Coach or Educator? Identity Matters!

When the Game Stands Tall opens in movie theatres this Friday. It’s the story of De La Salle’s (Concord, California) storied high school football program under coach Bob Ladouceur.

De La Salle won 151 consecutive games under Ladouceur. Yes, you read correctly— 151.

Here’s an article previewing the movie that ran recently in the Contra Costa Times—a newspaper whose property is a stones throw from De La Salle’s practice field.

Having lived a short four miles from De La Salle for years, I’ve admired the school and all they stand for—football program included. Since 1994 twelve of their players have been drafted into the NFL (think: Maurice Jones-Drew, Amani Toomer, etc). No doubt, De La Salle’s football program is special.

What’s their secret sauce?

The Contra Costa Times article mentions, among other things, their conditioning program. Yes, that (and many other factors) all contribute to their success.

Yet to me their secret sauce starts with the professionals (some might say adults) that oversee the program—on and off the field. Typically we’d call them coaches—for the lack of a better term. And no doubt the kids call them ‘coach’. Yet, as defensive coordinator Terry Edison mentions in the article, “Our coaches see themselves as educators. The football field just becomes an extension of our classroom. “ To me this is the central ingredient in their secret sauce.

In other words, the men running the program see their purpose as educating the young men under their stewardship. Their commitment transcends merely giving lip service to an arguably noble cause. The men running the program have an emotional commitment.

The ‘players’ education is values based—centering on life’s lessons that helps the young men mature and realize their true potential. Bottom line: the program stands for something more than winning football games. Not surprisingly, when the young men’s potential is enhanced, they win a lot.

There’s a huge difference in being a coach and being an educator. The educator seeks a higher purpose. The men who have stewardship for De La Salle’s football program are professionals. They are professionals who happen to be educators. Identity matters!

‘Passionate Professional’, An Oxymoron?

There are words that seemingly don’t go together. Consider:

Jumbo shrimp
benign neglect
passionate professional

We have funnyman George Carlin to thank for his hilarious parody on jumbo shrimp. It’s perhaps Carlin’s most famous oxymoron. At least for our purposes, let’s call it a oxymoron.

Passionate professional (for many) is another oxymoron. Traditionally professionals are expected to be reserved (even stoic), conservative (in thought), 100% objective (evidence based) , cautious (in decisions/actions), buttoned-down appearance, etc. A more extensive list could be generated…..but you get the idea.

The irony is that for professionals (founders especially) passion is a requirement in living up to professional ideals. After all, the professional 1) creates more value than they extract and 2) subscribe to a higher order of thinking. For founders with a professional’s mind-set, their company has a purpose beyond making money. Simply put, everything starts with purpose—purpose that makes a difference.

Here’s a great clip (only three and a half minutes) that features Ruth Zukerman (founder of New York City-based Flywheel Sports):

The clip is entitled ‘There is No Substitute For Passion’. Check it out.

Does the founding professional need to have passion (and instill that passion in those within the organization)? Should those serving clients have passion for what they do? Do you want passion in your product developers? The answer—in each instance—is yes!

Thanks Ruth for the reminder. Passion…professionals shouldn’t hide it under a bush!

Thanks Funnyman

Yesterday afternoon my thoughts turned to Bridges Restaurant in Danville, California. No, I wasn’t hungry. I was sad.

Bridges is a popular, high-end restaurant in our (San Francisco Bay) area. Some of Mrs. Doubtfire’s most memorable scenes were filmed there. Mrs. Doubtfire helped put Bridges on the map. And it was Robin Williams that put the iconic hit film Mrs. Doubtfire on the map. Now he’s gone. How sad.

My neighbor, Kevin Gin, has been the executive chef at Bridges since Mrs. Doubtfire was released in 1993. Kevin tells me that even today that guests at Bridges want to know at what table Williams was filmed at—even amongst many European travelers on holiday. The worldwide outpouring of emotion surrounding his passing is a testament to the depth as to how deeply he touched us.

Bob Sutton (the Stanford professor and management guru) shared a touching story about Robin Williams yesterday that further illustrates why Williams was so beloved.

That Williams was a first-rate human being (as Sutton reinforces) shouldn’t be much of a surprise. The fact that he is gone is.

Company Limits Bathroom Breaks To Six Minutes a Day

Yes, you heard right. Here’s the reference: Company Limits Bathroom Breaks To Six Minutes a Day

No doubt there was some employee shenanigans (think: excessive Facebooking and texting on mobile devices in the bathroom) that brought this on. And perhaps management did some things that contributed to this outcome as well.

But would the ‘Six Minute Rule’ have been invoked if management genuinely viewed their staff as professionals? Not likely!

Invariably, self-management practices go way up when management treats the staff as professionals. The staff’s ‘best-self’ gets proudly displayed. They’re motivated to do the right thing, and they’ll do it more often. Of course there’s always going to be a few knuckle-heads, but still…..

Who doesn’t want to work in an environment in which ‘professional’ is the organization’s aspiration. And who doesn’t want to work with colleagues who are professionals? Of course, the questions are rhetorical. An organization that centers its organization on professional ideals wouldn’t stoop to this.

Culture’s Influence on Performance—Greater Appreciation Abounds

It was John Bogle, the founder and former chairman of Vanguard, that noted that ‘the most important things in life are often the most difficult to measure’.

How true—especially things like trust. In the work world, culture is another ‘thing’ that is really important but is often difficult to quantify. Culture (which some have characterized as how we think and act) is not only a vague notion for some but one that Is next to impossible to put on a balance sheet. Rest assured though that culture (which is inseparably linked to trust) effects the balance sheet and other facets of organizational performance.

This weekend two articles ran on the East Bay Times (a San Francisco Bay Area paper) editorial page (Sunday edition) that highlighted the dysfunction of two public-sector cultures that have had a significant impact in terms of degrading public trust. In my experience, it’s rare for two investigative reporters (on the same day, on the same editorial page) cite culture as the major culprit of discord in their stories. I was harkened by the two investigative reporters, acting independently, that were speaking forcefully about the pervasive nature of culture. For ‘culture deniers’ (whom I run into somewhat regularly, are prone not to give the influence of culture it’s due) these types of articles help put a ‘real-world’ context to the impact of culture. In other words, the two articles give a hard edge (albeit with imperfect measurement) to a supposedly soft subject.

The first public-sector culture under the microscope in Sunday’s article was Caltrans (California’s transportation department) for their contribution in the new eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Daniel Borenstein, the article’s author, refers to Caltrans culture as unprofessional—with senior leaders routinely using heavy-handed intimidation, secrecy, and denial as means to the meet the leaders ends. As the article points out, the costs for the eastern span skyrocketed from $1.4 to $6.4 billion. The project suffered significant construction delays and is now is under scrutiny for safety concerns. Not all of these issues have ‘culture’ as the sole cause, but certainly culture is considered a significant contribution. For the complete story see:
Daniel Borenstein Gov. Brown Must Fix Caltrans Culture

The second culture under scrutiny is the Veterans Association (VA). In the VA’s case, it is believed that the silence and secrecy embedded in the culture led to patient deaths. How sad. As author Kate Scannell’s article points out, the VA culture has other troubling issues as well. See:
Dr. Kate Scannell: VA scandal shows we must speak up about the deadly silences in health care

Both of these examples illustrate the very real consequences of a dysfunctional culture. In both instances, trust is on life support. Plus, key performance targets have failed miserably. In the case of the VA, people died. Edgar Schein, an early pioneer in the field of organizational development, may have put it best: ‘culture is to the organization what character is to the individual.’ Both of these examples have been well chronicled in articles beyond the two highlighted here. It’s clear that both these organization’s cultures were by-products of their leadership—in this case inadequate leadership.

Schein also wrote ‘there is a possibility that the only thing of real importance that leaders do is create and manage culture’. Given the era in which Schein made that statement, it was difficult to justify that point-of-view. Today it’s much easier, especially given these two examples.