I’ve openly written about my lack of coordination and sports skills. I know what you’re thinking. She runs marathons, so surely she’s got some sports ability? I was never the kid picked . I stunk at Physical Education (straight C’s). However, I’ve learned through my own journey running marathons (slow), there’s a lot we can glean from sports.
The most important? Athleticism is more that just winning games.
So, if you’re Shaq or Michael Jordan or any player at Alabama, you’ve got a high degree of athletic technical skill but knowing how and why to win is more crucial. Why is Nick Saban the most sought after coach in college football? Because he knows how to win and wins consistently. He also knows how to define a compelling reason of “why” to win.
Coach Saban…
- looks at the broader picture.
- understands his strengths well, and his competition even better.
- handles his stakeholders (fans and administration).
- recruits and leverages a fabulous team to execute.
- wins by focusing on one game, one Saturday at a time.
- drives continuous improvement from his wins and losses.
- keeps going.
When I look at the kind of people I like to hire or teams I choose to join, I strive to look for leaders like Nick Saban. I look for “athletes”…individuals…champions who crave improvement, have a reason to get better, help each other, compete with themselves and are looking for something bigger. I want to surround myself with people who can think sustainable yet deliver quality nimble “plays” or solutions.
We have a lot of ‘whining” in the world. We love to define the problem (because that’s easy), however shaping a strategy and executing simple solutions is difficult. We live in a volatile, uncertain, ambitious and complex world. When the season (or quarter) isn’t going well, fans (and shareholders) are quick to shift their loyalties or focus.
Going long, developing endurance, and delivering a finish (win or loss/learning) is an athletic (and leadership) skill. It’s something I aim to master in developing in all the shoes I occupy: mom, wife, runner, and leader.
What “athletes” do you have in your team? How and what are you learning from them? How are you helping others develop their athletic skills?
Sports teach us many things needed to succeed in life. Everything from how to continually fine-tune and hone your skills, to teamwork and how to work with others to accomplish a goal (score), to the power of sheer will can overcome the odds.
My favorite lesson from sports comes my years of playing hockey, it’s about getting back to the basic fundamentals when my game is off. I have a decently accurate shot, and for awhile it was off. I just couldn’t hit the target i wanted. My coach told me to show him my shot, and when i did he noticed something in the stroke that i was missing. He told me to go back to my first lessons and practice my shot like i did then, thinking through each step and every movement. It slowed me down at first, but the accuracy return, and then the speed turned with repetition. This is a lesson i use all the time in life. If my sales game is off, i go back to the basics, figure out what i was skipping over (and it’s usually something simple that starts to get skipped from the complacency of success), make sure to follow the formula and that usually brings me back to the results i know i can achieve.
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