A coach argues that leadership isn't scarce, it's underdeveloped. He traces how early structured sports limit kids' chances to self-organize and resolve conflicts, then offers a framework called "7 Ways to Lead a Team" that goes beyond talent or popularity, emphasizing daily responsibility and clear captain job descriptions.
Leadership is such an important element on any team. And leadership just doesn't happen by chance. Leaders must be developed. They must be chosen wisely. You know, as we go across the country to speak and provide coaching, so many times we're told this at high schools and colleges: we just don't have any leaders anymore. And when I look at the athletes and I look at the young people around our country, I just don't believe that. I think we got some great leaders. But I look at it and say, have we developed them? No. Athletics has changed over many years. I remember when I was young, I didn't start playing organized sport till I was 8 years old. That was the first one, Little League. Then I started playing basketball in junior high and started playing football in junior high as well. Well, today we start our kids at 3, 4, 5 years old. Well, that's not such a bad thing, but let's look at what the experience has changed. We were playing at 3, 4, 5 as well, but we were organizing ourselves, managing ourselves, leading ourselves, doing things to to get better, including conflict resolution. But as you look at that now, everything's organized by adults. And one of the things that we have to do is hand over leadership and let our kids lead. And it's not just about— leadership shouldn't just be about a resume builder. I want to be the leader, I want to be the captain so I can put it on a resume. It should be hard work. Hard work that takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of commitment to what you're doing. So we can't leave it to chance, and we build our 7 Ways to Lead a Team on 7 principles that go beyond entitlement, that go beyond being a senior or talented or popular, but it goes on to giving the best of yourself every day in that leadership role. We help you build a job description, a job description that helps your captains, that helps your leaders take advantage of their skill sets to help our teams grow and mature. I remember Kirk Cousins, the NFL quarterback, saying this one day when he was playing college football. He said, You know, when you play athletics, it's a privilege. And privilege will either lead to entitlement or responsibility. We cannot let our leaders be entitled. We need to have them be responsible for our teams. And we can't leave that to chance, but we must build that every single day. Let us help you with your leadership team. Let us help you build a job description that helps your teams get better. Thank you.
