Moe and Scott Edinger discuss ways for managers to discover their secret saviors and enable them to deliver even greater value to customers.
What Gregg Popovich Teaches Us About Admired Leaders
Great leader do things differently, and whether they’re leading in the boardroom or some type of athletic field, it’s never about them. San Antonio Spurs head coach, Gregg Popovich has amassed one of the great track records in professional sports, having achieved 17 consecutive winning seasons, earned five NBA championships, six Western Conference Championships, and three coach of the year awards. As the longest tenured coach in any major sport, ‘Coach Pop’, as he’s known, was asked in the middle of the 2014 season how he empowered his players to take ownership? His answer not only gives you a peek inside his thinking process; more importantly, it reminds all leaders that leadership starts with being human.
“A lot depends on the competitiveness and the character of the player. Often times, I’ll appeal to that. Like, I can’t make every decision for you. I don’t have 14 timeouts. You guys got to get together and talk. You guys might see a mismatch that I don’t see. You guys need to communicate constantly – talk, talk, talk to each other about what’s going on on the court.”
“I think that communication thing really helps them. It engenders a feeling that they can actually be in charge. I think competitive character people don’t want to be manipulated constantly to do what one individual wants them to do. It’s a great feeling when players get together and do things as a group. Whatever can be done to empower those people — Sometimes in timeouts I’ll say, ‘I’ve got nothing for you. What do you want me to do? We just turned it over six times. Everybody’s holding the ball. What else do you want me to do here? Figure it out.’ And I’ll get up and walk away. Because its true. There’s nothing else I can do for them. I can give them some bulls – , and act like I’m a coach or something, but its on them.”
“If they’re holding the ball, they’re holding the ball. I certainly didn’t tell them to hold the ball. Just like, if they make five in a row, I didn’t do that. If they get a great rebound, I didn’t do that. It’s a players’ game and they’ve got to perform. The better you can get that across, the more they take over and the more smoothly it runs.
“Then you interject here or there. You call a play during the game at some point or make a substitution, that kind of thing that helps the team win. But they basically have to take charge or you never get to the top of the mountain.”
Scott K. Edinger has made it his life’s work to helping organizations achieve measurable business results, and that always starts at the top. His latest book, The Hidden Leader: Discover and Develop Greatness Within Your Company, encourages leaders to look closely at who’s delivering consistent results, and nurture them in much the same way as ‘coach Pop’ does.
Here’s what we’ll discuss:
The one truth consistent amongst the most admired leaders
What they do that most of us can’t see
The key to identifying hidden talent within your organization
What top manager do differently
The four characteristics of leadership talent
Building a culture that breeds leadership talent
- The wisest leader he knows