After an early career coaching college football and lacrosse, I went into the business world. Although I continued coaching for decades on a volunteer basis, it was more focused on youth sports than the college and world cup experience I had as a young coaching professional. Nonetheless, derived from my experience both as an athletic coach and a business leader, one lesson was consistent through both endeavors.
That lesson, simply put, is that athletes, employees and children for that matter… typically learn well when you lead by example. Unfortunately, negative leadership examples can be the catalyst for negative behavior as well.
Let’s start with children… then move over to athletes… and then segue into business examples.
Parents who demonstrate honesty, integrity, work ethic, morality, commitment to family, compassion, benevolence and a sense of humor should not be surprised if their children grow up with these very same traits and behavior patterns. Why? These parents led by example.
More than just life traits, the National Institute of Health validates that 54.9% of children living with smokers are likely to smoke when they are adolescents. Again, “What they see is what they’ll be…” A Columbia University’s Mailman School research project conclusion was “The more a parent smokes, the more their teenage son or daughter will smoke. Teenagers are much more likely to smoke and be dependent on nicotine if a parent is dependent on nicotine, especialy daughters if their mother is dependent on nicotine.”
We learn by example. When our leaders exemplify a behavior, we are likely to adopt it.
Move over to an example related to athletes. It’s not surprising that players who demonstrate poor sportsmanship often play for coaches who are animated, dismal examples of poor sportsmanship. When coaches continuously complain about poor officiating and blame a defeat on a referee’s or an umpire’s “call,” we shouldn’t be surprised that players and even player’s parents act and react the same way. We learn (and act) by example.
The lesson here is clear. Make sure that your child is playing sports for a coach who is a stellar example… on many levels.
Now, let’s move onto business insights.
Decades ago, I was blessed to go on a market tour of Wendy’s restaurants with the founder and Chairman of the restaurant chain, the late Dave Thomas.
We rode in a van and visited seven or eight stores to do an in-restaurant quality control check. When our van pulled up to every restaurant, Mr. Thomas exited the van and walked the perimeter of the restaurant in the parking lot and picked up any trash he found and brought it over to the big green dumpster on the lot.
He never said a word about his action… nor his “example.” However, his example spoke volumes on what his expectation was for his colleagues and employees. Remember, this was the founder and chairman of the board of Wendy’s… certainly someone we wouldn’t have expected to be collecting parking lot trash.
Simply put, Dave Thomas led by example.
Leading by example is an important leadership style where you demonstrate and “model” the behavior, demeanor and activities you want to see in your team members. When you lead by example, you don’t just mandate or push team members toward desired performance, rather… you actively and actually demonstrate that excellence first-hand.
In some ways, its leading by boldly saying through demonstration and example, “If I can do this, you can do this too…”
The benefits of “leading by example” are all important.
- It inspires the people around you.
- It builds a high-level of trust between you and your team.
- It sets the standard and expectation for your team.
- It contributes to building a culture of responsibility.
- It certainly helps build respect in you as a leader.
What does all of this mean? It’s simple. Whether you’re parenting… coaching… or managing… set a good example. Again, always set a good example! After all, leaders set the tone through examples every day and in every way.
Brilliant thinker, scientist and philosopher Albert Schwietzer said, “The three most important ways to lead people are…lead by example… lead by example… and lead by example.
Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM said, “Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others, as what he does from day to day to lead himself.”
Augusta Press columnist Ira Blumenthal is a business consultant, a best-selling author, educator and youth Lacrosse coach. Learn more about Ira and his latest book, Your Best Is Next, at www.IraSpeak.com. Follow Ira on instagram @irajblumenthal.
