This summer I finished reading Mike Smith & Jon Gordon's book You Win in the Locker Room First: The 7 C's to Build a Winning Team in Business, Sports, and Life.
Bit of a random post, but below are a few of my favorite quotes/notes from the book that will help shape & develop part of my coaching philosophy. Hope this is helpful to any coaches/leaders/teachers!
Introduction
“Success happens by focusing on the process, not the outcome. You win by cultivating the right culture, leadership, expectations, belief, mindset, relationships & habits before your play the game.”
Ch. 1- Culture
“As a leader, your words must equal your actions. Do what you say & say what you do.”
“Sustained culture=Sustained success.”
Ask yourself, what do we stand for? What do we want to be known for?
If the current culture is not what you want or envision, past beliefs/behaviors have to go & it starts with the coach. Do not blame athletes for a poor culture.
Ch.2-Contagious
“Leadership is a TRANSFER of purpose, passion, optimism & belief.”
Make mission statements that have nothing to do with winning championships
Don’t be negative. There’s never bad days, only bad moments. Focus on the positive.
“You can only bring up a complaint if you have a suggestion to fix the problem.”
Ch. 3-Consistent
Always be yourself. Your team must know what to expect from you.
“I am relentless in my pursuit of being consistent.”-Pete Carroll
“It’s NOT ok to be moody. People don’t know what to expect, people lose trust.”
“Focus on becoming the best version of yourself every day.”
“You become complacent when your team members start to believe that their prior successes are going to ensure that they will have success in the future.”
‘You have to consistently improve if you want to win consistently.”
Ch. 4- Communicate
Have an open-door policy with athletes. Listen & convey their messages.
“Feel the temperature.”-Have to be willing to read your athletes & things based on what you see day to day.
Ch. 5-Connect
“Team beats talent when talent isn’t team.”
“A connected team=committed team.”
You have to make time to plan out activities that facilitate teams and coaches the opportunity to connect.
Ch.6-Commitment
“Leaders must self-evaluate to make sure their level of commitment is greater than that of anyone else’s in the organization.”
You can’t get commitment/buy in from athletes if you first do not commit fully
Talk less, make athletes feel more.
You have to serve to be Great-Servant-Leadership
“Shout praise in public, whisper criticism in private.”
“The ultimate commitment is sacrifice.”
Ch.7-Care
“To work harder, you have to care more.”
Don’t forget how valuable it is to make somebody feel special. Take time to have 1v1 interactions with athletes. Become a transformational coach, not a transactional one.
THE BIG C-COACHING
“True leaders don’t create followers; they create more leaders.
“One coach will impact more people in one year than most people do in a lifetime.”
“Great coaches don’t succeed because they’re great, but because they bring greatness out in others.”
The other C-Character
You cannot sacrifice your values for short term gain. You might win today, but you will always lose in the end.
Be passionate, not emotional.
LOSS=Learning opportunity, stay strong.
“Don’t focus on winning championships, focus on developing champions.”
“The minute you think you know it all is the minute that you stop growing & improving.”