I write weekly about lessons I’ve learned, and leading well in chaotic environments, drawing on 25+ years leading product teams. If you’re a leader, operator, or founder, I hope you’ll subscribe.
Read time: 2 minutes (video is below)
In college football, now is the season when schools hire new head coaches. Near the end of every season, many teams desperately seek a new leadership alchemy.
They want someone who blends leadership acumen with subject-matter expertise — and a real ability to drive cultural change.
TL;DR:They’re all looking for someone who can make things better.
What comes with each new coaching hire is the requisite press conference. Relieved and hopeful college administrators introduce the newly hired coach, who always takes a few minutes to walk through his approach to team-building — and yes, football.
As someone who studies how people lead teams, I’m always interested and engaged when I catch one of these press conferences. It’s a quick way to see how this type of leader thinks. Most new coaches hit the expected notes — things like “We’re going to go to work each and every day to be as good as we can be” and the like.
But the recent press conference for JaMarcus Shephard, the newly hired head football coach at Oregon State University, was different.
This is JaMarcus’ first collegiate head coaching job. He definitely covered the usual football points. And then a reporter asked what inspires him — and then it got more interesting. JaMarcus talked about his “why.”
His words were raw and real — and they’re relevant for leaders and helpers of all kinds. It’s a pretty good lens through which to view the work.
The full quote and video are below. (video follows the quote)
Thanks for reading — and happy Wednesday.
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A Little Bit of Brokenness
“When I talk about my why, why do I do what I do, it’s really this. I think that each and every one of us approaches each day with a little bit of brokenness inside of us. Everyone has a little bit of brokenness inside of them, regardless of how you grew up, regardless of what your home environment was. Everybody has a little bit of brokenness.
I want everyone to know that you can still achieve the level of success that you want, regardless of the brokenness that you have inside. These young men are walking around here and they have issues that you would never know. I’ve been in this office now for just over 24 hours and I had a young man break down crying in my office already. All of them are walking around with a little bit of brokenness, and I just wanted to help reinforce to them that, no, you can have the type of success that you want to have regardless of that.
So, that inspires me every day.
“I literally, it’s funny, my wife kind of looks at me funny some days. I get up in the morning, I look in the mirror, and I say to myself, ‘Hey, there’s someone who needs you today, big dog. They need you. And they need you now. They don’t need you a week from now. They don’t need you a month from now. They need you today. OK? I don’t care what’s going on in your life right now. Go help them.’ And that is what my life is all about. It’s about helping people. ”
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