2018: Book #47
“You can complicate your life in many ways by asking, “Oh, I wonder if the players like me?” If I did my job well, the players would respect me, and that’s all you need.”
There’s a quote for ya! It’s from an English soccer coach and found in Harvard Business Review’s, “HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership Lessons from Sports.”
This is a fantastic book filled with life lessons, good reminders, and fresh perspectives.
Here are a few more amazing quotes…
“Our integrated theory of performance management addresses the body, the emotions, the mind and the spirit.”
“You have to be honest with people – brutally honest. You have to tell them the truth about their performance, you have to tell it to them face-to-face, and you have to tell it to them over and over again. Sometimes the truth will be painful, and sometimes saying it will lead to an uncomfortable confrontation. So be it. The only way to change people is to tell them in the clearest possible terms what they’re doing wrong. And if they don’t want to listen, they don’t belong on the team.”
“Confrontation is healthy.”
“When you set small, visible goals, and people achieve them, they start to get it into their heads that they can succeed. They break the habit of losing and begin to get into the habit of winning. It’s extremely satisfying to see that kind of shift take place in the way a team thinks about itself.”
“Smart companies consciously create situations in which their elite performers push one another to levels they would never reach if they were working with less-accomplished colleagues.”
Should you read this book? Yes…100%!
This book is so good, but the last chapter is shocking. The title: “Why Sports are a Terrible Metaphor for Business.”
Yup. The author of the last chapter makes you stop and reconsider everything you have just learned. I find that honest and refreshing.
I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
That’s book #47 for 2018.
Only 5 books remain before reaching 52 for the year.
Remember, all leaders are readers.
If you want to be a better leader…be a reader.
#52in2018
