Coaches And CEOs Achieve Success When Others Thrive

You walk into your business and you look around and see things that work and things that don’t. You cultivate the good and make adjustments to the bad. You never stop tinkering - helping others become better and changing things that quite simply aren’t working. It’s what you do as an entrepreneur and as a coach. Most of the time there is no time to step back and look at your work from a distance because you are so caught up in the issue de jure or the current team you coach.

But then there are times like these when you get a call from a former player three years removed asking you to come watch him on his “Senior Night” in high school (pictured above), or a text from a player’s father telling you how well he is doing playing for his high school team after he had thought of getting out of the sport just before you coached him but stuck with it because of the messages you delivered to him that season. There is the random encounter with a player you haven’t seen in years who tells you how much he learned from you the season you had him, not just about how to play the game, but how to go about his business everyday. Then, there are moments reminiscing with your son and his friends who you coached years ago and whose lives they tell you have been impacted by the the lessons they learned from you when they were teenagers. And, most specially, the call you still get from your son finishing his college hockey career and listening to him break down the game, and life itself, in ways you never imagined. All of this provides perspective, and immense satisfaction, which can be difficult during the journey itself.

I am not sure that I have had a positive impact on all those that I coach or have coached or those that I have worked with or am currently honored to work with. For some, the message I am trying to deliver resonates and for others it falls flat. The job, however, is to not be satisfied with the successes achieved with those who understand but rather to bring along those committed but not fully on board. For those not committed, move on. Those not committed will inevitably bring down those committed to being their very best. It is true in sports and in business. When your team is made up of individuals committed to the cause, and you help them believe in themselves and what they are doing, championships are won, business thrives, and those around you are positively impacted. When that occurs, the coach smiles, for a brief moment, behind the scenes, away from others, before going back to work. (thing Herb Brooks celebrating by himself in the tunnel after the Miracle Team beats the Russians in 1980). Enjoy the moment, for a moment, and then keep striving to make others Better.

Who are you building your team with?

Better. Better. Better.

https://hbr.org/2015/02/how-to-coach-according-to-5-great-sports-coaches