Smart leaders want to retain their top talent.  Retaining top talent gives your organization stability and consistency.  Plus, it takes so much time, money and energy to secure and develop top talent, you simply do not want to lose the investment to someone else.  Retaining top talent helps ensure sustained success.

I thought about this recently when six members of the Clemson Tigers football team elected to bypass the NFL Draft, millions of dollars, and remain in college for the 2018 season.  Defensive linemen Christian Wilkins,  Clelin Ferrell, Austin Bryant, linebacker Kendall Joseph, cornerback Mark Fields and offensive tackle Mitch Hyatt all chose to put off a financial fortune until next year’s draft.  A minimum of three of these players were projected first round picks.  The question is why?

Look no farther than head coach Dabo Swinney and the culture of the Clemson football program.  Recently, ESPN’s David Hale profile the popular coach.  You can read his full article by clicking here.

As I read his article I gleaned the following 15 Habits Of Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent: Lessons From Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney.  Whether you lead a church, business, non-profit, or athletic organization, you can learn much from this Apex Leader.

  1. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Love People – Coach Swinney said, “I have an MBA but my Ph.D. is in people.  Everything I do is about relationships.”
  2. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Build Them Into Great Leaders – The football program’s mission statement is to build the players into great men.
  3. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Want To Impact Their Lives – Coach Swinney said, “Football, to me, is just the unique opportunity to have a pathway into their lives.”
  4. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Want Them To Love Their Experience – Coach Swinney added, “I want them to truly love their experience.”
  5. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Want Their Talent To Reach Their Full Potential – Coach Swinney continued, “(I want them to) not just be a football player, but to grow and be a person of excellence that just happens to be a good football player, too.”
  6. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Have A Personal Philosophy – Coach Swinney concludes, “And my philosophy is: If we develop them that way, football will take care of itself because they create habits of excellence that carries over.”
  7. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Create A Healthy Culture – Thad Turnipseed, Clemson’s director of recruiting and external affairs said, “Nick Saban has his process.  Dabo built a culture.”
  8. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Are Excellent Communicators –  Coach Swinney said, “Anybody can get up there and tell them what to do.  If you can’t articulate why you need to do it, they won’t listen. It’s a different world. If my coach told me to go run them bleachers, you didn’t ask no questions. I turned around and started running until he said stop. Now they’ll still run bleachers, but you better be able to tell them why.”
  9. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Create An Attitude Of Belief –  Coach Swinney noted, “That was the No. 1 task I had at Clemson, was to create an attitude of belief.  Everyone else was telling us what we can’t do, what’s never been done, what we hadn’t done.  You win on the inside before you ever win on the outside.”
  10. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Look For Unusual Forms Of Inspiration – The new Clemson football facility contains a slide which allows the players a unique and fun entranceway into the weight room.  Coach Swinney got the idea from watching the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson movie The Intern.
  11. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Help Top Talent Be Physically Replenished – The facility contains a nap room to help players replenish during the day.  The program also provides the players a personal chef.
  12. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Create A Fun Working Environment – The facility also has a wiffle ball field and golf simulator.
  13. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Ensure Top Talent’s Long-Term Success – The Clemson program helps players create their resumes and start non-profit charities.
  14. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Are Intentional About Doing So –  Coach Swinney advised, “You’ve got to be intentional.  I’m very focused on the culture we have and nurturing that. Whether it’s how we discipline, how we recruit, how we staff, how we respond to something great, something bad.  It’s all of those things.”
  15. Highly Successful Leaders Who Keep Their Top Talent Are Focused On Continual Personal Improvement – Coach Swinney reflected, “I may see things a little different from other people, but I just try to be who I am. I made a decision early on that what works for somebody may not necessarily work for me.  What works for me may not work for someone else.  You have to be who you are.  That’s what I’ve done.  I’m constantly trying to get better.”

If Coach Swinney and the Clemson football program continued to get better, the rest of college football better watch out.  What is one thing from the list above can implement TODAY to become a better leader?

To receive leadership insights from Coach Nick Saban, click HERE or on the image to the left for my new ebook The Leadership Of Nick Saban: Timeless Truths From The Incomparable Head Coach Of The Alabama Crimson Tide.  Enjoy!

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