Two great examples rang through my ears in podcasts sent from the heavens as if to answer that question exactly. You may not have heard of Brook Cupps or Steve Sallis. You might not follow Ohio High School basketball or Youth Football Development in the UK, but regardless you will recognize the impact of Leadership lessons in youth sport that both of these amazing people stand for.
Brook Cupps was a guest on Ryan Hawk’s Learning Leader Podcast. He recently coached his Centerville HS Boys Basketball team to an Ohio State Championship - a team that featured his sophomore son who has been called out by Lebron James as the best pure shooter in his recruiting class. Brook is not known for his tactical genius, though he has it in spades, rather he is known for his VALUES. INSPIRE OTHERS TO STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE OVER SUCCESS. His goal is bring the absolute best out of each of his players. He does this through establishing solid, core values - TOUGH, UNIFIED, PASSIONATE & THANKFUL. Through these values he creates connection with the players and gives context to everything they do on and off the court. These are values that the players take with them in school, at home and throughout life. Basketball is a vehicle for a far deeper Leadership Education for these players. They have opportunities all throughout the season to practice, test, learn, and grow in all the areas. UNIFIED is defined as the value that encourages team members to speak and act with urgency and do it for each other. An example of this in practice is when a player notices something that could be detrimental to the team, they are encouraged to speak up. In fact, not speaking up is viewed as SELFISH. There are plenty of adults in corporate America who could really learn from practicing this. It is so much easier to watch someone make mistakes or not speak up when you something that isn’t right. It takes courage to be generous with your words. It can be difficult in the moment and it may not be what people want to hear, but the value it brings to the team and the trust it builds can never be second guessed. Creating a safe environment in youth sports to practice this skill is priceless. Leadership and Management consultants will charge tens of thousands of dollars in an attempt to teach and replicate these situations for adults in the work force. What a chance we have to plant the seeds of leadership in the next generations of teachers, coaches, managers, VPs or CEOS through the everyday activities like sport!!!
Steve Sallis was a guest on the High Performance Podcast. Steve is a former academy footballer, vice-principal teacher and author of “Educating Football”. Steve run Solutions Mindset where he provides what he calls “the bit in the middle” for teams. That bit that he focuses on are skills like Empathy, Kindness, and Self Awareness. He operates in the middle helping athletes with mental skills and also providing strategies to coaches to continue the work long after he is gone. Steve has worked with many professional clubs and the English FA.
Steve comes from an education background and points out the need for more teacher qualities in coaches. Coaches are generally more “harsh”. They are making decisions to help teams get results and often those calls impact some people negatively. Steve is not telling coaches they don’t need to make those decisions, rather he is saying they need to embed the “soft skills” of education into their work. You don’t lose, you learn. “What’s the point of knowing all about football if you don’t know about leadership?” Steve’s comment hits deep and is applicable to both coaches and players. Coaches need to be intentional with all their interactions to help athletes. They have responsibilities to create safe spaces to normalize failure, have difficult conversations and grow culture. For players, there is no age limit to being a leader. One thing I know is certain, if you wait till a person enters a corporate job to begin to talk about Leadership skills, it is way too late. The more we can talk about Leadership, the more we can use WE over I, the more we can help provide safe places for young athletes to cultivate leadership skills the better.
Brook is asked about results and the possibility of being fired he responds simply - “If I get fired, I get fired for following my values. Success is defined by you - not by society.” Rather than being defined by the results of a match or a season - - having larger conversations about defining success and pushing all players and coaches toward IMproving over proving.
Take a listen to both of these shows - - and while you are at it enjoy the full catalog of both of these pods. These are two that should be “must listen” every week for leaders of all shapes, sizes and ages. These are worth sharing with your youngest leaders too!!! It is never too early to introduce the concepts of great Leadership.
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