15 Quotes and Action Steps You Can Take To Grow As A Leader

Are you happy with your growth as a leader?  After reading this week’s edition of The Sporting News, I have uncovered 15 action steps you can take to accelerate your leadership growth. 

1. How Well Do You Prepare? “You’re not going to gain much strength during the season.  But during the offseason, when you’re working four days a week, you’re really hitting the weights hard.” – Miami Dolphins OT Jake Long
2. Does Your Team Have Talent? It ultimately comes down to this: when Mario Rivera pitches, the New York Yankees win.  When he doesn’t, they don’t.
3. Are You Properly Motivated? “When I look back on those (Chicago Bulls) teams, the thing that stands out is our motivation.  We were very motivated EVERY night.” – Scottie Pippen.  For more quotes from Pippen, click here.
4. Do You Have Noble Aspirations? “I try to learn something from Chris (Kaman) every day.  But I want to be a leader, too.” – LA Clipper Blake Griffin
5. Are You Coachable? “He (Baron Davis) has a tendency to shoot 3-pointers you don’t want him to shoot.  He was kind of restraint as far as understanding the facts, to put it mildly.” – Former Clipper head coach Mike Dunleavy
6. Do You Have Experience AND Confidence. “It’s about their experience.  Nothing bothers them because they’ve seen everything.” – Tampa Bay Ray Ben Zobrist on the New York Yankees
7. Are You A Big Picture Thinker?  “A lot of people care about what they do but not what everybody else does.  I’m not surprised Jeff (Fisher) is a great head coach.” – Buddy Ryan
8. Do You Understand Motivation and Timing? “You can’t stand up in front of a football team and talk to them in a meeting environment five or six days a week.  If you do that, they’ll stop listening to you.” – Tennessee Titans head coach Fisher
9. Do You Bring A Sense of Security To Your Team? “What I admire about him (Fisher) most is that he never changes.  That has a calming effect on our players.” – offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger
10. Do You Learn From Mistakes? “I can remember what it was like learning to become a professional, learning to learn from your mistakes.” – Mark Brunell
11. Do You Have A Good Mentor? “What Ronde (Barber) has done off the field is basically help teach me how to practice and how to approach the job.” – Tampa Bay Buccaneers CB Aqib Talib
12. Is Every Link Strong On Your Team? “In our defense, everybody plays a key role.” – Baltimore Ravens LB Ray Lewis
13. Are You Leaving A Legacy? “I don’t even talk about football (off the field).  I talk about my family – my little daughter and my wife.  That’s the main thing, instilling the right things into my daughter, how to be a good person.” – Dallas Cowboys LB DeMarcus Ware
14. Do Details Matter To You?  “You can’t just decide to be a better football player.  When that happens, you start paying closer attention to all the details.” – Notre Dame S Harrison Smith
15. Are You Constantly Improving? “I feel like I’ve learned so much since I was a freshman, progressed a lot as a player.” – Wisconsin PF Jon Leuer

What I like about Leuer’s comment is the difference in where he was and where he is now.  As a high school senior, Leuer was rated at the 89th best prospect in his class.  Today as a college senior, he is the 36th rated pro prospect in next year’s draft.

Are you growing at that rate as a leader?  If so, tell us things you are doing to make that happen.  If not, apply the 15 principles listed and I’m confident you will.

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