10 Things I Learned about Leading a Business from Coaching Football:

1.      If you don’t prepare, you prepare to fail. There is no getting around it; there is no substitution for hard work and good preparation.

2.    The only time you work harder than when you are losing is when you are winning. It’s a given that when you are losing you have to work hard to achieve success. What some never realize is how much work it takes to keep winning.

3.      Good offense may be exciting, but champions play great defense. Defense is not passive, but it is protective. Teams that do not defend their end zone (assets) well, never become champions.

4.      The success you achieve is usually proportionate to the risk you take. Darrell Royal said “When you throw the ball three things can happen, and two of them are bad.” He was right, but you could easily add that when you do catch it, the reward was worth the risk. Sometimes the greatest successes are also the greatest risks.

5.      No team wins or loses on the strength of an individual, but on individual performances. Consistent winners do the little things right. Everyone has a job to do and every job is important. Big successes are possible because someone is doing their job well and enabling success.

6.      Good teams can be replicated. Do things right and do them right every time. Consistency in your goals (policies) and good technique (job descriptions) allow you to recreate success.

7.      The first opponent you must overcome is yourself.  An inability to overcome your own shortcomings makes success difficult. (e.g. Poorly managing yourself and your time not only holds you back, but your company, as well).

8.      Don’t ask a teammate to do something you are not doing yourself. Asking a teammate to be on time to practice and showing up late yourself severely damages your credibility as a leader.

9.      Sometimes you just need to punt. Don’t jeopardize your field position by making foolish play choices when a good punt would buy you much needed time and space.

10.   Leaders never have to ask teammates to follow them. Teammates follow leaders because they see in them the confidence and ability to take the team where it seeks to go.

10 Things I have Learned about Marriage

After 27 years of marriage, I feel pretty confident in making the following suggestions to young married men:

1.      Clean is a relative term. Her definition is always right.

2.      The request to “take out the trash” is perpetual in nature and should not need repeating.

3.      The easiest way to get anywhere is to go the way she wants to go.

4.      Maintaining her vehicle is your responsibility. Always.

5.      If you say “my kids” in a conversation, be prepared to explain how you gave birth.

6.      Blonde jokes are only funny when you are married to a brunette.

7.      Any question beginning with “be honest” is a trick question. Find a way not to answer.

8.      “I don’t care where we eat” does not mean what it says. She cares.

9.       Proving you are right is not always something you should aspire to do.

10.   "When momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy" may be the truest statement ever made.

10 Things I Learned from Coaching Young Men

1. Never ask a young person what they think about a decision you have already made. They will probably tell you and you may very well not like the answer. What have you accomplished?

      2. Don’t yell all the time. When everything is said like it is the most important thing in the world, it all becomes just noise. The next time you have something really important to say, they will miss it because it sounds like the rest of the “chatter” they have been ignoring.

      3.  Embarrassing a young person is the worst thing you can do to them.  It may feel like you have established your dominance at that moment, but you have actually dealt your credibility with that young person a blow you may never overcome.

      4. If you give the impression you have all the answers, it becomes all the more obvious that you don’t. Young people are perceptive enough to know when it is more important for you to be right than it is to be respected.

      5. Sometimes it is better that young people think you are an idiot than for you to keep talking and prove they are right.  At times they will question your intelligence just because you are an adult. There is nothing to gain by always trying to prove your superiority.

      6. Don’t just tell them you care, show them. Even bad attempts are better than none at all. They may not respond immediately, but they can never respond to attempts that are never made.

      7. Sometimes you have to know when not to “cast your pearls before teenagers.” This may be a poor Biblical reference, but often your wisdom is based on experience they do not have. Since they don’t know what they don’t know, they will just as often dismiss your wisdom until it becomes something they can identify with.

      8. Be content that you may not be around when a young person has there “Ah-Ha” moment. You may never hear “so that’s what he/she meant…” but that doesn’t mean it won’t be said. It may be years later, hopefully following success but more often following another mistake where the meaning of what you said became apparent.

      9. Sometimes you should just “let that dog hunt.” A young person will always experience greater success when working at something they are interested in rather than something they are being compelled to be a part of. To the extent possible, put them where they want to be doing what that want to do.

       10. You will probably never reach the young people you do not reach for. Sort of a take-off on the “never up, never in” adage in golf. Relationships are always the key. Know the kind of relation you intend to create, understand and respect appropriate boundaries, and make a good-faith effort to reach the young people you are instructed, compelled, or called to reach.