{"id":4220,"date":"2014-07-25T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T08:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coachingvb.com\/?p=4220"},"modified":"2014-07-25T09:00:01","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T08:00:01","slug":"principles-for-success-from-the-front-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testsite.coachingvb.com\/index.php\/2014\/07\/25\/principles-for-success-from-the-front-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Principles for success from the front line"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After writing the post about the characteristics of a good team captain<\/a>, I recalled something worthwhile on the subject of leadership. It’s applicable equally to captains and coaches, so I thought I’d share it here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the great cinematic works of recent times is the HBO series [amazon text=Band of Brothers&asin=B00688628M]. If you haven’t seen this World War II story, and can deal with a fair bit of graphic war oriented footage, I strongly encourage you to watch the series. It is based on a\u00a0[amazon text=book&asin=B000FBJG04] of the same name which documents the history of a real unit of US paratroopers – Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment – from their initial training through to the end of the war. The series includes interview footage of the surviving members of Easy Company and generally provides a good soldier’s perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the officers for Easy Company is Dick Winters, who ends the war as a Major. He authored his own book titled [amazon text=Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters&asin=B000P2A3ZU]. In it he not only tells the story from his own perspective, which is a little different (though not dramatically so, just more a matter of perspective), but he also shares a number of his insights into leadership. At the end of the book there’s a page titled Leadership at the Point of the Bayonet. There, Winters shares his principles for leaders. I think they are well worth reviewing for volleyball coaches and are something which can help in the development of good team captains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten Principles for Success<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Strive to be a leader of character, competence, and courage.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Lead from the front. Say, \u201cFollow me!\u201d and then lead the way.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Stay in top physical shape – physical stamina is the root of mental toughness (an interesting observation in light of what you can read in The Brain Always Wins<\/a>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Develop your team. If you know your people, are fair in setting realistic goals and expectations, and lead by example, you will develop teamwork.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Delegate responsibility to your subordinates and let them do their job. You can\u2019t do a good job if you don\u2019t have a chance to use your imagination and creativity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Anticipate problems and prepare to overcome obstacles. Don\u2019t wait until you get to the top of the ridge and then make up your mind.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Remain humble. Don\u2019t worry about who receives the credit. Never let power or authority go to your head.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Take a moment of self-reflection. Look at yourself in the mirror every night and ask yourself if you did your best.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. True satisfaction comes from getting the job done. They key to a successful leader is to earn respect – not because of rank or position, but because you are a leader of character.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Hang Tough! – Never, ever, give up.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Leadership can take many forms and happen in any number of different circumstances. Here are some common principles, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[191],"class_list":["post-4220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-volleyball-coaching","tag-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testsite.coachingvb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testsite.coachingvb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testsite.coachingvb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testsite.coachingvb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testsite.coachingvb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/testsite.coachingvb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testsite.coachingvb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testsite.coachingvb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testsite.coachingvb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}