It's One or The OtherIt’s fall 2012 and our off-season basketball program is just getting underway. I’ve been a high school basketball coach for twelve years, but this one feels a little different. It’s my first opportunity to see the players at my new school, Centerville. I’m excited but nervous, hopeful yet skeptical. And, unfortunately, the first player citing doesn’t exactly calm the nerves.
As I walk into our cold, dark auxiliary gym the first player I see is a dusty blonde haired, chubby kid with a beat up cast on his right arm. He looks terrible - slow, not tall, AND with a giant cast on his arm … not exactly the makings of the player I am hoping for. Clearly this wasn’t the first time he had been shooting with his cast on though. He lines it up with his left hand, lets it fly, runs after his rebound, and repeats the process. Over and over, shot after shot. A few went in, most did not. But he kept shooting, that’s a good thing - I think! When it came time to pick teams, of course he hopped in line. After informing him he wasn’t allowed to play with a cast on his arm, he disappeared into the crowd of other players. He didn’t hide for long though. About ten minutes into the open gym I catch him on the court, playing on one of the teams at the opposite end of the gym from where I’m standing. I make my way to his court and let him know (again) that he’s not allowed to play with a cast on. He tries to explain to me that a player needed a sub so he just jumped in for them. Forget the fact that there were approximately twenty casteless-players standing on the sidelines waiting to play. About thirty minutes later I have to go pull him out of a game for a third time. Clearly, it would be easy to become frustrated by his lack of willingness to listen to my directions. But, I’m not going to lie, his persistence brought a smile to my face. And, the cast drove the point home. Why Should We Care? As you might guess, that young man turned out to not only be a great player, but one of my favorite players I’ve ever coached. He was incredibly coachable, relentless in his effort, and always prioritized the team. But, it was definitely his willingness to find a way instead of an excuse that drew me to him. As a leader, you play favorites. And, one of the first things you appreciate in someone you are leading is the ability to see a possibility rather than an excuse. You’ve never worked with someone good at both - because they don’t exist. It’s impossible to search for excuses while focusing on possibilities. No one wallows in scarcity while appreciating abundance. One of the most difficult challenges for a leader is helping the people you lead see the possibility over the excuse, especially when things get hard. Call it hope if you want, but it’s critical as a leader that you provide, or at least suggest, it for your team. A mindset of possibility is certainly not something you can assume your team automatically has. Contrary to the approach commonly taken today, ignoring reality and painting everything with a hunky-dory brush is not an effective approach - even if everyone is doing it. The best people at focusing on possibility in difficult situations are perfectly in tune with reality while never considering an excuse. They maintain hope in spite of the conditions, not because of them. REAL TALK - Action Steps So, what do they do? The people that are able to ignore excuses, what do they do differently than other people … than the majority of people? How do they maintain this perspective? Here are a few thoughts to move in that direction:
You can’t have both. It’s one or the other: an excuse or a way. The more we train ourselves to see opportunity, the more opportunity we find. And, of course, the opposite is also true. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here!
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The YeaButsMany, many moons ago in a land not too far away, there lived a family that seemed to have all the luxuries anyone could ask for. Their house was the biggest in the neighborhood, their cars the coolest, and their yard the most pristine. The success of the YeaButs was clear based solely on their property and physical possessions, but it didn’t stop there.
The only thing that could outdo the obvious material prosperity of the YeaButs was their ability to flourish socially and professionally. Mrs. YeaBut was a successful small business owner, finding just the right niche for her neighborhood. It had taken years to get there, but Mr. YeaBut had finally worked his way up to the CEO position he had set his eyes on when he first joined the company. The YeaBut kids were equally impressive. The oldest, a son, was a star athlete in high school who had several scholarship offers to continue his athletic career but chose to accept an academic invitation to an Ivy League school to study medicine. Their youngest, a daughter, had become one of the best dancers in the country by the age of twelve and moved to New York City to pursue it as a career by sixteen. What a family. The YeaButs had it all. Or, so it seemed. Come to find out, Mr. and Mrs. YeaBut had been struggling in their marriage for over a decade. Several major differences surfaced throughout the years: his long hours working had led to almost a complete absence from family time; her huge initial investment necessary to get her business off the ground had created financial stress they had covered up for decades; his disappointment in his son’s passion for medicine rather than sports; her support of her daughter moving away to NYC at only sixteen against the well-wishes from him … the list continued, but these were the big ones. Nonetheless, the YeaButs put on their smile, shined their car, and paid their landscaper. After all, they have an image to uphold, right? Why Should We Care? It’s that desired image too often becomes the defining decision-maker in our lives. Most people have never considered the image they hold for themselves. Who do you see yourself as? Without that contemplation we become attuned to what others say and before long, we’re making decisions and taking actions in search of the image others hold for us. It’s literally an endless barrage of chatter that is only silenced with a clear understanding and acceptance of our own self-image. The YeaButs family appeared perfect, but they weren’t. Like most other people they chose to pose rather than live fully. They chose to pretend rather than be. The house and the car didn’t ultimately matter to the YeaButs compared to a failing marriage and a separated family. But, hey, they had the best yard on the block … sweet, congrats. Yea, we have a sweet house, but we don’t have a family to live in it. Yea, I want to be present with my family, but I need to work overtime so I can get my promotion. Yea, I want to lose twenty pounds, but it’s the holidays. Yea, I want to be a hard worker, but I don’t feel good today. Yea, I want to start my own business, but what if it doesn’t work out? Yea, I want to give more than I take, but what if I don’t get anything back? Yea, I want the team to win, but I need to average twenty points per game so everyone knows that I’m a good player. Yea, I want to be a good teammate, but sometimes other guys aren’t. Yea, I want to be a great player, but I don’t have time to work outside of practice. Yea, but … Yea, but … Yea, but … Like a lot of other things in life, the yea-buts don’t stop until you choose to stop them. REAL TALK - Action Steps These are easy circumstances and situations to recognize and acknowledge, but completely different to personally change. Here are a few thoughts on moving beyond yea-buts:
YeaButs are only good at one thing - compromising. Stop the negotiation and justification. Tap into that reservoir of strength you get when you make, and keep, commitments to yourself. Yes, and … Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Some Things Never ChangeTwenty million dollars is the estimated NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) compensation for Ohio State’s football team of players and coaches this season. It’s a lot. And, to be fair, they were not alone in that spending bracket. Arkansas Men’s Basketball program has NIL estimations upwards of five million dollars to fund this winter’s team, also among the top in college hoops allotments.
While both are among the highest budgets in their respective sports, the results (at least to date) are quite different. Of course, the assumption (and hope) is that more money means more talent and more talent means more wins. More wins and, well, that means: even more money to get even more talent leading to even more wins. Finally, the shortcut to success - we’ve found the system! The national championship football game this year was between Ohio State and Notre Dame, two of the most well endowed programs in the country. Yet, with all that talent, both teams dropped games during the year to mediocre 8-5 teams. But, what about the talent you may ask? Good question. Arkansas’ Men’s basketball team is 12-7 and 1-5 in their conference. They’ve looked like anything but the national championship contender they were paid to be. They still have time left in their season to turn things around. I wouldn’t bet my house on it; but, as they say, time will tell. While all the talk in college sports is about NIL money, and it certainly matters, there is an extent to how much it matters. As games are played and seasons reveal the truth, it’s becoming increasingly clear that something else is also at play. The highest budget doesn’t automatically equal the best team. And that … will never change. Why Should We Care? Society grows and evolves. Thankfully, life in 2025 is not the same as life in 1925 or even 2000. Nor would anyone expect, or want, it to be. We are meant to advance ourselves and the world around us. However, there are some societal truths that demand acknowledgement and will not bend. There are dynamics that will always supersede technology, money, or talent. Yes, crazy to imagine isn’t it - something being more valuable than money or more prized than talent? The audacity to even suggest it is disturbing. It’s hard to see, but it’s also undeniable. Those grossly well compensated college football players at Ohio State and Notre Dame still have to block and tackle. If they don’t they lose - ask Michigan or Northern Illinois. No amount of money can hide the need to block and tackle. It’s football. It’s what you have to do to win - regardless of your NIL budget. Despite their check, those wealthy twenty-somethings are not above that reality. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re fairly well compensated too. And, although you’re probably not playing football, there are some things you have to do (like block and tackle) in order to win in life. Your salary only matters to an extent. Same with your talent. You still have to block and tackle if you want to win. For example, deep meaningful relationships are one of the ways we ‘win’ in life. They provide fulfillment, joy, and meaning that are impossible to experience without them. Money without relationships is lonely. Talent without relationships is empty. We ‘win’ through wholesome relationships regardless of the money or talent we possess. Trust, work ethic, resiliency, integrity, discipline, accountability, purpose … always have, and always will be, critical to life - not to mention leadership and team performance. REAL TALK - Action Steps Some things never change, nor should they. They work - like blocking and tackling. Here are a few thoughts to help you consider other aspects of life that should never change.
Be grateful for those things that never change. They are the things in life we should cling to. And, no amount of money, or talent, can change that. Thankfully, sport and life will honor that in the long run. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! I Am ...It’s August of 2001. The first day of school, the first of my teaching career. I’ve spent my entire college life studying education and couldn’t possibly feel less prepared. Standing in front of thirty, blood-thirsty teenagers isn’t something any class, or four years of classes, prepares you for.
As all uncertain teachers do, I open class with a few ice breakers: Who are you? What do you do outside of school? What does home look like? Nothing too fancy. I don’t want to scare them away on the first day of school. The majority of the students jump through the hoops as I predicted: Jenna likes to run track and lives with her mom, dad, and two brothers; Chris works at McDonald’s and lives with his grandparents; Stephanie babysits and lives with her mom and little sister. Then there’s Dustin. His answers are different - more revealing, more personal. Every other student began their response with “I am their name”. Dustin begins with “I am a Christian. My name is Dustin”. Interesting. Why Should We Care? Our name is our name, but the words we choose to use to describe ourselves following the statement “I am” should be viewed as a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s a clean look into how we see ourselves. Whether we realize it or not, we live in accordance with this belief. Spoken or unspoken, our “I am” is who we are, every day in our choices and actions. It’s these actions that clue others into what follows “I am” for us. “I am” is an invitation. It offers direction and clarity. It declares priority. When we know what follows “I am” we have a clear picture of what is most important to us. And, in that vein, what is not. We can’t be everything, but the things we are going to choose to be, we should strive to be fully. How we complete “I am” is a great tool for living a life of intentionality. Most of us will try to complete the sentence multiple times, in various directions. Of course, we have numerous roles to play in life, various values that are important. That’s ok, but only one can be first. Only one can be the priority - one role, one value. So, what is your most important lot in life? What is your non-negotiable value? You are … REAL TALK - Action Steps The start of the year is a great time to consider what your “I am” is. Lock it in and build some inspiration and intentionality into the year ahead. Here are a few ideas to get started:
It may sound extreme but the word you choose to follow “I am” will choose your life. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Running To or Running FromI’m not a huge fan of speaking in front of groups of people. I’m overly nervous or worried about conveying my message, but if given the option I would choose to not partake most of the time. I do realize how illogical this is for a teacher whose profession is literally dependent on one’s ability to do this very thing.
That said, what I do enjoy in this setting is a good round of questions and answers. I appreciate the challenge of immediately processing and synthesizing the question, then crafting the perfect answer pulling from my life experiences. While I certainly hope the audience benefits from the experience, I’m almost always better for having done it. There is one exception. One group in which question and answer sessions have been banned for eternity: Little Dribblers Basketball campers. Little Dribblers Basketball Camp is three days long, an hour per day, for kindergarten through second grade students (no, I was not smart enough to make it that short initially). While most of the camp feels like we’re herding cats, we spend the majority of camp working on ballhandling and footwork - with some dancing and lots of laughing mixed in. The first year we held camp I made a critical error: I asked for questions. I got way more than questions. I got stories about their mom’s boss, reasons their big brother had freckles, and why two of their toes on the same foot were the exact same length (clearly a miracle). I was also blessed with the most outlandish dreams of every six, seven, and eight year old at camp. Astronaut, president, lawyer, BMX bike racer, doctor … we had them all. Of course, I chuckled and gave a half-hearted smile as acknowledgment of their wild dreams. Silly kids. Only in retrospect did I realize it was my desperation that wouldn’t allow me to recognize their inspiration. They were silly, but their dreams were more real than almost any adults I’ve engaged with since. Why Should We Care? We all have goals, just like the Little Dribbler campers. They just haven’t been tamed enough to fear saying them out loud. You know it’s true. Little kids are almost always running to their goals and dreams. Adults, on the other hand, are usually pursuing goals as a means of running from something else. There’s a big difference between running to something and running away from something. Think about these questions: What emotions are you experiencing if you are running to someone? What emotions are you experiencing if you are running away from someone? When we are running to something we are fueled by love, so passion naturally accompanies it. We are inspired. When we are running from something we are fueled by fear, so judgement and a want for safety naturally accompany it. We are desperate. Of course, we never set out to run from our dreams, we just pursue goals that we hope will distract others from seeing the true us. The salesman crushing quarter goals to get the bonus so he can get the new car in hopes of upping his social status is not the same as the salesman crushing quarter goals to get the bonus so he can pay off his mortgage and set his family up for long-term financial success. The first is running from other people’s opinions of him. The second is running to his family. REAL TALK - Action Steps With that in mind, here are a few things to consider when setting inspirational goals that you will run to:
The people who are inspired, gritty, persistent, resilient, and passionate simply have a goal they are running to. It’s not magic, but it is intentional. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Honor the PrivilegeHere we go again. Another day, another bus ride with mom. I’ve been doing this for years now so the idea that being a bus driver was a less than glamorous job never occurred to me, but apparently it is. Even when a few of my friends shared their thoughts on the prestige of the position, I shrugged it off. What do they know anyway? They’re ten.
Kids have to get to school one way or the other and when you live out in the country, the cheese-wagon is a necessary evil. Well, not really evil, just necessary. And, my mom isn’t just a bus driver, she is THE best school bus driver ever. It’s kind of like walking into your grandma’s house, staying for thirty minutes, leaving for seven hours, then coming back for another thirty minutes. Every time you step on, or off, the bus you are sure you are her favorite passenger ever. Have a birthday? She has a treat for you. Tough day at school? She deals her love in hugs. Spelling test later that day? No problem, she’ll quiz you - then check with you on your grade the next day. For my mom, driving a bus was her job, but she viewed it as a privilege. A privilege she honored everyday by the way she showed up for her students and their parents. Why Should We Care? Are you consistently honoring the privilege of your role? If you haven’t thought specifically about it, there’s a good chance the answer to that question is “No”. You have a good idea of what honoring the privilege of your role looks like, but without truly exploring what’s possible you are sure to leave opportunities on the table. Taking advantage of those opportunities is precisely how we honor the privilege. The danger, of course, is to become comfortable or to take our role for granted. As those thoughts of complacency creep in, our actions quickly mirror them. Fewer things become important, there is less urgency to get those things done, and we find less and less joy in doing them. Those honoring their privilege will feel like they are on fire. Their passion and joy will be palpable. You will think they wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world other than precisely where they are. They’ll have bad days, but you won’t know. They won’t complain. They have challenges, but they won’t acknowledge them as anything other than an expected part of the process. People who consistently honor the privilege of their role simply choose to take the opportunities that others pass by. It’s not based on circumstances. It’s an intentional choice. REAL TALK - Action Steps If asked, I think virtually everyone would say they want to be great at what they do. The majority of people strive to honor the privilege they’ve been trusted with. Yet, only a few do. Here are a some ideas to put yourself in the company of those few:
We all have roles to play. In our jobs, in our homes, and in our relationships. When we are focused on honoring the privilege of those roles we seem to find a lot more to appreciate while fulfilling them. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Giving & ReceivingIt’s 6:00 am Christmas morning, I’m eight years old, and there are presents begging to be opened. I’m wide awake but my cool teenage roomate, also my brother, is still sound asleep. I weigh the risks of waking him, which mainly consists of a physical beating, but the excitement wins out and I begin nudging him - hoping he would join me on my perusal of the goods.
To my surprise, he agrees and we sneak out of our bedroom to the living room, lit bright by the multi-color lights draped around our Christmas tree. We examine each gift carefully, placing rhetorical bets on the contents of each package. One box catches our eyes. We both have one … and they look exactly the same. His too-old-for-this attitude is shifting back to one of childlike joy. We need to get this show on the road. We wake up mom and dad. They take for-ev-er to get to the living room, but we wait patiently. OK, patiently is a stretch, but we wait. Finally we start passing out presents. My brother and I have four each, plus a stocking. Mom and dad each have one, which they quickly toss to the side as we dig in. In no time we are down to a single package - the one that matches. We tear it open at the same time revealing something we hadn’t even asked for but gladly accept: remote control cars. Not just cars, but off-road dune buggies. Yes, I can now see that it wasn’t that big of a deal but at that moment it might as well have been real cars. Our minds raced bouncing ideas back and forth to each other faster than a ping-pong match over what we might do first. It turns out, we never make it past our first idea. We begin our driving careers with one objective: to be a menace to our two cats. We are enjoying it, but mom is not. Neither are the cats. That’s when my brother comes up with one of his best ideas ever: “Hey, why don’t we tie a hot dog to the back of the cars so the cats chase them?” The rest of our Christmas break from school was now spoken for. We spent hours, then days, racing our cars around the house and yard with our two cats in hot pursuit. It was a great time - for us and the cats. Why Should We Care? I don’t know when the pendulum swings for most people but at some point in our lives a desire to receive gives way to a passion for giving. Atleast, I hope it does because giving is so much better. Now on the other side of the holiday ritual, it’s easy to see that my brother and I weren’t the happiest people that Christmas morning. Mom and dad were. Their gift connected their sons. It connected our family. We laughed. We reenacted. We schemed. What a gift to give. Of course, my brother and I were oblivious to this realization at that moment. We just played. No worry, no concern - just play. We said thank you, but beyond that we simply enjoyed playing with the car and all the experiences that came with it. As the receiver, we are limited to the simple enjoyment of the gift. As the giver, our enjoyment can be magnified by becoming aware of the impact on the receiver. It’s not a revelation, just confirmation. Give more than you receive. REAL TALK - Action Steps How are we sure to be aware of the impact of the gifts we give? That’s a good question. Here are seven boxes to check when you desire to give a gift that will have maximum impact:
At the end of the day, don’t overthink it: give more than you receive. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Perfectly ImperfectWe’re coming off our first loss of the season. We have a great group of guys this season. Each individual is fully invested in their role and prioritizes the team ahead of themselves. It’s a fun group to coach. Of course, that’s not a challenging perspective since we won our first three games by double digits. Now we’ll find out what the group is really like. Everyone is happy when it’s seventy-five and sunny.
It’s not seventy-five and sunny now. We were out-played in our recent loss. They were tougher than us, competed harder than us, and ultimately made the plays necessary down the stretch to win the game. No more pretending. The truth is out: we’re not perfect. Our season won’t be determined by the loss. Or, maybe it will be. Time will tell. Our hope is that it will be determined by our response to it. The adversity could push us to hold ourselves and teammates more accountable, increase the intentionality and consistency of critical details, and drive us to pour ourselves even more into our roles on the team. But, we realize the adversity could just as easily push us to pass blame rather than take responsibility, trigger apathy rather than focus, and cause us to withdraw from the team rather than lean into it. I like the chances of this group though. That’s not to say we’ll win the rest of our games or a state championship. It just means I think we have a chance to maximize our potential. This group has a key characteristic that all great teams possess: shared ownership. They all think the loss is their fault. They know they aren’t perfect. Which is right where we want to be. Why Should We Care? In this same time frame, our senior leader, and one of our best players, expressed an ongoing struggle with holding other people accountable when he isn’t playing as well. His concern is losing the trust of teammates when he is making mistakes. It’s a common and understandable concern, but in this case an unfounded one. He is clearly the leader of our team. And, as much as his level of play has garnered the attention of others outside the program, those inside the program have been steadily drawn to his consistency of work and unselfishness for years. His leadership has blossomed not because of what he’s done, but because of how he’s done it. His toughness, work ethic, and commitment to the team and program are unquestionable. He is a standard bearer in our program. He demands respect by his actions, and is now figuring out how to use his words. He’s built trust through his steadfast behavior, not his flawless performance. It’s ironic that those he leads are drawn to him because they’ve seen him work through the very failures he is concerned about. Everyone of our failures has the potential to draw others closer to us. Similar to our team’s first loss, it’s all about how we handle it. Vulnerability is an agent of trust. Others can deal with a lot less perfection than we realize when we relentlessly admit and confront our failures. No one we lead is looking for perfection - they can’t relate to it. REAL TALK - Action Steps As much as we all would like to be perfect, the reality is we shouldn’t even be thinking about it. Instead we need to be more intentional about embracing our shortcomings - even searching for them. Here are a few ideas on appreciating the value of our flaws.
While our successes mark our path, it’s our failures that clear the way. They should demand just as much of our attention and appreciation. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Clear CutIt’s November, 2005. The basketball season is just getting underway and we are in the process of finalizing our team selections. We’ve had a few practices to evaluate our players and it’s time to make our last set of cuts.
All cuts are not created equal. Conversations with upperclassmen who have made teams in the past, but have been passed by underclassmen and are no longer in a position to make the team are exceptionally difficult - assuming you desire to remain humane and empathetic in the process. Other cuts are obvious and more like the dashing of a whimsical dream. This is the prior. And, I am only four years into my coaching career. Not a good combination. The player strolls into the dark locker room where I’m waiting for him, sitting on a stool in the middle of the room facing the door. I’m too young, or ignorant, to connect his nonchalant entrance as an indicator of his misplaced confidence. That awareness would’ve been helpful. I fumbled on. “So, how do you think it’s been going?” I ask as he takes a seat across from me on one of our benches. Hoping, of course, for him to realize he is far behind most of the other players. He doesn’t hesitate, “Great, I’m playing really well.” Not exactly the answer I was expecting … since he had done nothing ‘really well’ during tryouts. I regroup and hope to help him see how far down the list of players he falls. Surely, with a comparison to the other players in the gym he will recognize his shortcomings. “Ok. Where do you think you are compared to the other guys?” Again, he doesn’t hesitate, “Oh, I think I’m definitely in the top seven, maybe a starter.” So much for my good intentions of helping him become self-aware and leading him to the realization that he isn't good enough to make the team. Yes, I realize how dumb of an idea that is now ... but I'm four years into my career. I knew nothing. This kid is unphased. He remains hopeful, or delusional, throughout the entire meeting. After trying to caress his feelings by easing into the unexpected news, I finally realized he wasn't processing any of it. Clearly, I wasn't being clear. I was left with only one option, hit him right between the eyes ... interrupting him mid-sentence I say “You’re not on the team.” Finally, we had clarity. Why Should We Care? In leadership we spend an inordinate amount of time contemplating when and how to deliver messages to the people we are leading. The more teams I lead and difficult messages I deliver, the more I realize it’s less about the message and more about the relationship between the two people that determines how well the message is received. Conversations like cutting a player from your team will always be difficult, but if I had invested more time into getting to truly know the young man then I would not have felt the need to tippy toe around the real message. I could have just told him. Empathetically of course, but I could've just gotten straight to the point. The same is true for the people you lead. You don’t need a perfectly crafted email or a pristine delivery in just the right environment. What you need is a relationship where you can be candid. Instead of spending time on your email, spend it growing your relationships. On the surface it may seem like you are less willing to be frank with those closest to you in order to keep from hurting them, but you know that’s not true. You say what needs to be said to them precisely because you love them. If you don't care enough about them, you just let them figure it out on their own. So, love those you lead enough to be transparent with them. REAL TALK - Action Steps Simplicity and courage is the combination we are looking for. Here are a few thoughts on becoming more intentional about each.
Our willingness to be transparent with others is a reflection of our respect and care for them. Those we lead not only expect that from us, they deserve it. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! The Talent or The TeamWe’re in the midst of putting together a hodgepodge basketball team to compete in the few tournaments being held across the country. It’s 2020 and the majority of the major cities that usually host youth basketball tournaments are shut down. However, there is one place that is still consistently hosting tournaments: Rock Hill, South Carolina.
After a miserable experience with a team, I use that term loosely, constructed based solely on talent and potential; we decide to try the other side of the coin. We prioritize a willingness to put the team first, a desire to pass the ball, and a willingness to serve teammates. Of course we wanted talented players, but unselfishness would take priority every time. Many of these players were always viewed as ‘good’ players, but never as the best. In comparison with the bigger, stronger, faster players they compete against, our guys are typically viewed as a notch, or five, below. Nonetheless, we believe in our guys. We have our team together, so all we need is a name. It came to us around the dinner table as we finished off the remains from the previous night’s meal. Our team name would be “The Leftovers”. Intimidating, huh? It’s perfect. That’s exactly who we are. We’re not a collection of the most talented guys. We’re the ones left after the first picking … and we’re good with that. We immediately call our co-conspirators, the Sheppards, to float the team name. They love it. Uniforms are next. We could get a sponsor and some fancy jerseys with a cool design and each player's names on the back. Or, we could get plain blue mesh jerseys with nothing on them but a stock number screen printed on the back. Which one says Leftovers to you? Right. Plain blue it is. Why Should We Care? The results of our experiment surprised even us a little. We won, a lot. Usually by a lot. And, we never lost. Like all summer teams, especially during the Covid-era, our roster fluctuated from weekend to weekend. Of course, we had our regulars, but the rest of the roster consisted of players that would go on to play college hoops at various levels and a few that would stop playing all together before graduating high school. Regardless of the roster, The Leftovers always won. The priority of the team over talent was undefeated. Obviously we have to be in the talent-ballpark. But, when we are, the team gains a drastic advantage - not the talent. Every. Time. Leaders like to say the team is important, but they don’t believe it. They like to complain about the functioning of the unit, but refuse to lean into members that embody the fabric of the team. As Gandhi so accurately stated, “Actions express priorities.” You never have to ask a leader which they value, just watch: Is the leader attempting to put the best group together to solve a problem or simply throwing the most talent available at it? Is there an appreciation for all roles or an elevated value placed on the roles directly connected to the tangible results? Who gets opportunities - the guy serving himself or the guy serving the team? Does the talent of some individuals allow them more … I’ll call it grace? The biggest challenge we face in the battle between talent and team is our affection for results. There is no question that prioritizing talent can lead to great results at times. And, there is no doubt committing to a focus on the team is a risk that runs the chance of never coming to fruition. Some teams never come together. Most talent earns what the talent says it should. It’s the safer bet. There is one significant downside to prioritizing talent over the team as a leader though: you never reach your full potential. No matter what success you attain, a mutual drive, purpose, and passion of the group to the goal would raise it. Talent is certainly important, and present, on great teams. But, for teams prioritizing the group, the talent doesn’t need to be equal. It just needs to be close … and not nearly as close as most people think. REAL TALK - Action Steps Of course I’m a believer in the team over the talent. Why wouldn’t I be? I’m not very talented. But, I’ve also seen the team do things no amount of talent would produce; create passions and emotions that bond a group that no collection of talent could replicate. Here’s a few ideas on setting that into motion for you team:
It’s your team. Lead it however you want. But, if you aspire for your group to reach its full potential, there is really only one option in regards to priorities: the team is number one. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! |
About bcI'm a teacher, coach, and parent seeking excellence while defining success on my own terms. Archives
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