Skip to main content

Leadership in Sports

By
Throughout this blog I have talked so much about quality leadership.  As I watch my favorite NHL hockey team (New Jersey Devils) make it to the Stanley Cup round of the playoffs, I am constantly hearing about the success Head Coach Peter DeBoer is having.  He was hired after a lackluster stint with the Florida Panthers, to the chagrin and confusion of many Devils fans.  In a single season, Coach DeBoer has transformed a franchise that has built their legacy around defensive hockey, into a productive offensive machine.  This "new-look" team continues to confuse opponents throughout the playoffs, as it is nearly inconceivable that a coach can turn around a franchise in a single season with so much radical change.

As a fan, I am proud to read about how his work ethic, discipline, and leadership have reached each and every player in that locker room.  His team is considered to be overachieving.  Where does over-achievement come from?  In theory, it was all already there, Coach DeBoer simply found a way to unlock the maximum potential of his players. 

I have been working with several people recently trying figure out that "magic" button or formula to reach a larger audience, and not just the individual.  All of the attributes I listed for Coach DeBoer are  indeed part of that formula, but I believe the missing piece is a unique ability to motivate.  Motivation that goes well beyond the simple pep talk. I am talking about motivation that is sustainable through the ups and downs of daily trials.  As I have always taken the "business first" approach to things, I think about when a mentor of mine told me that I should look at employees as emotional banks.  From my business point of view it conjured images of profit and loss.  As long as my people remain "profitable", I can steer them through those daily trials.  Lack of motivation however, comes immediately upon entering the "red".  That is where the delicate line is drawn, and that is where that special level of motivation appears.  How does it happen? How did Peter DeBoer achieve that level of success so quickly after barely mediocre results with another team?  Is it the leader? Is it a perfect "marriage" of right group of people aligned with the right leader?  Is it possible to take any group and make them that perfect group?  



"If you build it, they will come." - Field of Dreams
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Always "Sweat" the Small Stuff

By
As we are all searching for the next best way to cut costs, I ran across an old article about an approach Delta Airlines took in the mid-90's. They asked their employees! On an employee suggestion, they removed the lettuce leaf that was served in their food trays as garnish to an astounding $1.4 million in annual savings! http://gtalumni.org/Publications/magazine/win93/delta.html I recently worked for a company that was so incredibly operationally inefficient that I was amazed they were still in business. Three months later, they weren't! From having way too much lighting in the stock areas, to a time-wasting price change procedure, to unnecessary shipping costs($4ship fee for a $.99 item), to incredible wastes of paper (I actually counted a minimum of 45 sheets per day wasted...in one store). This store had so many little things that could have completely changed the cost of business, it is a shame they didn't listen to their employees. Employees may not have t
4 comments
Read more

The Power Of Social Networks-Myspace vs. Facebook

By
AOL started it. With very popular chat rooms and a skeletal, but functional, social network. Myspace , Facebook , Twitter , Bebo , Friendster , LinkedIN and several others have since emerged. All offering something unique to make their platform the biggest and most successful. As I learn more about blog writing/internet marketing (yes, they go hand-in-hand), it is clear that these sites drive the "personality" that the online society has taken. To be successful online, it is clear that a strong and steady participation and presence on these sites is critical. This blog generates reports that allow me to view the sources of my daily traffic. So far, Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn, are responsible for a LARGE portion of my visitors. I am pretty much a "nobody" writing on a topic that interests me. I realize how amazing it is that because of the internet, people from around the world are reading what I am writing!! I wonder how powerful these sites would be
3 comments
Read more

Is Customer Service Dead?

By
This is a question I keep hearing as I work on this blog. It seems that no matter where you go, that companies pride themselves on putting the customer first, but that doesn't really seem to be the truth. I have found nightmare stories from telephone customer service operators, to in store employees. But I have also read some amazing stories of how an employee went well beyond their job description to make a customer happy. When I got into retail in the early 90's, customer service was king. Empowerment for employees to that end, was almost unlimited. Recognition for the individuals going above and beyond was common. It was a time when companies realized it was their people and their people's ideas and successes that drove the company's success. Southwest Airlines exploded by taking a radical approach to customer service. At the same time they also took a radical approach in the treatment of their people, doing such things as "costume day". Work was f
1 comment
Read more