Bo Knows----Just Ask the Badgers or the Buckeyes

With 31 seconds to go in their annual dogfight in Columbus, 6 foot 10 center Jared Berggen drilled a three pointer that brought the Wisconsin Badgers from behind to knock off the home standing #8 ranked Buckeyes of Ohio State. While having your 6 foot 10 center launch a three on the most important possession of the game would seem to fly in the face of conventional wisdom, making the right call at the end of the game over his long and distinguished career has become the trademark of Badgers Head Coach Bo Ryan and the coach intuitively knew this was a great shot. Realize that making the right call is nothing new to Bo Ryan. In his 15 years as Head Coach at University of Wisconsin-Platteville, he won four Division III National Championships. Clearly Bo Ryan has demonstrated an amazing ability to use his intuition to make the correct decisions that have been the cornerstone of his 646 coaching victories in college basketball.

Great leaders and great coaches seem to always make the right call and many experts will tell you the reason: great leaders are extremely intuitive. When we look at the definition of intuitive we get two different interpretations of the concept.

1. Act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational process.
2. Immediate cognition.

While some individuals look at intuition as a mystical gift, the reality is great leaders and coaches have an amazing ability to aggregate tons of information acquired over their lifetime and process that information almost instantaneously. Great athletes have that same talent and use it to create winning situations. Maybe the greatest example of intuition in the athletic arena is Derek Jeter’s backhanded flip in game 3 of the 2001 American League playoffs to nail Jeremy Giambi at the plate in the seventh inning to preserve Mike Mussina’s 1-0 lead. As A’s manager Art Howe gasped, “I don’t have a clue as to how or why he was even involved in the play.”
Just like Ryan setting up his 6 foot 10 center, Jeter used all his experiences and knowledge to quickly size up the situation and immediately synthesize the information to position himself to make the game saving play.

Great leaders have that intuitive ability because they pay attention to every circumstance and process that information. Leaders focus on every situation they experience both from their own personal experiences and from viewing others. They not only observe the actions of others but they retain that data and store it in their memory bank. The critical message to be included in your leadership style is, "Do not to be so self absorbed that you only pay attention to yourself. Instead, gather every bit of information from both good and bad leaders so you instantly know what gives your organization (team) the best chance for success." Winning athletes and coaches make critical plays at critical times because they have worked to be able to use all their aggregated knowledge. While it appears great leaders often instinctively know the right decision, they have acquired loads of resource information over the years to use to make those "instinctive" decisions. Don’t be confused and think that intuition is some god given talent, winners develop that intuition by paying attention to everything around them and then filtering that information through a leadership funnel. As Coach Ryan has done numerous times, he has watched games and asked himself, “If I were coaching in that situation, what would I do?”. Be like Bo and ask yourself, “What would I have done if I were the leader in that situation?” There is a good chance you will have a similar situation occur in your leadership life.

Urban Meyer---Passion vs Priorities

Buckeye nation is truly excited about being able to woo one of the nation’s most successful and respected coaches to return to his native state to direct the fortunes of OSU football.  Interestingly enough, unlike many coaches who would move into a super high profile job, Urban Meyer understands the rigors and stresses that go along with being a leader with a high-pressure job that is scrutinized by millions of rabid followers.  He has been in that position before and it basically brought him to his knees on two different occasions.  This time Coach Meyer claims he has his priorities established. In conjunction with his children, he has entered into a personal lifestyle contract that delineates conditions regarding time commitments and family responsibilities.

Leaders usually get to their position because they are totally engaged in building an organization and have shown total dedication to that community and its mission.  Quite often the focus and determination that creates the foundation and environment for the organization’s success can take a major toll on the individual’s personal health and his family life.  One of the most difficult thing for any leader and clearly exemplified by Urban Meyer is keeping things in perspective with an appropriate allocation of time and energy.  Without question, leaders need a burning passion for their mission and followers, yet they must be able to develop boundaries so that they do not lose sight of reality.  Realize losing perspective can manifest itself in many results that become counter-productive:

1.    Health concerns

2.    Family issues

3.    Inability to realistically prioritize        

4.    Over statement of importance

5.    Losing sight of personal value system

Coach Meyer claims he can now cope with the difficult challenge of being totally committed to bringing the Buckeyes back to the position of National Championship contender while being able allocate enough time and energy to his non-football life to not have the same physical and mental breakdowns he had at Florida.  As a leader you need to understand the reality of this situation.  The question is “How much is enough?”  I would encourage every leader to step back and look at their own situation through the eyes of their loved ones to audit their own time, energy and engagement.  By completing that self-audit you will be a better leader for a much longer time.  Realize everyone’s capabilities and situations are different and you are the only one who can truly analyze yourself.  DO NOT FOOL YOURSELF!

A Leadership Challenge---the Circle of Privilege

In economics there is a concept called the circle of poverty that is defined as "set of factors or events by which poverty, once started, is likely to continue unless there is outside intervention." In many organizations and particularly in sports organizations there is a similar situation which I call the "circle of privilege".  Once privilege is granted to one individual in as much as they are exempt from the standard policies and responsibilities, the genie is out of the jar.  The "circle of privilege" will continue with coaches setting their own agendas and priorities while feeling no accountability to their supervisor.  They will create their own culture (Penn State, Ohio State, USC, Oklahoma,etc.).  Individuals who are treated as privileged will perpetuate that type of situation either in their current organization or one to which they ascend.  The culture of coaching is particularly vulnerable to the "circle of privilege" because there is no formal training of coaches in the USA so coaches learn their trade through on the job training and assume many characteristics of their mentors.  An assistant coach at Big Time U who has been exposed to the superstar head coach, when hired at Mid Major U as Head Coach, will have similar expectations and ideas of his/her importance and control.  As a leader (Athletic Director) and someone who is the ultimate decision maker on the hiring of this coach, you must clearly set the expectations and responsibilities of the coach so there is no cloudiness as to who is in charge.  If left to his/her own devices and experiences, the new coach will continue the  "circle of privilege".  Naturally as the superstar coach's  proteges find new leadership positions and allowed to institute their own set of priorities, the "circle of privilege" grows exponentially.   Because the hiring of head coaches come from the pool of assistants from the Big Time U's,  the true power in college athletics has ultimately shifted to the coaches.  Until University leadership is willing to break the chain of the "circle of privilege", college athletics will continue to suffer through scandals like Penn State, Ohio State, Miami and USC.  As a leader you need to accept your role and not submit your authority to anyone irrespective of their status or public image.  Until leaders break the "circle of prestige", college athletics will be very much like a battleship with no one at the helm,  a huge force that will create its own path.  Leaders need set the course and make sure everyone is headed in the same direction with no ulterior motives that detract from the common good for group, organization or team.  By establishing parameters when individuals are placed in positions of authority in regard to what their boundaries are on the front end, there should be very situations when those people exceed their power.

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