Tony Sparano, 1962-2018. Leadership with Results.

The Miami Dolphins won only one game during the 2007 season, going 1-15. The next year, with new head coach Tony Sparano, the Dolphins went 11-5. This marks the only time a team has gone to the playoffs the year after winning zero or one games the previous season.

The story gets better...Miami won its division, over the New England Patriots, who have won the division 14 out of the last 15 years.

How was such a turnaround possible? A whole series of leadership decisions that transformed a team from one of the worst in NFL history to a contender. If you're into sports, you can check out a more detailed story at: Football Morning in America, by Peter King

• He was inclusive in decisions: After Miami lost the first two games of the season, Sparano invited his whole staff to contribute to the solution. The key contribution came from the quarterbacks coach--two organizational levels down from Sparano.
• He trusted his people: Chad Pennington had recently been released as the New York Jets quarterback, and landed in Miami. Sparano asked him to help lead a culture change, and let him go to work doing just that. When Pennington called the entire team to task for a poor practice, Sparano stood up and backed his quarterback up. The team responded by winning the next game 38-13, over the Patriots.
• He took a personal interest in his people: One former player, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater tweeted, "Thank you for caring about us as individuals and not just athlete."

Tony Sparano died of a heart attack last week. Colleagues and players describe him as a mentor, friend, teacher, leader, and worker. Players share how he trusted them, loved them as people, and loved his family.

Not everyone or every organization will have a historic cultural turnaround by adopting positive leadership practices; however, the long-term payoff is real.

Now we can have ice cream

Yesterday we had fajitas for dinner. As we were finishing, we were having a delightful family conversation, during which my six-year old boy brought a clean plate to the table and placed it next to me. Then he left, and brought another, then another. Soon I had a stack of clean, dry plates next to me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I washed them, rinsed them off, dried them, and now their done," he replied.

"Thank you--that's amazing!"

"...so now, we can have ice cream and watch a movie," he said definitively.

What could I say? That's exactly what we did. This six year-old, sixth child in the family, had led the whole group toward a goal. I could say it was his goal, but everyone else wanted to do the same activity. He had simply taken a leadership role.

Not actually what we had last night :-)

Following his example, the rest of the children pitched in, putting leftovers away, sweeping the floors, cleaning the counters--and pulling out the ice cream.

It's not always--in fact it's often not--the leader with authority who pulls everyone into action. In sports, it can be a teammate who pulls everyone together with an inspiring performance. In business, it can be someone who thinks deeply about a problem and proposes a real solution that others then rally around. It can be someone who shares helpful thoughts with others that grow into shared understanding.

Where I live, today we celebrate the pioneers who traveled west to establish cities and a people. Most of those who traveled had no formal authority. But their actions changed the course of a people, and the country.

How can you lead from where you are? Look around--who could use your help, either technically or personally? What challenges are you in a unique position to see and solve? What can you do to create the space for others to find solutions?

LDS Business College Devotional Address

I was invited to speak earlier this year to the campus community at the LDS Business College. It was a great experience. The address was focused on what we can each do to become skilled at working together with others. The student body is largely multinational, and have bright futures as leaders in their communities.

The link is just below...have a listen!

LDS Business College Devotional Address