In tennis, the player who keeps the ball in play one more time than his or her opponent wins.
Reframed, the athlete or the businessperson or the editor who makes the least errors stays in the game–you get to move on to the next match, the next client, the next story.
As a winning coach and corporate consultant, I’ve identified three major mistakes that every leader should avoid.
1: Dishonesty
It’s greater to be trusted than to be loved.
Unfortunately, most people skew excessively toward the desire to be accepted, embraced, even adored. So much so that they’ll say or do anything to get that hit of validation.
As elementary as it sounds, your team wants to believe you and believe in you.
Great leaders understand that credibility is never stagnant. You earn trust every day.
2: Greed
In his book The Winner Within, NBA coach and executive Pat Riley spoke of The Disease of Me, which is self-explanatory.
American actor Jack Palance said wryly:
The only two things you can truly depend upon are gravity and greed.
When people see that you are in it for yourself, they will pull away and leave you by yourself.
Ego-driven or not, great leaders channel all energy toward success of the mission.
3: Boring
At NIU Men’s Tennis, if we ran the same practice day after day, our players would literally die of boredom. While rituals are key to high-performance and achieving flow state, variety and spice are just as vital to keep the engine humming.
Great leaders utilize creative ways to communicate the vision and sustain true engagement.
Leadership Action Steps
- Tell the truth.
- Lead from service.
- Be a creative communicator.
Like tennis, leadership is simple. Don’t make it complicated.
