I recently read the 5 Ethics of Life from The Wise You. I believe these 5 principles offer a great deal of wisdom for living a very successful life. 1. Listen Before You Speak Every successful person I have ever worked with has developed the ability to listen. I was directing a basketball clinic in […]
Pat Sullivan
The 5 Main Components of Winning
When Jerry Krause was General Manager of the Chicago Bulls, he once said to Michael Jordan the oft quoted expression, “There is no I in TEAM.” Jordan retorted by saying, “But there is an I in WIN.” What does it take to win? I believe there are five components that must be present to win […]
Ego Contributes to Your Success and Failures
Bill Russell played for the Boston Celtics for 13 years. Remarkably, his teams won the NBA championship 11 of those 13 years. He felt the key to their success was the development of their team ego. He said when the Celtics entered a building for practice or a game, they left their individual egos at […]
5 Characteristics of Athletes You Need for Business Success
Michigan State basketball coach, Tom Izzo, wrote “Players play. Tough players win.” I would add to that, “It’s tough to win.”I think if you, as a leader, are looking to build an organization that is successful – that wins – you first have to accept that it will be tough. There are no shortcuts to […]
Remember This: Work Comes Before Success
Work and success are virtually synonymous. The dictionary defines work as, “Exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something.” Success is defined as, “goal reached; accomplishment.” When you look at both work and success, you find the words, “accomplish something” and “accomplishment.” Vince Lombardi, the legendary Green Bay Packers coach, wrote, “The only place […]
The 4 Principles to Excellence
Our college coach, Gordie Gillespie, had this to say about athletic practices, “You play as you practice.” Excellent practices lead to excellent games; poor practices make for poor performance. Dean Smith, the former University of North Carolina basketball coach, believed, “The practices belong to the coaches; the games belong to the players.” The practices must […]
How a Properly Planned Agenda Eliminates Ineffective Meetings
Organizations spend a great amount of time throughout the course of a year in meetings. Meetings should always be meaningful, organized, and necessary. Unfortunately, too many meetings I have sat through fit what a friend once told me, “Meetings are people sitting around talking about things they ought to be doing.” I can recall many […]
How to Critique Without Damaging Their Confidence
When you are the leader, there will come times where you have to critique the performance of those whom you are leading. Their work is not meeting the standards that have been set and you must confront them. How do you critique but not detract from the confidence of the person you are critiquing? How […]
Success Is Never Owned and Rent Is Due Everyday
I coached the basketball team at the University of St. Francis for 34 years. In December of 1987 we went to the west coast to play the University of San Francisco. We were a small, liberal arts university in Joliet, Illinois. I would guess the players on that San Francisco team had never heard of […]
3 of the Most Important Life Lessons You Can Learn From Sports
Among the many values of sports, there are three special lessons that transition flawlessly into life. Every successful person I have ever worked with has developed these three concepts. FQ is more important than IQ I was directing a basketball clinic in Salt Lake City, Utah when Dale Brown, the former Louisiana State University coach, […]
