Building a Championship Team with Lou Nanne
In the competitive business of professional sports, there is no template or formula for building a winner. It does, however, require effective leadership from ownership, general managers, and coaches all the way down to the trainers, traveling secretaries, and front-office personnel. Lou Nanne has been involved in professional hockey for six decades and has studied the attributes of winning cultures across the major professional team sports throughout that time.
In this interview, Lou discusses the creation of a championship professional sports franchise and the leadership necessary to build a winner. Lou talks about culture creation, dealing with failure, mitigating the complications of a mid-season trade, setting expectations, managing emotions, creating a sense of belonging, promoting pro-social behavior, forgiving failure, and how the lessons he has learned about leadership in professional sports apply to other businesses.
Lou Nanne has been a leading figure in the hockey community for decades. Lou was captain of the 1968 United States Olympic Hockey team. Later he played, coached, and served as general manager for the Minnesota North Stars. Lou is a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame and the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame. He has also been awarded the Lester Patrick trophy for his impact on the sport of hockey.
“You can’t push someone up a ladder, but you can convince them to walk up the ladder. You can motivate them to walk up the ladder. Motivation isn’t getting people to make them do what you want them to do. It’s getting people to want to do what you want them to do. ” Lou Nanne in “Building a Championship Team” discussing the roles coaches play in creating winning cultures.
Sponsor Highlight - Inspire Software is sponsoring this week’s episode of 12 Geniuses. Inspire Software’s solutions have been created to develop leaders, enhance culture and drive business results. Learn more at inspiresoftware.com.
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