A Coach's Diary

This week, I learned leaders create meaningful change not by developing perfect plans, but by generating momentum through movement, learning, collaboration, transparency, and continuous action. The book, Motion Leadership: The Skinny on Becoming Change Savvy, ‘moved’ me because instead of talking about normal leadership topics like vision or strategy, author Michael Fullan focused on implementation and how to actually create change. It can be summed up by saying, “Be relentlessly consistent at doing what matters most while seeking continuous commitment." Here are some of my key takeaways: Get Skinny: You can move quickly when you identify and focus on what matters most — not a million different things. Ready-Fire-Aim: Don’t wait until you have the perfect plan — you never will. Get started. Implementation Dip: There will be a learning dip — keep going. Behaviors Before Beliefs: Everyone won’t be on board, see the vision, or believe in success at first — they will have to see it to...

How did legendary coach Phil Jackson lead the Bulls and Lakers to a combined 11 NBA championships? While critics pointed to superstars like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, Jackson’s real secret weapon wasn't a tactical playbook — it was Tribal Leadership . In his memoir Eleven Rings , Jackson references the five stages of corporate culture outlined in Dave Logan’s book Tribal Leadership : Stage 1 — Life Sucks The Mindset: Victim’s mindset that believes the world is broken, unfair, or against them. Stage 2 — My Life Sucks The Mindset: Victim’s mindset that feels like they can’t get anything right. Stage 3 — I’m Great (and You’re Not) The Mindset: Ego-driven — I can do what they can’t. Stage 4 — We’re Great (and They’re Not) The Mindset: We as a team are better than everyone else. Stage 5 — Life is Great The Mindset: The world is full of opportunities and learning opportunities, and we are all working together to make it better. Coach Jackson says a "tribe" is any group of ...

Do you ever get tired of hearing people tell you to “just stay positive” when things aren’t going right? Sometimes, when life gets really hard, suppressing your true feelings and emotions and forcing a smile isn’t the answer. According to Harvard psychologist Susan David, suppressing difficult emotions doesn't make them disappear — it just makes them grow. In her book Emotional Agility , David argues that true resilience isn't about being happy all the time. It’s about how we navigate our inner world. When a difficult emotion hits — whether it's anger, anxiety, or imposter syndrome — most people react in one of two ways: The Bottler: You push the feeling down, pretend everything is fine, and march on. (Spoiler: It usually explodes later). The Brooder: You lose yourself in the emotion. You loop it on replay, obsessing over the wrongness of the situation, letting it cloud your entire day. In both scenarios, you are "hooked." Your emotions have hijacked your thoug...

We’ve all heard of financial budgets, but what about your team’s Emotional Bank Account ? Coined by Stephen Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , this concept represents the amount of trust that has been built up in a relationship. Just like a traditional bank account, you make deposits and withdrawals with your teammates every day. Deposits: When you build trust with your teammates by showing up ready and doing our job with excellence and integrity. Withdrawals: When you lose trust with your teammates by not showing up ready and by not doing our job with excellence and integrity. When your trust is high because you’ve made more deposits than withdrawals, your team can show up more prepared, more aligned, and can execute at a higher level — with both speed and accuracy. And, you can lead and respond with positivity and bounce back quicker from mistakes. Building a strong, connected team or culture doesn’t require big, grand gestures — it requires consistent, daily micr...

Commitment isn’t just about “willpower” — If you want it badly enough, you’ll stick with it. But sport psychologist Tara Scanlan proved that commitment isn't a single emotion — it’s a dynamic psychological formula. Her Sport Commitment Model breaks down exactly why we stay dedicated to a goal, or why our motivation burns out. If you want to master your mindset, you have to understand the forces pulling at your commitment. Scanlan’s research shows that commitment splits into two distinct psychological states: Enthusiastic Commitment ("Want To"): You push forward because of passion, joy, and a genuine desire to see what you are capable of. Constrained Commitment ("Have To"): You keep going because you feel trapped by obligation, guilt, or the fear of what others will think if you quit. The Mindset Shift: While both forces can keep you moving, Constrained Commitment is exhausting and leads straight to burnout. Long-term greatness requires building Enthusiasti...

Feedback is a tricky beast. On one hand, you need it to know how you are doing, but it can feel judgemental and force your defenses to go up. Traditional feedback focuses entirely on the past and is an autopsy of what you already did wrong. You can’t change it, you can’t fix it, and mentally, it can force teams to play defense. Legendary executive coach Marshall Goldsmith pioneered a massive culture shift to solve this, and it’s a game-changer for any team: Feedforward instead of Feedback. While feedback is backward-looking and often feels like a judgment, feedforward is entirely forward-looking and focuses strictly on options for the future. When a team culture shifts from feedback to feedforward, something incredible happens to the dynamics: People stop getting defensive. You can't change the past, but you can change the future. Feedforward feels like coaching, not criticizing. It expands psychological safety. It removes the sting of failure and turns mistakes into immediate, ...

If you’ve ever watched a video of Jocko Willink — a legendary retired Navy SEAL commander — you know he doesn't care about your excuses. He’s famous for waking up at 4:30 AM every single day to train, and his core philosophy is simple: Discipline Equals Freedom. Most people think freedom means doing whatever you want, whenever you want — like sleeping in, skipping the workout, and eating junk food. But Jocko flips that entirely. He argues that if you let your temporary feelings run your life, you aren't actually free. You are a slave to your moods and your laziness. If you have the discipline to study now, you get the freedom of good options later. If you have the discipline to train hard today, you get the freedom of being strong and confident tomorrow. If you have the discipline to manage your time, you get the freedom to actually enjoy your free time without guilt. Don't wait for "motivation" to strike. Motivation is a feeling that shows up when it wants to and...