Category Archives: Pat’s Leadership Blog

Hiring people for your organization is critical for success. I thought I would share some thoughts for leaders to consider when hiring.

At a recent presentation I gave, a business leader told me in his business he looked to “hire character then teach skills.” I never heard it said that way before but when I heard it, it really resonated. This was exactly what we tried to do in our recruiting of collegiate basketball players. We wanted to know everything we could about their character before we offered scholarship money. Through the 44 years I coached, I found that most seasons had rough spots where you experienced consecutive losses and this was precisely the time when character came into play. Athletes with character stayed the course; athletes with poor character went south.

When Hubie Brown was coaching the NBA Atlanta Hawks, he would address character in this way. At the first practice of the year he would ask his players this question, “Are you teachable?” He followed that up with this statement, “If you’re not, why am I here?”  A Chicago area coach and I used to fly to Atlanta to watch Hubie teach in pre-season practices. A two-time NBA Coach-of-the-Year, he was a superb teacher. In fact, at one practice one of his new players, who had played on numerous NBA teams, told us he never experienced teaching like Hubie’s in his career. However, it made no difference how well he taught if the players were of poor character, poor listeners, or behaved in ways that were detrimental to the team.

In athletics, business, or any organization people of character make all the difference in the world.

A survey of Fortune 500 companies asked what they looked for in hiring. The results gave thirteen criteria they looked for in order of importance. Things like critical thinking, problem solving, and presenting were cited among the thirteen, but the number one thing they looked for was teamwork. That surprised me until I gave it some thought. My children began their careers at IBM, Arthur Anderson, the Sidley Law Firm, Deloitte and Touche, and as a professor at a university. Every one of them worked with a team. They were going to be positive, cooperative team members or non-productive, destructive team members. Their dad was glad they did the former!

Bill Russell, the great Boston Celtics player, put it this way. He said the Celtic players, who won eleven NBA championships in thirteen years, left their egos at the door when they entered the building for practices and games. But what they did have was Team Ego. They knew if you were to beat them you had to bring your best game because they were going to do just that in every game.

Would it not be great if organizations could develop Team Ego?

A third thought was brought up when I worked at Providence High School. Faculty criticized our principal for hiring too many Providence graduates – too much inbreeding they said. I listened to this criticism, then told them why I disagreed. I found that there were a lot of people out there who could really interview well, but when hired they were poor workers. They had interviewing down pat but not work ethic. Whereas, when we hired someone we knew, we knew what we were getting. We knew their work ethic. We also knew we were a very good school, so hiring people who knew our pursuit of excellence immediately fit into our culture

The final point is referrals. I always thought that they were worthwhile when we knew the person referring them well. We knew we could trust their judgment on character, team play, and work ethic.

I hope leaders find some merit in these thoughts on hiring.

Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, used to tell his players, “Chase perfection and you may catch excellence.”

What is excellence? It may be difficult to define, but my good friend and fellow coach, Jack Hermanski, may have an insight. We tried to give our basketball players credit for Effort Points in practices and games. When we tried to define just what Effort Points were, Jack probably had the very best definition when he said, “I don’t know what they are; but I do know them when I see them.”

Brother Paul French, FSC, President Emeritus of Lewis University

The same may be said for excellence. Given the above, I thought I might share some excellence that I have seen in people I have known. These observations may lead to an understanding, if not a definition, of excellence.

Christian Brother Paul French was the best teacher I had in my collegiate years at Lewis College, now Lewis University. He was also the toughest, most demanding professor I ever had at any level of academic work. I think what may have separated him from other teachers I had was his extensive preparation. I had him for Shakespeare’s comedy and history plays and his preparation for each class was impeccable.

Gordie Gillespie was an outstanding coach in football, basketball, and baseball. I did have the opportunity to work with the likes of Bob Knight, John Wooden, and Dean Smith at basketball clinics. Gordie would not take a back-seat to any of them. His preparation for high school football at Joliet Catholic was so thorough that when darkness came, people would shine their car lights onto the practice field so he could complete his preparation.

Bishop Roger Kaffer was the best priest I have ever known. His work ethic never ceased to amaze me. It was not unusual for him to work well after midnight. In fact, this was the norm when he served as our principal at Providence Catholic High School. Despite working so late, he always began the day saying daily mass at 7 a.m.

One of the Bishop’s favorite sayings was, “People are more important than things.” And that was how he lived his life. He always dropped what he was doing to help a person in need. He would complete the work later, but serve the person now.

I was fortunate to coach some all-conference, all-state, and All-American players at the University of St. Francis. I do not remember any player who achieved these accolades who was not a great worker at practice. To a man, when they tied up their shoes and walked across that line for practice, they were the same every day. They had the ability and the attitude to consistently give their best effort. It was no secret why they excelled. They deserved every honor they received because of their work ethic.

I can’t define excellence but I think I have known it when I have seen it. It seems to begin and end with preparation and work.

As a leader, you may want to reflect on your preparation and your work ethic.

Pat Dunne, the head football coach at Chicago’s Marist High School, rewarded excellence in a unique way this past football season. He saw excellence and rewarded it where no other coach whom I know ever did.

Ray Holmes, a senior volleyball player at Marist, served as the Manager of the football team for the previous four years. Dunne recognized that Holmes put in 20 hours of work on a weekly basis. He recorded all the practices and games, sending game film to Hudl to be organized and segmented, and kept track of all the players’ equipment. (Hudl is a software company that helps coaches and athletes stay organized and prepared.)

Ray Holmes (center) with his mom and dad on senior night.

Dunne summarized Holmes work by saying, “He’s exactly what being a part of a team is all about. He does everything for this team. He does a ridiculous amount of work for me.”

I believe those of us who coached have had managers like Ray Holmes and we truly appreciated all their work. We saw their excellence on a daily basis, but Coach Dunne took it a step further.

When he named his five captains for the 2015 year, he then announced to the team that Holmes would be joining them as a sixth captain, something he or no coach I know ever did before. Holmes attends all the captains’ meetings and is a part of all the pre-game coin tosses with the five playing captains.

Coach Dunne saw excellence and rewarded it.

I served for seven years on Principal Father Roger Kaffer’s cabinet at Providence Catholic High School. Father, later Bishop Kaffer, had the insight to add a senior each year to the cabinet. He would pick an outstanding senior, someone like Ray Holmes, to join us. Even though we obviously had a different student in each of the seven years I participated in the cabinet, I always felt the best member of the cabinet, the one who had the most meaningful contributions to our work, was the student.

Like Coach Dunne, Father Kaffer saw and rewarded excellence.

Leaders may consider looking at their organizations and seeing where excellence truly resides, regardless of the person’s position in the organization, and recognize, utilize, and reward it.

I have been speaking for twenty plus years on the importance of attitude in a leadership position and in 2013 published a book on this topic, Attitude – The Cornerstone of Leadership. I use the word, ATTITUDE, as an acronym and give each letter of the word a characteristic that might make for a quality leader. I’d like to give you a synthesis of the acronym and see what you think.

The A stands for attitude and asks the question does one person’s attitude make a difference? The attitudes of Adolf Hitler and Charles Manson made a difference as did the attitudes of Winston Churchill and Jackie Robinson. Therefore, it is important to note that a leader’s individual attitude can enhance an organization or detract from or even destroy an organization.

Teamwork is the T and teamwork definitively is the essence of athletics, but it transcends athletics. Bishop Roger Kaffer had this sign on his desk, “None of us is smarter than all of us” when he was the principal of Providence High School. He led by this maxim. He knew he had to make the final decisions but sought out the opinions of everyone on his cabinet so he could make the best decisions.

The second T is toughness. Once I ask audiences to think of the best teacher or coach they ever had, I then ask if that person was easy or demanding and tough. No hands are raised on easy but everyone’s hand goes up on tough. Leaders must be tough and if their toughness becomes an attribute of those whom they lead, then the leaders have given their people a great gift. The Reverend Robert Schuller confirms this in his outstanding book, Tough Times Don’t Last But Tough People Do.

The I represents Intelligence and I have seen two traits in the intelligent people whom I have worked with – a great ability to listen and perseverance to their core values.

The third T stands for Thank You. I once heard an historian state that neither the wealth of America nor the big-name politicians built this country, but the “nobodies,” the common man, did. How important is it for leaders to thank those in their organizations who receive little or no recognition?

The letter U is for the word, You. The only person who can make you learn or achieve is you. I believe we are making too many excuses today. We have to get back to telling people that YOU are responsible for YOUR body of work, no one but YOU.

D is Determination. I think any work of excellence, any achievement, is the work of people of determination. Most accomplishments have to overcome failure and this can only be done by determined people. As Pat Riley wrote, “Success is getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down.”

E is for Effort. I used to think effort was the key to success in athletics, academics, or any endeavor. I no longer believe that because I have seen too many people who can give a great effort from Monday through Wednesday but cannot find that same effort from Thursday through Saturday. So, I came to the conclusion that effort is not enough; success demands Consistency of Effort.

I hope this synthesis of the book and the presentation I give makes you reflect on your leadership role.

I very seldom get angry over an athlete’s comments in the newspapers. I think you just kind of read the comments, give them little thought, and move on. However, we had something said recently that, I believe, made a lot of people in the Chicago area very angry.

At the initial Chicago Bulls media day to introduce the players to the fans for the upcoming season, Derrick Rose made some comments that were actually unbelievable. He said that free agency was coming up and he would have to look at his options. He then followed that up by saying he had to look at his son’s future.

Through no fault of his own, injuries have prevented him from hardly playing for the last three years and during all this time the Bulls coaches and management have been totally behind him. They consistently praised him for all the hard work he was doing in rehab, talked about how they were anxiously awaiting his return, and, of course, paid him his contract.

The Bulls have been extremely loyal to Rose so when he had the audacity to begin the 2015-16 year by indicating he would be looking into free agency, what was he thinking about? The purpose of the day was to get everyone excited about the new season with a new coach and he is talking about his free agency!

First of all, where did that come from? Why would he choose to take away from the enthusiasm and the excitement of the season kick-off? And what about his teammates who played so hard and unselfishly during his absence? And what about management that steadfastly stood behind him? He actually managed to ruin the day because so many of us saw it as a betrayal to his teammates and the organization.

Unfortunately, this was all people talked about. Almost no one talked about the new coach, the current players, and the hopes for the season.

The above was bad enough. Then he took it to the ridiculous. He said he had to consider free agency because he had to think about his son’s future. Most of us can relate to this. I’ll bet most of the people reading this blog have made approximately $280 million dollars the past seven years!

This entire ordeal may be a good lesson for leaders. Sometimes, certainly not all the time, we have to deal with employees whom we feel we have really gone out of our way to help, nurture, and promote only to have them leave us.

I think there is only one way to deal with this. Realize that ungratefulness and lack of loyalty are a sad part of life. Let them go, don’t dwell on them for a minute, and move on and serve the people who remain with you.

Frank and George Black are two outstanding lawyers in Morris, Illinois. Years ago, they gave me a book of quotes written by their lawyer father, August Black. “My Briefs on Life” reminds me of another book, “The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain.”

Both books entice readers to reflect on the really important things in life and are replete with wisdom.

One of the quotes is, “The first ten commandments of parents:  1  thru X  – No!”

I once was listening to an interview with a psychiatrist when he was asked when do you start telling your children no? His answer was, “As soon as possible.” The rationale behind his answer was that life is a series of “no’s.” I would like to drive this certain car, but the answer is “no” because I can’t afford it. The same for the house I may want, the job I would like, the vacation I want to take. Often the answer is “no” as we go through life to many of the things we want, therefore the psychiatrist felt that the sooner we hear no, the more mentally healthy we become.

As I look back on the lives of my five children, I think their hearing “no” led them to realize that when you want something, you have to work for it. Whether it was success in athletics or school, or if it was for some material thing they desired, they realized they had to work for it. They came to learn that nothing is given to you; you have to earn what you get.

Our children are doing very well today in their chosen professions and as parents. I do believe that one of the reasons for their success is that early on they developed good work habits in athletics, school, and the jobs they had in their teens. Hearing “no” didn’t hurt them; it motivated them.

When Bob Knight was coaching at Indiana, he felt one of his main jobs was to teach his players to say “no.” Indiana basketball, like Texas football, is as much a religion as it is a sport, so the athletes are often asked to give of their time to various events. Given the amount of time their academics and their basketball took, Coach Knight wanted them to understand it was okay to say “no.”

Gordie Gillespie took the then College, now University, of St. Francis from 45 student-athletes when he arrived in 1976 to 370 during his first 19 years there. Because our teams gave partial scholarships during these years, the Athletic Department substantially enhanced our college financially. Many at the college thought our president, Dr. Jack Orr, gave us everything we asked for. This was not the case at all. Jack’s responsibility was the financial stability of the entire college and he often had to and did tell us “no.”

Leaders, possibly more often than not, have to say “no.” What criteria lead to “no”? I think three.

• Is what is requested part of our mission? Is it a fit for who we are?
• Secondly, can we afford it?
• And finally, does it fit our values? I can recall reading that when you know your values, decisions are easier to make.

Saying “no” is not easy but often necessary…and sometimes it can motivate the recipient to work harder.

Roy Disney wrote, “Decisions are easy to make when you know your values.”

I disagree to some extent. Tough decisions are never easy to make and I can certainly recall agonizing over truly difficult decisions. But, ultimately, your values do lead you to your final decisions.

I can recall thinking as a college student that all the philosophy classes I had to take were a waste of time and effort. Then as I grew in my years in education, I came to realize that when the tough times came, I reverted back to my philosophy classes and the values that I garnered from those classes.

Early in my head coaching career we had a game where our time-keeper inadvertently kept the clock running late in a game. We were winning by 3 points at the time, so the less time remaining was beneficial to us.

The opposing coach went to the referees and told them about the error. I had not been watching the clock and was not aware of the error. When the refs came to me and told me what happened, my response was simple – put whatever time you believe should be added to the clock.

After the game, a parent came to me and told me how wrong I was to add the time. His rationale was that opposing coaches would not do that for us in their gyms.

The decision was an easy one for me. We certainly wanted to win but only to win the right way. Winning by cheating our opponent on clock-time was not the right way. If opposing coaches did not have that value and would not put time back on the clock in their gyms, so be it. That represented their values, not ours.

The above example, which I use frequently in my motivational speaking engagements, was an easy one. Dismissing an athlete from a team, firing people, and any decision that hurts people personally or financially are tough decisions. But, they too, get back to values. As a leader your primary responsibility is to do what is in the best interest of the organization you are leading. Decisions ultimately get back to your values.

Values do drive a leader’s decision-making. A leader, therefore, must know what his/her values are.

Oliver Gibson

I had the great opportunity of listening to Oliver Gibson last month at a Hall of Fame induction in Joliet. He was a football player at local Romeoville High School. He went on the star at Notre Dame and had a nine-year playing career in the NFL, including a Super Bowl appearance with the Steelers.

Oliver’s presentation was outstanding. He thanked his mother and father for all their encouragement and support and said how appreciative he was of his older sister whom he emulated both on the playing field and in the classroom. He told us how proud he was to come from the Joliet area because of the athletic reputation of our area. He then went on to say how fortunate he was to play for the coaches at Romeoville High School.

Toward the end of his presentation, he informed us that he accepted the head coaching position for the football program at Romeoville.

He said he was so pleased to accept this position because he now can give back all he received from his coaches. He is honored to have the opportunity to influence kids the way his coaches did for him.

Having coached for 44 years, I thought how blessed the players at Romeoville are to have a man like Oliver leading them because he really gets it. I don’t know if I can define and articulate “it,” but as my dear friend and fellow coach, Jack Hermanski, says, “I know ‘it’ when I see it.” And I saw it in Oliver last night.

Is this a good attitude for leaders to emulate when they accept their leadership positions? Is embracing leadership as an opportunity to give back a good way to look at it?

I believe the answer to the above questions is a definite “yes.” I think we all have been fortunate to have mentors along the way who helped us achieve in our chosen professions. They did not tell us how a leader should lead; instead, they showed us and they showed us on a consistent basis.

One of the concepts I took from the book, “From Good to Great,” was the friendship leaders in companies had with their team members when they retired. This seemed to be the case because when they were working together, the team knew how much the leaders cared for them beyond the narrow confines of a workplace.

Oliver is going into his leadership position looking to give back to the kids he will be coaching. I believe because of his attitude that when he finishes his coaching career, he will have many life-long friends from the players he coaches because he is entering the profession from a great foundation – to give back.

-Pat