Brian and Mary Jo Sullivan’s journey as entrepreneurs has been filled with lessons from various facets of life. One surprising source of wisdom has been coaching youth sports. The experience of coaching has taught them invaluable lessons about leadership, communication, and balance.
In this excerpt from their book, “Entrepreneurial Trinity,” they share how coaching youth sports has shaped their approach to business and why they believe every entrepreneur can benefit from similar experiences.
All Entrepreneurs Should Coach Youth Sports
Colin Powell said, “Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error and from experience.” For me, that experience came from everywhere I could possibly find it. I absorbed every lesson that I could, including while coaching youth sports.
Coaching youth sports is a blast; I absolutely love it. It’s also incredibly humbling and frustrating, just like entrepreneurship. The parallels between coaching, leading, and managing a youth sports team and a business are endless, and so are the lessons in becoming a better coach, leader, and manager. As such, I firmly believe that every entrepreneur should coach youth sports. In addition to the lessons learned, we can use a little more fun in our lives, and the forced mental break from our office is often just what we need.
I can go to a really fun social event or really compelling educational presentation and still find my mind wandering back to work, but as a youth sports coach, I am dialed in for the entire game. It’s a well-needed reprieve.
When I started coaching three-year-olds to play soccer, I realized how ineffective a communicator I was. If you speak too long to them and ramble on, they will simply sit down, walk away, or start talking to their friends. My employees may not have been that obvious on the outside, but more than likely, they were drifting off internally if, or more like when, I was rambling on. When I would have the soccer team huddled up nicely and ask that “someone go get the ball,” they would all go get the ball.
Okay, noted. Be very specific about who you would like to get the ball and what you want them to do with that ball when they get it. If you yell to a kid, “Run straight,” they may, in fact, run straight, but not necessarily in the direction you hoped. Okay, again noted, be more specific. Anyone who has witnessed little guys play soccer knows it’s called magnet ball for a reason. Wherever the ball goes, all of the kids on each team will go with it, even if that ball rolls two fields away. So, clearly defined boundaries are important. Got it.
Coaching youth sports has provided Brian and Mary Jo with invaluable lessons that they carry into their business lives. The parallels between coaching and entrepreneurship are striking and offer a fresh perspective on leadership and management.
If you’re interested in more stories and insights about balancing faith, family, and business, you can preorder their book, “Entrepreneurial Trinity,” now.