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Investing in the Growth of Coaches and Staff: The Key to Sustained Organizational Success
In the dynamic world of sports, the development of coaches and staff is as crucial as the training ofathletes. It is an investment that not only enhances the capabilities and effectiveness of the team butalso contributes to the sustained success of the organization. What are the strategies and benefits of prioritizing the professional development of…
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Why We Need More Parents in the Stands
Bruce Arians already won points in my book when he added two females to his coaching staff. He recently won a few more when I read that he told his staff if they missed their child’s sporting event, he would fire them. His reasoning, he missed too many of his own kid’s events and admitted…
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Jalen Johnson, Journalism, and Business Decisions
“It takes courage not only to make decisions, but to live with those decisions afterward.” – Coach K Who is Jalen Johnson? He’s a top prospect with the Duke Blue Devils who was going to be a “one and done” player from the very start. Great! He’s a 19 year old kid that will soon…
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Why Doing the Right Thing Seems So Hard
In trying to define the focus of Culture in Sports, and what we should be writing about on this site, the Led Zeppelin song title, What Is and What Should Never Be, comes to mind. Making a Led Zeppelin reference threatens to reveal both my age, (decidedly, middle) and my hipness (tragically, un-hip). The British…
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Fuel-injected Leadership: Motivational or Menacing
Recently, Australian Supercar Erebus Motorsport team boss Barry Ryan has come under fire for his arrogant and insensitive style of leadership. Ryan suggests that he is the victim of clever editing to make him appear to be a ‘villain’ for entertainment’s sake. This is not the first time Ryan’s leadership has been called into question…
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The President of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee Is Really a Reflection of Sports Around the World
Over a week ago, Yoshiro Mori, the president of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee suggested that women talk too much in meetings. I was shocked to hear what Mr. Mori said, especially for the Japanese Olympic Committee’s focus in increasing female representation in their leadership ranks. While he admitted that his comment was discriminatory towards…
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Doing the Right Thing Is Still Only Reactional
The Jacksonville Jaguars made a short lived hire this week, with Chris Doyle lasting a little more than a day before resigning. Their new and now director of sports performance came with a checkered past, most notably rumors of racism and abuse of athletes. This coach was supposedly vetted thoroughly by Urban Meyer and the…
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Nightmare for the ‘Dream Team’
It’s a fine line between confidence and egotism, a lack of self-confidence can be terribly disabling in terms of reaching one’s potential in all aspects of life and certainly in sport. But at what point do cumulative successes and accolades begin to create monsters; divas whose demands threaten the stability and cohesiveness of the team.…
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Old School Behaviors
What do you do when a leader in your organization makes backwards and derogatory comments about a group of people you identify with? Do you quit? What if you are passionate about the organization’s mission? Do you let it roll off your back? Do you complain? Can you complain? We have all probably asked ourselves…
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More Cases of Sexual Misconduct in Cheerleading
Another week, another story about another sexual misconduct issue within cheerleading in the United States. Last week, a 25 year old coach was arrested for indecent liberties with a child and a 23 year old college cheerleader, who was also featured in Netflix’s “Cheer” and NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”, was arrested for aggravated sexual assault…
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Are Sports Fertile Ground for Abusive Treatment and Abusers?
Are sports more susceptible to giving abusers and harassers space to operate, and if so, are sports particularly poorly structured to expose these abuses, and protect athletes and those victimized because of their love of the game?
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The Sum of All Its Parts – There Is an ‘I’ in ‘Team’
The often-employed mantra “There’s no I in team” is obviously a reference to the concept that the combined skills and endeavours of the team outweigh the desires and abilities of the individual. But can a team or organisation function in a climate where the individual’s needs are ignored, or their problems overlooked? In the collaborative…
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Andy Reid’s Leadership and Positive Team Culture Lead to This Day
The big game in the United States of America is going to start in a few hours. Two great teams are going to battle it out. Millions of fans are going to watch and many NFL players are going to watch as well, hoping for their own chance at a Super Bowl ring. One on…
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What Happens When Your Favorite Team is Part of the Problem
Former New York Mets Manager Mickey Callaway has been accused by five different women of “incessant, inappropriate sexual advances toward women in sports media.” These women needed to interact with Callaway to do their jobs. https://sports.yahoo.com/former-mets-manager-mickey-callaway-accused-of-unrelenting-lewd-behavior-toward-women-in-media-020746255.html This is the third significant sexual harassment or discrimination allegation against a Mets employee or owner since 2014. It…
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Celebrating Women in Sports
As I write this, today we celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day in the United States. Women have come a long way in the sports world, and quite frankly still have a long way to go. We celebrate firsts like Sarah Thomas as the first woman to officiate in this weekend’s Super Bowl…
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The Culture Is More Than the Team
In Australia, sport has always been a reflection of egalitarian attitudes; mateship; and sense of a ‘fair-go’. Modern social changes have commercialised sport adding new pressures to the structures of the clubs. This has unfortunately instilled a ‘win or die’ attitude within some, or perhaps most sports. Sadly, In 2018, news media revealed the result…
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Diversity in Hiring, Limitations of the Rooney Rule
One of my favorite authors is Michael Lombardi. Lombardi has been a senior player personnel executive with several NFL teams, including a stint as GM of the Cleveland Browns. He has three Super Bowl rings from his time with Bill Walsh and the 49ers and Bill Belichick and the Patriots. His book, Gridiron Genius, serves…
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I Believe in You
Did you ever have a coach tell you that she believed in you? If you did, that coach may have been onto something. That same coach probably told you that he was proud of you or maybe even said that she loved your effort or hard work. When you reflect back in your time as…
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When an Athlete Is Injured
Last time I wrote about “Ed”, a retired professional athlete who also participated in the Olympics. Ed experienced an extremely toxic environment the last few years of his professional sports career. During my discussion with him, he brought up how many athletes played injured. These injuries were potentially career ending if they were to get…
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The Impact of Fan Engagement
In 2017 Sebastian Lletget, a mid-fielder for LA Galaxy suffered a season ending foot injury while playing for the USMNT. It was my first year at LA Galaxy. At the end of the last home game of the season, the players go around the stadium and take pictures and sign autographs with the players. The…
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Team Culture Can Make or Break Athletes
I recently conducted an interview for research about organizational culture. I interviewed a professional athlete that has played at the highest levels, and even attended the Olympics. He unfortunately had to retire from his profession due to the extremely toxic culture he was enduring. I was extremely saddened to hear his story. I have used…
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Treat Those Two Imposters Just the Same
We have a chance here to demonstrate that while winning and losing have value, they are as Rudyard Kipling- talk about a complicated potentially toxic legacy-correctly observed, two imposters to be treated the same. Victory is a neutral, not definitively a positive concept.
