(From Laura Varon Brown for the Detroit Free Press Online)
There’s a reason why teams that really shouldn’t win the game come out of the locker room and win.
It’s motivation.
It’s confidence.
It’s talent.
And pulling it all together, is the coach.
On Tuesday, in a 52-minute address to Congress, President Barack Obama stepped into the role of coach. And not a minute too soon.
For months, this country has been the locker room of doom. Imagine a sports team if the coach, surrounded by his team at halftime, just looked up and said, “We’re doomed.” The team would emerge with their heads down and their play would be subpar. They also would likely be walloped by the competition looking for weakness.
In the past few weeks, I sat in the stands of one of the toughest boy’s high school swimming and diving competitions. I watched the women’s Big Ten swimming and diving championships at the University of Michigan and I watched the Michigan State Spartans men’s basketball team beat Iowa. I found myself studying the coaches. Watching their interaction with their young competitors.
There is so much to be learned from a good coach. When players miss, watch a good coach pick them up in an instant. In a sentence.
Atmosphere of failure
Everyone has been in a business meeting with nothing but bad news, where you leave with no ideas or tools to make things better. Walking out of the room, you can see the body language. Shoulders down. Defeat written all over.
But what about the meeting where the message comes with passion and possibilities? Where it comes with empowerment and ownership? You see a bounce in the step of everyone leaving these meeting. And things happen.
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