Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
“Do or do not…there is no try” said the Jedi Master, Yoda, to the young Luke Skywalker. I was a youngster when The Empire Strikes Back was in theaters. I loved that line then and I love it today. It can be used in a variety of settings. However, as I have been thinking about leadership the last few weeks, it has become apparent that some of us get stagnant and don’t really commit to growth as leaders. We say we’ll try, but we don’t really.
“Be a star in your role, and for me, that’s high-energy, use my motor, just play hard. Play hard, be relentless on the glass. And that’s what I bring to this team. That’s my job. Just be a star in your role, and I try to do that every night.” (Tristan Thompson)Tristan Thompson’s huge double-double in Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals and unselfish play in all of the games helped lead the Cleveland Cavs to the World Championship. Good thing for Cavs fans and players that he didn’t pout about his boring and un-glamorous role. He might not be Lebron James, but he can now call himself a CHAMPION!
Many of us are in positions or roles that we don’t like. Some of us are in leadership positions where we have disgruntled team members. I want tell you a little story. A story that I don’t think I will ever forget.
Let’s face it, most people hate meetings. However, what if I told you that you could conduct one-on-one meetings that were meaningful and purposeful?
“No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you’ve come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.” (Madonna)
Unless you landed on earth in an UFO and hail from an alien planet, you have some issues that need solving. Let’s face it . . . we all have problems. We all are faced with hundreds of choices per day.
The 2016 NBA Finals was one of the most memorable series in recent history. It truly was historic. In fact, last night ESPN re-aired their 30 for 30 entitled “Believeland”, but this time had a new ending. Cleveland has been the poster child for bad luck and hard times when it comes to sports having not won a championship in any sport since 1964.
“Believeland” pointed this out, agonizingly so, for Cleveland fans. But all of that changed on Father’s Day when the Lebron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers completed the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history and won the NBA Championship. The Cavs were down 3-1 to the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors. The Warriors were the overwhelming favorite with Steph Curry, the league’s first-ever unanimous MVP winner (that’s right…Magic, Bird, MJ, Shaq…they never were unanimous).
In our most recent Student-Athlete Leadership Team meeting, a student asked a question that had the rest of the group nodding in agreement and adding their two-cents worth to the conversation.
“How do I get my teammates to listen to me”?
There are many variations to this question, but they all come down to student-athletes wanting to influence their teammates in some way. John Maxwell, the #1 leadership expert in the world, says that “Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Leadership guru, John Maxwell, says that “Leadership is influence and influence is leadership, nothing more, nothing less.” Many people mistakenly think that leadership is a title. Titles may give a person some prestige or artificial power, but true leadership involves the amount of influence that a person has. Maxwell further states that a leader without followers is just a person going for a long walk. [Read more…]
(originally published on January 25, 2015)
Some Marion High School student-athletes are learning how to be better leaders in order to help their teams on the field of competition and improve the world around them.
About 25 student-athletes from various teams at Marion met weekly this past semester before school to learn about different leadership concepts.
(originally posted on May 22, 2015)
In the last issue of THE ENCOURAGING LEADER, we highlighted some of the best books to help you become a better leader. This issue’s theme centers around quotes. We asked a number of leaders to write about their favorite quote and what it means to them.