April, 2014 | Coach Pat Sullivan

29 Apr

Pyramid of Success and the One-Day Contract

By Marty Gaughan

Each and every year I have had the honor of being asked to speak to the senior class at my high school on leadership. This year, my talk was based on the concepts and ideas of two great coaches, John Wooden and Rick Pitino.

Using the “Pyramid of Success,” I talk about three elements from Coach Wooden’s Model. The first two characteristics are the cornerstones of the pyramid. One cornerstone is industriousness and the other is enthusiasm. Nothing great has been accomplished without enthusiasm and hard work.

The third segment of the pyramid is the definition of success. According to Coach Wooden: “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”

In Coach Pitino’s book, “The One-Day Contract: How to Add Value to Every Minute of Your Life,” I conveyed his message of passion. Life is about passion and you need to become passionate about something to become great and to make a difference.

Passion is a hard thing to have on a daily basis, but by putting yourself on a “one-day” contract, it is possible.

These two great coaches have taught me that success is knowing you did your best, and doing your best requires industriousness, enthusiasm and passion.

-Guest Blog by Marty Gaughan

Based in Naperville, Ill., Marty Gaughan is a basketball trainer for teams, individuals and small groups. He works with college, high school and grade school players. He coached for 25 years at the high school basketball level and has also guided AAU teams. You can find him on the web at http://drill4skill.weebly.com/index.html or follow him on Twitter at @d4straining.

25 Apr

Lose “Yourself” – Find Character

Recently on the “Mike and Mike” ESPN morning show, Mark Schlereth, a former NFL player, said when he played for the Washington Redskins, Coach Joe Gibbs had two mantras:

• Lose “yourself”; and
• Great talent makes plays the first three quarters; great character makes plays in the fourth quarter.

In my forty-four years of coaching, I found both of these statements to be absolutely true. In fact, I wish I had been aware of them when I was coaching. I certainly would have quoted Coach Gibbs to our players.

The very best teams have players who do what Coach Gibbs preached – they lose “themselves.” In abandoning ego, their total mind-set is on the team and they will do anything they can to help the team win.

Through the years we had players who probably should have been starting, but, for the sake of the team, they agreed to come off the bench. They were complete team players and they were so valuable to us because when we were sluggish, they could enter the game and immediately pick up our tempo.

We also found that character was critical in building a team, so to the best of our ability, we recruited character. Not only would character make plays in the fourth quarter, it could very well be the key ingredient to making or breaking a season. I never coached an undefeated basketball team. Almost every season I coached, our team went through some rough periods, some stretches of losing.

Teams that do not have people of character go south when the losing comes. Players start pointing fingers at everyone – coaches and teammates alike. But teams with character fight through the tough times and overcome the obstacles.

Mike Ditka said it well when describing his Chicago Bears Super Bowl championship team. He said they definitely had characters on that team, but they also had character.

Coach John Wooden of UCLA fame also said it well when he stated that great teams have players who sacrifice their individual glory for team glory.

Is it not the same in any business or any organization? Leaders, like coaches, want to develop people who lose themselves for the sake of the entire organization. These people are people of character.

Coach Gibbs’ two mantras go hand-in-hand. Players with character do lose themselves into the team concept.

18 Apr

Caught vs. Taught

I do believe some things can be “caught” more so than they can be taught.

Sandra Bullock said an interesting thing to Jay Leno on one of his last shows. She first thanked him for being so gracious to her on all her guest appearances through the twenty years she appeared. She thought a minute, then said she’d also like to thank his staff for their graciousness.

I don’t think Jay Leno could have sat his staff down and taught them how he wanted them to be gracious, i.e. here are the ten things I want you to do to show graciousness to our guests. I think that approach would have had no benefit.

However, his graciousness to his guests – the example he gave – could be and was “caught” by his staff. By his being gracious, he was setting the tone and his staff followed suit.

In athletics, I played for a coach, Gordie Gillespie, the winningest coach in college baseball history, who worked as hard as any man I have ever known in any profession. I don’t ever recall Gordie sitting us down and telling us we had to work hard every day in practice. We simply caught his work ethic and emulated it daily.

The same can be said for a high school principal, Father, later Bishop Roger Kaffer, and a college president, Dr. Jack Orr, whom I served under. Both men, like Gordie, were extraordinary workers. Again, neither of them ever tried to teach us to work hard. We simply followed their example. We saw how they went about their business and we certainly didn’t want to disappoint them with our work habits.

Leaders may not be able to teach graciousness and giving great effort to their constituents, but I know both can be caught from the leader and permeate throughout the organization.
I have experienced both firsthand.

02 Apr

Communication and the “Gushy Ball”

By Michael Bone

Perhaps nothing is more discussed as a topic in business than communication. As an almost obvious tenet of effective leadership, it’s a wonder why the world needs hundreds of thousands of books on the topic. Perhaps George Bernard Shaw summed it up best when he wrote, “the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” (Source)

I’ve certainly witnessed and have been guilty of poor communication. For our purposes here, though, I want to share an example of highly effective communication from a business leader. When I was just starting my career, I worked for a manufacturer. The president, Jim Tiffany, was a fiery guy and a passionate leader. As I reflect back on those early days of my career, I see that it was Jim’s ability to effectively communicate that set him apart.

There was never a question of what Jim wanted to do with the business or what we needed to do to accomplish our objectives. The entire office staff of 80 people met weekly on Friday mornings to get updates on the customers, the production issues, expectations and a regular reminder of the vision, purpose and strategy. As I liked to say, you knew where the bus was headed and you could either get on board or get out of the way.

Even though it’s been 16 years since I worked for the late Jim Tiffany, I still remember his vivid description of the “gushy ball.” He used this metaphor to illustrate how each of us was interdependent on the rest of the business. If production “pushes” on one side of the ball, then the planning department is pushed out on the other side of the ball.

Do you realize how your work affects your organization’s gushy ball? When you make a decision as a marketing manager, how are you affecting the sales team’s side of the ball? It’s a simple visual but that’s what makes it so valuable.

Remember the gushy ball. I’ll never forget it.

Michael Bone is the Management Controller for the Global Biology Unit of Ceva Sante Animale, a top 10 global animal health company. He earned a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of St. Francis and a MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management. Feel free to connect with Michael on LinkedIn.