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Leadership in Sports

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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
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