The Locker Room Playbook

3The Locker Room Is Broken

For Everyone

Core Lessons

• There are physical signs of racism, but sometimes we need someone else to show us what those signs look like.
• Racism will destroy a team if it is allowed to exist in the Locker Room.

Chapter Summary

Coach Washington takes Coach Smitty into the locker room and asks him what he sees. With some guidance, Coach Smitty realizes that the athletes have all racially segregated themselves within the locker room. This causes Coach Smitty to realize how poorly he handled the subject of Davey's inappropriate jokes. However, Coach Smitty doesn't yet understand the full extent of the problem of racism in the Locker Room.

Deep Dive Teaching

Like friendship, leadership is unique to the person who is in that role and to the team they are leading. This chapter shows many different parts of leadership. Let's look at three of the most important:

1. Vision

   When Coach Smitty speaks of the Six Pillars on the walls, what he's really talking about is his vision for the athletic program. Your leader's vision may be expressed as the five traits or the four rules or similar. For the Northwest Tigers of the story, their leader's vision is expressed as the six pillars: Tough People Win, Integrity Over Everything, Growth Follows Belief, Excellence Everywhere, Relentless Effort, Service Before Self.

   A clear vision can help the team unite and give them direction. But it's just a starting place.

2. Perception

   Sometimes even a clear vision written on the ...