7A Culture of Character
For Everyone
Core Lessons
- It's hard to lead if you've never been taught how to do it.
- Culture isn't created by one person; it takes a buy-in from the whole team.
Chapter Summary
While Coach Washington takes a break from the whiteboard, Coach Smitty contemplates the culture he has instilled in the football program at Northwest. That culture includes the Six Pillars, but it's much more than that. In response to the concerns of his athletes, Coach Smitty established the Northwest Leadership Academy to teach his students how to lead, and the players helped to come up with the Six Commitments that all Northwest football players must adhere to as a standard of behavior. Coach Smitty notes that the culture he tried so hard to build is working, because now it has called him to be accountable for his actions.
Deep Dive Teaching
While Coach Smitty was developing the culture of the football team, one of his student athletes was courageous enough to admit that he didn't know how to lead, because he'd never been taught. Here are three steps to help you learn how to lead:
- Listen
The first step to learning anything new is listening to people who have already done it (or at least something similar). This could be listening to a person you know in the real world, watching a video online, or reading a book.
- Learn
Learning is not a passive act of absorbing information. If it was, tests would be a lot easier and wouldn't require any studying. Learning is what happens ...