The Best Leaders Lead By Example

Leaders don’t simply lead by telling others what to do. They lead by showing others what to do, by setting a good example themselves.

In almost any aspect of work and life, you work with other people. Maybe you’re the CEO of the company or the head coach of the sports team. Or you might be one of the employees or players doing the work with no leadership title. But you are still a leader, because what you do and how you do it sets an example for everyone else.

You might not always realize it, but others pay attention to your words and actions. Yes, you can influence them by telling them something and even explaining why it’s important. But to have an even greater impact, showing them that you believe it by doing it that way yourself sets a much greater example to model than anything you can say.

In the following stories of some of sports’ greatest athletes and coaches, observe how their attitudes and behaviors set a wonderful example to the other players of how they can be great themselves. Then model their attitudes in your work and actions, and you will have that same positive impact on others around you.

Show others the importance of always doing your best.

“Kids don’t do what you say. They do what they see. How you live your life is their example.”

– Paul Levesque (Triple H), professional wrestler and Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

Whether you’re the CEO, department manager or head coach, or a player on that soccer or basketball team, or you work in the warehouse or IT department for your company, you lead others. How then can you lead your coworkers and raise their performance?

You lead by example in everything you do.

Jerry Rice was the best wide receiver in the history of the NFL. He still holds records for receiving yards, touchdowns and a number of other statistics in football. Despite growing up in a poor rural town in Mississippi, Rice was determined to make the NFL and become great when he got there.

From his early days playing the sport in high school, Jerry Rice worked harder than all of his teammates. His team ran sprints up a large hill in the brutal summer heat. Most players couldn’t finish the sprints, or they would vomit halfway through the sessions. Rice would return after practice and run more hill sprints, pushing himself harder and harder.

Even after he made the NFL, he worked hard every summer to improve. He would bring a few of his teammates with him, and they would run sprints or hills in the heat. Then after they left, Rice would lift weights for two-and-a-half hours six days a week.

Even after being selected to the Pro Bowl, Jerry Rice competed to be at his best for the largely ceremonial event. When the other players were coasting and treating the game as a vacation, he ran every route hard and fought to play his best.

At every level of football, Rice found that many players had different levels of work ethic. He occasionally got so fed up with some of his teammates who didn’t put in the work to help the team that he confronted them in the locker room. Most of the time, however, he preferred to set a good example.

It wasn’t just the hill sprints and weight room workouts. Jerry showed up early for team meetings. He arrived at the team bus well before it was scheduled to leave for a road trip. He gave his best effort in every way, every single day.

No matter what your role is on your team, other people pay attention to what you do. The old saying, “actions speak louder than words,” applies to every one of us. Work as hard as you can in every way. Do your best and work to get better. Set an example and be a role model.

Your team will notice, and they will follow your example.

Show others that how you do anything is how you do everything.

“A leader’s most powerful ally is his or her own example. Leaders don’t just talk about doing something; they do it.”

– John Wooden, head coach of the UCLA basketball team, winner of 10 national championships in a 12-year period, and seven-time national coach of the year

John Wooden, the head basketball coach at UCLA for 27 seasons, believed strongly in surrounding yourself with people of good character. But just as importantly, he believed in being a person of good character to serve as an example for others.

Whenever he walked into the locker room, whether it was home or away, if he found a piece of trash on the floor, he picked it up. If he found a towel on the floor, he picked it up.

And because his players saw him — the coach, the leader — always picking up stuff from the floor, they did it too.

In fact, Wooden used to brag because janitors would send him letters after they played on the road, saying, “Thank you for leaving our locker room so clean.”

John Wooden didn’t have to pick up towels and trash from the locker room floor. He could have demanded his players do it. He could have left it, and have his team leave it, for the janitors to clean up later. But his simple actions encourage his players to do them too, even though he never yelled at them to follow his lead.

Plus, picking up the trash and towels, a seemingly minor action, showed consideration and respect for the cleaning staff and made their jobs a little bit easier.

Wooden’s record as head coach of UCLA? 10 national championships in 12 years. Because how you do anything is how you do everything.

They call you a leader for a reason, because you lead.

Show others you’re willing to listen and improve.

“The best coaches, the best bosses, the best parents, the best leaders are the ones who show their people not just how to get better but how to motivate themselves to get better.”

– Bob Bowman, coach of swimmer Michael Phelps, winner of 23 Olympic gold medals

Often another person’s perspective can show you where you need to improve. Many leaders, though, reject suggestions from others. Or they surround themselves with supporters who will only give them positive feedback.

Champions in sports, or in any aspect of life, welcome criticism because it can make them better.

Derek Jeter played 20 seasons with the New York Yankees. In his time with the Bronx Bombers, Jeter won five World Series titles. He is considered one of the all-time great Yankees players.

Late in his career, Jeter’s performance at shortstop began to deteriorate. Derek was adamant that he play shortstop and not first base or in the outfield. As the captain of the team and a player adored by Yankees fans, the manager and team officials were reluctant to criticize Jeter’s defense — let alone bench him.

One off-season, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman decided he needed to approach Jeter and have a heart-to-heart conversation about Derek’s game. Cashman told the captain about his concerns, about his batting and fielding woes.

Jeter demonstrated his greatness through his response to Cashman’s criticism. After wondering why no one had approached him with these views before, he admitted he would do whatever it took to improve so that the team could improve.

“I want to do everything I can to get better. It makes me wonder how good we could’ve been and how many more championships we might’ve won if I’d dealt with this.”

Later, when asked by reporters about the general manager’s suggestion he needed to perform better defensively, Jeter insisted he accepted and agreed with Cashman’s suggestions. “Why wouldn’t I be? It’s important to get better and to be willing to listen.”

Are you willing to hear criticism about your skills? Are you truly willing not only to hear it, but to accept it, act on it, and work to improve?

It’s hard to hear this kind of feedback, for sure, but it can only help to make us better. And if our teams see that we are willing to listen and get better ourselves, they will more likely accept similar feedback in their roles.

Show others that you are above pettiness and jealousy

“No one is ever going to give you anything of value. You have to work for it, sweat for it, fight for it. But there is far greater value in accomplishments you earn than in accolades that are merely given to you. When you earn something, you never have to worry about justifying that you truly deserve it.”

– Ronda Rousey, first female champion in UFC history and Olympic bronze medalist in judo

Despite winning two Women’s World Cups and two Olympic gold medals as a leader of the U.S. Women’s National Team, soccer star Carli Lloyd endured a rough start to her career with the national team.

Her first national team coach, Greg Ryan, often yelled at her publicly about her deficiencies as a defender. In a team meeting, he labeled Lloyd, as well as some of the other newcomers to the team, as players with no heart, who don’t work hard, and don’t care about the team.

Carli felt she was often judged differently from other players on the team, players who won all kinds of accolades and awards early in their careers. In fact, she believed that her teammates intentionally wouldn’t pass her the ball is some games.

And she was resented by many of her teammates for supporting goalkeeper Hope Solo when Solo publicly lashed out about being benched in favor of Briana Scurry in a World Cup semifinal loss to Brazil.

Through it all, Lloyd, and her personal coach James Galanis, committed to ignoring the politics and the criticism and working to become the best soccer player she could.

Galanis would remind her that opportunity was always in her grasp. “Don’t let the coach take you off the field. Play so it is not even an option. You want to get beyond politics and drama and all the nonsense? Just be better than everybody else. Give them no choice but to play you.”

After all, she couldn’t control what other people were saying or doing. She could only control her actions, and her performance.

“When you are on the field, you aren’t competing against anybody,” Galanis often reminded Carli. “You are competing against yourself. The competition is who you were yesterday and your goal is to be better than that today. Your opponent on match day is not another team; it’s your previous performance.”

By 2013, Lloyd was firmly entrenched as a key player for the USWNT. But she still arrived to national team training camps playing as if she was still fighting for a spot on the team.

In a late season friendly match against South Korea, forward Abby Wambach broke the all-time United States scoring list with four goals in the first half. The coaches substituted Abby out of the game and insisted she hand the captain’s armband to Carli.

After the game, Hope Solo sent Lloyd a text.

“It is awesome to see you get the respect you finally deserve. People tried so hard not to like you for whatever reason, jealousy or whatever, but you demanded respect by your commitment to being the best and by your play…You will always be my captain.”

In whatever field you work, there are always going to be workplace rivalries and politics that can derail a team. Not only is it important to stay out of the drama for your own sanity and productivity, but it also sets an example for your team members.

Focus on what you can control and ignore the criticism of others. Lead by example by showing that you can thrive in a competitive environment. Maybe your co-workers will respect you for it. Maybe they won’t. But you and the team will be better for it.

Show others that you will fight for them in good times and bad.

“When an opportunity presents itself, approach the challenge not with concern about the outcome but with courage to do your best.”

– Nick Saban, Alabama head football coach, winner of six NCAA national championships, tied for the most all-time in the modern era

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson led Clemson to its first NCAA national championship in football since 1981. But he might be best loved by Tigers fans for helping to break a five-year losing streak to in-state rival South Carolina.

Watson arrived on campus in 2014 as a the number one-rated quarterback recruit out of high school. He played often during his freshman season, but he spent most of his time backing up starter Cole Stoudt. Still, he showed glimpses of a future star when he did play, so fans clamored for Watson to lead the team.

The five-game losing streak to the Gamecocks weighed heavily on Clemson fans, and Deshaun committed to never losing to South Carolina as a Tiger. But in his freshman season, he almost missed the game with their rivals.

Watson tore his ACL in a practice leading up to a late-season game against Georgia State. An ACL injury normally ends an athlete’s season, requires surgery and months of rehab. But Deshaun felt he could play.

Head coach Dabo Swinney believed that if doctors felt a player couldn’t injure himself worse by playing, he would let the player do what he felt was best. On one hand, Deshaun was clearly a future star, and playing on an unstable knee potentially risked damage to his knee that could affect his playing ability later in college and in the pros. On the other hand, he could lead by example and lead the team into battle against the Gamecocks and end the losing streak.

Deshaun elected to play in a brace, a brace so bulky and tight that it cut off circulation to his leg.

Depending heavily on his uninjured knee, Watson gutted out a victory over South Carolina. He limped. He fell awkwardly. He plunged into the line of scrimmage to score goal-line touchdowns. Despite his pain, he wouldn’t let his team lose.

“I knew I wasn’t 100 percent,” Deshaun later told reporters, “but I was going to help the team out.”

Sometimes it’s easy to avoid doing the hard work. We don’t feel good. We don’t feel it’s our job. We have other things that we think we should be doing.

Putting our heads down and doing what’s difficult and uncomfortable sets a tremendous example for the team you’re leading. They will realize that if you will do whatever it takes to push through the tough times, they can do it too. They will join you and take up the fight themselves.

Show others how to be the best they can be.

“Champions are champions not because they do anything extraordinary but because they do the ordinary things better than anyone else.”

– Tony Dungy, first black head coach to win the Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts and television NFL analyst

Leaders lead. There’s no doubt that’s true. But leaders don’t just lead by telling others what to do. They lead by showing others what they do. And leaders often must do that by setting a good example.

People watch what you do and how you do it. They learn about your character, your work ethic, your determination to improve and much more by how you act and how you respond to challenges.

Set a good example for others by how you act at work and in your personal life. You might not be the head of your company, division or sports team, but you will be a leader in a truer sense, guiding others to be the best they can be.

Hire Dr. Geier to speak to your organization.

Dr. David Geier is a popular leadership and burnout keynote speaker for corporate and medical audiences. Click here to learn more about how he can educate and inspire your audience. Or if you prefer, he can deliver an online webinar for your team or organization. Click here to learn more about Dr. Geier’s burnout webinars.

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