Tag Archives: Paul G. Hawken
Cory Weismann, two Coaches, and a Story Told by Frank Deford
We lead by being human. We do not lead by being corporate, professional, or institutional. (Paul G. Hawken, founder, Smith and Hawken)
Quoted by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Pozner — Encouraging the Heart: A Leaders Guide to Rewarding and Encouraging Others
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Frank Deford
A suggestion – stop what you are doing and listen to this segment on NPR’s Morning Editon by Frank Deford: When There’s More To Winning Than Winning. (audio, plus transcript, available here). (Frank Deford’s commentaries are consistnegly great treasures).
Here’s how he starts:
When last we left the NCAA, it was February madness, colleges were jumping conferences, suing each other, coaches were claiming rivals had cheated in recruiting — the usual nobility of college sports.
And then, in the midst of all this, the men’s basketball team at Washington College of Chestertown, Md., journeyed to Pennsylvania to play Gettysburg College in a Division III Centennial Conference game.
It was senior night, and the loudest cheers went to Cory Weissman, No. 3, 5 feet 11 inches, a team captain — especially when he walked out onto the court as one of Gettysburg’s starting five.
Yes, he was a captain, but it was, you see, the first start of his college career. Cory had played a few minutes on the varsity as a freshman, never even scoring. But then, after that season, although he was only 18 years old, he suffered a major stroke. He was unable to walk for two weeks. His whole left side was paralyzed. He lost his memory, had seizures.
The story is one that will stop you in your tracks. It is a about a basketball coach, and another basketball coach, and a group of players, who remembered that being human was more important than anything else.
Cory had worked so very hard — to walk, to run, to participate in the pre-game drills. But he was far from being a college-level basketball player after his stroke.
On the last game of his last season, the coach started Cory Weissman. He played just a few moments. But what moments!
And then, at the end of the game, with the game fully decided, the coach put him back in the game. The other team’s coach called time out, and asked his players to intentionally foul Cory to give him a shot, a chance to score a point from the free throw line.
Shot number two: The ball left his hand and flew true – swish, all net.
Deford ended with this:
The assistant vice president for athletics at Gettysburg, David Wright, wrote to Washington College: “Your coach, Rob Nugent, along with his staff and student-athletes, displayed a measure of compassion that I have never witnessed in over 30 years of involvement in intercollegiate athletics.”
Cory Weissman had made a point. Washington College had made an even larger one.
“We lead by being human.” Yes, we do.
Cory Weismann -- "The ball left his hand and flew true - swish, all net."
Reminders for the Day for Every Leader – from Kouzes & Posner, Encouraging the Heart
All of these quotes come from the terrific book, Encouraging the Heart: A Leaders Guide to Rewarding and Encouraging Others
(The Jossey-Bass Business and Management Series)
by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Pozner (2003). It is the best book I have ever read on how to help people do their best. This is the task of actual leadership. Here are the quotes:
This story is a constant reminder to us of the power of a very simple principle of human performance: people like to be recognized for doing their best.
Encouragement increases the chance that people will actually achieve higher levels of performance.
Encouraging the Heart is ultimately about keeping hope alive. Leaders keep hope alive when they set high standards and genuinely express optimism about an individual’s capacity to achieve them. They keep hope alive when they give feedback and publicly recognize a job well done. They keep hope alive when they give their constituents the internal support that all human beings need to feel that they and their work are important and have meaning. They keep hope alive when they train and coach people to exceed their current capacities. Most important, leaders keep hope alive when they set an example. There really is nothing more encouraging than to see our leaders practice what they preach.
Really believe in your heart of hearts that your fundamental purpose, the reason for being, is to enlarge the lives of others. Your life will be enlarged also. And all of the other things we have been taught to concentrate on will take care of themselves. (Pete Thigpen, Executive Reserves)
Ask yourself this question: Do I need encouragement to perform at my best?
We don’t do our best in isolation. We don’t get extraordinary things done by working alone with no support, encouragement, expressions of confidence, or help from others. That’s not how we make the best decisions, get the best grades, run faster, achieve the highest levels of sales, invent breakthrough products, or live longer.
The best leaders… over and over again, express their belief in the innate goodness of human beings.
When leaders expect people to achieve, they do. When they label people underachievers, performance suffers. Passionately believing in people and expecting the best of them is another prerequisite to encouraging the heart.
Leadership development is self-development… To know what to change in our lives, we need to understand what we’re doing that is getting the results we want and what we’re doing that is not.
Most people produce more in an environment where they get positive feedback, and productivity diminishes where there is little or no feedback or where they only hear from their leaders if something is wrong.
The set-up-to-fail syndrome “is self-fulfilling and self-reinforcing – it is the quintessential vicious circle…”
High expectations or low expectations both influence other people’s performance. Only high expectations have a positive impact on actions and on feelings about oneself. Only high expectations can encourage the heart.
We lead by being human. We do not lead by being corporate, professional, or institutional. (Paul G. Hawken, founder, Smith and Hawken).
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You can purchase my synopsis of this book, with handout + audio, at our companion web site, 15minutebusinessbooks.com.
