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.…
As a leader, where do the best ideas for your organization come from? I once heard that the mind is like a parachute. It works best when it’s open. Through the years I have found that if you keep an open mind, you will find that you never know where the best ideas will come…
“Finish strong!” hollers the spin class instructor. I ask myself: “Finish strong? Heck, I didn’t know we were close to the finish line.” Facilitated by a good leader, spin classes can be a great, low-impact cardio workout. Good instructors take class members on a journey that transcends peddling a stationary bike in a dark room.…
John Wooden, the famous UCLA basketball coach used to say, “If you take care of the little things, the big things take care of themselves.” Bob Boyd, the former University of Southern California basketball coach, used to say, “It’s not what you teach, it’s what you emphasize.” And if you emphasize the little things, the…
An ABC newscast recently featured Pope Francis and emphasized that he is living simply and that his life-style is having a profound effect on people – Catholics and non-Catholics alike. His impact has been so great that Time Magazine named him its 2013 Person-of-the-Year. Isn’t it amazing how the simple can often be the profound?…
It seems that the least respected teachers in American high schools are the Physical Education and Health teachers, many of whom are coaches. All they do is throw out the balls and play games. They are not really “teachers.” This is not at all an accurate picture. Most P.E. teachers I know are as hard-working…
A friend recently told me about a survey taken by senior citizens. They were asked about the most important things in their lives and their order of importance. The first priority on the list was no surprise: It was health. The second concept made me think as I did not expect it. It was FUN.…
Chris Carter, the NFL Hall of Fame receiver, made this point on the Mike and Mike Show recently. In short, he told young athletes that success in your career will be determined by what you do when nobody’s looking. I was privileged to coach some outstanding athletes in my forty-four years of coaching basketball at…
With our inaugural newsletter arriving just after Thanksgiving, I would like to share four thoughts with you on two of the most important words that leaders should consider incorporating in their vocabulary – Thank-You. These two words carry a lot of meaning both for the giver and the recipient. First, we all appreciate…
In his superb book, Adversaries into Allies, Bob Burg writes, “In the process of becoming an Ultimate Influencer, controlling your emotions comes before every step, every time.” Having coached basketball for forty-four years, I can certainly relate to the above statement. It took a game in North Dakota for me to realize how your emotions…
