Class: Leadership 101; Lesson #1-Should Everybody Be A Leader or Want to Be One?
This is the first installment of a series I’ll be blogging about on leadership. Leadership is one of those things that is overwritten about…or is it? We’ve all read the books by Jon Gordon, John C. Maxwell, John Wooden (whoah, a lot of John’s…), Stephen Covey, military leaders, and great coaches. We’ve seen the TED Talks. So, do we really need more? Well, the answer is yes. And it’s a yes because leadership isn’t about a list of skills, leadership is about people. And people are complex. People are crazy. And ALL people are worth loving.
Leadership isn’t just simply about leading others. Sometimes leading means being a great follower. But, we are all leaders. You might be a leader in a particular club or group. A leader in your marriage or with your kids. A leader in your group of friends or a leader in your class. A leader on the field or a leader in the locker room. A leader in the workplace. A leader in politics, in your church or even a leader on social media. But, somewhere you lead and somewhere you follow. Learning about leadership is learning about people and learning how to meet them where they are at and helping them in their journey. As a coach I know that many athletes are not interested in being a leader. But they should be! Leading really is for EVERYBODY! At least in some capacity. As an athlete and as a person we should all be striving to reach our potential and I’m convinced that your greatest potential is when you grow as a leader.
Also, from a selfish perspective something happens when you focus on others and stop focusing on yourself. As an athlete you start to enjoy things more. You start to give greater energy to your teammates who in turn rebound that energy back to you, which helps you play better. You stop stressing over the 0 for 3 games and the 2 errors you made and start thinking of how you can help your teammates. And you find you start loving the game, loving the process and loving competition. And you know what? You start playing better! So, even from a somewhat selfish perspective it pays to be a great leader.
In closing, I want you to ask if you should read my blog series on leadership? And the answer is yes. Not because I’m an expert, a great writer or that I’ve accomplished anything. But because people are complex, people are crazy and ALL people are worth loving and maybe, just maybe you’ll learn something more about how to reach people in their journey. And people are worth it.
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