The Cavaliers beat the Celtics Thursday night. But, truthfully, the Celtics beat themselves defensively. Coach Brad Stevens wasn't in the mood to discuss 'spirited comebacks' not when his team had allowed 100 points through three quarters. "We weren't connected on defense at all."
Let's reiterate some key points from Extreme Ownership. I won't 'sell' that basketball (a game) has any meaningful relationship to war. That's silly and disproportionate. But leadership matters in any team activity.
1. "There can be no leadership when there is no team."
1. "There can be no leadership when there is no team."
Leaders are either effective or ineffective. Committed leaders align team members to get optimal performance. Weak leaders end up with dysfunctional teams. They live in the blame, complain, and defend space.
2. "There are no bad teams; there are only bad leaders."
The authors describe a BUD/S (basic underwater demolition/SEAL) class where one boat (Boat II) consistently wins and another (Boat VI) finishes last. The instructors decide to switch the boat leaders, believing the Boat VI leader feels 'victimized' and limited by his perception of a "bad team". The next boat race (a grueling test in the harsh surf) with new leadership, Boat VI wins, narrowly defeating Boat II. New leadership turns around the program on Boat VI and the culture of teamwork on Boat II still allows for high performance.
3. "The leader is truly and ultimately responsible for everything."
Leaders find solutions. The first part of the book emphasizes the core elements to success - the proper mindset, the process of execution, and sustainability. The authors use scrubbed battlefield stories (e.g. a traumatic friendly fire catastrophe) and business examples (an executive unwilling to commit to ownership and results) as typical situations where decisions determined destiny.
4. "It's not what you preach, it's what you tolerate."
Few of us face regular life or death situations where minutes matter. But we oversee preparation (practice) and operations (games) where engagement, effort, and execution do impact our 'mission'. Everyone (including we coaches) errs. But are we accepting repeated mistakes - traveling, allowing front cuts, poor shot selection - or are we intervening? If you're a player, have you given your best? If you're making mistakes, what are you doing to stop committing the same ones?
5. "Leadership doesn't just flow down the chain of command, but up as well. We have to own everything in our world."
Attention to detail often flows through miscommunication. "What was my assignment?" As the coach, I am responsible if one player is repeatedly beaten in transition or if another is routinely out of position on an inbounds play. I need to give and receive feedback, and double and triple check player understanding. I cannot allow an environment where ignorance or ambiguity exists.
We continually fail to run this play wrong. The 1s, 2s, and 5s are doing their job. The 4 doesn't cut or the 3 doesn't deliver the pass. But it's open and it's on me to make it work.
