The Team Leadership Report

Guide me as I try to coach this team; to build each player’s character and boost their self-esteem. May I keep an even temper and remember it’s just a game. Let me find what motivates each player and work to make everyone feel important. Grant me patience with them as I praise them or correct, remembering that I must work to earn each one’s respect. Whether we may win or lose may all who are watching see the kind of coach at every game that you would have me be. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   LEAD . . . For God's Sake!: A Parable for Finding the Heart of Leadership [Hardcover] [2011] Todd Gongwer

Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal that has the true religion - several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven. ---Mark Twain Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built. ---James Allen When Mozart was composing at the end of the eighteenth century, the city of Vienna was so quiet that fire alarms could be given

I have come to a frightening conclusion.  I am the decisive element in the gym, on the field, or in the yard.  It is my personal approach that creates the climate.  It is my daily mood that makes the weather.  As a coach, I possess tremendous power to make an athlete’s life miserable or joyous.  I can be the tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.  I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.  In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and an athlete humanized or dehumanized.  _________________________________________________ The Extraordinary Coach: How the Best Leaders Help Others Grow

There is a story about Thomas Edison, whom some have said that at one time opened a new shop at the age of 67. Thomas Edison watched as fire destroyed much of his work and equipment. Most of us would say it was time to retire? Was it time to hang up the lab coat?  That was not certainly not Edison’s way. The Inventor said:  “All our mistakes are burned up. Now we can start anew.” Edison knew his time to retire hadn’t come. The fire that consumed his work didn’t destroy the fire that burned within him to continue his work.  Edison’s commitment remained. Now I can’t tell you that the above is true, but looking at Edison’s life body of work, his failures and successes, I have come to believe his commitment was there.  John Maxwell said that people tend to associate commitment with emotions.  C ommitment is not an emotion; it’s a character quality that allows us to reach our goals.  Emotions go up and down all the time, but commitment is the foundation of rock we stand on.

An old man, a boy & a donkey were going to town. The boy rode on the donkey & the old man walked. As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking & the boy was riding.  The man & boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions. Later, they passed some people that remarked, "What a shame, he makes that little boy walk."  They then decided they both would walk! Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they both rode the donkey.  Now they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey.  The boy & man said they were probably right, so they decide to carry  the donkey. As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal & he fell into the river and drowned.  The moral of the story? If you try to please everyone, you might as well...

A team can lose. Any team can lose. But in a sense, a very real sense a coach never loses. For the job of a coach is over and finished once the starting whistle blows. They know they've won or lost before play starts. For a coach has two tasks. The minor one is to teach skills: to teach a child how to run faster, hit harder, block better, kick farther, jump higher. The second task: the major task is to make grown-ups out of children. It’s to teach an attitude of mind. It’s to implant character and not simply impart skills. It’s to teach children to play fair. This goes without saying. It's to teach them to be humble in victory and proud in defeat. This goes without saying. But more importantly it’s to teach them to live up to their potential no matter what their potential is. It’s to teach them to do their best and never be satisfied with what they are. But to strive to be as good as they can be if they tried harder. A coach can never make a great player out

I was sustained by one piece of inestimable good fortune. I had for a friend a man of immense and patient wisdom and a gentle but unyielding fortitude. I think that if I was not destroyed at this time by the sense of hopelessness which these gigantic labors has awakened in me, it was largely because of the courage and patience of this man. I did not give in because he would not let me give in. --Thomas Wolfe  I had always said to myself that forty was the cut off point of my apprenticeship which may for some people, sound like a very long one, but the novel as art is a middle-aged art. I was very frightened when I turned forty. I suddenly thought I ought to wake up and be speaking with the voice of God. I said that to my mother and she said, "you've been speaking with the voice of God since you could talk! Don't worry about it!" --Jane Rule The concern that some women show at the absence of their husbands, does not arise from their

Captains are important and serve a unique function on our teams, so I enjoyed this article from Leadership Freak, The Three Power-People You Need On Your Team.  I don’t want to get into whether you choose captains or you let the team, or whether or not your captains are always seniors, or whether you don’t have captains at all.  I want to focus on what qualities we should look for, and what we should coach the team to look for, in our team leaders. What we should look for in team leaders: Hard working. I don’t know about you, but my best captains have been the hardest workers.  When they asked the team to run through a wall, their teammates knew the captain would be right there with them…leading the way. Strong opinions and emotions. They should be passionate about the sport, about the team, and about their teammates.  Ideally they’re able to harness that emotion into motivating their teammates. Unflinching alignment with organizational values.  What is it you value as a coa

1. Contagious energy  2. Communication  3. Connection  4. Commitment 5. Caring by Jon Gordon fromjongordon.com   Soup: A Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below is  the personal creed of Robert Louis Stevenson and it is still very relevant today!  Make up your mind to be happy.  Learn to find pleasure in simple things. Make the best of your circumstances.  No one has everything, and everyone has something of sorrow intermingled with the gladness of life.  The trick is to make laughter outweigh the tears. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t think that somehow you should be protected from misfortunes that befall others. You can’t please everybody.  Don’t let criticism worry you. Don’t let your neighbor set your standards.  Be yourself. Do the things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt. Don’t borrow trouble.  Imaginary things are harder to bear than actual ones. Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish enmities, grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy. Have many interests. If you can’t travel, read about new places. Don’t hold post mortems.  Don’t spend your life brooding over sorrows and mistakes.  Don’t be