One of the phrases often heard is when a person is described as “a genius”. The phrase is often overused but from time-to-time someone actually separates themselves from others and rightfully gains the term “genius”.
One such leader may be Auburn head football coach Gus Malzahn. Recently, Keith Van Valkenburg of ESPN.com profiled this successful coach and offensive mastermind. As I read the post, I gleaned so many leadership principles it will take several posts to capture all information needed to help you become a “leadership genius” in your own right.
To read Van Valkenburg’s incredible article in full, click here. The following are the first 15 Qualities Of A Leadership Genius:
- Leadership Geniuses Have A Great Memory – Malzahn can remember the most obscure of plays from years back and what made them (un)successful.
- Leadership Geniuses Attract A Lot Of Attention – There is a fascination to geniuses. People are mesmerized by them and often observe them as they perform their craft. As a high school All-American, quarterback Mitch Mustain would often just secretly watch Coach Malzahn work in his office.
- Leadership Geniuses Pay Great Attention To Detail – Malzahn has what can be described as a Beautiful Mind. Mustain said, “(When drawing plays) Every single bar he drew had to be perfect, then it had to be outlined, or he was starting over. He could have had some graduate assistant do it, but instead he insisted he do it himself.”
- Leadership Geniuses Are Humble – They simply don’t know what all the fuss about is about. When told he is described as a genius, Coach Malzahn says, “I don’t see myself that way at all. It’s just silly.”
- Leadership Geniuses Think About Leadership Continually – Auburn safety Jermaine Whitehead says, “He’s a football junkie. He’s always finding a way to outthink people. I don’t think he’ll ever get bored the way some coaches do, because he’s so smart. He sees everything.”
- Leadership Geniuses Begin Leading At An Early Age – As a young boy, Malzahn was “eat up with” sports. He spent countless hours as a boy studying Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry’s route combinations. Malzahn actually had his first coaching assignment at age 15. I agree with Malcolm Gladwell who feels you need 10,000 hours of practice before becoming an outlier/genius.
- Leadership Geniuses Have Others Invest In Them – Malzahn’s parents got divorced at an early age. After his mother re-married, he connected with his new stepfather playing baseball. Sports was a way of building relationships.
- Leadership Geniuses Do Few Things Well – The great John Maxwell often says, “I write. I speak. I lead. That’s all I do.” Geniuses are often isolated in their skill sets. Slightly below middle class, the Malzahns had no options other than sports growing up.
- Leadership Geniuses Ignore Naysayers – Geniuses are often mocked by others not on their level. Malzahn said, “Everybody told me, ‘Oh you’ll have trouble supporting your family, you’ll never be able to get a job. I didn’t care. I really didn’t. That’s what I wanted to do. I just wouldn’t be good at anything else.”
- Leadership Geniuses Have Great Spousal Support – A man’s performance is in direct proportion to his wife’s confidence in him. Malzahn says, “My wife, Kristi, was a real trouper (early in their marriage and career). I wouldn’t be where I am without her. She deserves a lot of the credit for everything we’ve accomplished.”
- Leadership Geniuses Do All The Little Jobs Related To Their Craft – Never despise small beginnings in your leadership. Malzahn’s first job was as an assistant coach at Hughes High School, a town of 1,500 people. His responsibilities involved doing all the jobs necessary to run a program including learning to drive a tractor to cut the grass.
- Leadership Geniuses Create Lab Environments – Part of being a genius is perfecting your craft in “hidden” environments where no one will see your mistakes. You must have freedom to experiment, do R&D, and enjoy trial and error. Malzahn remembers, “I made a lot of mistakes but I realized there was no better way to learn than to make mistakes.”
- Leadership Geniuses Embrace Simplicity – As a young head coach, Malzahan sought advice from legendary Arkansas high school coach Barry Lunney. Lunney’s advice, which Malzahn thinks is the best he has ever heard, was, “Pick out four or five of them (the best of your 200 plays). Then run ’em no matter what the defense gives you. Do that and you’ll be just fine.”
- Leadership Geniuses Show Immediate Results – In Malzahn’s first year as a high school coach, the team lost in the state finals.
- Leadership Geniuses Are Haunted By Failure – That high school team lost because of coaching mistakes Malzahn made. In a surprising statement, Malzahn acknowledges, “It’s a game I (still) think about probably once a week. I don’t ever think about the wins. I think about the ones where I didn’t do the best job. I still feel bad for those kids because we could have won that game. We could have won had I done a better job.”
You can become a leadership genius as well. Start by doing these 15 practices. Tomorrow I will be posting the 2nd part of this series.
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