Wisdom Wednesdays: Anson Dorrance — What Are You and Expert In?

Anson Dorrance is a retired American soccer coach widely regarded as one of the most successful coaches in the history of athletics. He spent 47 years at the University of North Carolina (UNC), where he built an unparalleled dynasty in women's college soccer.

In an interview on The Great Coaches” Leadership & Life podcast, Coach Dorrance said when he first started coaching, he identified 5 great coaches and selected the most prominent quality from each to add to his own coaching philosophy. In the interview, he said he learned how to exude class from Lynchburg College coach Bill Shellenberger, he studied the presence of European coach Bobby Gansler, and he wanted to have the humility of UNC men’s basketball coach Dean Smith.

He wanted to be the best coach he could be, so he studied the best in different areas.

Then, Coach Dorrance talked about how he was watching a political news show where the hostess was asked what she was an expert in. When the hostess replied, “Reading comprehension,” Coach Dorrance said it inspired him to think about what he was an expert on, and he said “competition.” He became an expert in developing the gift of fury — the capacity to compete like no one else — and this is why his team’s were so successful, beating superior, more gifted soccer players and teams.

The hallmark of Dorrance’s style became the Competitive Cauldron, a system where every aspect of practice — from sprints to small-sided games — is recorded and ranked.

When he decided he was and would be an expert on competition, he created one of the most competitive practice environments in sports.

What was interesting to me was that after saying this, Coach Dorrance said he doesn’t believe that we can teach people how to be leaders. But he did say the first and most important person we lead is ourselves, so that is the place to start. You can’t lead anyone else unless you have learned to lead yourself because in order to lead anyone, you have to have some credibility. Coach Dorrance says this is where so many of us fail — we don’t have vision, discipline, or commitment to consistently and effectively lead ourselves.

How can you be an effective fitness leader if you are unfit, or help others be more disciplined if you aren’t yourself?

Finally, Coach Dorrance said it was important for him to create a principled-centered culture. Dorrance required his athletes to memorize 12 Core Values, each accompanied by a literary quote (from thinkers like Viktor Frankl and George Bernard Shaw). Those values included ideas like resilience, positivity, and nobility. He had his athletes rank themselves and others on the principles and used those rankings to drive what he taught and how he coached.

Ultimately, Dorrance’s legacy suggests that the path to elite leadership isn't found only in commanding others, but in the relentless pursuit of self-improvement, competitive fury, and a steadfast commitment to one's own core values and principles and defining, managing, and modeling those values for the people you lead.