This morning I had a meeting with an incredibly talented young leader from our church. She not only has incredible potential, but God is doing amazing things through her life right now. Her future is incredibly bright and I was honored to speak into it.
Investing in young leaders is a passion many seasoned (that’s a nice way of putting it) leaders like myself. This is why a recent Tom Verducci article in the May 12th edition of Sports Illustrated resonated with me so much. Verducci profiled baseball’s best player, 22-year-old California Angels outfielder Mike Trout.
In just his third season, Trout is already a Rookie Of The Year award winner and two-time American League MVP runner-up. The following are 10 Practices Of Highly Successful Young Leaders I gleaned from the article:
- Highly Successful Young Leaders Treat EVERYONE With Respect – Teammate Howie Kendrick says, “He says hello to everybody – the workers in the stadium, the guys in the hallways…My wife tells me, ‘I don’t know much about what he does on the field, but I know I like him because of who he is and how he treats everybody.”
- Highly Successful Young Leaders Treat THE ORGANIZATION With Respect – Team owner Arte Moreno says, “The greatest thing about Derek (Jeter) has been his consistency, the way he represents the organization, his family and himself. Mike is the same. He’s a gentleman.”
- Highly Successful Young Leaders Continually Improve – Every leader have things they can improve on. Because of an intense off-season training program Trout improved the weakest part of his game – arm strength.
- Highly Successful Young Leaders Limit Their Mistakes – Chris Iannetta, the team’s catcher says, “You just don’t see him ever make a mistake.”
- Highly Successful Young Leaders Have Confidence – Jannetta continues, “The most amazing thing is that his confidence is through the roof. And he has it all the time. It never wavers, whether he’s 0 for 5 for 5 for 5.”
- Highly Successful Young Leaders Are Grateful – Too many young leaders enter organizations with a sense of entitlement. Not Trout. He says, “I want to be here (with the Angels).” This attitude along with the way he negotiated his contract left a lasting impression on Moreno who said, “I wanted more years (on the contract), but that’s part of the compromise you make to get a deal done.”
- Highly Successful Young Leaders Live Uncomplicated Lives – Smart leaders remove the clutter from their lives. Still living at his parents’ house during the off-season, Trout lives a life of simplicity allowing him to focus solely on baseball.
- Highly Successful Young Leaders Embrace A Process – Systems, not silver bullets, is the key to lasting success. Another way to say this is everyday is more important than the big day. Trout acknowledged, “If I tell myself to hit a home run, I get out 100% of the time. All my home runs come from just telling myself, ‘Base hit up the middle.'”
- Highly Successful Young Leaders Have A Positive Attitude – Trout says, “I’m always positive. That’s the biggest thing that’s helped me my whole career. No negatives.”
- Highly Successful Young Leaders Do Their Job – Many young leaders are braggadocios, confusing exposure with experience. Trout says, “I think that’s where all my success comes from: always staying humble. If you do get four hits and two home runs or whatever, you’re not in there bragging. You just come in and do your job.”
Treat Everyone With Respect, Treat The Organization With Respect, Continually Improve, Limit Your Mistakes, Be Confident and Grateful, Live An Uncomplicated Life, Embrace A Process, Have A Positive Attitude and Do Your Job. If you practice these 10 things, you will most likely be a Highly Successful Young Leader.