Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels
What does it take to be a leader? What principles do you follow? Can leadership be taught? These are all oft-asked questions. I recently had the pleasure of reading what two coaches had to say about this. I read management experts all the time, so this is a bit of a departure from reading what (say) Peter Drucker had to say. Both coaches were legends in their own right - John Wooden who led the UCLA team to several championship wins, and Lou Holtz - renowned college football coach. The books here:
I wasn't really ever great at sports, though I enjoyed and enjoy playing for recreation. However, the stories these coaches tell, their unrelenting focus on excellence, the impact they had on young impressionable atheletes, and their principled approach to success is something we can all learn from.
The journey is better than the inn. -- Miguel de Cervantes
They both come from very humble beginnings. They did not particularly seek fame, and at least in Wooden's case, expressed at least a minor dislike at how it cramped his style. The advice they share is timeless: focus on the fundamentals - hone your craft and sweat the details, work hard - the harder you work the luckier you will get, focus on your team not yourself, walk your talk, and finally, concentrate on the process and the results will take care of themselves.
They express these in terms of getting team victories, and how you can grow into a leader by practicing these consistently with honesty, dedication, and focus, so people will want you to lead them, will willingly follow, and together you will be able to realize your dream goal. There is of course more to these books (e.g. the "success pyramid", etc.) , but I'm not going for a full point-by-point summary here.
Victory here is measured by how close one comes to delivering their peak performance - not whether you have the highest score on the board at the end of the game, or even whether you won or lost. If you do your absolute best when called on, you have won. Great sentiment to live by.
The Vince Lombardi books and quotes are quite well-known. I've read them and they are inspirational. But the above books are also good if in a somewhat more understated way.
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. -- Vince Lombardi
For inspiration and motivation, this is one of my favorite talks - by Arnold Schwarznegger. It's 12 minutes well spent.
Recently, a friend pointed me to this poem about the need to take some pains in life to grow and develop yourself so you can see success. It's called "Good Timber" by Douglas Malloch. My favorite stanza:
Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
-- excerpt from "Good Timber" by Douglas Malloch
What are some other good leadership books written by sports titans that you like? Please share in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment