Leadership Styles

When the No. 1 seed Alabama men’s basketball team suffered an upset loss in the Sweet 16 in 2023, coach Nate Oats sought out advice from one of the greatest coaches of all time—Alabama’s football coach, Nick Saban.

It will come as no surprise to learn that Nick Saban, the seven-time title-winning football coach, had some wisdom to offer his colleague. Saban emphasized the importance of not dwelling on the opportunity the team had just lost, but focusing on the next opportunity to come.

Saban’s approach paid off. Despite losing more games and earning a lower March Madness seed than it did the year before, the 2024 Alabama basketball team reached the first Final Four in the program’s 111-year history.

“It’s a great philosophy in life,” Oats said this week. “There’s a lot of adversity you hit … You live in the past; you’re not going to be very good in the present.”

That’s where Saban came in. One of the greatest winners in the history of college sports, Saban also happens to know plenty about losing. As Oats pointed out, most of Saban’s championships came during seasons marred by at least one crushing regular-season defeat.

It may be surprising that Saban was so willing to let Oats pick his brain. But as it turns out, it’s something the pair have been doing for years. After he was hired from Buffalo, Oats asked Saban if he could embed himself into Bama’s practice facilities to see how the best college football coach of all-time ran his program.

Oats said, “I went and watched practices. I sat in on staff meetings. I shadowed him for a day. I went on road trips with him to see how they operated. I tried to learn as much as I could.”

Six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots parted ways in January 2024. This sparked a lot of commentary on the coach’s legacy. Offensive lineman Damien Woody played for the Patriots from 1999 to 2003 and was integral in helping the team win two Super Bowls. Speaking on ESPN's morning talk show First Take, Woody explains how Belichick went the extra mile to help him reach his full potential, on the field and in life:

I tell people this all the time. Every moment I stepped in that building in New England it was like game day every day. You had to be mentally and physically prepared to be in a grinder. That's the type of environment that Bill had in New England. He always made sure that everyone was uncomfortable. Because we know that when you're uncomfortable that's when the greatest growth comes about within you as a person. So, it should surprise no one the level of success that Bill and the New England Patriots had because of the environment that was there.

But I remember Bill back in my early days. "I think it was like 2001, Bill Belichick put an anchor in our locker room. That anchor signified how much overweight we were as a football team and how much dead weight we were carrying around that was keeping us as a team from getting to where we want to go. During my playing career I always had problems with my weight. So instead of reaming me, Bill went out of his way to set me up at a program at Duke University. Paid for it himself. I was down there for two months. This man came down to North Carolina multiple times to check on me to see how I was doing.

That to me speaks volumes about the man. And so, like I sit here today just processing and I'm thankful for every lesson that I learned there because I've been able to carry that not only through my playing career but just through my life in general.

The city of Detroit was in a campaign to reforest its streets after decades of neglecting its depleted tree canopy. However, the tree-planters met stiff resistance: Roughly a quarter of the 7,500 residents declined offers to have new trees planted in front of their homes.

Researcher Christine Carmichael found that the rejections had more to do with how the tree-planters presented themselves than it did with how residents felt about trees. The residents understood the benefits of having trees in urban environments—they provide shade, absorb air pollution, increase property values, and improve health. But the reasons Detroit folks refused was not that they didn’t trust the trees; they didn’t trust the city.

A couple of African-American women Carmichael talked to linked the tree-planting program to a painful racist moment in Detroit’s history, when the city suddenly began cutting down elm trees in bulk in their neighborhoods. As the women understood it, the city did this so that law enforcement could have better surveilance on their neighborhoods from helicopters after an urban uprising.

However, the government’s reason was that the trees were dying off from the Dutch elm disease. But it was the women’s version that led to their decision to reject the trees. It’s not that they didn’t trust the trees; they didn’t trust the city.

The women felt that the city just came in and cut down their trees, and now they want to just come in planting trees. But they felt they should have a choice in this since they’ll be the ones raking up the leaves when the planters leave. They felt that the decisions were being made by someone else, and they were going to have to deal with the consequences.

Failing to meaningfully involve the residents in the decision-making is a classic mistake. After all, who would turn down a free tree? Perhaps these people just don’t get it.

One Detroit resident whom Carmichael interviewed told her: “You know, I really appreciate you today because that shows that someone is listening. Someone is trying to find out what’s really going on in our thoughts. And maybe next time they can do a survey and ask us, if they would like to have us have the trees.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Churches and small groups can learn from Detroit’s mistake. It is best to ask for members’ participation in planning and decision-making rather than making authoritative decisions without explanation or discussion.

Abdul Kalam, former President of India, once shared this powerful example of a vital quality of good leadership. In 1979, he was the Project Director of a mission to launch a satellite into orbit. Preparations for the event had gone on for nearly 10 years with much anticipation of a successful launch.

The satellite launch vehicle went into orbit, but after a while, it started malfunctioning and eventually crashed. As Abdul Kalam said, "The satellite that should have landed in orbit, landed in the Bay of Bengal!"

Abdul Kalam says that he was dreading the press conference as he would have to give answers for the massive failure. At that difficult moment however, his Chairman, Satish Dhawan, went with him to the press conference and took the responsibility and the criticism, for the failure. He went on to affirm and support the hard work done by his team with an assurance that they would succeed the next time around.

Sure enough, the following year, the satellite was launched successfully as predicted. However, at that moment of resounding success, this time around, Satish Dhawan requested Abdul Kalam to handle the press conference that was to follow.

In a moment of failure, Satish Dhawan stood by his team and took the blame for the failure. In the moment of success however, he stepped back and let his team receive the credit for the effort. It was a lesson Abdul Kalam would never forget. A good leader stands by his team in times of failure but lets them receive due credit in times of success!

The Bible says, "Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act" (Proverbs 3:27)

The year was 2012, and everything seemed to be going wrong for Best Buy. The CEO had just resigned after admitting to an improper relationship with a female employee. Employee engagement seemed to be at an all-time low. And Best Buy stores were bleeding money--as customers came to test products they wanted, only to buy them online from Amazon at a cheaper price. Best Buy was dying a slow death.

But fast forward to today, and the company is thriving: The stock price is surging and workers seem happier than ever. So, how did Best Buy do it? Hubert Joly, the new CEO, focused on people and practiced humility. In his first months on the job, Joly did something great: He visited Best Buy stores (and even worked at a store for a week), giving him the chance to speak directly to front line employees.

Based on their feedback, Joly:

Fixed broken systems

Restored a beloved employee discount program

Invested in employee training

The measures seem to have worked. A survey showed 78 percent of employees would recommend working at Best Buy to a friend, and Joly enjoys a 92 percent employee approval rate.

Justin Bariso, “Amazon Almost Killed Best Buy. Then, Best Buy Did Something Completely Brilliant” Inc.com (3-4-19)