Leadership Lessons from Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Nick Saban is arguably the greatest college football coach of this generation.  Love him or hate him, there is no arguing his success: four total national championships and three of the last four national championships.  In addition, he consistently sends a great number of athletes on to the NFL and then annually reloads with one of the nation's top recruiting classes.  In short, he is at the top of his profession, so it comes as no surprise that many believe Coach Saban could teach us a thing or two about leadership.  In a December 2012 article on Forbes.com Monte Burke identified five leadership lessons from Nick Saban.  The five headings are Mr. Burke's, but the commentary beneath is mine.

1. Surround yourself with talent.  Interestingly enough it was the University of Alabama's most famous coach, Paul "Bear" Bryant, who said, "I don't hire anybody not brighter than I am.  If they are not brighter than I am, then I don't need them."  Surrounding yourself with talent would appear to be a no-brainer, but many leaders are reluctant to share the spotlight and therefore avoid building a team filled with potential superstars.

2. Create a process.  Processes, procedures, and protocols are not the buzz words of control freaks, but rather the practices of those wishing to maximize the resources available to them.  Establishing a process not only serves to keep people focused, but is also lends itself to creating a culture of achievement and attracting top performers to your team.

3. Manage the message.  As the leader, you should be the primary communicator.  You do not have to be the only person communicating, but it is up to you to ensure that there is only one message no matter how many voices.  The leader must continually and consistently communicate the vision for the group to various constituencies.

4.  Keep it simple.  Put simply, pick a direction and go.  Do not get caught up in the "soup of the day" mentality; do what you do and  do it well.  Leave the gimmicks to others and focus on building a simple system that produces the results you wish to see.  Once you figure out what works, continue to deconstruct it and break it down to its very essence.  This will allow you to better understand what you want done and it will make accomplishing the first three items in this list much easier.

5. Make wise investments in the future.  Spend time with key people, because you do not have time to waste with people not key to what you are trying to accomplish.  Make decisions based upon what is best long-term, not for what is best in that moment.  This will allow you to continue to move forward rather than force you to continually revisit decisions made in haste and for short-term gains.

I enjoy looking to the world of athletics for leadership and management principles because this is a field where the score is kept and there are tangible consequences for actions and behaviors.