Jamy Bechler

Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.

Leaders Growing Leaders: Andy Carter

Andy Carter (A.D. at Missouri Western) appeared as a guest on the “Leaders Growing Leaders” series of the SUCCESS IS A CHOICE PODCAST NETWORK. Along with host Jamy Bechler, they discussed …

  • Picking your battles
  • Coaching the coaches
  • Hiring and firing coaches
  • Developing other leaders
  • Running a successful athletic department

Prior to his arrival at Missouri Western State University, Andy Carter was also an A.D. at Missouri Baptist, Newberry College, Armstrong Atlantic State, and Minot State.

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Episode 174: Jeff Hoffman (Global CEO, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist)

Jeff Hoffman is an award-winning global entrepreneur, proven CEO, worldwide motivational speaker, bestselling author, Hollywood film producer, producer of a Grammy Award-winning jazz album, and executive producer of an Emmy Award-winning television show. Jeff has been part of a number of well-known successful startups, including Priceline.com, Booking.com, uBid.com, and more. Jeff is the CEO of Driving Force Enterprises, a strategic consulting firm that teaches exponential growth to business owners and entrepreneurs, as well as teaching innovation strategies to corporations and governments worldwide.

Click here for Jeff’s complete bio

In today’s episode, we discuss:
  • William Shatner becoming the face of Priceline
  • How to build a strong team
  • Making the world better – with or without money
  • Using a whiteboard to build culture
  • … and much more!!!

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Episode 178: Paycheck to Purpose with Ken Coleman

Ken Coleman is America’s Career Coach, the #1 national bestselling author of The Proximity Principle and From Paycheck to Purpose, and host of The Ken Coleman Show. Ken helps people discover what they were born to do and provides practical steps to make their dream job a reality. The Ken Coleman Show is a nationally syndicated, caller-driven show that helps listeners who are searching for something more out of their career.

For more background and insights on Ken, please listen to our first conversation with him during episode #72.

In today’s episode, we discuss:
  • The super power we all need
  • Working with people even if they are frustrating
  • Staffing with less resources
  • Success being tied to the kind of talent on a team
  • … and much more!!!

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Piles of Mail

“First get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then they can figure out where to drive it.” (Jim Collins, Good to Great)

During the summer of my first year as an AD, we hired a brand new secretary. On her first day, she put all the mail that had been piling up for the last month into a big black trash bag and threw it in the dumpster.

In all fairness, it looked like a big pile of trash with all of the catalogs from equipment, award, and apparel businesses. But there were a few letters and other important stuff mixed in.

Obviously, I was not happy. However, she was just trying to help out and we were in the midst of redecoration and redesign of the athletic department so she thought this was right in line with what we were trying to do.

Regardless, I went dumpster diving and also learned a great lesson.

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Episode 095: Tim Hall, UMBC Athletic Director

Tim Hall is the Director of Athletics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He was also appointed President of the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (ADA) in the summer of 2017 and has served as the chairman of the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics. During the 2018 NCAA Tournament, the UMBC Retrievers Men’s Basketball team made history when they became the first ever No. 16 seed to beat the No. 1 seed when they beat Virginia by 20 points, 74-54. Tim has previously served as the Athletic Director at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.  Before heading up his own departments, he was the assistant A.D. at Eastern Kentucky University, Saint Xavier University, Youngstown State University, and Kent State University. 

In today’s episode, we discuss:
  • The historic upset that the men’s basketball team had in the 2018 NCAA Tournament
  • Social media creativity of UMBC athletic communication staff during the tournament
  • Ways to build a mid-major athletic program
  • Hiring and keeping good team members
  • What makes UMBC so special

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4 Reasons Your Boss is an Idiot

“Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.”  (John C. Maxwell)

We all have a boss. Even the President of the U.S. has “We The People” that he has to answer to. Many of us complain about our boss. Unfortunately, not all bosses are top-shelf. If you happen to be a boss, you also might want to read this so that you can stop doing some of this stuff if you are guilty of it.

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Episode 052: Tim Selgo, 3x National A.D. of the Year

Tim Selgo is the author of the book “Anchor Up: Competitive Greatness the Grand Valley Way”.  He was the athletic director at Grand Valley State University for 20 years. During that time, the Lakers won the Director’s Cup as the top collegiate athletic department an astounding 10 times. Lakers teams won 18 national championships. He was named the national A.D. of the Year three times. He is now teaching part-time at Davenport University and is a Senior Consultant with Athletics Staffing and Consultants.

In addition, GVSU won 18 straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Presidents’ Cup titles as the top athletic program in the 16-team GLIAC. The Lakers’ 23 all-time Presidents’ Cup titles top all GLIAC institutions. Grand Valley State, which won 45 GLIAC titles prior to Tim’s arrival, has won 174 GLIAC titles since he was appointed Athletic Director in 1996.

A well respected leader in college athletics throughout his career, Tim served on the NCAA DII Management Council for four years (2007-11), including serving as Chair of the Management Council in 2009. A term on the NCAA DII Management Council is the highest position is DII athletics. He was named the NACDA Division II AD of the Year for the Central Region (2012-13), while also being named the Division II Central Region Astroturf AD of the Year (2006-07). He was also honored as the Central Region AD of the Year in 2002-03. In addition, Tim was President of NACDA for the 2015-16 year. Before getting into administration, Tim served as the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Toledo for three years.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

  • The “secret sauce” of building culture
  • Working with great coaches like Nick Saban, Brian Kelly, and Gary Pinkel
  • His new book and why all business leaders need to read it
  • How to surround yourself with the right people

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Episode 039: Ruston Pierce, Head of Mount Pisgah School

Ruston Pierce is the Head of School at highly regarded Mount Pisgah Christian School just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. He was hired at Mount Pisgah in January of 2017. Ruston has created an innovative leadership development program for his staff. The RISE (Reach, Inspire, Serve, Equip) program accepts only a limited number of staff per year. Staff members have to complete an application process with the goal of finding the right staff members each year to go through the program. The program helps staff members develop their leadership skills so that they can be better in their current positions but also be more prepared for future advancement opportunities. Before coming to Mount Pisgah, Ruston spent time as the Head of School at Concord Christian School in Knoxville, TN.  Concord Christian was recognized as the fastest growing private school in the city, moving from 11th to a 2nd overall ranking among private schools in Knoxville over a 3-year span as ranked by the Knoxville Business Journal. During his tenure, the school completed a strategic marketing plan, successfully renewed dual accreditation, initiated a recent capital campaign, expanded marketing and social media plans while doubling enrollment to approximately 1,200 students across all divisions. Ruston also served as the Director of Dual Enrollment at Bryan College, Director of Development and Assistant Principal at Grace Baptist Academy, Dean of Student Affairs at Silverdale Baptist Academy and as a member of the Young Life staff.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

  • Building a winning team of faculty and staff members
  • How he helped build his school’s incredible social media following
  • His innovative leadership development and mentorship program for his faculty and staff

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