspective and take the correct action it can actually become a foundation for future success. —Adapted from Don’t Stay Mad by Robyn Clarke _____________________________________________________________________________   Print Edition $24.99 Instant Download &19.99 Print & Download $31.99