Father’s Day is my favorite day of the year. This is because there is no leadership role I enjoy more than being a father to my daughter. Nothing brings me greater joy than watching her grow up into someone who loves Jesus and lives for Him.
As a gift to all my fellow dads, listed below are 22 quotes from leaders of the athletic community who are the absolute best at what they do. Their comments will give you great insight into what is in the hearts and minds of champions.
If we learn from them, we will position ourselves to be champions as well.
The following is A Father’s Day Gift For Leaders: 22 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From People Who Are The Best At What They Do:
February 2nd Sports Illustrated article and quotes by Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman:
- Successful Leaders Have Nothing To Prove To The Unproven – “When you join a group of men and accomplish something so difficult and so rare (winning a Super Bowl), you no longer feel as though you have to prove things to people who haven’t proven anything to you. In most cases I have a better resume than my detractors.”
- Leaders Need A Great Team Around Them To Be Successful – “It takes a total team effort to be successful.”
- Yes, Leaders Are Role Models – “I’ve realized in the last year that I can evoke change by being a great role model: a man who respects women and police officers, who graduated from college and does everything in his power to be successful within the rules.”
For more on Sherman, click 12 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Richard Sherman’s Post Game Interview.
Sports Illustrated: March 18th article about Detroit Red Wings superscout Hakan Andersson by Michael Farber:
- When You Don’t Know What Else To Look For, Look For Talent – “Late rounds (in the draft), I go for pure talent.” – Andersson
- Successful Leaders Create A Healthy Organizational Culture – “He’s (Andersson) with a team with a solid organizational philosophy and great player development. He’s being fed (information) by coaches and other people because they know Detroit’s a good spot.” – unnamed Western Conference scout
- If No Ones Listens To You, You Are Not The Leader – “When Hakan talks, we listen. He has a good feel for what it takes to play in the NHL…And he’s learned where a guy should go in the draft.” – general manager Ken Holland
April 13th Sports Illustrated article by Michael Rosenberg on NCAA champion Duke Blue Devils championship team head coach Mike Krzyewski. All quotes are from Coach K.
- Failure Is Never Final – “If you handle losses the right way, then losses can be very beneficial. What you do with a win or loss determines how much better you are going to be. We’ve always tried to use the losses as learning experiences and not just punish somebody.”
- Adaptability Is A Key Ingredient To Successful Longterm Leadership – “I can’t get to the level of playing defense like my 2001 (championship) team unless I have a number of older guys. It takes that long to be that good. So I have to accept a certain amount of slippage both offensively and defensively, and that means maybe trying out some other things.” – on deciding to switch from man-to-man to zone defense.
- Self-Leadership Is The Most Important Form Of Leadership – “Sometimes your biggest opponent is human nature.”
- Trust Is The Foundation Of Healthy Leadership – “We didn’t recruit some other kids because we wanted to show them: You’re the guy we want. I want them to trust me from the very beginning.”
- Successful Leaders Are Humble Enough To Be Continual Leaders – “You get to your late 50s and 60s, and you find out there are so many things (you didn’t know).”
For more from Coach K, click 16 Things Churches Must Do To Train Young Leaders and 24 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Mike Krzyzewski – Chick-Fil-A Leadercast.
April 20th Sports Illustrated article by Alan Shipnuck on 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth:
- Successful Leaders Focus On Accomplishment – “Winning has been a big part of my life since I was five years old.” – Spieth
- Longterm Successful Leaders Are Humble – “In my family it’s never been about me” – Spieth
- Successful Leaders Prioritize Family First – “Ellie (Spieth’s special needs sister) inspires Jordan, she grounds him, she makes it easy for him to detach from the artificial world of tournament golf. She’s a big key to who he is as a person.” – swing coach Cameron McCormick
- Genius Is Making The Complicated Simple, Not The Simple Complicated – “A lot of guys are looking around for the next piece of information so they can make things more complicated. He’s (Spieth) always looking to make things simpler.” – Brad Faxon
April 20th Sports Illustrated article and quotes by head coach Geno Auriemma on his 2015 Connecticut Huskies national championship team:
- All Opinions Are Not The Same – “People who have achieved great things and understand how hard it is to be really good at something are the first people to congratulate you. People who have not accomplished much in their lives are the first to criticize you.”
- Sustained Success Requires Continual Motivation – “How do you tell a group of guys who have won two national championships in a row that what they’re doing isn’t good enough?”
- A Successful Leader Is A Curious Leader – “I am fascinated by people who do things really well that are hard to do, and I think coaching in the NBA is the absolute hardest thing to do as a coach in the sport of basketball.”
- Successful Leaders Continually Evolve – “This is the great challenge that we all go through as we get older: How do you keep it fresh? How do you make it exciting for everyone? How do you continue to evolve?”
For more Coach Auriemma click 10 Practices Of Leaders Who Dominate The Competition.
April 20th Sports Illustrated article by Michael Rosenberg on Ryan Grigson, general manager of the Indianapolis Colts. All quotes are from Grigson.
- Leaders Not Only Recognize Opportunity But Seize It – “We have a mind-set where we want to build a dynasty because we have the quarterback to do it.”
- Successful Leaders Evaluate Reality – “Wisdom is to call something by its right name.”
- Successful Know When NOT To Work With Someone – “When I have to talk myself into liking a guy, or when I have to watch six tapes to think I might take him – that’s usually when I miss (on a player). You don’t want that guy. You want the guys who pop.”
Happy Father’s Day!
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