Today’s Vision Becomes Tomorrow’s Headlines

Jat Thompson
Sep 5, 2018 · 3 min read

I sat across from a Division I basketball coach and asked him to describe his vision for the team. After he struggled for a few minutes I asked him to pretend like I was a recruit.

“Recruit Me”

He proceeded to pull up a PowerPoint presentation and walked me through all the advantages of accepting a scholarship to his school. For example, he explained how I would receive a great education. He then showed me a list of highly successful alumni and shared their stories. As a 45 year-old man I was quite impressed, but I’m not sure this would excite a 17 year-old. The high school athlete you are recruiting and the 18 to 22 year-old athletes on your roster are more influenced by emotion than logic. Fact.

A Compelling Vision

Did you know that there are more nerves that travel from the amygdala (where emotion emerges) to the cortex (where logic occurs) and that these nerves in young adults are not fully myelinated? Stay with me here. Though you may not have known that, I bet you intuitively knew that young athletes respond better to emotion-based statements compared to pure logic.

Simply put, young adult brains are still developing and as a result their emotions will often override logic. As a coach I’m sure you’ve experienced this many times. This is why a compelling vision is so powerful. High school and collegiate athletes are heavily influenced by their emotion and a persuasive vision will inspire, motivate, and guide their decision making process.

A Bold Vision

Thirty minutes into the basketball coach’s recruiting presentation I stopped him and asked, “Coach, when you took this job what did you tell yourself you wanted to achieve?” He thought for a moment and then shared, “I want to be the first team in school history to win the conference.” BAM — now that is a vision that would get people excited.

I challenged him to build his vision around that story but he was clearly uncomfortable with that suggestion. “What happens if we don’t achieve it?” he said. It’s an honest concern that I’m sure many coaches feel. But as a head coach one of your primary responsibilities is to lead your team.

Leadership is influencing people — by providing purpose, direction, and motivation — while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization*.

As a leader it is your responsibility to paint a compelling narrative that rallies the team around a common purpose and excites recruits to be part of this story. Be Bold. Take the time to craft a meaningful and inspirational vision that gets you, your staff, your fan base, and most importantly your athletes excited about what the future has in store.

Remember, the story you share with your team today will become tomorrow’s headlines.

* FM-22–100 Army Leadership: Be, Know, Do

Jat Thompson

Written by

HorizonPerformance

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