Author Archives: Pat Sullivan

I heard a commercial recently where the company said, “Failure is an option.” As soon as I heard it, I knew I liked it.

Michael Jordan used to say, “I succeed because I have failed.” Because he wasn’t afraid to fail, he wanted the ball in his hands at the end of the game. He was fearless because he was not afraid to fail.

John Wooden’s college coach at Purdue, Piggy Lambert, used to teach that the team that makes the most mistakes wins, a statement that would make most of today’s basketball coaches cringe. But his point was that if you’re playing aggressive and attacking basketball, you’re going to make mistakes and that’s okay. Don’t let the mistakes get you down. Just keep on attacking.

Often we learn more from failure than success.

I once played for a coach who constantly criticized me and my teammates. His continuous yelling could sometimes take away from your aggressiveness because you knew if you failed you would never hear the end of it. I learned a great deal from that coach on how I did not want to coach. It turned out to be a great learning experience.

I disagree with some of today’s educators who are so much into student’s self-esteem that they strive to take failure out of the students’ lives. I think they are cheating the kids. Like all of us, their students will meet with failure in their lives, both personal and professional. Instead of eliminating failure would it not be much more beneficial to teach kids how to deal with it? Learn from it, put it behind you, and move on.

Failure is an option. It is prevalent in business, in athletics, and in every phase of our lives. So, let’s not fear it but learn from it, and continue to aggressively strive for excellence.

“Our greatest power is the freedom to choose our response.”

This is a quote from Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning and a survivor of the Holocaust.

Viktor Frankl

When I think of the response of leaders to situations, I believe two totally opposite responses can be appropriate.

A very successful businessman once told me that when he was angry at another person, he would write a letter telling that person exactly how he felt, leaving no stone unturned. He would then tear the letter up, wait a day, and rewrite it. By waiting a full day, his anger would usually dissipate and he could write a more humane, rational reply. There is certainly a great deal of wisdom in this approach, especially when responding to a criticism that comes to you in writing.

On the other side of the coin, I once read an article written by the late Bill Walsh, former NFL coach, titled “Two Cheers for Pissed Off.” Being of Irish descent and having coached for forty-four years, I liked this article!

I think there is merit to this response, with three disclaimers:

• Your anger must be genuine. I have worked with some leaders who feigned anger. I don’t think that ever works. If you’re mad, be mad!
• I think being passionate about your beliefs is perfectly okay. If someone is attacking something you strongly believe in, and are doing it in an abusive way, why not let them know in no uncertain terms how you feel?
• Finally, it is always best to have your anger directed at the issue, not the person. I felt this was especially critical in coaching. The coach can get after what was done wrongly, not who did it.

Our meetings in athletics at the university where I worked for thirty-four years were often very spirited. People were passionate about their beliefs and said how they felt. But it was about the issue, not the person. The talk was candid and sometimes rough but we left the meetings as the friends we were.

I definitely believe open, truthful discussion is always best. Leaders can choose their response and both containing your anger and letting it show can be appropriate. The key is the issue, not the person.

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.

I recently read an article encouraging leaders to think often about their leadership legacy.

The article stated, “And a legacy takes time to build so the sooner you define it and think about it, the higher your odds are of successfully doing it.”

It went on to say, “We want to improve the world beyond our immediate span of control. That’s why proactively thinking about your legacy is so critical.”

When I think of the great leaders I have been blessed to work with, I could not disagree more. I don’t think the great ones think about their legacy at all. They simply go to work, roll up their sleeves, and give the day their best effort.

When all is said and done, I think the best leaders do three things:

• They remain life-long learners in their business. They know there is so much to learn about their work and they strive to learn every day.
• They have great energy and they consistently give their best effort. They don’t give effort periodically; they practice consistency of effort.
• Most importantly, they care about the people in their charge beyond the narrow confines of a work-place. And those working for him/her know that care is genuine.

I believe that because great leaders are so busy spending their time working on the above three concepts, they literally don’t have time to think about their legacy. They are too busy doing what counts.

At the end of the day, great leaders don’t concern themselves with their legacy. Others think about and often honor their legacy but the leaders themselves don’t take the time to do so.

Bob Knight, one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history, once said the game ultimately comes down to two things – simplicity and execution.

I think the worst thing teachers, coaches, and leaders can do is to complicate their teaching. And it is easy to do so. A good lesson for me in keeping it simple was when our coaching staff would draw up a new play for our team. On paper, it seemed simple. However, inevitably when we brought it to the floor, it was more complicated than we thought. We then had to tweak it immediately so the players would be more comfortable in its execution.

Pete Carril, the former greatly respected Princeton basketball coach, took simplicity to another level. He used to say you have to be good at what you do a lot. In basketball it’s dribbling, passing, and shooting. You may be spectacular at dunking. That’s great, except that you don’t do it very often in games. So, don’t spend an inordinate amount of time dunking, but do spend a great deal of time dribbling, passing, and shooting. The great ones – Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird – figured this out.

So, pause and determine what you have to do a lot as a leader. Is it speaking, listening, running meetings, strategic planning, problem solving? Whatever the main priorities are, work to get proficient at them.

You want to get good at what you do because ultimately your leadership efficiency will be judged on your execution. You have to get the job done. Leon Hillard of the Harlem Globetrotters kept execution simple when he said, “Don’t tell me; show me.” Leaders can do all the talking they want but it amounts to nothing if the organization’s plans are not executed.

Simplicity and Execution. Simplicity, all of us knowing what the plans are and all of us on the same page, leads to Execution.

A couple of weeks ago, Bob Knight, former Indiana basketball coach and current ESPN analyst, was talking to Wichita State University coach, Gregg Marshall, and Marshall asked Knight what they had to do to improve. Knight coached an undefeated team to the NCAA national championship and Marshall’s team finished the regular season this year at 31 – 0.

First, I thought it was great that Marshall asked this question. Too often when teams have a great season, their coaches get a little arrogant. But here is a coach of an undefeated team humbly asking another coach what they have to do to improve. That question was genuine because with the all the excitement and television coverage the NCAA tournament generates, it can become how a team is remembered, not the regular season.

Secondly, Knight did not hesitate to answer. He said keep your practices short so your players have their energy for the tournament games. Basketball is a long season and fatigue can take over at the season’s end. Coaches must manage individual and team fatigue as the season winds down.

My former coaches and I totally agreed with Coach Knight. In fact, we even took it a step further. Because we always wanted our players to practice hard, we would tell our kids at the onset how long the physical part of practice would last. Knowing it would be short in duration, the athletes would give all they had.

Can leaders take this thought process into their meetings?

I once heard this insight about meetings. “Meetings are people sitting around talking about things they ought to be doing.” How many times were you sitting through meetings thinking about all you had on your “To Do” list? Or, have you ever found yourself in a meeting and thinking about your next meeting that starts in 15 minutes? And because of this thinking, you may not have been giving all you had to the meeting.

Having spent forty-four years in education, I can attest to sitting through numerous meetings where I was thinking about all I had to do. I know my concentration was poor at best throughout the course of these meetings.

I do believe that keeping meetings short and meaningful is a great concept and that setting a time limit at the beginning of the meeting does keep everyone alert and participating. Fellow workers do appreciate leaders who keep meetings concise and moving.

Pete Carril, the outstanding former Princeton basketball coach, in his book, “The Smart Take From The Strong,” says the following about the basics. “One of the things I’m grateful for about my coaching career is that I started teaching guys to play in the tenth grade… I taught the basics.”

He went on to say, “Even at the college level, I always spent a good half hour on the basics. And one thing I noticed: Sometimes in an effort to shorten our practices, we cut out the basics. If we did that for a long period of time, the guys began to slip.”

Then going on to coach in the NBA, he said, “And now I’m teaching the basics to the pros.”

While we were speaking together at a basketball coaches’ clinic, Joey Meyer, the excellent DePaul coach, said this to me. “You’re lucky you began coaching at the high school freshmen level while I went from playing college ball directly to coaching at the collegiate level.”

I never thought of that before, but I was fortunate to begin at that level because I had to learn to teach the basics to these young players. And I carried that same concept into my thirty-four years of collegiate coaching.

Is it any different in business?

I always respected our Joliet 7UP Bottling Co. executives. From the president on down, when these folks graduated college and went to 7UP, they all began the same way – driving a truck to deliver the product. With this beginning, they learned the basics of the trade.

Tom Thayer, a starter on the Chicago Bears Super Bowl champions, never forgot where he came from. To this day when someone in Tom’s hometown of Joliet, Illinois needs help, they can count on Tom. He never forgot where he came from.

If you begin doing the basics and never forget that beginning, you will prevent slippage in your leadership role.

I recently read an article where the writer listed two non-negotiables in coaches: humility and non-stop learner.

I played college baseball with Ed Spiezio, who went on to be a Big League player with the Cardinals, Padres, and White Sox. Ed was by far the best hitter I have ever seen or played with or against in the Chicago area.

Leadership-Ed SpiezioPrior to Ed’s going to pro ball, we all played semi-pro baseball in the Joliet area. When we played at different parks on a Saturday afternoon and got together in the evening, Ed never talked about how he played unless someone asked him. It was not unusual for him to have hit two home runs that afternoon but I never heard him offer that information unless asked.

Everyone in our area was happy for Ed’s success in the majors because we all knew and respected him for his genuine humility.

Pete Tyrgovich played on Coach Wooden’s last UCLA national championship team. I’ll never forget Pete’s telling me that in his last year of coaching, at age sixty-five, Coach Wooden talked about how much he was learning about basketball that year. And this is the coach whose teams previously won seven NCAA tournaments in a row and ten in his last twelve years of coaching! So, arguably the best coach in collegiate basketball history, was a non-stop learner.

Every great leader I have ever known has embodied these two non-negotiables. They have been truly humble and never stopped learning.