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.
“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.
Sue Enquist is UCLA Softball’s first All-American, National Champion, and Hall of Famer. In 2006, Enquist concluded her storied 27-year career as head coach of the UCLA Bruins with a 887-175-1 (.835) record, making her the winningest softball coach among all active coaches. She is the only person in NCAA Softball history to win a championship as a head coach and a player. During her career, Enquist produced 65 All-Americans and 15 Olympians. She has been inducted into six Hall of Fames including UCLA, Women’s Sport Foundation, USA Softball Hall of Fame, and National Fastpitch Coaches Association. Enquist is also the recipient of multiple National Coach of the Year and Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors. She grew up in San Clemente, California, and is a former professional surfer. Today she lives in San Clemente, California, where she surfs daily and enjoys spending time with her family.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
(originally published on January 9, 2015)
The Oregon Ducks and the Ohio State Buckeyes will battle Monday night in the first-ever College Football Playoffs Championship Game. Both teams have glaring examples of people who took advantage of opportunities presented to them and didn’t quit or become disruptive to their teams. I will come back to these Bucks and Ducks in a moment.
As a long-time coach and now an athletic director, it pains me every time that I see a student-athlete get disgruntled over playing time or their role on the team. In nearly every case, the player quits. Oh, they might not quit the team and they might not even make a visible show but slowly and surely they cash out mentally. Instead of seeing the opportunity in every challenge, as Winston Churchill used to say, they see the difficulty in every opportunity. Unfortunately instead of persevering, they make excuses and take on a victim-mentality.