Why 96?

The NCAA in their infinite wisdom has set the stage to expand to 96 teams. Looking at the rationale behind this move, it is pretty clear that this decision is a money grab based on the ability to generate more dollars from television. As a former athletic director, I greatly appreciate the reality of generating more dollars for the member schools so that programs and student-athletes across the board will benefit. Will the leadership take some shots from this decision, of course. Yet this is a case where I believe they have looked at the cost-benefit analysis and determined if the dollars are there, then we need to make the move. I can assure you that some faculty will toss a few grenades at the NCAA for creating a scenario where there will be more missed class time for the players. I would encourage the NCAA then to take a leadership role in encouraging the faculty to create learning models where students can have instruction delivered to them at any time anywhere. Tenured faculty ought to learn these three words—University of Phoenix. Leadership is about developing solutions not about being an obstructionist.

March Madness Biggest Surprise

This year’s NCAA tournament surprise team West Eastern State University provides some great messages for all leaders.  Maybe the best message is that great leaders take adversity and figure out how to turn it into success.  Often the traditional or conventional way of doing things does not work when you are disadvantaged in regards to resources, tradition or talent.  Faced with almost certain failure Coach Holton found a way to be successful by looking for non-traditional recruits and then adapting his teaching style to allow those recruits to use their unique set of talents.  Then figuring out how to fit those skills into the team setting and having all the players buy-in with no jealousy toward the Ivan Brothers was the true test. Remember quite often the axiom of “big risk, big reward” is what makes great leaders great, West Eastern University took a big chance and it paid off with a huge return.  The attached video is a great lesson.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CapitalOne

texas tech and mike leach—a question of loyalty

As the  Texas Tech administration plowed through the confusing saga of Coach Mike Leach and his interaction with student-athlete Adam James, many questions started to surface.  However, the number one question had to be, what kind of leader do we want in our most visible position?  It is pretty clear the Leach had a very strong belief that he was in total control of the program and felt comfortable making arbitrary decisions with little concern for the implications of those decisions.  Interestingly enough this is the same program where Bobby Knight had more than a couple blips on the public relations front yet seemed to always have the support of the administration.  What was the difference?  When Leach pursued the Washington head job just months after signing his $12 million five year deal, he demonstrated no loyalty to Texas Tech and for all intent alienated all the administration who had supported the new contract.  On the other hand, Coach Knight always had strong support and a good relationship with AD Gerald Meyers.  When the ugly situation with James surfaced, the equity he had gained from his wins on the field were not going to trump the lack of loyalty to the Administration and the University.   Coach Leach had no no advocates in the decision-making positions and all his .  That lack of loyalty coupled with a dose of arrogance led to the final outcome.  Remember leaders need advocates at every level.

Leaders Have to Step Up to the Plate

Challenge sets the stage for greatness. When Phil Jackson returned to coach the Lakers he had a big challenge. In his book he had indicated the Kobe was “uncoachable” and was not a good teammate. The year before the Lakers had won just 34 games and seemed to be a haven for selfish, underachieving big name players.

Enter Jackson with his unique style and nine world championship rings. Jackson, probably as well as anyone, understands the concept of role players and superstars. The trick was getting everyone to accept and relish their role. While Bryant clearly was the centerpiece, Jackson was able to convince ownership to acquire individuals who could work with the temperamental and sometimes difficult superstar. Derrick Fisher, Pau Gasol, and Trevor Ariza all fit perfectly into Jackson’s successful paradigm of “stars and their helpers”. Clearly the model while sometimes erratic proved to be the format for success. The challenge in the land of movie stars and acerbic media was one that many individuals with Jackson’s previous success would have not even considered. The intense scrutiny and critical fan base that had driven other successful coaches out of the LA sports scene, proved to be the perfect stage to crown Jackson’s leadership greatness. His nine world championship and previous success with Lakers bought him time while he cleverly positioned himself to have the control and resources necessary to succeed.

While the Zen Master was not afraid of the challenge, he also was insightful enough to make sure he had the support necessary to get the job done. GREAT LEADERS ACCEPT CHALLENGES AS OPPORTUNITIES.

They understand that being successful dealing with difficult situations is what makes a leader great and they relish the chance. How do you look at tough challenges? The big market teams are the biggest opportunities for any coach. They also are the biggest chance for failure.

Sosa: Another Cheater or Victim of Poor Leadership?

The revelation by the New York Times that Sammy Sosa was one of the 104 major league players who tested positive for drug use in 2003 came as no surprise to anyone. What this story does is bring to light the insidious lack of leadership demonstrated by Bud Selig and Donald Fehr. Anyone remotely connected to baseball knew for years that amphetamines were more accessible in major league clubhouses than skittles. On some teams the attitude was that if you were not using “greenies”, you were not really trying.

Everyone knew that Major League Baseball had a culture of steroid and amphetamine use and yet the leadership chose to ignore the potential problem. Without question performance enhancing drugs was a tough issue as the union clearly did not want any drug testing programs and had enough power to cause an ongoing confrontational relationship with Bud and his buddies. Major League baseball was not willing to engage in a major confrontation so the issue was totally ignored.

In 2005 (2 years after the drug screening that found 104 positive tests from major leaguers) Commissioner Selig penned a let to Fehr that said, “It’s time to put the whispers about amphetamine use to bed once and for all. To the extent that our culture has tolerated the use of these substances, the culture must change.” Talk about closing the barn door after the horses are out. The leadership clearly failed the players by not accepting the responsibility to see the future and understand the potential major train wrecks that could be on the horizon. Leadership must always be very cognizant of any issue that could derail the success of the organization. Clearly a major drug scandal can create havoc for any initiative but particularly for a sports organization.

Will Gives Leaders Ability to Focus

Vince Lombardi was credited with saying, “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.”  For leaders no quote has more credibility than this one.  Leaders have to be the driving force that set the course and then stand rock solid through the peaks and valleys.  Followers continually look for cues from their leaders and at the first sign of uncertainty or lack of will, the followers will lose confidence and focus.

Dr. Wood Selig, the very successful and highly respected athletic director at Western Kentucky University, has come up with a mantra for the Hilltoppers – “Championship Effort”.  Championship Effort is the slogan that has become the way of life for WKU coaches, student-athletes and administrators.  The strong commitment to Championship Effort by the leader, his inner circle of staff and coaches has manifested itself into 19 conference championships over the last two years, ranking the Tops as one of the most successful over that time period.

In talking to Selig there is no question that the focus to compete for championships and put forth that necessary effort is the only acceptable course of action for WKU Athletics.    The will of the leader is the common thread that holds the organization together, keeps everyone focused and ultimately provides the landscape for success.

Think about great coaches and how strong-willed they are…names like Donovan, Aueriemma, Williams, Summitt.  The belief in what they are doing builds the will necessary to navigate the course to the top.

Leadership Demands Responsibility…Do The Clippers Have It?

The Los Angeles Clippers received a huge chunk of good luck by winning the ping pong ball lottery of the NBA and winning the first pick in the draft. Their history of first picks with Mike Olowokandi and Benoit Benjamin have not been good. It would be kind to say the franchise has floundered. Now they have a chance but first they have to do something that all successful leaders do. They must accept total responsibility for the future.

They have gotten a huge break that could jumpstart their franchise, but they have to now realize with that good fortune comes the responsibility to make decisions which will set the future of the franchise. Another perceived “bad draft” and this leadership team will never recover. Blake Griffin should be the perfect centerpiece for the Clips. Coached not only in basketball at Oklahoma, but also in life skills by one of the best coaches in college basketball (Jeff Capel), Griffin gives the Clippers a guy who can relate to everyone.

Getting Griffin was just the first piece of the puzzle. Let’s see if the Clippers will take responsibility and make some of the hard and wise decisions that will shape their future. Remember, real leaders accept TOTAL responsibility.

Leaders Need Courage

In today’s world we need leadership more than ever before and understandably this is a time where skepticism and cynicism of leadership runs rampant. This is a time where leaders really have to be totally aware of the attitude of followers and realize they will be under more scrutiny than ever before. Understand that one important personality trait that leaders must possess is courage. Today leaders need courage to be willing to accept leadership roles and more importantly need courage to affect change. Think of all the great leaders, they have created entities or teams or programs that were significantly different than what they took over.

Wooden vs. Lombardi…Who Wins?

They both do…in very different ways.

John Wooden and Vince Lombardi are two great leaders who survived the test of time.  When we look at their personalities some might think they had very little in common.  Lombardi demanded toughness and was a rigid disciplinarian while Wooden was the quintessential psychologist who was focused on the mental part of the game.  Because of the differences in personality, appearance, communication style, etc., how can we extract any great lesson from this two remarkable leaders?

One thing that this two great coaches had in common, along with all great coaches, is that they had an incredible belief in what they were doing was 100% right.  They believed with all their heart that they were doing great things for their followers and their “system” was absolutely bigger and more important than any one individual.  They created a value system, committed totally to that value system and were able to get there teams to believe in their system.

An important question: What is the first step in getting followers to believe in the system?

Listeners Needed – FOLLOW UP…

Yesterday I conveyed how watching the total undivided attention that Anthony Grant received from his players, coaches, managers and trainers during a timeout truly demonstrated that he is a great leader. Clearly the reaction that he receives from his team speaks volumes for his leadership talent, yet the critical learning element is “how did Coach Grant get that total commitment?” The answer is Anthony developed a personal relationship with each and everyone of those “followers”. They believed that Coach Grant had their personal well-being as a major focus of the program and that they were very important to the teams success. Each and everyone had developed a belief (fostered by Anthony Grant) that their contribution was important and actually critical to the success of the team. How do you build that buy-in?

• Communicate freely
• Build trust
• Define goals bigger than an individual
• Manage individual goals
• Make individuals accountable
• Eliminate fear of failure
• Celebrate successes
• Learn continuously

How many times have you seen very individually talented teams or groups not succeed because they have not bought-in to the some element of the program. Intuitively a team such as the Phoenix Suns with Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudamire, Grant Hill and Jason Richardson should be able to compete with anyone, but in spite of the individual talents, leading this group is a tough job.