Both an architect and a plumber

Came across Reverend Richard Stazesky's 2000 presentation about the leadership ability of President George Washington.

In it, he describes how "visionary leaders" like President Washington are able to focus "simultaneously on two seemingly different configurations, yet to such a leader they are always inextricably related."

According to Rev. Stazesky, effective leaders not only see the "big picture," but also see the little deals. They're able to lay out the strategy, but can also develop the tactics.

They not only set goals, but outline the objectives necessary to reach those goals. They understand theory, but also know how to apply the theory.

As Reverend Stazesky puts it, these leaders are at once the architect and the plumber.

In a time when some preach the "coach as CEO" model, Rev. Stazesky makes a strong argument for balancing a hands-off and hands-on approach to coaching.

In fact, just last month, in an effort to shore up his team's defense, Bears coach Lovie Smith pledged to take "a more hands-on approach."

Clearly, the head coach can't do it all. Having a talented, trustworthy staff is critical. But it's possible (and important) for the head coach to be involved and engaged without micromanaging.

Seeing the whole picture

Interesting note in the LA Times about how Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lakers center Andrew Bynum often meet at Bynum's home to review video.

In many cases, they spend less time looking at Bynum and more time focusing on the other nine guys on the floor.

"I try and show him what's happening because a lot of times during the game, he can't see the whole picture," Abdul-Jabbar said. "If I get together with him, I can show him what's happening, what's causing these things to happen."

In addition, according to the article, Kareem has tutored Bynum on how to respond when Kobe is double-teamed.

"That leaves three guys guarding the four remaining guys," Abdul-Jabbar said. "If [Bynum] starts moving at that point and knows the right place to go to, he's going to probably be four or five feet from the closest defender. Therein lies opportunity."

They've also discussed what do with the ball after grabbing a rebound.

"James Worthy was great at anticipating a rebound, and he'd be running, he'd take a dribble or two and then he'd get it to Earvin [Johnson] in the middle of the court, and that's a dangerous situation," Abdul-Jabbar said. "[Bynum] has got to learn how to recognize these things. He gets a rebound and he wants to give it to someone [close]."

Moving out of the trees to see the forest

As Cal coach Jeff Tedford has demonstrated this season, giving up play-calling doesn't mean giving up control.

An article from yesterday describes how Coach Tedford "gave up play-calling duties during the offseason so he could ensure he has a better grasp of all aspects of his program. It's helped the Bears become a more cohesive team, with clear leadership, player camaraderie and individual accountability flourishing."

According to one Cal player:

"I think this year he's been a little more overlooking the team. Last year he said he was so focused on the X's and O's. This time, he has other guys taking care of that. He's making sure the team as a whole is a little more focused and concentrating on what we need to focus on."

Coach Tedford believes that taking a step back from the tactics has enabled him to better see the big picture:

"It kind of lets me keep more of a pulse of the whole team, especially during the game," Tedford said. "A lot of times when I was calling every play, even in between series, I had my face buried in the play chart trying to figure out what we're going to do next series. It just gives you a better perspective of the whole game and how things are going instead of just focusing on one thing. It frees me up to do things more later in the week with team oriented things."

Leaving a legacy that reflects your best qualities

On a flight back to the Bay Area this weekend, I read a book called "Your Leadership Legacy." It has a lot of relevance for coaches.

The authors contend that "thinking about leadership in the context of your legacy helps you establish -- and reestablish -- priorities."

Here's a good passage from the book:

If you are a leader...of any group of individuals, you will leave a leadership legacy. It won't be a record of your...performance. Instead, your legacy will be revealed in how your colleagues...and others think and behave as a result of the time they spent working with you.

If you start thinking about your leadership legacy now, rather than just before you change jobs, you will greatly increase your odds of leaving a legacy that reflects your best qualities, as well as the elements of your leadership that you would like to see embedded in the fabric of the organization you leave behind.

In clarifying what you would like other to take away as a result of having worked with you, you will gain a better understanding of yourself in your role as a leader and you will better understand how the big-picture view of your role is fueled by your actions on a daily basis.

Your legacy is today.

Parenting provides [a] good analogy. To the best of your ability, you provide for your children those things that they need to grow and thrive while they're directly under your care. You want to instill in them the best parts of yourself and your judgment so that when they become independent they'll be ahead of the curve.

Ultimately, however, the goal is for them to develop their own strengths, using what you've taught them as a foundation on which they can build... That's a parent's net value.

It's the same with the net value of a leader.

What matters is that they're playing at home

Moving story out of South Texas where the High Island High School Cardinals returned to the football field recently for the first time since Hurricane Ike all but wiped out their tiny town.

[Here's video from the NY Times of High Island after the hurricane.]

I won't do the story justice, so here it is in its entirety:

Just a few weeks earlier, no one knew if the school would reopen. No one knew how many of the 221 students – among them, 31 football players – or 43 staff members would return. Or if any would have homes to return to.

Most, as it turned out, did not. About 85 percent of the students and half of the staff lost their houses. Many of the homes still standing were unlivable. And the families, once woven so tightly in the beach towns of the peninsula, had run to the far-flung corners of Texas.

Then, Coach Paul Colton put out a call to his players: Anyone who wanted to play ball should come back for practice. Anyone who needed a place to stay could bunk with him.

In a flurry of text messages, online messaging and cellphone activity, the High Island Cardinals brought their team back to life.

Now, with the minutes ticking to a Saturday afternoon kickoff, the stands outside were filling with family, friends and faculty, all eager to welcome the Cardinals home.

All Coach Colton needed was 13 players – 11 on the field, two on the bench. With that, he would have a team.

At the first practice, two weeks after the Sept. 13 storm, 14 Cardinals stood on the field.

These students had lost their homes and their clothes, their family photos and other cherished keepsakes, their four-wheelers and trucks, their iPods and PlayStations.

Their parents, still reeling from the devastation, had moved in with relatives or rented motel rooms in towns an hour or more away.

Yet, the boys had come back to the school most had attended since kindergarten.

Several of the boys had moved in with Mr. Colton, and his assistant coach, Justin Charrier, who share a house near campus. A couple of players were rooming with another coach, John Hughes, and his wife, who had also taken in two high-school girls. Others found space with friends or family or faculty members.

The school, so small that elementary- and middle-school students share the cafeteria with high-schoolers, now seems even smaller.

Only 130 students have returned. The Class of 2009 now numbers only 13.

"It is getting to the girls first. It will get to the boys later," said high school science teacher Maria Skewis.

"Right now, they can rally around football. Sports is keeping them together."

So is their coach.

Since the storm, as many as seven boys have roomed in his small taupe house just down the road from campus.

Here, Mr. Colton suddenly becomes den mother and homework wrangler.

"You've got homework to do when you get home, all my little children who are staying with me," Mr. Colton called out at the end of one practice, as the players plodded to the locker room.

The day of the High Island Cardinals' game against the West Hardin Oilers, Oct. 18, dawned sunny and bright. By game time, the thermometer would reach a temperate 80 degrees.

Outside, parents and siblings, teachers and long-graduated alumni, displaced homeowners and school boosters waited. For many, this game was the first community gathering since the hurricane five weeks earlier.

A few weeks ago, this game had seemed like an impossibility. Now, no matter the final score, it already felt like a miracle.

The Cardinals lost, 36-22, though they came back from a 28-0 deficit.

"It doesn't matter who wins," said [one parent]. "What matters more is that they're playing at home."

Looking at the bigger picture of what you're trying to achieve

James Posey has been a member of two of the last three NBA championship teams. So when he arrived in New Orleans in the off-season, he was immediately regarded as a team leader.

Said NO head coach Byron Scott:

"He has changed our culture because we came into training camp talking about how our defense has to get better in order to win a championship, and no one knows that better than James.

And he's always the first guy off the bench to scream and yell. We needed that. All the guys ask him questions, and you know they're going to listen to him because he has two rings and these guys want to win one.

He's like a few players in this league that can affect a game without scoring. He's going to take the charge, he's going to guard the best players, he's going to communicate at all times. I loved him for all those reasons. He's won where he's been. He hits big shots in big games, he defends the best players almost every night."

As for Posey, he contends that winning is an attitude and a process:

"It's a mind-set, and I'm trying to get my teammates to buy into that. I'm just trying to share some of the things that I've learned on those two teams where I won and the mind-set as far as preparing yourself to actually win a title. What I keep telling them is: It's a process. You can't get bored with it.

You have to prepare for it each day by practicing hard, getting better and looking at the bigger picture of what you're trying to achieve. You can't get too high in this game in this game and you can't get too low. You've just got to keep working and keep pushing."