Page 131 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Emotion Is Your Enemy
I demanded the same emotional constraint if we came up on the 113
losing end. And most of all, I desired emotional control in their
performance before the final score was known, that is, during the
contest itself. I insisted on that same control and intensity during
practice—especially practice. On those occasions where I didn’t see
it in a player or the team, I would end the practice—or threaten to.
That was usually enough to get them back on track.
My teaching stressed that “losing your temper will get us out-
played because you’ll make unnecessary errors; your judgment will
be impaired.” I didn’t mind an occasional mistake unless it was
caused by loss of self-control.
Consequently, I never second-guessed myself when a decision
didn’t work out so long as I made it without emotion becoming in-
volved. It wasn’t a mistake if I used good judgment and the avail-
able information. It became an error, however, when the decision
was made because I lost control of my feelings, as I did back at
South Bend when I was threatened by a player’s father. That was a
very big error.
I worked hard to eliminate errors in my behavior as the years
progressed. The errors decreased only because of my strong belief
that consistency, steadiness, and dependability are necessary for
high-performance results and for Competitive Greatness. And
emotionalism destroys all of this.
A volatile leader is like a bottle of nitroglycerine: The slightest
knock and it blows up. Those around nitroglycerine or a tempera-
mental boss spend all their time carefully tiptoeing back and forth
rather than doing their jobs. It is not an environment, in my opin-
ion, conducive to a winning organization.
Strive to provide a leadership model that is dependable and re-
liable and productive in the area of emotions.
Here are some reminders you may consider adding to your own
playbook.