Build Your People

One of my all time favorite coaches is Kevin Sumlin, who is currently the head football coach at Texas A&M University. I love Kevin dearly, he gave me a chance as a walk-on to play and start at Purdue. And I certainly enjoyed giving my best for coach Sumlin as a player.

Kevin often made a point to get out of the way of his talent, and lead by giving us the latitude to help create in our own style a more prolific offense along side Drew Brees. (Side note - - anytime the all time leader in NFL passing yards in a season is your quarterback, humbly give credit where credit is due.)

As Patton once said, "don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results." Kevin Sumlin led this way, and he certainly got the most of my ability. Applying this to business, I would recommend the following concepts to exude when leading this way;

Lead from the heart
Give people something good to live up to - - something great - - and they usually will.
The more you yield, the more power you have.
The substance of influence is pull...not push.
Tact is the language of strength.
And don't react - - respond.

Thanks coach for the life lesson...

Being Muddy

Leaders shouldn't expect anyone else to do anything they haven't done themselves. They get dirt under their nails and mud on their boots.

Being humble means being aware of your connections with the dust of the earth. The soil is the source of everything we have. Remember your muddy beginnings, and you can accomplish anything.

For example as a boy, Sam Walton milked the family cow and sold the surplus milk to neighbors. And Bill Gates spent thousands of hours as a teenager programming computers at Washington University.

Do the work.

Lead from your gut.

Stay hugely humble.

Stay grounded.

Get mud on your boots.

And trust yourself.

(excerpt taken from It's Not About You, written by Bob Burg and John David Mann)