Basketball: Practice "Yes and No" and Tips from Doris Kearns Goodwin

What are your practice principles? 

Mandatory:
- Be good at what you do a lot.
- Limit how many things you intend to be good at. 
- Give and get feedback .
- Get the best assistant(s) you can.
- Create sustainable competitive advantage. 

Discretionary: 
- Degree of transparency 
- Style of play 
- Amount of time spent on pressing and handling pressure

Self-belief to the point of arrogance is the height of vanity. Seek understanding not validation. There is no best way, only a search for better ways. 

Lagniappe: 

Lagniappe 2: Stories and Tips from Doris Kearns Goodwin

You may get to like your boss. Doris Kearns (Goodwin) wrote an article excoriating President Lyndon Johnson - then was selected to be a White House Fellow. As a 24 year-old, fervently anti-war, Goodwin was viewed as a challenge by Johnson. She grew to admire LBJ, but acknowledged the deep scar on his presidency left by Vietnam. 

Goodwin defines leadership as the "ability to use talent, skills, and emotional intelligence to mobilize people to a common purpose...to make a positive difference in people's lives." 

She notes that Presidents she studies were mostly self-made although born with some valued traits. "Nobody gets away with being brilliant and not working." 

Lincoln - empathy and language

Teddy Roosevelt - insatiable curiosity 

FDR - optimism

LBJ - unbounded energy

Declaring ourselves a leader doesn't make it so.