Thursday, October 24, 2024

(my dates are off, sue me.)

In January of this year, coach Nick Saban announced his retirement from coaching the Alabama Crimson Tide, college football team. He spent some 50 years in coaching and 17 of those with Alabama. He had a legendary run as a coach and

leader. With a long line of coaches he mentored to have

success of their own and players he developed into good professionals and how Saban describes, "good men."

There was a pivotal point in his coaching career that Saban

made a change. It was 1998 and he was the coach at Michigan State, and he realized that he was a transactional leader.

Meaning, his sole focus was winning or losing. Nothing else mattered and his leadership was based on those outcomes.

If the team won, he was happy and patting people on their backs.

But a loss meant ne was harsh and did not see the lesson.

"Negative experiences without teaching kills morale," Saban

would comment. So he pivoted from transactional leadership to

transformational leadership.

Here is what he noticed:

•Transactional- focused only on outcomes, base everything on that

outcome, miss teachable moments, creating an environment where failure sprouts fear.

•Transformational- focus on personal growth and development,

lead by example and build trust, have clear values and principles, prioritize process and not be obsessed with outcomes.

We may not be leading teams, but we do lead ourselves. And the advice from Saban is critical to our success pursuing anything we value. The success we want within ourselves, with any aspect in life.