October, 2016 | Coach Pat Sullivan

Are You Committed to Leadership or Just Interested?

Herm Edwards, a former NFL player and coach and current ESPN football analyst, was recently talking on the Mike and Mike show about players who were interested versus players who were committed. He emphasized how important it is for coaches to have committed players on their teams.

We have heard the bacon and eggs story that examines these two words stating that the chicken was interested but the pig was committed. From what I have seen, the same can be said for leaders. I have worked with some leaders who were interested and others who were committed.

Those who were interested seemed to be more interested in themselves and their title. They were not committed to making the organization the best it could be. However, they did want everyone to know that they were the leader.

The interested leader tends not to respect the dignity of those whom he leads. In fact, he does not hesitate to let them know that they are beneath him. He may even take it to the level where he makes fun of his subordinates in front of others. He does not know the difference between humor and hurt and actually thinks it is humorous to demean his subordinates.

The interested leader tends to be aloof. He doesn’t put his heart into his work. That would be beneath him as he is above everyone else and showing his heart would make him vulnerable.

The interested leader often bullies his subordinates intellectually. He does this to show them that they are second class when it comes to intellect. Every chance he gets, he attempts to show his superior intellect.

The interested leader surrounds himself with “yes” people. Those who work most closely with him must be loyal to HIM. He listens very little to them because he already has all the answers. There is no reason to examine their insights because the only thoughts that matter are his.

In the final analysis the interested leader is insecure and hides that insecurity by putting others down.

On the other hand, the committed leader knows first and foremost that she / he does not have all the answers. They always puts the organization above themselves. It’s not about her / him; it’s only about making the organization the best it can be.

They show respect for everyone in the organization. No job is too small for her / him not to be interested in the person and their work. It is not uncommon for them to walk through the work place and to know the names of the people who have the least important positions in the organization.

The committed leader wants people to challenge her / his positions. The last thing they want is “yes” people. They listen actively to those they surround themselves with because they know that you never know where the best ideas will come from.

The committed leader gives all the credit away. They are comfortable with their leadership role and want their people to be recognized for all they do for the organization.

The committed leader is a worker! She / he is highly respected for their work ethic and their people follow this example. They do all they can for the organization because they don’t want to let the leader down.

The committed leader cares about people far beyond the narrow confines of a work place. She / he does all they can to help their people and their families, especially through the tough times.

I have worked for both of these leaders in my career. I found that you consistently give all you have for the committed leader because you have so much respect for this person. The only way to survive the interested leader is to realize you don’t work for him. You work for the people you are serving.

When Losing by 10 is Winning

Hubie Brown Set Small Goals Before Achieving Big Goals

When Hubie Brown took the Atlanta Hawks head coaching position in the NBA, he knew he was in trouble. He had just coached the Kentucky Colonels to the ABA championship.

The ABA was viewed as inferior to the NBA. The best players in basketball were in the NBA. When Hubie first saw the Hawks players he realized his team in the ABA had better players than his new Atlanta team.

His concern was obvious. How could Atlanta compete in the best league in basketball with players who were not nearly as good as the team he had just coached in the lesser league, the ABA?

I can still recall Hubie telling us this story. Not knowing how to approach the upcoming season, he took a vacation to Florida and walked the beach trying to decide how he would approach the dilemma in front of him. He came to a conclusion that sounded crazy when I first heard it but did make sense the more I reflected on it.

His conclusion was how many games in the upcoming season could they lose by 10 points. He was certain they did not have the personnel to win in the NBA, so his goal became how many games could they lose by 10 points or less, because if they could keep the losses under 10, they would be accomplishing a very important concept in NBA basketball. They would gain the respect of their opponents.

It was a simple concept. The other teams in the NBA recognized what Hubie knew. They also knew Atlanta simply did not have the caliber of players needed to be successful in the NBA. However, if Atlanta could fight and claw and keep the games within 10 points, then their opponents would come to respect the effort put forth by the athletes and the coaching staff.

The Hawks did keep the games close that first year and in the next few years they were winning 50-plus games per season and making the playoffs.

There may be a great lesson for leaders in “losing by 10.” When we start an endeavor, we most likely will have to start small. And that is fine if our start is done well and gains the respect of those whom we are serving.

When we began our basketball clinics at St. Francis, we had only 50 coaches in attendance. But because we tried to make the clinics valuable to the coaches by giving them quality booklets on the fundamentals and the strategies we were teaching, they came to respect our clinics. Our only advertising was by word-of-mouth from the coaches and eventually the clinics attracted over 200 men and women.

We had a fundraiser at St. Francis that we called Brown and Gold where we brought a noted sports figure to our campus for a dinner and a presentation. When we began, we had 250 people in attendance. We eventually grew that program to an average of close to 600 people coming annually. We were blessed to have Al McGuire as our first speaker after Marquette had just won the NCAA championship and UCLA’s John Wooden as our second speaker the year after his retirement with 10 NCAA championships under his belt. Needless to say, these two outstanding coaches gave our program immediate respect. Mike Ditka brought over 800 people to one our later nights.

As leaders begin new initiatives if they can keep Hubie’s lose by 10 concept in mind and begin with a quality program that earns respect, I firmly believe growth will come.