Note from Jan:
With Super Bowl hubbub all done, there's more time to focus on basketball - and of course Valentine's Day too. It seems like a perfect time to share a heart warming basketball story.
I've watched Sylvia Hatchell coach basketball for years, have admired her success and knew she cared for her players. But a few months ago, I had the opportunity to hear her speak about her work, her team, her life, her successes, some scary times - and I saw her heart. I hope you will enjoy and learn from the summary shared in this month's feature article, "Pink Tees, Geese & Popsicle Sticks".
And since it is "the season", you may want to re-visit a favorite from the archives - "Business & Basketball", featuring an interview with basketball star, Phil Ford, on being coached and working with Coaches Dean Smith and Bill Guthredge. You'll see a lot of heart in these stories as well.
The same with another favorite, "Doing Business with Heart", which includes stories about regular people doing regular business in ways that warm your heart.
I'm sure you have similar stories to tell. Will you share them with me and let me share them with others?
The more stories the better - so that we can all enjoy, celebrate, remember and value the power and importance of doing business with heart.
Not just on Valentine’s Day - but throughout the year.
Jan Bolick
Management Coach, CUCG, PCC
Business Class Inc
www.businessclassinc.com
by Jan Bolick
February 12, 2008
There we were at the elegant Governor’s Club. In the dining room on the second floor of the clubhouse. Wall to wall windows overlooking the 18th green. Morning sun glistening on the lake below, surrounded by green rolling hills. All under Carolina blue skies. A perfectly peaceful scene.
Perfectly peaceful despite the presence of two hundred participants in the first ever Chamber of Commerce Women’s Executive Breakfast. Even if the program was no good, this view made the required 7:30am start time worth it.
As participants networked over breakfast, the keynote speaker placed her notes on the lecturn, adjusted the microphone, draped a pink tee shirt over the easel and another over the lecturn. With no more places to drape, she spread a few more on the floor.
There was a bit of a titter among guests who noticed the color of the tees. Of course they knew who the speaker was. That was part of the draw for this sold out event. Everyone knew the keynote speaker was Sylvia Hatchell, head coach of the UNC-Chapel Hill women’s baby blue clad basketball team. And they knew she was a good coach. A tournament winning coach. A National Championship winning coach. A Hall of Fame coach. Two time National Coach of the Year! More detail.
So there we were. Done with breakfast. Impressed with the record of Coach Hatchell who stood before us in a Carolina blue crinkly fabric blouse, black pants and comfortable looking shoes.
She explained that the shirts she had draped around the room had been designed and printed for the 4000 girls who attended summer camp. Pink tee shirts at a Carolina basketball camp?
She explained that the non-Carolina blue Carolina shirts were pink in support of Kay Yow, the women’s coach at North Carolina State University, who is battling breast cancer. She paused, swallowed hard, her voice cracking as she said, “She’s really struggling”, giving us a sweet glimpse of the heart and soul and passion that she feels for her on-the-court rival and all-the-time-friend.
She sent a big bowl around the room, inviting attendees to deposit business cards for a door prize drawing.
As an overview of her speech, she said she wanted to share some keys for success – a topic she confessed was not that original. But she said – unlike many of the tips she had heard from other speakers – some of which we had most likely heard – these would really work.
She captivated the audience as she explained each key - sharing examples and anecdotes in a down to earth, sincere, rollicking fun way.
After telling us it was important to do a frequent “check up from the neck up” to “get rid of stinky thinking”, and after sharing with us her mantra of “No one can control my day except my maker and me”, she shared a number of readings to support the importance of having a good attitude. One of these is below.
Then she held up one of the tee shirts designed for campers, explaining that they all had the UNC logo on the front. There were different versions of the back side. This one read:
By then the big bowl for business cards had made its way around the room. Before moving on to share the next key for success, Coach Hatchell declared it door prize time and announced the prize of a pink tee. A few lucky winners got to go up and choose a shirt – choice of slogan.
Those of us who didn’t win weren’t about to complain :).
It was a good time for us to hear the next key to success - knowing and accepting your role. Of course, very important on the basketball court. And in the “V” formation flown by geese. She shared with us a reading on this – about how engineers discovered that in the “V” formation, each goose gets a lift from the goose in front of him, giving the whole flock 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. Because it’s harder work up front, leadership is rotated often. And you know all that honking? Many think they are cheering each other on.
On the court. In the “V” formation. At home. At work. We can all benefit from a lift and a break and a cheer. And from the reminder that we are stronger when we work together.
Another lucky winner was drawn from the business card bowl, who selected a
A good lead in to the tip about working hard.
In this segment, Coach Hatchell talked about the importance of having a purpose. And having discipline, which she defines as “love in action”; “delayed gratification.”
Sharing a snippet about the importance of her own personal trainer, she said, “You must have someone in your life to make you do what you won’t do for yourself.”
Yes folks...the coach has a coach!
She also noted the importance of having faith that the hard work will pay off. She reminds her team with the mantra:
so that you may feel
the exhilaration of victory
Driven by hard work – directed toward a clear purpose. Reinforced with discipline and faith.
Time to draw for more door prize winners. Did I mention that the slogan on one of the shirts was:
so that you may feel
the exhilaration of victory
She emphasized that “Attitude + Chemistry beats talent”. That you create chemistry by treating people the way you want to be treated.
And then came a bit about loyalty.
With a bundle of popsicle sticks in her hand, she invited two volunteers, Pam and Anita, to help her with a demonstration. She handed a popsicle stick to Pam and one to Anita and asked each to break it which they did.
Then she handed the entire bundle to Anita and asked her to break the bundle. When Anita struggled, Coach Hatchell suggested that Anita hire a personal trainer. Giggles all around as Sylvia then handed the bundle to Pam who was also too weak (grin) to break the bundle.
Coach then explained that at the beginning of each season, she gives a popsicle stick and markers to each player and asks each to “decorate” the stick so that it represents herself.
To show us what happens next, she threw one stick on the ground, pointed to it and said, “Can that stick (player’s name) be broken?”
Absolutely. We had just seen Pam do it. Anita too.
She threw another stick on the ground. “Can that stick (player’s name) be broken?”
Another yes from the crowd.
She threw another and another. “What about that one? And that one?”
Two more yeses.
The next question Coach asks her players is, “What do you do – what can you do - to break each other?”
All was silent as she stooped to gather the sticks from the floor. One by one. She added each one back to the bundle. Then silently banded them all together.
It was a perfect demonstration of the power and strength in unity. And a powerful reminder of the importance of doing everything possible to strengthen - and nothing to break - each other.
That's a summary of four of the keys to success shared by Sylvia Hatchell that day.
- Attitude
- Knowing & accepting your role
- Working hard
- Teamwork
But she said these keys would work!
Coach Hatchell's stories gave evidence that she talks, walks and lives these keys every day. And that she helps her players do the same by frequently and consistently reminding, reinforcing and repeating important messages in normal and novel ways - like posters on the wall, stories during practice, mantras in the huddle, popsicle sticks on the floor and slogans on pink tee shirts in Carolina blue land. It seems to me that this list works for her because she works the list.
Working the list - let's call that the master key.
On the way home, I found myself wishing I could be on Coach Hatchell's team. So that she could nudge me at first hint of stinky thinking. So she could help me remember to think before each meeting about which role I should be playing. So she could assure me that the pay off for pushing beyond my comfort level is just around the corner. So she could blow the whistle on me when I'm tired but reluctant to fall to the back of the "V". So that I could paint one of those popsicle sticks and then be part of the bundle. And so that maybe I could even get one of those pink tees.
Too old, too short and too dribble challenged to be on her team- I would have to carry the keys with me - the master key too! And that led to the creation of a six word phrase that would be fun to repeat, easy to remember, even when being bumped and dumped and jolted. I'm sure you've already guessed it:
Pink Tees, Geese & Popsicle Sticks
It helps me remember the list and reminds me to work it. And then, like Sylvia, I have a coach who pushes me to do the things I'm not so good at doing for myself.
I hope Pink Tees, Geese & Popsicle Sticks (the article and the phrase) will be helpful to you. If you are ready to find a coach to support your efforts and accelerate your results, so that you can "feel the exhilaration of victory", here are some helpful tips for finding the right coach for you.
©2008, Jan Bolick, Business Class Inc
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Jan is a management coach (CUCG, PCC) with thirty years of sales and management experience. She loves helping business owners and managers get through tough situations so that they can make and celebrate the achievement of big goals.
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Learn about the New Business Class Master Mind & Accountability Group. Registration deadline is TODAY, Tuesday, February 12, 2008!
Contact Jan to see if she's the coach for you and your situation. There is no obligation or fee for this exploration. If the two of you are not a good match, she'll suggest other sources.
www.businessclassinc.com
Coach Sylvia Hatchell:
- has been a head basketball coach for 32 years accepted her dream job, coaching at UNC, in 1986 and as of February 9, 2008, has posted 500 wins and 194 losses; seven ACC Titles and one NCAA Championship (1994).
- is the fifth coach in NCAA Division 1 Women’s Basketball history to reach the 700 win mark.
- ranks third in total wins among active coaches.
- was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004.
- received The 2006 Naismith Award as National Coach of Year.
- was named 2006 National Coach of Year by the Associated Press, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and Basketball Times.
- is married to a basketball coach.
- and has a son, who became a freshman at Carolina in fall of 2007.
One of the readings shared by Coach Hatchell:
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, than education, than money,
than circumstances, than failures, than successes,
than what other people think or say or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a team…a company…a church…a home.
The remarkable thing is
we have a choice everyday
regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have,
and that is our attitude…
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me
and 90% how I react to it and so it is with you…
we are in charge of our attitudes.”
PO Box 2037 Chapel Hill, NC 27515 www.businessclassinc.com