I am a fan of Corner Office in the New York Times. I read it every Sunday and I think that there are valuable leadership lessons to be found for any career. One recent interview with John W. Rogers Jr., chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments that I read was about the influence of sports on his career. He described how his time on the Princeton basketball team taught him taught him the value of teamwork and caring about teammates more than oneself. As a former collegiate athlete and a current high school and middle school football coach, I know the valuable lessons that can be learned through sports. Lessons on teamwork, dedication, perseverance and humility are all ones that can serve athletes in any career path that they choose.
Along with reading this interview, I have also been captivated by the Jonathan Martin/Richie Incognito bullying and harassment case. If the John Rogers interview is the best of sports, then the sordid tale of the Miami Dolphins offensive line is the worst. As I read about the investigation and the details of the case, I can easily understand how this kind of climate could be created in a locker room. When winning, and not player development, becomes the sole focus of a team, the types of behaviors demonstrated by Incognito and others, are tolerated because of good on field play. The lessons learned in these situations are that if you are good enough on the field, no one cares how you act off the field. When winning becomes everything, anything is tolerated.
In the end, I believe the impact of sports, for better or worse, comes back to coaching. As an assistant coach, I have been lucky enough to work for some great head coaches. Each one of them focused on player development more than winning. That is not to say that they did not want to win, they wanted to win desperately, but they knew that winning took a back seat to making our young athletes into better men. If we focus on making our players better teammates, encourage and reward hard work and dedication, and support them in the classroom and their lives away from the field, we will make them better people, and the wins will take care of themselves.
As I continue to coach, there are some lessons that I have continued to use with my players on the field. As a leader in my classroom and at my school, I have found that these lessons also apply. The best of sports should be reflected in the best of our schools.
- Everyone has a role in which they can contribute to the team - Too often we think that a team needs the best players to be successful. The best coaches I have worked for have never believed this. Those coaches have believed that it is about putting players in a position in which they can find success. In my work at school, it reminds me that all students have talents and that my job as a teacher is not to wish they were better, but to find a way for them to succeed.
- How you act off the field is how you will act on the field - Often we think that the on-field success is all that matters, but in the end, character is always revealed. If a player is not working hard in the classroom, they will fail to work hard on the field. Quitters will always be quitters as my father reminded me The best coaches and teachers will always encourage and support students to work hard and do their best in all endeavors.
- Winning is the result of doing things right - If players work well together, execute the game plan, and play hard throughout the game, the winning will take care of itself. We do not need to focus on winning, because all of the steps along the way will lead to it. In the classroom, we do not need to focus on test scores if we can make sure students do all of the steps to be successful along the way. The score will take care of itself.
In the end, it is the coach that has the ultimate responsibility. Focusing on the powerful lessons that sports can teach will lead to stories like John W. Rogers, Jr. Focusing on winning alone are much more likely to lead to situations like Martin/Incognito. My current head coach has said that we are not here to do our best, we are here to be the best. As I relate this to my players and students, I remind them that I want them to not try their best to be a good person, I want them to be the best person they know. I want them to try and exceed all of the examples they see in their surroundings. It may be the only way for them to exceed their situation and create a better life for themselves.
As a coach, and a teacher, I know the important role that we fill for many young men and women in our society. While some may remember the wins and losses, many more will remember the life lessons that they learned on the field. It is time we focus on what will leave the mark, not what will be in the paper.
Cross-posted: http://edge.ascd.org/_Remember-Your-ABCs-Always-Be-Coaching/blog/6562706/127586.html
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