17 Things Leaders Must Do To Overcome Their Greatest Challenge

17 Things Leaders Must Do To Overcome Their Greatest Challenge

 

There comes a time when every leader must face and overcome their “greatest challenge.”  Before I go any farther with the “greatest challenge” theme, I must put a disclaimer in this post acknowledging a person’s greatest challenge is their need to overcome sin and death.  This is only done through Jesus Christ.
With that said, the greatest challenge facing college football’s top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide is their arch-rival the Auburn Tigers.  Likewise, Auburn’s greatest challenge is Alabama.  Just in case you missed the classic 2013 conclusion, check out the video above.
As I watched today’s ESPN College Gameday, I gleaned the 17 Things Leaders Must Do To Overcome Their Greatest Challenge:

1. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Start Well – You never have to recover from a good start.  “It is really critical for Auburn to have a chance to pull the upset they have to have success on first down on offense.” – Jesse Palmer
2. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Take Away What Their Competition Does Well – “You’ve got to keep the ball of out of his (Amari Cooper) hands.” – Gus Malzahn
3. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Plan Well – You will prepare or repair.  “They have a unique blend of talent and scheme that give Kirby Smart and Nick Saban fits.” – Desmond Howard
4. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Produce Results – “As long as Nick Marshall is in uniform Auburn has a chance to win because every game that they play because they can score points.” – Kirk Herbstreit
5. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Keep It Simple – Genius is making the complicated things simple, not the simple things complicated.  “They’re (Alabama) second in the nation in run defense…They’re very, very simple but it works” – Lee Corso
6. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Manage Their Emotions Well – “You have to channel your energy and emotion in the right place…You can get misplaced emotion which doesn’t help you play well.” – Nick Saban
7. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Are Not Passive – “These kind of games are always going to be a fight.” – Saban
8. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Execute Well – “Trust in your tools, your technique, the plan, the discipline to execute all those things.” – Saban
9. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Have Faith In Others – “You gotta have a lot of faith and confidence in your teammates.” – Saban
10. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Have Great Memories – “These games never die here in this state.” – Saban
11. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Are High Capacity Individuals – Average leaders rarely overcome great challenges.  Saban said, “They have a capacity to make big plays.”
12. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Continually Press Forward – “Next man up.  Whoever has to come up and play has to take advantage of the opportunity they have.” – Saban
13. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Embrace The Process – Experienced leaders know it is never “one thing” which leads to success or failure.  Saban reminded us, “The big thing for our team last year was the way we played the last 5 minutes, not just the last 1 second.  We didn’t play exact.  We didn’t play disciplined football.”
14. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Avoid Disappointment – “The most disappointing thing is sometimes the way you lose.” – Saban
15. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Surround Themselves With Other Talented Leaders – “They’ve got an outstanding player at every position.” – Malzahn
16. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Play To Their Strengths – “Auburn’s best chance is to throw the ball to Sammy Coates.” – Corso
17. Leaders Who Overcome Their Greatest Challenge Minimize Their Weaknesses – “The only time Alabama loses games is special teams.” – David Pollack

Bonus – The following are 5 additional leadership quotes from Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer, one of the great leaders in any sport, from today’s show:

• “We’re not average.  There’s average players on the team.  There’s average coaches.  Sometimes I’m average.  Certainly this is not an average team.”
• “When I was putting together this coaching staff, out of nine coaches, eight are from the state of Ohio and that is not by accident.  People don’t understand this rivalry (Michigan).”
• “I’ve yet to be in a game where luck was involved…If you don’t believe that why do you ask your guys to practice so hard?”
• “Great players make great coaches.”
• “He’s a product of those around him.” – on quarterback J.T. Barrett