Pat's Leadership Blog | Coach Pat Sullivan

29 Oct

Lessons from the Grand Ole Opry

My wife, Peg, and I were recently at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Three things stood out during the two hour show – God, the elderly, and humor. Three thoughts that leaders may want to reflect on.

“God bless you” and “thank God” were frequently heard from the performers throughout the evening. Those words were refreshing to hear.

I have always felt that it is ironic how political leaders want to take “God” out of our national vernacular, but when tragedies come, the first thing they ask everyone to do is to pray. In concert with that how often do we hear them end their speeches with, “God bless you and God bless America?” Why, if a prayer in school is forbidden?

Leaders have an awful lot to be thankful for and not being ashamed to thank God, like the performers at the Grand Ole Opry often do, may be something to consider.

The Opry cherishes and honors its older performers. One emcee had her first performance there 48 years ago and another 53 years ago. Too often organizations rid themselves of their aging people and thereby lose parts of their tradition and the wisdom that comes from the older people’s experience.

I have known a number of younger leaders who have reached out to their predecessors and learned a great deal from their knowledge. They were glad they did so.

Humor was recurrent throughout the night. Bill Anderson may have led the league when he said he wrote a song for his “ex” titled, “The Only Good Years We Ever Had Were the Tires on Your Car.”

Leaders can and should bring humor and fun into the workplace. Great leaders demand effort but also bring lighter moments to their organizations.

Thanking God for your many blessings, honoring and learning from older people, and bringing laughter to your organization are three concepts worthy of consideration.

16 Oct

Al and Life

“Every college graduate should take a year off and work as a cab driver or a bartender.”
“When we win a championship we may cut the net down with a switch blade, but we will be the most disciplined team in the country.”
“Either we all go uptown together or nobody goes uptown at all.”
“Excuses are weaknesses.”

The above represent the wit and wisdom of the late Al McGuire, the outstanding Marquette University basketball coach and NBC basketball analyst.

I was very fortunate to get to know Al pretty well during the fifteen years that I co-directed his Chicago camps along with the late Bill Gleason.

I never met anyone who lived life more on his terms than Al. When he took his motor cycle to work at Marquette and came to a certain stop sign, he had to make a decision. If he turned right, he went to work. If he turned left, he rode to the countryside and enjoyed the day.

One night John Wooden had this to offer on Al. He said Al had worked his UCLA basketball camp and on the last day the coaches would have a party. Al was bartending when Coach Wooden brought him his plane ticket to get back to Milwaukee. Al thanked him, introduced Coach Wooden to the bartender whom Al had just met that night, and then told him he would not be going to Milwaukee as he and the bartender were going to Vegas. Coach Wooden was stunned.

My friend, the late Kevin Donlan, was refereeing a Marquette-Notre Dame game and when he went to administer a free throw, he turned around and Al was at the free throw line commenting on Kevin’s officiating. Kevin told him he was going to assess one technical foul for each step that it took for Al to get back to the bench. Al thought for a moment; called two of his players to him; and had them carry him to the bench. Kevin ruled no steps; no technicals. Digger Phelps, the ND coach, went nuts!

NBA teams would call to offer him their head coaching position. Al felt the players made too much money compared to the coaches. So, he told the owners he would only come if they gave him a percentage of the gate. He knew his teams would bring in spectators.

On recruiting he had two insights: recruit Mom and don’t recruit guys with a front yard of grass.

Can leaders take an insight from Al’s wisdom? We may have a lot of responsibilities but we are here only once. Take that left turn at the stop sign and enjoy life and the blessings we have.

06 Oct

Patience and Focus

Willie Young, a defensive end on this year’s Chicago Bears, recently said in the Chicago Tribune, “To some extent, patience is the key to success….But it’s all about staying focused, staying patient.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, speaking about time healing difficult tragedies, had an interesting insight in his book, Why We Can’t Wait. Paraphrasing, he said time alone does not heal. How you USE the time is what heals.

Just as the use of time relates to healing, focus relates to patience. Patience can and often does lead to success. But patience without focus will not bring success.

When we first got to the University of St. Francis, we hoped to eventually be good enough to get into the six-team NAIA state playoffs, which led to a national tournament appearance. That was our focus. We were fortunate to recruit players who achieved that goal.

The playoff format changed and our goal changed. We then strove to win the post-season playoffs and get to the national tournament. We lost once in the playoffs when we were ranked first in the state and we lost twice in the state championship game, but our focus to advance to the national tournament remained.

Our patience was rewarded and we finally reached the tournament. I always believed it was the focus that led to the success even more than the patience.

This is why leaders set goals. The goals create the focus and how you use the time creates the success. Focus, use of time, and patience all work together.

29 Sep

The Captain

ESPN did an insightful commentary on the retirement of Derek Jeter.

Two things stood out. The first was a comment by his former manager, Joe Torre, who said Jeter was special because he never became part of the “me, me, me” generation.

Then ESPN noted that he wore number 2 because he never wanted to be considered number 1, even though he was part of the conversation.

Jeter was the captain of the Yankees and was known as “the captain.” He was their leader.

His legacy, which included five World Series championships, said a great deal about leadership.

Leaders who are “full of themselves” and want everyone to know they are number 1 are not only difficult to work for; it is equally as difficult just to be in their presence.

I once met a man at a wedding. He was a real gentleman, had nothing to say about himself, and was extremely humble. I found out from others that he was the point person in the merger of two major American companies and that he and his wife had developed a ranch for special needs children. He never uttered a word about either achievement.

I had the unique opportunity to work in clinics with some of the best basketball coaches in the country, men like John Wooden and Dean Smith. I never once heard them talk about themselves or their achievements.

If you’ve done it, there’s no need to talk about it.

In this “me” generation, Derek Jeter showed us, did not tell us, but showed us what leadership is all about.

24 Sep

Next Man Up

The philosophy of the 2014 NFL Arizona Cardinals is “Next Man Up.” They know football is a sport of attrition, so they have developed a culture of trust. They trust everyone on the team – starters and substitutes alike – and when a starter gets injured, they trust that a substitute will be the “Next Man Up.”

We had a season where we were in contention for the conference championship. In the last game of the first round of conference play, we lost our best player, a senior, to a season-ending injury.

Fortunately, we had a junior varsity team that ran our system. They did everything we were doing on the varsity. So everyone in the program ran the same offense, defense, and special situations.

Because of the trust in the system, we were able to bring a freshman up to replace our senior. We finished the second round 7 – 0 and won the championship.

I think if leaders have developed a system, they may want to enhance their system with the “Next Man Up “philosophy.

Gordie Gillespie, whose basketball, football, and baseball teams won an incredible 2,402 games in his career, developed a great system of teaching in all three sports. When you examine his 59 years of coaching, you find that he almost exclusively hired men who had played for him or coached with him. His hiring and promotion practices were to hire and promote from within.

Knowing he could trust that the coaches knew his system and were men of character, Gordie was, often with them not realizing it, preparing them to be the “Next Man Up.”

For a myriad of reasons, there is attrition in all businesses and organizations. That is why leaders have to be coaches. They have to coach their people to be ready to step in and lead when that attrition arises.

Leaders must continuously get their people to be prepared to be the “Next Person (Woman or Man) Up.”

18 Sep

Competing vs. Game Plans

“Competing beats game plans.” Jim Crews, the St. Louis University basketball coach, said this at a clinic I recently attended.

I never thought of this before, but it makes a great deal of sense to me.

As a college basketball coach, I always liked to recruit multi-sport high school athletes, especially the basketball-football combination. I certainly did not limit multi-sport to basketball-football only. Any sport or sports combined with basketball were beneficial.

The primary reason I liked multi-sport athletes was because they learned one overall concept – the most important concept in sport. They learned how to compete.

When I reflect on the best athletes I coached in my 44 years of coaching basketball, there is one recurring theme that unites all of them. They were competitors.

Joey Meyer, the former DePaul University basketball coach, believed there were two kinds of players – performers and competitors. Performers wanted to look good; competitors wanted to win. One year he felt he had more performers than competitors, so he made all of his practice drills competitive.

To be successful in sport you have to have competitors. Game plans are important, but if you don’t have competitors to execute them, you won’t be successful.

In business or any other profession there is failure. If your organization has performers, they may very well quit when times get tough. Competitors continuously get back up and attack the challenge.

Competing does beat game plans.

14 Sep

Small Acts of Kindness

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, in his outstanding book, The Gift of Peace, wrote, “The things people are naturally attracted to and remember most are small acts of concern and thoughtfulness. Years later, that is what they tell you about their priests and other clergy.”

Saint Theresa, the Little Flower, wrote in Story of a Soul, “A word, an amiable smile, often suffice to make a sad soul bloom.”

Poet Maya Angelau summed it up when she wrote, ”I’ve learned that people forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Father John Welch, a Carmelite priest, wrote about a man who received hospitality from others at a critical time in his life. The man said, “Always show more kindness than seems necessary because the person receiving it needs it more than you will ever know.”

The above quotes were referenced in an article written by Father John Welch titled, “Small Acts of Kindness” in the March edition of the Diocese of Joliet magazine, Christ is Our Hope.

I think these small acts of kindness are something leaders may want to reflect on. Leaders carry the title of their profession with them everywhere they go. Often they are respected because of that title and the position they hold in their community. Therefore, people tend to remember their acts of kindness more than others due to their exalted position.

For the most part I really think people in athletics understand that athletics has brought them fame and when they are kind to people, that kindness can be remembered for years. We had a program called Brown & Gold Night at the University of St. Francis where we brought in a celebrity from the world of sport for a fundraising dinner. Our celebrities did not get any bigger that Hall of Famers’ Mike Ditka and John Wooden. Both of them could not have been more gracious to the hundreds of people who were in attendance. They showed no arrogance, no ego, no “I’m better than you because I’m a Hall of Famer.” Instead, they exhibited an attitude that they were genuinely grateful to meet our people and both stayed until every autograph was signed. To this day our people remember their graciousness and kindness.

When Maya Angelou wrote that people remember how you made them feel, it made me think of my mentor and coach, Gordie Gillespie, who did this better than anyone I have ever known. There could be 600 people in a room, but if he was talking to you, he made you feel like you were the only person in that room.

Our St. Francis basketball players demonstrated at Chicago clinics for some of the top coaches in the country, coaches like Bob Knight, Dean Smith, and Greg Popovich. Were you to ask our players what they remembered most about these men, I know they’d say how kind these coaches were to them. When our players were demonstrating for Coach Knight, they misunderstood his teaching on his very first drill and performed it poorly, so poorly that a good number of the 800 coaches in attendance laughed at them. Knight immediately stopped the clinic and told the coaches if he heard any more laughing from them, he’d bring ten of them out of the stands and have them demonstrate! Our players have never forgotten Coach Knight’s kindness to them.

Most leaders are in positions where they are able to do small or sometimes even big acts of kindness.

Not a bad way to be remembered.

24 Aug

The Value of Encouragement

William Barclay wrote: “We have a duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet.”

Ken Blanchard wrote that it is a good idea to walk around and CATCH a person doing something GOOD and compliment him or her.

In their book, In Search of Excellence, authors Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman made the point that one of the problems in corporate America is that top officers in companies – vice-presidents, presidents, and CEOs – fail to come to the people making the company successful – secretaries, assembly line workers, and truck drivers – and thank them for all they do.

I saw the importance of encouragement in my playing days. I played for one coach who hardly ever encouraged us but constantly criticized our play. And his criticism was not just directed to our play. He regularly criticized our personhood, saying sarcastic remarks that had nothing to do with our play. I did complete two seasons playing for him but got so tired of the caustic criticisms that I did consider quitting a game that I loved to play a number of times.

I saw this also in my coaching days. We had a player transfer to us who had played for coaches similar to the coach I played for. The criticism was constant and personal. He could be going to lunch, have the coaches run into him, and immediately his courage and commitment were questioned. He was told he’d never be a good player because he had no guts. The degrading comments were thrown his way both on and off the court and they continued all year. He told me by the end of the year, he actually didn’t care if he ever played again.

I played for a college coach, Gordie Gillespie, who approached his leadership totally opposite the above coaches. He constantly encouraged us to strive to be the best we could be. He definitely let us know when our play was lacking, in no uncertain terms, but it was ONLY about our play, never about our personhood. And his comments also went beyond the playing court or field, with one major exception. His remarks were positive and encouraging.

Leaders who use encouragement and positive feedback definitely enhance a workplace….Something to think about.

17 Aug

Emphasizing Emphasis: Bob Boyd and Jimbo Fisher

Bob Boyd, the former University of Southern California basketball coach, and Jimbo Fisher, the current Florida State University football coach, both had insightful comments on coaching that may be beneficial for leaders.

Boyd taught coaches at clinics that, “it’s not what you teach; it’s what you emphasize.” We’d like our teams to be good at everything, but you only have so much practice time. Therefore, it is important to ascertain the most important things that will lead to winning and then make those concepts the main points of emphasis.

At St. Francis, we felt the most important things that led to success were the fundamentals. So, balance, footwork, passing, dribbling, shooting and the defensive fundamentals became the cornerstones of our basketball program. We felt if we emphasized the fundamentals, the offenses and defenses would fall into place.

Jimbo Fisher’s Florida State football team was last year’s national champions. As he and his staff analyzed their championship season, they came up with a different approach to this year’s season. Most coaches look at a past season and see where their team failed, then put in systems and drills in practice to improve on their deficits.

Fisher and his staff reversed the above concept. They looked at what they did well and continued with the systems to sustain their strengths. They didn’t want to lose what they did well by emphasizing their weaknesses.

These two concepts may be valuable for leaders to reflect on.

“It’s not what you teach; it’s what you emphasize.”

Analyze what your organization is doing well at the year’s end and be sure to sustain it.

03 Aug

Leaders and Decision-Making

The most important and possibly the most difficult task a leader has to do may be decision-making. The proverbial buck does stop with the leader and more often than not, he or she will be judged by the decisions he/she makes.

I’d like to share three thoughts with you to consider when making decisions. See if you think these concepts have merit.

For its 75^th anniversary Fortune Magazine dedicated the entire edition to one concept – decision-making. They interviewed leaders from the business, military, education, and political worlds on their philosophies of decision-making. Because I was the Athletic Chair serving 350 student-athletes and 35 coaches at the time, I was most interested in learning more about this topic. After reading every article in the magazine, I thought the most insightful comment came from Jim Collins, the author of “From Good to Great.” He said the best decisions made in business board rooms in the past 25 years, regardless of the business, began with the same three words from the leaders – “I don’t know.” As I thought about this, I realized that the strongest and most secure leaders I worked with were those not afraid to say, “I don’t know.”

Cardinal Newman once wrote about faith stating, “A thousand doubts don’t make one disbelief.” Decision-making is tough because the most difficult decisions do involve doubt. That is why if your decisions ultimately come from your core beliefs, you do eliminate some of the doubt. The great leaders I worked with always operated from their core beliefs and they did one more thing to attack doubt. They got as much feedback as possible from their constituency, then made the final decision.

When Rose Kennedy was asked how she dealt with all the tragedies she experienced in her lifetime, she gave this answer. “When the storm is over, the birds do sing.” The most trying decisions a leader has to make are usually made during a storm. It may have merit for leaders to remind themselves during the throes of making a decision that tough times do come to an end.

Realizing that you don’t have all the answers, that you make your decisions based on your core beliefs, and that the birds do sing after the storm may help you in your decision-making.