Former UConn head men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun wrote in his book A Passion To Lead: Seven Leadership Secrets for Success in Business, Sports, and Life, “Some freshman student athletes are smarter and more mature than others, but the one thing they all share… is athletic potential.”
Potential.
As a young or even new leader, you are always trying to reach your potential. You are building your career and want to maximum all of your God-given potential. The question becomes how do you do that?
In today’s edition of The Daily Coach Florida Gators head football coach Billy Napier reflected on his days as a graduate assistant at Clemson.
He said, “Every day, you’ve got a chance to get better or get worse, go forward or go backward. You’re still at the point where there’s a lot to learn. It’s important to go to work each day and maximize the opportunities you have to learn as much as possible. I took the approach that I was going to learn as much about all parts of the game — offense, defense, the kicking game, strength and conditioning, overall program organization. You are going to be assigned small jobs. You try to do the absolute best work you can, and you need to prove you can be consistent, dependable, accountable. When you produce good work, you acquire more responsibilities as you go.”
9 Ways Young Leaders Can Reach Their Full Potential
From Coach Napier’s comments, we learn the following nine ways young leaders can reach their full potential. First will be the lesson followed by his supporting comments:
- Young Leaders Can Reach Their Potential By Getting Better Every Day – “Every day, you’ve got a chance to get better or get worse, go forward or go backward.”
- Young Leaders Can Reach Their Potential By Being Humble – “You’re still at the point where there’s a lot to learn.”
- Young Leaders Can Reach Their Potential By Taking Advantage Of Every Opportunity Given To Them – “It’s important to go to work each day and maximize the opportunities you have to learn as much as possible.”
- Young Leaders Can Reach Their Potential By Learning As Much As Possible About The Entire Business – “I took the approach that I was going to learn as much about all parts of the game — offense, defense, the kicking game, strength and conditioning, overall program organization.”
- Young Leaders Can Reach Their Potential By Doing Small Jobs Well – “You are going to be assigned small jobs.”
- Young Leaders Can Reach Their Potential By Being Consistent – “You try to do the absolute best work you can, and you need to prove you can be consistent.”
- Young Leaders Can Reach Their Potential By Being Dependable – “Dependable.”
- Young Leaders Can Reach Their Potential By Being Accountable – “Accountable.”
- Young Leaders Can Reach Their Potential By Taking On Additional Responsibilities – “When you produce good work, you acquire more responsibilities as you go.”
Coach Napier did those nine items so well it propelled him to a head coaching opportunity in the Southeastern Conference at the University of Florida.
If you do these nine things, you have a chance of reaching your full potential as well.
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