From Habits to Impact: Five Principles of High-Impact Coaching

You can't give away what you don't have. So in other words, if you want to inspire others, you first have to be inspired yourself. If you want your team to believe, you've got to believe. And if you want people to grow, you've got to keep growing. Because he knew that you couldn't ask a player to give his heart to a tee unless you had first given your heart to them as a person. Resourcefulness beats resources every time. Leaders who focus on what they do have unlock creativity, resilience and unity. Welcome back to the Athletics of Business podcast where we explore what it truly takes to be a high impact coaching leader. And I am your host, Ed Molitor. And today it's just going to be you and me. Okay. We're going to do a solo cast.

I've been reflecting a lot, going through my notes from the summer. A lot of the things that I've been working on with clients, a lot of things that I've been reading that I've been sharing with our team, I'm going to share with you today. Okay? So we're going to dive into a message that applies whether you're leading a team on the field, a team in the business world, or even your team at home. Overriding theme of today's conversation is going to be this. You can't give away what you don't have. You can't give away what you don't have. So in other words, if you want to inspire others, you first have to be inspired yourself. If you want your team to believe, you've got to believe. And if you want people to grow, you've got to keep growing.

We're going to talk about five principles. First, one is going to be fueling yourself. Okay. Second, perspective, habits, avoiding comparison, and focusing on what you have. Not necessarily in that order, but those will be the things that we're covering to bring it to life. I'm going to share stories about great coaches, great coaching leaders in the athletic world, from John Wooden tony Dungey to one of my all time favorites, Greg Popovich, and right now, my favorite college football coach, someone I have so much respect for, and that's Marcus Freeman. These are leaders who don't just talk about impact. They live at each and every day, in each and every relationship and in each and every interaction. So let's go back to the. You can't give away what you don't have. Leadership is contagious energy. Coach Wooden, I don't talk about nearly enough.

And the reason being everybody Talks about Coach Wooden. And somehow everybody has spent time with Coach Wooden, okay? And his lessons are irreplaceable. They are timeless. They are profound. And here's what's really cool. They are simple, okay? Growing up a coach's son, obviously, who studied Coach Wooden. I would pick up the books. I still have some books in my office here that were my dad back in the 1970s and 80s. I have a couple books of Coach Wooden's over. Over the years that I picked up. Just can't get enough of them. All right? But he modeled your capability, which you don't have, in his disciplining details. Coach Wooden would teach his players at the beginning of the season.

This is going to sound a little nuanced, a little goofy, a little silly, and I want you to imagine trying to teach kids these days this. But he would teach his players how to put on their socks to prevent blisters because they wanted to play their best. The little things mattered. And not having blisters was a little thing. Wooden couldn't coach precision unless he embodied precision, and he certainly did. And then there's my guy, Greg Popovich. Coach Pop. All right. On the other hand, he modeled it in connection. And this is a whole other podcast episode with stories of Pop. You know, just filled with stories of pop. I've shared them on some previous episodes. I'll share them on some others. But here's what I want for you today, okay? Again, model it in connection.

He is legendary for his team dinners on the road after games, he would gather players, coaches, and staff around a huge table at a local restaurant. His rule, no phones, no basketball, just life. He was so intent on literally and figuratively filling his players cups. He pour wine, tell stories about history or art or politics. And then pop would do. What pop does now is ask questions to get his players to think and interact and to converse. Right? Now, why did he do that? Because he knew that you couldn't ask a player to give his heart to a team unless you had first given your heart to them as a person. And this goes back to something that you hear all the time, right?

People don't know how much you or people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Pop invested in their humanity before demeaning their performance. Now think about that in your world. He invested in their humanity before demanding their performance. Wooden gave habits, Coach Wooden gave habits, and Coach Popovich gave connection. And both understood that you can't give away what you don't have. Next, you get what you look for. Coach Dungy once said, I can't control what happens on the field, but I absolutely can't control how I respond on the sideline. He was known for his composure. We always talk about being the face and the voice that your team needs to see in here, and Coach Dungey live that out every single Sunday on the sidelines. Composure. Composure. Composure. While other coaches ranted and raved, Coach Dungy stayed steady.

He looked for teaching moments instead of punishment opportunities. He believed if he modeled calm, his players would play with calm. Again, be the face and voice that your team needs to see and to hear, even in the most extenuating of circumstances. And you know what? The players responded. As leaders, our people adopt the lens that we hand them. If we look for problems, they'll see problems everywhere. If we look for growth, they'll see possibility. My daughter Maddie's now 13, and E.J. Just turned 11. My son. And it's funny, because power of overhearing, the power of the observation and people you lead at work are no different. People that you coach in athletics are no different. Right.

But I'm very conscientious and very aware of what I say and do and the fact that's how my kids are going to learn in certain situations and learn in certain situations. Even though I try to model continual growth, they don't always rush home after school and jump into their. Their homework. But we are making progress in that. But here's the thing. In leadership, you don't just get what you expect. You get what you look for. And you think about that in terms of attention management. You think about that in terms of reframing adv in tough circumstances and situations, right? In life, in leadership, you're going to find what you look for. If you want to see the good in someone, you'll see the good. If you want to see the strengths in someone, you'll see the strengths.

If you want to take part in this unbelievably divided country that we live in right now that seems to be so black and white and not realize that it's okay to accept people for what they are and to have opinions and to find a common ground to not just survive in, but to thrive in, you're going to get in life what you look for. All right, now, the power of habits. Let's go back to coach Woody Socks. To outsiders, like I just mentioned, it seems really silly. To his players, it became sacred. Maybe not in the moment, but as they evolved, it became sacred because those tiny habits, how you lace your shoes, how you tie them tight, how you show up to practice. Taught players that excellence is built in the details. It wasn't about sacks.

It was about building a culture where nothing was too small to matter. As leaders, our habits shape identity, consistency, preparation, gratitude, whatever you model daily that ripples out to define your team habits. Think about this. Habits aren't just routine, they're your culture. Habits aren't just routine, they're culture. Let's touch on comparison and judgment. When Marcus Freeman. One of my favorite videos, right? You've seen it by now. If you haven't, you have to look it up. We'll put it in the show notes so there's a link to it. When Marcus Freeman was announced to the team as a new head football coach to the next head football coach at Notre Dame. It's an incredible video.

But when he was introduced, okay, he walked into that locker room, cameras were rolling, and instead of giving a speech about himself, which his predecessor would have loved to have done, or rattling off goals, he looked his players in the eye and simply said, this is your team. You chose me and I chose you. Players went nuts, all right? They jumped out of there. A lot of them were on knees. They were sitting like, they jumped up and they cheered like they had just won a championship. Why? Because Freeman didn't posture or pretend to be Brian Kelly. Thank goodness. If you're a Brian Kelly fan, I apologize, but I don't apologize. He didn't compare himself to anyone. He embraced his own journey. And most importantly, he embraced his players journey, his assistant coaches, his support staff, his strength training team, everybody, the athletic trainers.

He embraced their journey. Coach Freeman instantly built credibility in that first moment. Not by being perfect, but by being authentic, right? By being honest, operating integrity, being vulnerable. He reminded his players, your journey matters. Now here's something that's huge, and this is something that's key. I see this often in the work that I do with leaders, and it's very human, it's very normal to do. But again, self awareness is the competitive advantage. We need to be able to catch ourselves when we're doing this. Leaders don't compare your best intentions to someone else's biggest faults. Can you imagine if Marcus Freeman, when they were three and two or two and three or two and two, he said, it's all right. He says, I'm good because I'm not a horse's rent like Coach Kelly was like, I don't think about myself.

I don't throw my assistant coaches under the bus or throw 19 or 20 year old kids up a bus or get people to do things that are unsafe or constantly put my needs and my desires in front of everybody else's who I'm supposedly supposed to be leading. Who cares for 500. I'm a great person and a pretty solid leader. No, that's not what he did. Okay? You don't judge someone else's path by your own. And you don't judge your own path compared to someone else's. Instead, you meet your people where they are, and you walk with them forward. Next, focus on what you have. I truly believe, right, that we spend so much time being distracted by the resources we don't have. We don't have this. We need this. Everybody else has got this.

You know, in the world of college athletics, not to keep going back to it, but that's all you hear about from these coaches. I ain't got the nil money. Like we don't have the things offer these kids to be successful in a transfer portal. We don't have this. They have that. You know that's going to get you nowhere. All right, so let's go back to Coach Popovich for a second. For years, spurs weren't like the flashiest roster. Didn't have a bunch of all stars. Now they've had some damn good players under Coach Pop over the years. They really did okay. There's times they weren't stacked, but Coach Popovich always maximized what he had and he built the dynasty. His foundation was on the things we talked about earlier. On selfishness, right? On selfish play, being a teammate, defense, ball movement, the extra pass.

He never wasted time complaining about what he lacked or what the spurs lacked. What he did was he doubled down on fundamentals and culture. Doubled down on fundamentals and culture. And in doing so, he won not one, not two, not three, not four, but five NBA championships. You know, over time, you know, it's like anything in this world and it seems to happen quicker than it used to. People forget those things. But what's timeless is the impact he had in his players and the relationships he built through the connections that he made. Okay, but back to this lesson, and I love this quote, resourcefulness beats resources every time. Leaders who focus on what they do have unlock creativity, resilience and unity, right? It goes back to our victory defined platform. And you look at creativity, okay?

And if you look at creativity inside of your ability to challenge the status quo and understand the constraints that you're working inside of, right? That's where the magic really happens. So let's wrap it up. Five Principles of the High Impact Coaching Leader Per this discussion, you can't give away what you don't have. You absolutely get what you look for in business, in life, in leadership. Habits help shape and define your culture. Don't compare or judge. Coach the journey in front of you. Then focus on what you have, not what you don't. Sell Leaders inspired. That's how they multiply their impact. So here's my challenge to you. What's one habit you can build this week that not only inspires you, but ripples out to your team? Not two habits. You need 10 habits.

What's one simple habit that you can build and continue to build that will have the compound effect? Thanks for joining me today on the Athletics of Business. If this episode gave you something to think about, share it with someone who's ready to grow. And remember, lead with energy, lead with purpose, and always lead with your heart. Until next time, keep coaching, keep growing and keep making an impact.

Thank you for listening to the Athletics of Business. Be sure to give us a rating and review so we know how we're doing. For more information about the show, visit theathleticsofbusiness.com now get out there. Think, act and execute at the highest level to unleash your greatness.