Leading By Example: Teaching Moments
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Jun 19, 2012
Years ago I went to meet with a group of people that I didn't know in another town about 2 hours away. It was a group meeting of members of the New York state chapter of the National Speakers Association, of which I was a member. The topic was finding ways to get more speaking engagements, and I figured I could use a jump start on that one.
 |
While we were sitting there waiting for a couple more people to show up, one of the people there says to the rest of us "You may not know it but you know this man here." Of course none of us knew who he was, so she said his name is Jim Johnson. I only knew of the race car driver Jimmie Johnson, and not much about him at all, but I didn't think he was this man.
Then she said "Remember the ESPN story about the autistic boy who got into the basketball game and hit all those 3-pointers?" All of us except one person knew that story; that was one of the best feel good stories ever. She then said "This is the coach who put him in." Now that was impressive, and what a great introduction this man will have for the rest of his life.
Strange thing about leadership. It doesn't always have to be for the best interest of the team. Sometimes it's about the best interest of one person, and it might teach the team and others something while doing it. I know this coach never knew that his act was going to cause what it caused and how powerful a message it would end up being. Truthfully, it might have gotten lost if this kid hadn't hit all those shots and hadn't been as engaging once he started gaining some celebrity about the whole thing.
Quality all around, and now I'd like to share that video for those who haven't seen it and for those who might want to see it again:
Mitch, you are absolutely right! I’ve enjoyed much the video of the match. Thanks for the share with a pleasant presentation of the earlier history of ESPN.
No problem Richard; glad you enjoyed it.
I never really thought about that Mitch, but it does make perfect sense and I think this is the way it should be. Leader have to make a choice and team may not agree, but this may lead to something memorable.
Thanks Carl. It’s funny how many places and ways there are to teach lessons in leadership.
I don’t think that everybody can find solution semantically from different problem. This is only possible if have some basic leadership skills and common sense.
It does take some leadership skill and some caring as well Carl; you’re right on point there.
Mitch, that is a wonderful story about dreams and hope. The young man seemed to almost expect to be that good. He must have been planning on what he would do in a game.
The young man deserve everything that happens good to him. I also was happy to hear that the coach will not let the story die by introducing himself as the coach.
This whole story is touching and hopeful. A truthful “blind-side” story.
Michael Oher himself said the Hollywood movie was embellished.
Thanks Michael. You know, he might think the movie was embellished, but I saw the ESPN story on him and for the most part it looked like the movie followed that and the book. And I met the man who helped write the book in Las Vegas back in October and had my picture taken with him. Talk about small worlds. 🙂 But you’re right, this kid had no doubt he was going to shoot and that he’d make those baskets, even though everyone else did, and that’s why he’s special.
Mitch,
What a great story!
You made an interesting statement: “Strange thing about leadership. It doesn’t always have to be for the best interest of the team. Sometimes it’s about the best interest of one person, and it might teach the team and others something while doing it.”
One can argue that if the team learns a valuable lesson from the experience, then ultimately the move was best for the team as a whole, even if they don’t realize it at the time.
There truly are times when other things in life our more important than any individual’s success. The leader’s job is to identify those situations and take the “right” action, even if it’s not the “winning” action.
Thanks for sharing this inspirational story. I actually hadn’t heard of it before now. You really made my Saturday morning with it!
Have a great weekend.
~Barry
Thanks Barry, and you’re right because ultimately it did become beneficial for the team, though that wasn’t the coach’s initial intention. You just never know how people will be affected by certain events, and I think that’s what makes them special.