Author: Don Yaeger

Bold Leadership Matters

Written on October 18, 2016.

Thomas Jefferson was fed up. For more than 15 years, he had been fighting to convince the American government that something needed to be done about the hostage crisis along the Barbary Coast of North Africa. For centuries, state-sanctioned pirates from Algeria, Tripoli (now Libya), Algiers, and Morocco, had been aggressively pursuing European and North American trading vessels, sometimes merely stealing the ships’...

Embrace High Expectations: Lessons From Joe Maddon And The Chicago Cubs

Written on October 7, 2016.

The National League Division Series starts tonight and the Chicago Cubs, who haven’t won a World Series since 1908, are one of the favorites to win it all. Since the final out last year when they lost to the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series, almost everyone has expected the Cubs to be the team to beat this year. Unlike most teams, which too often play down expectations, the Cubs have embraced...

Paralympic Champion Follows Her Dreams With Unstoppable Determination

Written on September 13, 2016.

One of America’s most inspiring athletes is about to compete for the gold in Rio and once again live up to the words her father would say to her when he tucked her in each night in her childhood. “You’re the best, you can make a difference, you can change the world.” Of course, the Summer Olympics ended last month but the Paralympics kicked off last week, and American swimmer Mallory Weggemann is set to shine. Yet...

College Football’s Hottest Coach Shows You Don’t Need To Change Jobs To Be Successful

Written on September 8, 2016.

College football fans saw a major upset on Saturday in Texas thanks in part to a coach who is more focused on his current job than bigger opportunities down to road. The Oklahoma University Sooners, a perennial powerhouse ranked number four in the nation, came down to Texas to play the University of Houston Cougars who are outside the Power Five conferences that dominate college football. But, on Saturday, Houston,...

Ned Yost’s Leadership Has The Kansas City Royals Surging

Written on August 30, 2016.

Don’t look now but the Kansas City Royals, the defending World Series champions, are roaring back into contention thanks in part to a leader who knows how to manage change. On August 5, the Royals looked out of the playoff hunt with a 51-58 record. But after winning 17 of their last 21 games, the Royals are back from the brink, surging to a 68-62 record and are now five games behind in the wild card chase. Manager...

Even The Fastest Man On Earth Needs To Be Pushed

Written on August 22, 2016.

After two weeks of exciting competition, the Summer Olympics in Rio have ended. But while the flame might be out, the stories from Rio–and the lessons they offer–should stay with us for some time to come. There were many powerful moments in Rio. Distance runners Abbey D’Agostino from the U.S. and Nikki Hamblin from New Zealand offered a memorable reminder of what the Olympics are all about as they helped each other...

USA Olympic Basketball Rebounds Thanks To Championship Culture

Written on August 8, 2016.

As the Olympic basketball competition begins in Rio, Team USA is favored for a third consecutive Gold Medal under Coach Mike Krzyzewski. This will be the last Olympics with Coach K in charge and the turnaround he engineered after a disastrous 2004 Olympics (where Team USA opened those games by suffering a 19-point loss to Puerto Rico!) is worth studying. Here is an excerpt from my new book, Great Teams, on how Team...

Tom Glavine Proves The Right Adjustments Can Take You To The Hall Of Fame

Written on July 27, 2016.

In Game Six of the 1995 World Series, pitcher Tom Glavine took to the mound for the Atlanta Braves and pitched a masterpiece, going eight innings and giving up only one hit to the Cleveland Indians. There was a lot of weight on Glavine’s shoulders that October night. After having spent much of the 1980s in the cellar, the Braves had come close twice in the early 1990s to winning a World Series but had fallen short...

Great Teams Need Glue To Hold Together

Written on July 14, 2016.

The two most significant indicators that a team can be great are its level of grit and the strength of its glue. HUMANeX measures two key components of great teams: the depth of their grit, and the strength of their glue. Grit measures how a team drives ahead, responding to adversity and constantly improving its performance. Glue measures how a group sticks together, how its members coalesce into an effective team,...