Leading with the Heart

The leader has to assess the quality of the team, set the standard of excellence, and then work with the team to achieve that standard—to be the best they can be every time out. That’s what I do. I determine how good our kids can be by watching them, by getting to know them, by building relationships with them. I constantly try to take a realistic look at our team and try not to let the final outcome of any game spike emotions too high or too low. And then I also work with the guys over the course of the entire season to help raise them to their highest potential. When you view winning the way I do, it becomes clear that leaders are ultimately responsible for how their teams perform—and whether they are the best they can be. But that’s not really pressure, it’s reality—and it is also a wonderful challenge. I really believe that if a leader is a stickler on high performance, on excellence, then winning games will be a natural by-product. In building any winning team, it’s important to remember that the members of the team don’t have to be perfect, they just have to keep trying to be the best they can be. That’s my definition of a winning attitude.