Your Daily Dose of Greatness
“The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching.”
– Anson Dorrance
Tag: Writing
Attention to Greatness
Try to dissect why a great team wins a championship and you’ll quickly see it’s all about the moving parts.
Can the offense use speed and timing to score frequently? Can the defense make the necessary adjustments to get the job done? Can every player on the team remember their own responsibilities and execute those tasks when needed? It’s fascinating to see how independent assignments can influence the collective...
A Great Taste
When it comes to competition—whether sports or business—the tendency is to completely dominate.
In the computer industry, Microsoft wants to do more than just take a bite out of Apple. In the basketball world, the San Antonio Spurs want to send the Miami Heat into a deep chill. In the hockey realm, the Boston Bruins want to do more than just win the Stanley Cup—they want to obliterate the Chicago Blackhawks. The mindset...
Greatness Made Special
Many of my best days these days, at least professionally, involve getting the chance to talk about the 16 consistent Characteristics of Greatness I’ve witnessed in great winners.
This past month alone, my speaking engagements included travel to Los Angeles, Louisville, Costa Rica, and Puerto Vallarta. However, there’s one date on the calendar that ranked higher than all else. A tiny adjustment to my schedule allowed...
Tony La Russa’s Game Plan
Retired Major League manager Tony La Russa proves that in baseball (as in business), preparation and personal relationships give you a winning edge.
Tony La Russa is considered among the best in his business. Yet nearly half the time he led his organizations into competition, they were defeated—2,728 wins, 2,365 losses. That’s one of the great oddities of baseball: Success is relative. A hitter who fails 70 percent...
Great Resilience
Each week, it seems the sports world captures our attention and sends us on an emotional rollercoaster worth the price of admission. But this week’s thrill ride inspired me to focus on perspective. Under what lens would you view emotional moments of failure, tragedy or triumph?
A Greatness lesson live from Duke and Coach K!
Inner Fire
They Use Adversity as Fuel
I know this newsletter is about developing Greatness in our hearts and minds, but this month it is about the Greatest birthday gift I’ve ever received. As you read this today, I am in Durham, North Carolina on the campus of Duke where Coach Mike Krzyzewski is running me and a group of 79 other business people through drills on the floor at famed Cameron Indoor Stadium....
What Baseball and John Smoltz Can Teach Us About Being a Great Teammate
When All Else Fails…Adjust
They know how – and when – to adjust their game plan
With the start of another Major League Baseball season on the horizon, I figured I’d toss this month’s dialogue of Greatness around Atlanta Braves legend John Smoltz. Throughout a 21-year career, his talent and drive as a pitcher created Hall of Fame worthy statistics, but he’s far from the typical...
Super Bowl Siblings
The storyline has gotten a lot of attention these last couple of weeks, but as most anyone who follows sports know, this weekend’s Super Bowl will be the first ever pitting two brothers against each other as the head coach of the competing teams. Jim Harbaugh’s San Francisco 49ers are slight favorites over older brother John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens.