S24 Ep7: Empowering your team: Lessons from a sports coach

ISF Podcast

Today, Steve is speaking with American football coach Randy Jackson. During his 30-year tenure coaching high school football in Texas, Randy earned a reputation for transforming struggling programs. In 2022, in a move reminiscent of Ted Lasso, he moved to Germany to coach the Potsdam Royals, and with Jackson as the offensive coordinator, the Royals went all the way to the German Bowl. When he’s not coaching football, Randy is a business consultant. Today, he and Steve talk about how he applies his experience as a football coach in the business world. They go beyond sport cliches and dig into some concrete ways leaders can build the culture of their organisation.
Key Takeaways:
1. At its inception, any organisation can benefit from building relationships and establishing a shared vision.
2. Leaders will do well to speak up frequently, reminding teams of shared aims.
3. When something goes wrong (or right!) it can be a good time to reflect, or as Randy puts it, perform an autopsy.
Tune in to hear more about:
1. Establishing a shared vision, charting a collective course. (3:50)
2. Staying vocal as a leader. (6:05)
3. Whether something goes to plan or not, an autopsy of the scenario can be a helpful way forward. (10:06)
Standout Quotes:
1. “So this is an activity I always do, and I did this in Germany, but close your eyes and then turn around three times, and then point True north. Well, I don't know how many people are in the room, but let's say I had 50. You're going to have 50 fingers pointing in all different directions. And so what we're going to do is, people will point in the same direction if you give them something to point at. And what you're in on you're in with.”” -Randy Jackson
2. “And if you'll talk about it, you can achieve it, but you can't talk about it once a week – you must talk about it. So whatever you want, I think every leader should say, here are the three things I want. You got to talk about those three things every day.” -Randy Jackson
3. “And the autopsy is about improvement, right? It's not about finger pointing, it's about trying to figure out how the collective can, if they hit that situation, again in the future, can adapt or behave differently.” -Steve Durbin
Mentioned in this episode:

• Building Tomorrow’s Security Workforce
• ISF Analyst Insight Podcast
• Titles by Randy Jackson
  
  

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