“‘Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or…
Blog Archives
What makes an excellent performer?
Over the last few weeks, I’ve gotten together with a number of friends and former colleagues to chat, catch up, and talk shop. Because of the time of year (performance evaluation season!) and other developments (my team is expanding, so…
Tagged with: achievement, excellence, performance, top performers
Posted in Careers, Leadership, Management
Posted in Careers, Leadership, Management
Chris Hadfield’s advice
In a recent interview with CBC Radio, Commander Chris Hadfield gave his three secrets for becoming an astronaut: Keep your body in shape and eat well Challenge yourself with education, and push yourself to learn things you barely expect to…
Tagged with: circle of control, decision-making, excellence, expertise, space, success
Posted in Everything, Math and Science
Posted in Everything, Math and Science
Time for a change?
“The immortals step out of their comfort zone in order to expand it.” – Lee Jenkins in SI Reading some basketball news the other day, I came across a remarkable story over at Sports Illustrated, Right Turn: There are makeovers,…
Tagged with: basketball, change, circle of control, excellence, expertise, NBA, sports
Posted in Leadership, Sports
Posted in Leadership, Sports
The Running Man
A few years ago, I hated running. Now I’ve changed my tune: I grudgingly respect its existence, and occasionally hang out with it. When I was a tallish skinny youth, someone made the mistake of telling me, “You’d be a…
Tagged with: excellence, failure, goals, lessons, respect, running, success
Posted in Everything, Sports
Posted in Everything, Sports
Fergie’s Way
“For a player – and for any human being – there is nothing better than hearing ‘Well done’.” – Sir Alex Ferguson For 27 years, Sir Alex Ferguson managed Manchester United. In that time, he changed the culture of a…
Tagged with: Alex Ferguson, circle of control, circle of influence, coaching, crucial conversations, excellence, leadership, lessons, respect, soccer, team-building, teams
Posted in Everything, Leadership, Management, Soccer, Sports
Posted in Everything, Leadership, Management, Soccer, Sports
Building a Championship Team
I take team-building very seriously: in the recreational sports world, poor teams lose and members go home without championships; in the business world, poor teams are weak links that can bring down organizations and cost people their livelihood – there’s…
Tagged with: excellence, futsal, goals, hiring, leadership, metrics, soccer, sports, team-building, teams, The Pitch
Posted in Everything, Leadership, Management, Soccer, Sports
Posted in Everything, Leadership, Management, Soccer, Sports
More Coaching Insights from the NFL
“Clean up the minor details! That’s how you get great! There are no little things. The little things are all big things.” – Bruce Arians A few days ago I wrote about a 35-minute video of Jason Garrett‘s opening training…
Tagged with: coaching, excellence, expertise, leadership, NFL
Posted in Everything, Leadership, Management
Posted in Everything, Leadership, Management
The Wonderful, Empowering Secret of Achieving Excellence
“The greats weren’t great because at birth they could paint…The greats were great ’cause they paint a lot” – Macklemore I saw a post in a LinkedIn forum the other day that started off by saying, “We all know that…
Book Report: “Bounce”
“The talent theory of expertise is not merely flawed in theory; it is insidious in practice, robbing individuals and institutions of the motivation to change themselves and society. Even if we can’t bring ourselves to embrace the idea that expertise…
Tagged with: Anders Ericcson, Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Bounce, Carol Dweck, David Beckham, Desmond Douglas, excellence, expertise, futsal, Greg Norman, Heidi Krieger, Laszlo Polgar, Malcolm Gladwell, Mark Schwarzer, Martin Sheen, Matthew Syed, Mia Hamm, Mozart, Nick Faldo, Outliers, placebo, purposeful practice, Roger Federer, self-development, Shaquille O'Neal, Sian Beilock, Steve Davis, talent, Tiger Woods, Venus Williams, Wayne Gretzky
Posted in Books, Everything, Leadership, Sports
Posted in Books, Everything, Leadership, Sports
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