Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season QUOTES

2 " Whether you are working on a game plan or a business plan, there’s no doubt that being an effective leader requires independent thought. You need to think in order to have clarity of purpose, to understand what your priorities are, and what you need to do to help your players maximize their potential. "

― , Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season

4 " Our unit leaders pulled their guys in close with last-minute notes about what to expect and words of encouragement. "

― , Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season

6 " It seems to me that solitude is the very essence of leadership. The position of the leader is ultimately an intensely solitary, even intensely lonely, one. However many people you may consult, you are the one who has to make the hard decisions. And at such moments, all you really have is yourself. "

― , Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season

8 " There is a theory about human behavior called the 10-80-10 principle. I speak of it often when I talk to corporate groups or business leaders. It is the best strategy I know for getting the most out of your team. Think of your team or your organization as a big circle. At the very center of it, the nucleus, are the top 10 percenters, people who give all they've got all the time, who are the essence of self-discipline, self-respect, and the relentless persuit of improvement.
They are the elite- the most powerful component of any organization.
They are the people I love to coach.
Outside the nucleus are the 80 percenters. They are the majority- people who go to work, do a good job, and are relatively reliable. The 80 percenters are for the most part trustworthy and dutiful, but they simply don't have the drive and the unbending will that the nucleus guys do. They just don't burn as hot.
The final 10 percenters are uninterested or defiant. They are on the periphery, mostly just coasting through life, not caring about reaching their potential or honoring the gifts they've been given. They are coach killers.
The leadership challenge is to move as many of the 80 percenters into the nucleus as you can. "

― , Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season

10 " We teach our players, in response to any situation they face, to press pause and ask: What does this situation require of me?
Pressing pause gives you time to think. It gets you off autopilot and helps you gain clarity about the outcome you are pursuing, the situation you are experiencing, and the Above the Line action you need to take to achieve the outcome.
There are two important benefits of pressing pause:
A) It helps you avoid doing something foolish or harmful
B) It focuses you on acting with purpose to accomplish your goals
A productive pause could last only a split second, which helps you regain your focus and take control of your action. It could last an hour, a day, or longer. The purpose is to take the time necessary to be intentional about the way you think and act. Pressing pause does not come naturally; it is a skill that must be developed. The more you practice, the more skilled you become at being able to identify how and when to use it effectively. "

― , Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season

12 " A leader is someone who inspires and empowers people to get to places that they wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise, sure, but you also need to have people who are willing to be led. You "

― , Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season

14 " It isn't hard to find people who are caught up in Below the Line behavior. All you need to do is look for those whose first reaction is to blame (others), complain (about circumstances), and defend (yourself), or BCD. "

― , Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season

16 " Elite performers win in their minds first. The mind is a battleground where the greatest struggle takes place. The thoughts that win the battle for your mind will direct your life. Mental state affects physical performance. The mind constantly sends messages to the body, and the body listens and responds. Therefore, elite warriors train their minds to focus and think in a way that maximizes how they practice and how they perform in competition. Getting your mind right means managing two things: A) What you focus on. B) How you talk to yourself. If you focus on negative things and talk to yourself in negative ways, that will put you into a negative mindset. Your performance will suffer. If you focus on productive things and talk to yourself in productive ways, that will put you into a productive mindset. Your performance will be enhanced. We teach our players to replace low-performance self-talk with high-performance self-talk. We tell our players, “The voice in your mind is a powerful force. Take ownership of that force. "

― , Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season

18 " time is a nonrenewable resource. If you waste it, you never get it back, so it’s essential to pick your battles wisely. "

― , Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season

20 " Average leaders have quotes. Good leaders have a plan. Exceptional leaders have a system. "

― , Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season