Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
(originally posted on June 28, 2016)
Today is a sad day not only in Tennessee, but across the nation.
I first wrote those words in April of 2012, when she left coaching at the too young age of 59 after a legendary and unprecedented career and I proclaimed that she was the best ever.
This morning we lost one of the greatest leaders as Pat Summitt her battle with Alzheimer’s type dementia.
Eric Platte is the Vice President of Ticket Sales for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. He has been with the Hawks since 2010 when he graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Supply Chain Management. Eric is highly regarded for his innovative ideas for workplace culture and leadership training. Eric believes that leaders drive culture, culture drives people, and people drives business.
Poor Abbott. Poor Costello. In the classic sketch Who’s On First, they heard each other’s words but just couldn’t seem to understand what each other was saying.
It’s no secret that we all desire to be listened to and we all want to be understood.
I am right. You are wrong. Why should I listen to you? Wait, what?!? You don’t understand what I’m saying? How is that even possible?
In the book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey said, “If you’re like most people you probably seek first to be understood; you want to get your point across. And in doing so, you may ignore the other person completely, pretend that you’re listening, selectively hear only certain parts of the conversation, or attentively focus on only the words being said, but miss the meaning entirely. So why does this happen?”
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted speaker, commentator, and adviser to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks.
In 2015, she gave a TEDx talk in Los Angeles where she discussed the secret to successful crisis management in the 21st century. Agnes is the editor of the Crisis Ready Blog, a contributor to Forbes, and a go-to source for the press, with recent coverage including the Wall Street Journal, VIBE Magazine, USA Today, and many others. As a university guest lecturer, Agnes teaches crisis management in university courses around the world, including at NYU and McGill.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
Drew Brees just became the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards when he surpassed Peyton Manning in a Monday Night Football game. Brees is surely destined for Canton, Ohio and the Pro Football Hall of Fame once he retires. However, it didn’t look that way when Brees was coming out of Purdue University and was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2001 NFL draft. He was considered too short to be a sure-fire NFL Quarterback. In fact, seven games into his first NFL season, he was unexpectedly thrust into action when the starter got hurt. Brees preceded to fumble the ball the first time he dropped back to pass. In 2006, he tore his rotator cuff and was no longer wanted by his team. New Orleans embraced him and welcomed him. He would reward the team (and city) with their first Super Bowl championship in 2009.
“Don’t tell them what you’re going to do – that’s vision. Do what you’re going to do – that’s culture. Culture eats vision for lunch”. (John C. Maxwell)
When I first heard this, I wrote it down and thought that it sounded good. However, the more I thought about that statement the more I started to see the truth of it.
We need both a strong culture and a positive vision to reach our fullest potential. If I have to choose, however, I will take a strong culture any day of the week over a clear vision. Even the clearest vision may not be realized if the culture is poor and weighing you down.
As a college basketball coach for nearly 20 years, I had many experiences that I was proud of. But, I also made my share of mistakes, especially early in my career. Now that I have left coaching to work with teams as a leadership trainer and consultant, I look back on my career and offer up five things that I wish I knew when I first started out in coaching.
“There are two types of speakers: Those who get nervous and those who are liars.” (Mark Twain)My 6th grade year was coming to a close. It had been a good year.
I had won my fair share of kickball games at recess. My “Killer B’s” tag team won homemade wrestling belts at our improvised events during lunch. And maybe most memorably, I received my first kiss from a girl not named “Mom”.
But there was one thing left to do…
“We don’t have to agree on anything to be kind to one another.” (Toby Mac)One day while I was a high school student, a bunch of us were playing pickup basketball at a nearby gym. I was playing well and doing my fair share of trash talking that day. Finally, my friend had enough of this as some of my verbal barrage was directed at him.
He told us that he didn’t want to play any more and that we all had to leave. You see, he was the one that had the key to the gym and had opened it up for us to play. He literally took his ball and went home. He didn’t have very thick skin and didn’t react to the situation very well. I, on the other hand, was not very respectful as I acted like a punk.
Most of the time, showing respect to people (even those that you don’t think deserve it) is more a reflection of your character than it is a reflection of theirs.
“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know; but when you listen you may learn something new.” (Dalai Lama)“What are you doing? There are cars coming”, said my mother.“Don’t worry mom”, I replied confidently. “Pedestrians have the right of way”.“Yeah and you’ll be DEAD RIGHT”, she retorted.