4 LESSONS PHILIP RIVERS TEACHES US ABOUT DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP GREATNES

Philip Rivers is a great example of a player who is in the process of developing leadership greatness. Great players don't become great until they inspire others to greatness. Scott Bair of the New County Times shares some insight about how Philip Rivers is growing into leadership greatness.

1. Leadership greatness begins with shifting focus from self to others. As soon as this happens true greatness will begin. Shifting focus is the foundation. Norv Turner, "I think his emphasis has changed a little bit. He certainly wants to play better, but he's at a point in his career where he can help other guys do the same."

2. Leadership greatness involves correcting and encouraging teammates during difficult times. The person that can correct with encouragement during difficult times can truly influence those closest to them. Nor Turner explains, "It could be something as simple as a quick pep talk or bringing a calming influence to a stressful situation."

3. Leadership greatness demonstrate a work ethic that makes them great and then influences others to be great. A great player that works hard but doesn't bring others along is working selfishly. Great players are able to influence the players around them to a better work ethic. Norver Turner, "That's what leadership is, but it all starts with what you do on the field and the effort you put into honing your craft. He sets a great example for everyone in this organization. After that, there are young guys he can teach and help them realize their potential with constructive criticism and positive reinforcement."



4. Leadership greatness sets an example that always brings unity to the team.

The great leader understands the power of connection. They will go out of there way to connect because it's that important to them. Running back Ryan Matthews, "He's a guy you want to play hard for. He finds a way to connect with everyone on this team in a unique way, which creates an instant bond that I believe it helps us on the field. He's the glue that holds this offense together."

DON MEYER INTERVIEW

This post was in an email from Shane Dreiling's Team Arete Newsletter.

Q&A with Former Northern State Head Coach Don Meyer

By Adam.Warner

Don Meyer finds himself in an unfamiliar territory these days. After 38 seasons and 923 wins, the winningest men’s basketball coach in college history is now retired from the game and spends his time working as a professor, speaker and author. In the first edition of Coaches Corner, Championship Productions editor Adam Warner sits down with the coaching legend and learns about Meyer’s life after retirement, his coaching philosophy, helpful advice for coaches and players, and what exactly he wants people to remember most about his truly remarkable career.

You’re now retired from coaching, what’s the feeling like being away from the bench?

I don’t really miss it at all because I just can’t do it anymore. I don’t have the physical stamina and emotional reserves to deal with it. When I got out of coaching, I realized just how much I put into it, and you don’t realize that until you retire. I said to myself, “How was I able to do that for so many years?”

I watch the games and I see mistakes and they make me upset sometimes. But I know basketball can’t be played perfectly and it’s none of my business, but I still watch and enjoy seeing the game played. I don’t go to practice anymore. It’s not the right thing to do, especially with a new coach and a new program. In my last few years, I knew I didn’t have it, and I knew retiring was the best thing for the team.

When did you know that you wanted to be a coach?

When I knew I wasn’t good enough to go pro. I also liked teaching. I had a baseball job at Western St. College and was also an assistant basketball coach. I received my masters at Northern Colorado when I finished playing. Although I thought I did, I didn’t understand basketball yet. I was lucky to get into the game and learned a lot under Bill Foster at Utah. I also liked coaching at the college level more than at the high school level, so I knew that was the right place for me. There’s less parental influence and more teaching. Everything changes though, but that’s the only constant thing, the teaching in coaching.

What do you think is the greatest aspect about being a coach?

The most fun was to see kids develop into a team, become team players, play team basketball and just team everything — players that look out for each other and help one another on and off the floor.

Over 38 years, I only had one player who didn’t graduate. That talks about what you do on and off the floor. You work with a kid individually on how he can execute or help the team win a game. I enjoyed seeing the team play hard, smart, together and having fun while doing it.

How do you think you’ve changed as a coach over the years?

You get humbler the longer you coach. I don’t think I ever looked the other way. I used to sleep on problems a bit and then come back the next day having thought things over. But some things you have to deal with immediately, like if players fight, things like that. There’s a lot of facts you need in situations before you make a decision. And as a young coach, you can’t have procrastination. You have to deal with things as soon as it’s wise to do so.

How would you define your coaching philosophy?

After a while, it’s less about the on-paper stuff and more about feeling it in your gut. You have to have a concept in your mind about how you want kids to behave before you worry about how you want them to play. How they behave is how they end up playing.

I’m a big believer in courtesy, concentration, communication, competing and consistency. The ability for kids today to concentrate is tough. You snap your fingers and they are gone and so teaching them to concentrate is doing a great service.

With courtesy, it’s about please and thank you, things like picking up trash and cleaning up hallways and cleaning up after other people. Communication is about teaching on the floor and off the floor and resolving problems before they become a big deal. Meanwhile, people that don’t compete, complain. True competitors are too busy looking to win and don’t have the time to complain. And all of these things lead to consistency. It’s about doing the right thing and the next right thing right. We will always make mistakes, but the next thing must be right.

Also, treat people right who can’t do anything to you or for you. We far too often ignore those who can’t do things for us.

As a coach, where did you draw inspiration from?

Coach (Bob) Knight was a great teacher. Dick Bennett, Pat Summitt, Rick Majerus and Mike Krzyzewski are all great teachers. More often than not, the biggest inspiration comes from the small-time coaches, the one’s that are really into teaching and have it figured it out, like Bob Hurley and Morgan Wootten.

What’s the best advice you can give to a new coach?

Don’t ever take a job for the money. Also, you can expect to get fired. There are two types of coaches: been fired or about to be fired. Actually, the best coaches get fired because they take a
stand, especially at high school or college.

Can you talk about one of the most successful plays you’ve used throughout your career? What was it called and what made it so effective?

You need an inside game and an outside game. You need to get to the rim on offense and also be able to hit the pull-up shot. If you can do all four, you will be impossible to guard. How good you are defensively determines whether you’ll be good offensively. If you’re bad at defense, you have no chance. It starts with the stop and then the score.

We modified a drill from coach (Gregg) Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs where “Team A” goes up against “Team B.” Basically, if you get a stop and a score, you win the game. You can’t win big games without stopping the other team and if you can’t defend, you won’t be playing in March.Is there a particular drill you’ve always used throughout your career?Joe Paterno once said that a coach’s job is to replicate game situations in practice. My son (Jerry) also has a good saying, “Make practices like games and games like practices.”

To me, it’s about being a skill coach and not a drill coach. It’s about learning how to play the game and then properly execute the fundamentals that are part of the game. Just look at the game itself, it’s all about passing, catching, dribbling and shooting. Then you add moving without the ball and screening. That’s when you work on one of those things at a game tempo once you’ve taught them in order to get good at them. Our practices were always geared to make everything game-like.

Talk about some of the in-season conditioning programs/routines you instituted over the years. Why did you choose them and why were they effective?

I believe there’s too much preseason training and plyometrics. That’s why there are so many injures to athletes now. We have trainers looking for injuries everywhere. I believe the best way to get in basketball shape is to just play basketball.

Talk about some of the most common mistakes you see being made in the game today.

It’s no different from when I was coaching. The pros often set a bad example for college players and college players set a bad example for high school players, and so on. It’s the disintegration of playing the game through class.

Take for example all the chest bumping, arguing with refs or tapping chests. For myself, if I went back and coached, I would try to be sounder about how the game was taught. We’d play the way that was the best way to win and we’d be more solid in terms of integrity, academics and behavior. We’d also be simpler. The sounder we play, the better we play. Things have taken a funny path and have changed a lot over the past 30 years, and that’s not too long ago. It’s all a microcosm of society and a reflection of how people are today.

Besides talent, what are some of the most important key ingredients needed to have a championship-caliber team?

First is humility. Then you need players that are willing to listen and can play the game together as a team. Butler was a great example of this last year. It was a team that wasn’t as talented as the others, but they enjoyed playing together, had a system and believed in it. They played team ball and did the little things they had to do in order to make the team successful.

Also, I’m a believer that you should lean toward the defensive side of things as a coach. It’s remains true in every sport: You must be able to defend.

What do you look for in an ideal basketball player?

Toughness. Being mentally and physically tough is so important. You can’t put a value on that. After that, if they are athletic, that helps. Also, it’s important that they have the ability to learn and pick up skills. It’s impossible to know for sure with any player at the onset the way recruiting is structured. As a coach, it often comes down to a gut feeling you have about an athlete. You ask yourself, “Will I like or dislike coaching this kid?” Then comes the reality of coaching and finding out for real.

Looking back on your career, is there a feat or accomplishment you are most proud of?

If you like what you are doing and if you work with great kids, that’s a great blessing. I’ve been fortunate. The other thing is serving other people. Being a servant leader is what life is all about. Our guys would get shirts with T.E.A.M.S. written across them. The T is for toughness, E is for effort, A is for attitude, M is for motive and S is for servant leaders. If you could be servant leaders, that said it all, and all the other things would lead into that.

What do you want people to remember most about your coaching days?

It’s my hope that the kids who played for us can help others and held some of those values that we held into our coaching and went out and used them. Your legacy as a coach is what kids accomplished when you worked with them. I give the kids all of the credit. They came in with great values and hopefully they

were okay when they left. And you accept that.

The whole legacy of a coach is his players. Hopefully, you can also have an impact on the game, the way it was played and the treatment of others. Wins and losses do not mean a whole lot in the big picture, but you do have to win if you want to keep on coaching. But the accumulation of wins doesn’t mean much. It’s all about how kids come out of the program and what they do down the road.

TOM LANDRY ON NOT USING FEAR AS A MOTIVATOR

One way to motivate people is by using emotion. Vince Lombardi was a master of fear motivation. His players knew if they didn't perform they would pay the price of a tongue-lashing, extra work, or some other punitive indication of Vince's disfavor.

I believe fear motivation is always risky. It worked for Vince in Green Bay during the sixties because he had the talent to win. The negative sense of suffering Vince put the Packers through forced them to bond together as a group; when they won, the players forged a powerful sense of attachment to their teammates. What could easily have turned to hatred for Lombardi turned to love in the wake of victor-winning made it all worth it.

But if you don't win, fear motivation quickly backfires. There's no payoff to make players feel it's "worth it." And with all the emphasis on "individual rights" since the sixties, I don't think fear motivation can be very effective today.

I always believed knowledge could motivate a person. The better prepared you were, the better you felt and more confident you became in your ability to perform.

The goal-setting we've talked about became a means of motivating the team, as well as indviduals. When we finally achieved success in reaching our goals and winning football games, the Cowboys' winning tradition itself became one of the greatest motivators.

Another important factor in getting the best out of a player or an employee is making sure you have him in the right spot. When I saw someone who wasn't producing up to the level of their skills, someone who showed more talent than production, I automatically began looking for another spot to use him.

IS YOUR STYLE OF LEADERSHIP REALLY WORKING?

Here are some thoughts about servant leadership, from Dan Sanders, the author of Built to Serve:

Leaders can delegate authority, but they can never delegate responsibility.

We are influenced by those around us; choose carefully by whom you wished to be influenced.

Great leaders understand the important role servant leadership plays in helping others to realize their potential.

Servant leadership requires time and patience, resulting in building relationships and friendships based on trust.

Leaders must discern when team members are ready for promotion.

Its is the leader's job to ensure winners on the team win.

Pride stalks even the most committed players in an organization.

An organization needs both a mission-oriented and a people oriented culture. The two must coexist and complement each other.

Things will go bad-adversity is a fact of life.

Make decisions based on principles, not popularity.

Make decisions based on a godly perspective, not a worldly perspective.

Leaders must create positive energy in an organization, not toxic energy.

Create a place of privacy where the team can think clearly and freely.

With adversity comes opportunities, but they must be sought actively.

Healing starts where pride stops.

Culture dictates whether great ideas will spring from anyone in the organization

STEPHEN COVEY ON PRINICPILE LEADERSHIP PART 2

In a previous post I shared the first four characteristics of a Principle Centered Leader from Stephen Covey's book, "Principle Centered Leadership." Here are the final four characteristics

They Lead Balanced Lives

They read the best literature and magazines and keep up with current affairs and events. They are active socially, having many friends and a few confidants. They are active intellectually, having many interests. They read, watch, observe, and learn. Within the limits of age and health, they are active physically. They have a lot of fun. They enjoy themselves. They have a healthy sense of humor, particularly laughing at themselves and not at others' expense. You can sense they have a healthy regard for honesty about themselves.

They can feel their own worth, which is manifest by their courage and integrity and by the absence of a need to brag, to drop names, to borrow strength from possessions or credentials or titles or past achievements. They are open in their communication, simple, direct, nonmanipulative. They also have a sense of what is appropriate, and they would sooner err on the side of understatement than on the side of exaggeration.

They are not extremists, they do not make everything all or nothing. They do not divide everything into two parts, seeing everything as good or bad, as either/or. They think in terms of continuums, priorities, hierarchies. They have the power to discriminate, to sense the similarities and differences in each situation. This does not mean they see everything in terms of situational ethics. They fully recognize absolutes and courageously condemn the bad and champion the good.

Their actions and attitudes are proportionate to the situation-balanced, temperate, moderate, wise. For instance, they're not workaholics, religious zealots, political fanatics, diet crashers, food bingers, pleasure addicts, or fasting martyrs. They're not slavishly chained to their plans or schedules. They don't condemn themselves for every foolish mistake or social blunder. They don't brood about yesterday or daydream about tomorrow. They live sensibly in the present, carefully plan the future, and flexibly adapt to changing circumstances. Their self-honesty is revealed by their sense of humor, their willingness to admit and then forget mistakes, and to cheerfully do the things ahead that lie within their power.

They have no need to manipulate through either intimidating anger or self-pitying martyrdom. They are genuinely happy for others' successes and do not feel in any sense that these take anything from them. They take both praise and blame proportionately without head trips or overreactions. They see success on the far side of failure. The only real failure for them is the experience not learned from.

They See Life as an Adventure

Principle-centered people savor life. Because their security comes from within instead of from without, they have no need to categorize and stereotype everything and everybody in life to give them a sense of certainty and predictability. They see old faces freshly, old scenes as if for the first time. They are like courageous explorers going on an expedition into uncharted territories; they are really not sure what is going to happen, but they are confident it will be exciting and growth producing and that they will discover new territory and make new contributions. Their security lies in their initiative, resourcefulness, creativity, willpower, courage, stamina, and native intelligence rather than in the safety, protection, and abundance of their home camps, of their comfort zones.

They rediscover people each time they meet them. They are interested in them. they ask questions and get involved. They are completely present when they listen. They learn from them. They don't label them from past successes or failures. They see no one bigger than life. They are not overawed by top government figures or celebrities. They resist becoming any person's disciple. They are basically unflappable and capable of adapting virtually to anything that comes along. One of their fixed principles is flexibility. They truly lead the abundant life.

They are Synergistic

Synergy is the stat in which the whole is more than the sum of the parts. Principle-centered people are synergistic. They are change catalysts. They improve almost any situation they get into. They work as smart as they work hard. They are amazingly productive, but in new and creative ways.

In team endeavors they build on their strengths and strive to complement their weaknesses with the strengths of others. Delegation for results is easy and natural to them, since they believe in others' strengths and capacities. And since they are not threatened by the fact that others are better in some ways, they feel no need to supervise them closely.

When principle centered people negotiate and communicate with others in seemingly adversarial situations, they learn to separate the people from the problem. They focus on the others person' interests and concerns rather than fight over positions. Gradually others discover their sincerity and become part of a creative problem-solving process. Together they arrive at synergistic solutions, which are usually much better than any of the original proposals, as opposed to compromise solutions wherein both parties give and take a little.

They Exercise for Self-Renewal

Finally, they regularly exercise the four dimensions of the human personality; physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

They participate in some kind of balanced, moderate, regular program of aerobic exercise, meaning cardiovascular exercise-using the large leg muscles and working t the heart and lungs. This provides endurance-improving the capacity of the body and brain to use oxygen-along with many other physical and mental benefits. Also valuable are stretching exercises for flexibility and resistance exercises for strength and muscle tone.

They exercise their minds through reading, creative problem solving, writing, and visualizing. Emotionally they make an effort to be patient, to listen to others with genuine empathy, to show unconditional love, and to accept respnsibility for their own lives and decisions and reactions. Spiritually they focus on prayer, scripture study, meditation, and fasting.

No other single hour of your day will return as mus as the hour you invest in sharpening the saw-that is, in exercising these four dimensions of the human personality. If you will do this daily, you will soon experience the impact for good in your life.

Some of these activities may be done in the normal course of the day; others will need to be scheduled into the day. They take some time, but in the long run they save us a great deal of time. We must never get too busy sawing to take time to sharpen the saw, never too busy driving to take time to get gas.

I find that if I do this hour of exercise every morning, it is like a private victory and just about guarantees public victories throughout the day. But if I take the course of least resistance and neglect all or part of this program, I forfeit that private victory and find myself uprooted by public pressures and stresses through the day.

These principles of self-renewal will gradually produce strong and healthy character with a powerfully disciplined, service-focused will.

MENTOR LEADERSHIP

I believe I speak for many people when I say that Tony Dungy, as a leader and more importantly as a person, is very inspiring.  He once again gives us a book that will speak directly to our hearts.  His current book, "The Mentor Leader," is about viewing leadership as a method to mentor those that you lead.  Here are some essential traits of a mentor to keep in mind:

• Becoming a mentor leader is not rocket science.  If it were, I wouldn't be writing a book about leadership.  As we'll see, leadership consists of principles and skills that are accessible to anyone and everyone.  They aren't necessarily intuitive, but they aren't terribly difficult, either.
• Mentor leadership can be taught and learned; but in order to be absorbed, it must be practiced.  The best way to evaluate leadership philosophies and find your own style is by testing them in action.  You can't stay in the ivory tower reading books and discussing theories.  eventually you have to wade into the fray.
• Mentor leadership focuses on developing the strengths of individuals.  it might be in fairly narrow way, such as building a specific skill, or more broadly focused, such as teaching employees to be proactive about meeting others' needs so they can better support the organization.  Successful mentor leaders make the people they lead better players, workers, students, or family members-and ultimately, better people.
• Mentor leadership works best when the ones being mentored are aware that the mentor leader has a genuine concern for their development and success.  Those we lead will be more receptive if they believe we genuinely want them to succeed.

AL WEISS ON SERVANT LEADERSHIP

Al Weiss is the President of Operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, here are his thoughts on Servant Leadership:

My goal is to empower those I lead to the fullest potential their capability and skills will allow. I
let them run things, and I’m there when they need my help.

Being a servant leader says, “I care about your development as much as I do my own.”

When you serve as a leader, you do not lose one ounce of your ability to be the boss.

I have learned not to view success by the world’s standards in which success is fleeting, based on
what you did last. Set a list of priorities, and then live according to them. When you focus on
those priorities, things fall into place.

If you’re not disciplined, then you won’t stay in shape. Put discipline into place and use it to your
fullest advantage. You can’t add hours to your day, but you can use the hours you have more
effectively.

Action Plan:

Al Weiss defined success as living according to priorities. List the priorities you have at
work, with your family, in your leisure time, and in your community. After you have
your top priorities on paper, do an honest self-assessment. Which priorities are in danger
of being neglected? Which priorities seem to be taking most of your time and attention?

Servant leadership involves an intentional investment in the progress of those you lead.
This week, invest in one member of your team. Ideas include buying them a training
resource, purchasing them a ticket to a professional development workshop, or getting to
know them better over lunch.