Let The Madness Begin!

With March Madness here, upsets are bound to happen as they do every year in the NCAA basketball tournament. On any given night a top ranked team will lose to a Cinderella because they were outplayed. In a previous post The Leadership Path I go into details on effort and even though effort is a prerequisite, upsets are still common. On the big stage, where the elite teams are playing, a lack of effort is not commonly an issue. On the contrary, a lack of execution is. There are nights where shots aren’t falling and scoring is hard to come by. So how does a team stay in a game when they can’t score so easily? Pivoting the focus to defense and creating havoc for another team allows them to stay in the game. The same goes for any organization. When something isn’t panning out as expected, the execution of other strategies must come in to play in order to stay in the proverbial “Game.”

Coaching/ managing the “Game” and shifting the mindsets of the team is even more important than being out on the court when the ball goes up. If the team isn’t in a growth mindset before and throughout the game, they are already setup for failure if things don’t go perfectly as planned. Whichever team/ organization can adapt and execute has the best chance to win.

This synergy doesn’t happen all of a sudden, it is embedded within the culture of the team and a long process to get everyone to buy in. If and when the team buys in, there is a shift in the results that turns a team with great talent but cannot win a championship into a team that holds the best record in NBA history (the Chicago Bulls, coached by Phil Jackson.) Another example is how companies have gone from being close to solvency to revolutionizing the company (Ed Whitacre of GM).

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Why Is Bad Stronger Than Good?

In the book SWITCH, by Chip Heath & Dan Heath, there’s a study that exhibits the power of negativity. The book calls the frame of thought being “problem focused” compared to positivity being called “solution focused.” A great example in the book focuses on a child’s grades in school. Let’s say a child gets mostly A’s and B’s along with one failing grade. Many parents tend to focus on the failing grade that the child received (problem focus) rather than accentuate the good grades the child received (solution focused). As a coach, there are times when I become fixated on the errors that our players make and work with the player to correct those actions rather than emphasizing the positive attributes of the player. Why? Why? Why?

Taking a step back and viewing our societal pressures, our sociological system is setup for competition and is easily misinterpreted. Instead of working together, in many instances we are competing for the position, the raise, playing time, winning, the best grades… Do we subliminally learn to fear imperfection? The learned behaviors we adopt praise winning, being the best, shining… And who doesn’t want to do well? I doubt anyone goes to work or a game saying “I hope we fail today.”  Unfortunately, it is commonly learned that when things aren’t going well “I need to take it upon myself to change things around.” Yes, all change begins within but it requires multiple people changing their perspective to shift the focus from “I” to “We.” Whether it is a sports team, a business issue, a relationship issue, or even an educational issue, a shift of mindset is what gets long term results.

Even though we have shifted from “I” to “We”, it is equally important to focus on the “Bright spots” as mentioned in Switch to make changes happen promptly. This doesn’t mean we ignore the skills that a player or an employee is lacking, we will do drills and practice to improve. However, to build confidence, to excel, find resolutions, and shine, let’s emphasize the “bright spots” and put people in positions to succeed and excel while continuing to grow. So, instead of saying what is wrong? Let’s say, what are we doing that is working well?

When/where were we taught to focus on negatives? Is it a learned behavior? Well, some internalize negatives, others externalize negatives. Ask yourself why? Is it to avoid or minimize responsibility, to make yourself feel better, is it because misery seeks company? In one aspect of your life, I challenge you to emphasize the “bright spots” as mentioned in Switch. Please share this via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media because this concept has the power to impact many lives (from the individual, to the couple, to the family, all the way to a company CEO.)

Thank you @drbret for choosing these books for class as they are making a huge impact on my personal and professional life.

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It’s not all fun and games

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” ― Michael Jordan. As mentioned in the book Mindset, Michael Jordan is seen as the greatest basketball player of all time as people are in awe of his natural gifted talent (We will discuss the greatest players in a later post.) Millions of people know about the story of Michael being cut from his high school varsity team but they don’t know that he wasn’t the naturally gifted athlete that grew to become. His coaches, his opponents, and his teammates refer to him as the hardest working player, the most competitive, the most driven… Each year he would come back to training camp having worked on something else so that he was better. He had the mindset of continuing to grow! For example, early in his career he was known as an average defender and then became one of the greatest defenders. He would seek honest feedback and then go work on his weaknesses until they became strengths. Now that takes a lot of purpose, drive, passion, wisdom… Let the superlatives go on. Here are three Ted X videos on the differences on mindset that go into detail of how mindset is the attribute that sets people apart; The Power of Yet, The Power of Belief and Change Your Mindset, Change The Game.

Surprise! Those same attributes have come up in previous posts as well because there is no secret formula. I have been fighting with this internally because I went through a period where I was tired. I was tired of struggling and having to work so hard just to be a contributing member of society. Maybe you can relate. I am from the inner city and come from a family of addicts. In the neighborhood I grew up in there were more people that were shot and killed compared to those who went to college. I worked and worked and felt like I had to work so much harder to get where I am and I became burned out. So what! Poor me! Excuse, excuse, excuse. Although those were real feelings and I acknowledged them, nothing is going to appear out of thin air and resolve everything. Are you tired? Then put in the effort to make a change. It does help to have a supporting family that is there but even they can’t make the change for you. Do something you are passionate about so you love what you’re doing, and be able to excite others about it. You will inspire others without trying to.

please comment on what inspires you?

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The Leadership Path

How do you become a great coach or a great leader? What can manager “A” do in order to operate a successful team? What does a great coach do in order to maximize the team’s results? Or on a more personal level, what does a married couple do in order to continuously thrive love each other for a lifetime? This question can be applied to all facets of life. Please take a second and apply it to an important aspect in your life. Okay, now keep that question in mind.

I see coaches at the pinnacle, I see company CEO’s thriving, I see moguls, and others at the top of their trade and wonder what the formula to success is! If they can do it, I can do it, right? We like to tell ourselves we can do this and that if we wanted however, we are suffering from low effort syndrome. We are scared to fail so we don’t try. Or if we try, we give up when things are difficult. Whether it is a goal we have, a relationship we are in, or a game that we are playing horribly in. Our expectations aren’t met so we rationalize a reason that can lessen the situation instead of changing our mindset and giving it a committed effort. There are no exact ingredients in the formula of success however I feel that without insurmountable effort, selflessness, and enlightenment, lasting success is highly unlikely. With effort you can persevere. Without it, someone else will out work you to reach their goals, to win the game, and to have a loving relationship. Effort! Not just any type of effort though, well directed effort that is reassessed and redirected as growth happens. In basketball, my goal is to get the team to play for each other instead of themselves because it creates a higher level of purpose while creating a sense of selflessness and team success rather than individual success. Enlightenment is pivotal for effort and selflessness because without enlightenment, effort and selflessness can become misdirected and result in a lack of progress. In his book Eleven Rings Phil Jackson touches on these three underlying themes (BLEACHER REPORT Breakdown of Eleven Rings). These concepts are broken down further in the book Building The Bridge As You Walk On It and Give and Take as mentioned in in a previous post Is it you or is it me? If you found this content helpful please share it with your friends.

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Do You Have What It Takes?

A common response is yes, I can do that. Unfortunately many people answer that prematurely without thinking about what it takes. A thoughtful response would be “What does it take?” In this case I will use the example of coaching a high school basketball team. In this setting we work with fifteen and sixteen year old boys. At this age and stage in basketball it feels like everyone feels the need to prove themselves and they do this by trying to score points. The focus is on themselves and not on the team. There are similarities between this level of basketball, the next level of basketball, and even the professional work setting. Through my studies in class and of the game of basketball I have the goal of shifting their mindset from themselves to the team. One of my favorite exercises with my teams are to read excerpts from Phil Jackson’s book titled Eleven Rings throughout the season, depending on where we are in the process of shifting our mindset as a team. Phil Jackson is known for his unorthodox methods of reaching his players and my goal is to humanize the idols of my players by sharing accounts with them and showing that they can work to become teammates as well. In the video attached (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUyyjk6ZU68 ) I explain the process that I apply to the team in order to develop them into teammates rather than individuals wearing the same colored jerseys. The beautiful thing is that this applies to all walks of life and not just sports.

Anybody who is experienced in a particular setting is eligible to become a manager or a coach and many companies or teams are quick to employ former players or a person who has experience with that company. This is a common practice however, a new set of eyes that exhibits the qualities of a leader often provide a new perspective and lead to gains. In the organizational change class I am taking, we recently had a discussion about mindsets in regard to education among other topics. The common theme was that we as students (managers or leaders) have the goal to get an A in our classes (success in the real world.)  My view is that we strive for an A in our classes because this is a learned behavior from grade school and in order to get an A we must “fit in” to what the professor is trying to teach us. Some people will even cheat in order to get the preverbal A. A student can read all of the material and study to learn it rather than study to get an A and may still not get a better grade then someone who studied to get an A. What is the difference? The person who studied to learn the material rather than get an A is setup to incorporate the material in other aspects of life. This person is not succumbed to the pressures of getting an A and fitting in like the majority of people. This person is an instrument of change and stands out. We are all “trained” from a young age to feel that we have what it takes to stand out, but this is a false sense of security because most people just want to fit in based on their actions. The whole discussion from the students was how to fit in when the class is about change. The class is designed for us to change our mindset so that we don’t fit in and just focus on getting the A. It is designed for us to actually learn and stand out so that we can be advocates of change.

So, do you have what it takes? please share your thoughts

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https://www.gofundme.com/OrryMBAstudent

Coaching personalities in basketball and in the work setting: Is it you or is it me?

For those who have played a sport or have been part of a team in any aspect, you can relate to this; we have had coaches and teammates that we like and then there are others that we aren’t the fondest of. Why is that? On the surface, the knee jerk answer is often “They weren’t a good coach, or they weren’t a good teammate, or they, they, they.” The same goes for managers and leadership at work. These people have an external locus of control and tend to put negative results on others. However when things go well, they tend to take credit (self-fulfilling prophecy). In any team environment, the morale of a team can easily increase or decrease within moments for a team who has an external locus of control. In a team environment so many things need to be coordinated and executed properly to have success so when things aren’t going well, it is easy to place blame on others and a downward spiral ensues. On the other hand, a team that has an internal locus of control can shift their momentum up much easier than shifting momentum down because each member tales it upon themselves to fulfill their roles and system flow is a smoother process. For example, take the 2015 Cleveland Cavaliers and the proclaimed best player on the planet in LeBron James. There’s no doubt he’s individually phenomenal and is even known for his passing abilities. Every team that he has been on has struggled though (even the championship teams) when his individual game is emphasized. He has been seen being critical of his teammates in an unproductive manner for whatever reason. This isn’t a LeBron bashing segment as I have respect for his abilities. However, his physical abilities only get him so far. His teammates are also world class athletes so why do did they struggle against other teams that didn’t have the best player on the planet? Or why did Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Shaq all fail to win championships before being coached by Phil Jackson? System processes! Mindset! Leadership! These terms are open for interpretation and apply to all professions.

My classmates in the MBA program are required to read these books as well but for those who are not, I would strongly recommend reading Give and Take by Adam Grant, Building The Bridge As You Walk On It by Robert Quinn, Mindset by Carol Dweck, and more to name in future blogs. These titles provide perspective in all facets of life and can be applied to your passions, your relationships, your career, and you as an individual. I will say that these books will give you an advantage in understanding the diverse settings that you experience. However it is not always a blessing as ignorance is bliss for some. I encourage you to think about any instance where you have externalized blame and how it affected that interaction. In my case, I have externalized blame onto the woman I love the most instead of looking within and even though I have learned from my mistakes I have lost her. Your turn!

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Coaching- It’s not about the X’s and O’s

I am working on my MBA currently and I am very grateful to have taken multiple classes that have changed the way I view things in life. I also Coach basketball at the high school level currently with aspirations of moving up to the collegiate level. A position of such stature just doesn’t happen overnight in most cases and takes a proven character. I am not okay with just becoming a college coach as I strive to be great because basketball is what I love to do. I love to play it, I love to teach it, and I love to study it. The game itself has taught me many life lessons that I strive to pass on to others and enhance their lives. Intertwining the organizational leadership and change classes that I have greatly enjoyed, I feel that I may have found the key to unlock the deeper meaning and plethora of success that only few basketball coaches have attained. Now it is time to take action!

In the past 25 years, 15 out of the 25 NBA championships were won by 2 coaches. Add to that, the current NBA champions are coached by a disciple from the 2 aforementioned coaches and are on track to break the best record ever in a season. Granted each team had and has phenomenal players however, the year before these 2 coaches took the reins, the core group was the same. Add to that, each team has blatantly recognized their coaching staff as the key to unlocking their greatness. What is it about these guys that makes their teams so successful? I am learning through my MBA education that it has little to do with X’s and O’s although it is a prerequisite to some extent. Their form of higher levels of leading and mindset is what sets them apart from their competitors. I recognize that even after reading the books of both of these coaches and the books from my classes, I understand I cannot attempt to imitate what they have done as it is not my own and would not reach the level of success that has been achieved. This goes for business management, and motivational speaking as well (2 career interests I have) because no two situations are the same and must be handled with independent care and fragility.

Throughout this blog I intend to go through different coaching philosophies that many coaches are known for. I will also address different offensive and defensive mindsets, tackle the debate of “Greatness” among certain players, and open conversations about off the court situations as well, while intertwining the topics with the education that I am obtaining.