Friday, January 29, 2010

Leadership

Stumbled across this and thought it was worth sharing....

The Kind of Leader Others Want to Follow

The key to becoming an effective leader is not to focus on making other people follow, but on making yourself the kind of person they want to follow. You must become someone others can trust to take them where they want to go. As you prepare yourself to become a better leader, use the following guidelines to help you grow:

1. Let go of your ego.
The truly great leaders are not in leadership for personal gain. They lead in order to serve other people. Perhaps that is why Lawrence D. Bell remarked, “Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things, and I’ll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things.”

2. Become a good follower first.
Rare is the effective leader who didn’t learn to become a good follower first. That is why a leadership institution such as the United States Military Academy teaches its officers to become effective followers first – and why West Point has produced more leaders than the Harvard Business School.

3. Build positive relationships.
Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. That means it is by nature relational. Today’s generation of leaders seem particularly aware of this because title and position mean so little to them. They know intuitively that people go along with people they get along with.

4. Work with excellence.
No one respects and follows mediocrity. Leaders who earn the right to lead give their all to what they do. They bring into play not only their skills and talents, but also great passion and hard work. They perform on the highest level of which they are capable.

5. Rely on discipline, not emotion.
Leadership is often easy during the good times. It’s when everything seems to be against you – when you’re out of energy, and you don’t want to lead – that you earn your place as a leader. During every season of life, leaders face crucial moments when they must choose between gearing up or giving up. To make it through those times, rely on the rock of discipline, not the shifting sand of emotion.

6. Make adding value your goal.
When you look at the leaders whose names are revered long after they have finished leading, you find that they were men and women who helped people to live better lives and reach their potential. That is the highest calling of leadership – and its highest value.

7. Give your power away.
One of the ironies of leadership is that you become a better leader by sharing whatever power you have, not by saving it all for yourself. You’re meant to be a river, not a reservoir. If you use your power to empower others, your leadership will extend far beyond your grasp

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

It's 2010!

Hey everyone, I was indeed correct and it is now 2010 and it has been too long since my last post. Just wanted to give everyone who was interested a quick update:

Humanitarian Bowl - Went very well in what some are calling one of the best bowl games of the season. I am very thankful for the experience and learned a ton about what it takes to run a bowl.

Boise State - Just got back from the Fiesta Bowl. What an unbelievable experience and easily the greatest sporting event I have ever been to. My roles are changing quickly and next Monday, January 11th, I am moving over with Bronco Sports Properties, a division of Learfield Sports. I am ecstatic for the opportunity and look forward to all that I will learn. Check out their website here - http://www.learfieldsports.com/

School - Finished up my two fall classes. Both went very well and I am learning a lot. This spring I am taking Issues in Sports Admin, Sports Marketing and Sports Law. Should learn a lot!

Hope everyone's Christmas was great and you got to enjoy quality time with family and friends. I know I have a lot to be thankful for and I thank God for all the blessings in my life.

Check in soon!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Update

Well, it has been way too long since my last post. I have probably lost all 7 of my diehard followers but maybe there is that someone out there who has been waiting patiently for my next post...so here it is!

A lot has happened since my last entry. Way too much to write about but hopefully I can catch you up on some of the things that have taken place.

I am enjoying my job with BSU. As most of you know the football team is #4 in the BCS standings, as of right now, so it keeps things fresh and exciting. Hoops season is now underway so a lot of marketing and preparation for their upcoming seasons is keeping us all busy. School is also going well. I am taking two grad classes, Leadership in athletics and philosophy of athletics. Grad school (at least this one) is vastly different than undergrad and I am really enjoying the discussions and debates we get into in class.

In September I began working at the Humanitarian Bowl three days a week. I am really enjoying it and the experience of seeing how a college bowl game works is fascinating. I have also been asked to act as a "marketing consultant" for the Michael Jordan camp. I am really excited about the opportunity and look forward to what all my responsibilities are going to be.

Other than a lot of details here and there, there isn't much more to say. Boise has already gotten me sick twice (I think everyone is getting hit hard though), I love being close to Kell and Bryce is living the dream as a freshman stud at BSU.

So, if the pattern continues, I'll check in around New Years but hopefully I can stay a little more current throughout the coming weeks.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

No Internet!!!

This post will be brief due to no Internet but I thought I should give a little update.

I made it to Boise with my mom (thanks Mom!) and throughout the weekend I have been unpacking and hanging with my rommate Andy, who is also a GA with me at BSU. We have a nice place and it's in a great location.  

Tonight we had a team sports marketing dinner where we went over the next couple of weeks and our upcoming responsibilities. 

Anyways, I'll give more of an update soon. Hopefully Internet will arrive tomorrow.  

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Flight School Recap

Camp was great! I apologize for not updating sooner. Here are some pictures from camp. Hope you enjoy. I will be making the move to Boise tomorrow. I am very excited about it and can't wait to see what everything is like.
My roommate, Jon on the right, from Virginia and Ryan from Fresno. Good guys.


The kids worked themselves into a frenzy each time MJ showed up.
Beautiful part of the country.


Chris Tucker
Registration for the first session.
Also, I know some of you have asked. I have uploaded some videos from camp onto YouTube. If you want to check them out here is the link,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp3mT0GrXRs

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Rest Day


Session one is over now and it was a blast. Long, long days but who can complain? I had some downtime this afternoon so I decided to walk down to the beach and watch the sunset. It was so beautiful I couldn't help but share (even though the video doesn't do it justice).

Hope you enjoy, I'll check in again soon.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

MJ Flight School Update

Well, nothing huge to hit on. The first session is coming to a close tomorrow. My voice is gone and a little time to catch my breathe before the next session of kids come in will be nice. Sunday night, Carmelo made a surprise appearance. None of the kids knew so it was pandemonium for awhile. Him and Michael played a 2-ball game with a kid they each picked out of the audience. I have a great video of it that I will put up soon and you will be able to see for yourself that Mike still has it.

I have been able to spend quite a bit of time with Chris Tucker. His son is in the camp and he has been hanging around watching. He seems like a great guy and has been great to all the kids.

Today, for whatever reason, Stephon Marbury showed up. Some kids ran up and got his autograph but one kid, when asked by his father if he wanted his autograph, answered with a "No! He's a bum..." I guess the whole eating Vaseline incident rubbed him the wrong way. See video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_osnpOcJeWQ

Camp has been great but tiring. I have some great pictures and video that I will be able to post later on. Hope everything is going well with everyone!