On Sports and Leadership

I grew up playing sports in San Antonio, Texas, and the first kick-offs of the football season always make me nostalgic. I was (and still am) a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys, and I played sports from an early age through to college. Early in my journalism career, I even worked as a sportscaster.

I learned a tremendous amount about leadership on the field, the court and the diamond. Being part of a team, having to perform “under the lights and between the lines,” provides a perspective that I realize has influenced me throughout my career.

In high school, I had a football coach named Danny Padron. To Coach Padron, I was “Dino,” the quarterback. Beyond his role as a coach on the field, he considered it his vocation to cultivate young men of character.

I think about Coach Padron often, and I quote him over and over again to my four daughters. He’s still coaching today, and I recently got back in touch to let him know how much I value those lessons on and off the field.

For example, I lost my cool more often than I’d like to admit during my high school years. Coach Padron would preach to me about “composure.” He said people follow leaders who can stay cool, calm and collected. Those words of wisdom continue to ring true today in both my professional and personal life.

Another nugget from coach: it’s easy to act like a champion when you’re winning, and everything is going well. But you find out what people are truly made of when adversity hits. A true champion perseveres and overcomes. A true champion finds a way. I can’t tell you how many times those words have carried me throughout my career and life.

?The “Corporate Athlete”

The term “corporate athlete” first emerged more than two decades ago, and it suggests that the same traits that enable high-performance athletes can also help business leaders reach their full potential. We see how sports metaphors creep into corporate jargon. Mentoring someone or providing feedback to a direct report is called “coaching.” We knock a presentation “out of the park.” When we focus on the fundamentals of our business, we call it “blocking and tackling.” And when a goal or outcome is certain, it’s a “slam dunk.”

Here are several key leadership qualities that I trace back to sports.

Confidence. People are more likely to follow you if you first believe in yourself.

Decisiveness. The ability to make good snap decisions, often with limited information, is invaluable.

Resilience. Despite the challenge or set back, dust yourself off and get back on the field.

Endurance. Mental and physical stamina are critical. Take care of yourself.

Teamwork. Collaboration is critical to a team’s success.

Perspectives from our Lockheed Martin Team

I shared the connections between sports and business leadership with many of my Lockheed Martin colleagues, and it seemed to resonate.

“I am a recent college grad, so this was the first fall weekend in 12 years that I haven’t been on the football field,” one early-career employee wrote to me. “Watching both my high school and college teams play this weekend left me feeling pretty empty, but your message served as a nice reminder that I am still part of a bigger team. The attributes you wrote about really resonated with me, and I know I will be a better employee and person because of the lessons taught by countless coaches throughout the years.” He also asked me to give a pep talk to his favorite, but struggling, NFL team.

Another employee said, “The experiences we have on and off the sports field help us become better people and instill confidence from an early age. So valuable in my opinion.”

And another: “I, too, utilize my coaching experiences … every day to support and motivate our team.”

Of course, you don’t have to actually play sports to cultivate the corporate athlete in you. It simply takes a commitment to grow and improve, to recover from setbacks and to pace yourself for the long haul.

How has your experience playing sports affected your professional life? I’d love to hear your perspective in the comments.?