Every college team I worked with in 2018-2019 made it to the NCAA Tournament. On top of that one was a quarter finalist, one went to the Elite Eight and another won the National Championship.
The common denominator isn’t me. Its smart leaders who have secure enough egos to bring in an outside voice.
I don’t share any of this to impress you. I share it to impress UPON you the importance of an outside voice to your team.
Longtime colleague and friend Steve Colfer is the head men’s lacrosse coach at Cabrini University.
He reached out to me before their season asking about available dates to speak to his team. I wasn’t available for the dates he was looking for at the beginning of the season and explained to him “I already had a date booked in my calendar to speak to your team…
In May…
On Memorial Day weekend…
The night before you win the National Championship game!”
He said “You’re that confident, huh?”
I replied “Hell yeah, You’ve got This!”
So fast forward to 9 pm Saturday May 25th in the Wyndham Hotel in downtown Philadelphia, I was addressing his team.
And 21 hours later they were crowned National Champions.
(This was no surprise to me. Steve is one of the smartest tacticians and best leaders you’ll ever meet. I’ve been silently predicting this achievement for years now. It wasn’t a question of “if” it would happen, it was simply a matter of WHEN.)
I share this with you for two reasons:
- Every leader needs someone outside the walls of their organization who believes in their collective potential at the highest level.
- Smart leaders like Coach Colfer understand that every team reaches a point in the season or year where they’ve heard all they can hear from its leadership. So they bring in an outside voice with a different lens.
Your team very well might hear the same things from that outside voice but it takes on new meaning. Their message can serve to reinforce your organization’s mission, values and central message in a fresh, memorable way.
Make no mistake about it, I don’t take credit for the victories my clients have, THEY own those. I share this with you simply to GIVE credit. As I’m fortunate to work with some real enlightened leaders.
If you’re smart enough to enlist an outside voice to speak to your team from time to time, I have a limited number of dates available on my 2019 speaking calendar. Email john at coach bru dot com and we’ll make it happen…
P.S. Enjoy this great video chronicling the National Championship experience from a player’s perspective…