Everyone Wins When the Leader Becomes Better

I am becoming better - and that is my intent. As a leader in my own right, I have been intentionally transforming myself into something new. From college professor to podcast host to writer and ghostwriter, to leadership coach and conference host, I am leading others to take on a new mindset – a mindset of change. We are becoming better together.

Becoming Better

I am writing my second book. My first book focused on presence of mind – learning to lead. Through story, I share how learning to lead is a difficult and challenging proposition. It’s a path, though not always a straight one. It’s a journey, and a long one at that. Through the narrative’s characters, each person transforms into a better, more engaged individual. And each person learns to become part of a team – an entity bigger than themselves.

In my next book, I am focusing on leadership again. This time, the theme is leadership legacy. To help me understand the scope of leadership legacy, I am interviewing three people.

Coach Jim Johnson

Mitch Gray

(Retired Lieutenant Colonel) Oakland McCulloch

Each of these men have appeared on The Question Guy Podcast! Now I have the privilege to share their wisdom with many through a book – hoping that this writing will leave a lasting legacy for these men in the years to come.

Currently, I have the opportunity to spend time with Coach Jim Johnson. Coach Johnson coached basketball teams and lead a basketball program for well over three decades. That’s a lot of time coaching. That also means Coach Johnson knows a thing or two about:

What it means to be a leader.

What it means to lead.

How leaders impact the people around them.

Why leading in a positive manner creates a lasting legacy.  

In the short time I’ve known Coach Johnson, my understanding and appreciation for leadership has grown. My background in leadership is the college classroom. In the classroom, I lead adults in making positive and appropriate changes so that they can position themselves successfully in a new career. With their new-found knowledge, skills, and abilities, my students are able to create a life they want. I lead by guiding, teaching, mentoring, and coaching. Coach Johnson taught me that all of these attributes are essential to leaving a leadership legacy.

But this is not about me. This is about Coach Johnson and the legacy he is leaving behind. Let’s take a brief look into the life of Coach Johnson.

The first thing I asked was –

Why is the topic/conversation of leadership important to you?

Coach Johnson is quick to admit that, despite some early successes as a basketball coach, he had some devastating failures. It was those failures that drove him to become the leader that he wanted to be. He had a plan, an intent, and a mission. In this sense, leading meant several things.

First, it meant winning basketball games. Leading has it’s challenges. But you will not lead for long if your team record does not stack up.  

Second, leading meant influence. This is a people-first mentality. Leaders do not have the me-mentality. Leaders know and understand that actions and words influence others. This is a conscious awareness. As such, people who want to be good leaders recognize that their role as leader is always one that makes a positive (i.e., correct) impact on others.

Coach Johnson used these insights throughout his career. Although he may not have been thinking about leaving a legacy, he was doing this by choosing to make the right decisions at the right time for the right purpose. He had a vision of what he wanted to achieve; he knew that if he directed his energies in the right way, he could make good things happen.   

Always Learning

Coach Johnson was also quick to point out that good leaders are always learning. Of the many things that good leaders do, having the mindset of learning is at the top. Although this may sound obvious, some people do not make learning a habit. Leaders need to be life-long learners.

Meaning – people like to think that success breeds success. If I did something one day, then my actions should cause me to be successful the next . . . and the next . . . and the next.

But this is not always the case. In fact, this is rarely the case. Why?

Things change –

Players come and go

Coaching staff come and go

Circumstances vary

Expectations vary

As such, life happens. Leaders must recognize that what caused success in the past may not result in success in the present. A coach of a basketball team, and the leader of a basketball program, needs to learn to adjust because things change. This means good leaders adopt a learning mentality; a mentality that continues to grow and adopt to the needs of today in order to be prepared for tomorrow.

What Drives Learning?

Two things drive learning. Are you ready for this – success and failure.

Often we don’t want to repeat our failures. This is especially true when coaching a sports team. Coaches with losing records lose jobs. Coaches – leaders – must learn from their failures.

Leaders –

Admit their mistakes

Analyze their actions

Create change

Losing is only one motivation. Success should also drive your learning. Success means you did something right.

It was the right action

It was the right people

It was the right time

It was a combination of the right things. Leaders don’t assume that they got lucky when things go right. They assess what elements were right, and they think about these things. As these components are applied time and again, and continue to result in success, something is learned from the experience – a formulae for success. They learned a system that can be replicated.

A leader builds from his/her successes just as much as they learn from their mistakes.

Are You Leaving a Legacy of Leadership?

 Thanks for reading.

Credit for images: www.pixabay.com