Process Driven Leadership

Imagine you’re a young girl named Alice.     you’ve just fallen down a rabbit hole and don’t know where to go.     You come to a door that you’re too large to get through.     Even if you could fit through the door, you don’t know where the key is.     Then you find the key sitting on a table in the middle of the room. You grab the key, but you still can’t fit through the door. Then you find a potion that shrinks you.     Now you’re able to use the key on the door and walk-through.     I believe this is a perfect description of how you need both wisdom and knowledge to be successful.     Knowledge is the collection of information.     Wisdom means being able to correctly use that knowledge.     Think of the Key as Knowledge, the Potion as Wisdom, and the Locked     Door as Success. You see you can have all the knowledge in the world and it’s absolutely useless, unless you have the wisdom ...

Some coaches think that parents shouldn’t be involved beyond making sure their kid arrives on time, and is picked up on time.     In my opinion that belief is ignorant, it’s a belief im ashamed to say I once had.     A parent’s love for their child is a deep unconditional love.     That love drives them to do whatever it takes to protect and care for their child. At times I do believe that parents can act irrationally, but so can anyone. Unconditional love is in itself irrational.     I now understand the “problem” parent, but I don’t believe they’re a problem.     I believe they love their kid, and they don’t wanna see them upset.     The greatest leaders take extreme ownership of all things. As a coach I believe I need to take ownership of my relationship with the parents. If I try to build a wall between us, it creates a false sense of security.     Just because I’m not hearing it, doesn’t mean it’s not being said....

When our backs are against the wall we tend to focus on our problems. The thing is if we focus on our problems, the problems tend to get bigger.     We start to doubt whether we can even get out of this situation. This could’ve been the smallest problem, yet through self doubt and a mind focused on an undesirable outcome it can become massive. In volleyball this is why momentum is a such a big deal, but it doesn’t have to be.     Momentum is based off of emotion.     We can’t stop the emotions from happening, but we can absolutely control how we respond to them. One of the greatest ways this was ever explained to me was this.     Reaction is acting on emotion without thought.     Responding is feeling that emotion, yet taking a second to think about how you need to act in response to the emotion. Knowing this information is one thing, using it is a whole different story. I wish I could say that I always choose to “Respond” rather than “R...

I’ll preface this by saying that GOD is truly amazing!     He is at work in your life, even when you think he couldn’t be further from you. In 2021 two legendary Pennsylvania Boys Volleyball Coaches, chose not to return.      When I applied for those positions, it was for me. I thought if I could replace one of those coaches, that it would somehow validate my life.     I was so lost,  I thought my worth depended on how successful other people thought I was.     I took the     Northeastern job to prove to the world that “I” was great.     Well I quickly realized, just how NOT great I was.     The season started with a 5 hour drive to Meadville.     That Friday we lost our first match and the Next day competed in a tournament where we didn’t do much better.     That weekend I realized something that I should’ve already known….. I wasn’t a very good coach. I spent that 5 hour bus ride back f...