Lead to Succeed by Rick Pitino

Author:Rick Pitino
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780767908979
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2001-12-04T10:00:00+00:00

There also are other ways to get your message across to someone you are leading rather than confronting them from across a desk.

For example:

Let’s say that I know that one of my players is discontented. I find a way to talk to him in a neutral environment, like maybe an adjoining seat on a plane. Or I may simply go up to him casually after practice.

Here’s how it might play out.

“I can tell something’s bothering you,” I say.

“Why do you say that?” the player says.

“Because you’re just not yourself,” I say. “You’re not the same. What’s going on?”

The key here is this is not a confrontational situation, like dealing with someone in your office has the potential to be. This style is low-key, nonthreatening, is in a different, “safer” environment. The atmosphere is of two colleagues, not of boss/employee.

It also allows that person to see you in a different light. Maybe it allows that person to see that you have a sense of humor, that everything isn’t always deadly serious. The old adage really is true—humor really can be the best medicine.

The point is you can’t be the boss every minute.

Yes, you’re the decision maker. But you’re not the absolute ruler. You can’t be. It’s a totally different environment than it used to be. A different society. A different culture. Virtually a different country. Certainly it’s different than when I was a player at the University of Massachusetts in the early seventies. Back then coaches were absolute dictators. Leaders also were absolute dictators. Their authority was unquestioned, their words all but etched in stone.

I first saw this begin to change over a decade ago, back when I was an assistant coach with the New York Knicks. Hubie Brown was the coach and he was almost the archetype of the old-time coach. He was authoritarian, with a dominating presence, almost as if delivered from Central Casting, and it was inconceivable to me that any of the players would ever talk back to him or question his authority. But they did. Not all of them, certainly. Not all the time, of course. But it was soon apparent that there were chips in the old order and it was starting to crumble.

You must not only understand this, but be able to deal with it, too.

For two things happen to leaders who don’t adapt:

They get paranoid and adopt the belief that everyone is out to get them.

They get left behind, for the simple reason that their competition is always adapting.

KEY CHAPTER POINTS

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.