CEO of Sports 1 Marketing, one of the world’s leading sports & entertainment marketing agencies, David Meltzer provides the tools you need to make the right call when facing important decisions.
When the pressure is on, the best leaders remain laser-focused, confident, and fully in charge of themselves and their roster of talent. The most successful people always win the games they play because they have set themselves up with a superior decision-making process.
So, what sets the best of the best apart from everyone else? The answer is threefold; these leaders have strong foundational values, they are willing to ask for help (and encourage others to do the same), and they have built a mindset which prepares and empowers them to keep making the right calls.
Build Your Foundation in Order to Build Your Team
No matter what industry or situation you are currently in, there is one common component of most successful organizations: dynamic leadership. That leadership is borne from a foundation of strong values, and it is those values or characteristics with which you can rally your “team” around.
Codify the values that are most important to you and then incorporate those in every aspect from your business, from onboarding to training and daily communications, and when you are consistently aligned with those values you will always make better game-time decisions.
When it comes to actually adding to your roster, you need to manage your team like you’re the general manager of a sports team. Contemplate whether your team members are adding value for the time and energy that you invest in them, or if they are inhibiting the rest of your team’s ability to succeed. Sometime, you need to cut those individuals who are not aligned with your goals and values, regardless of personal feelings toward that person.
Create a “Coaching Tree” of Mentors to Accelerate Growth
One of the fastest ways to grow personally and professionally, or even to encourage others in your organization to learn and develop, is to utilize mentors who sit in a position that we want to be in. I always advise that people should have at least three mentors to reach out to, in order to leverage their experience and situational knowledge. These mentors can help you to avoid making the same mistakes they did or help you to ensure that you are on the right path.
On of my favorite examples of the impact that mentorship can have on a person comes from NBA legend Bill Russell. Undoubtedly one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Russell’s life could have easily gone a different direction after he was cut from his JV team as a sophomore, after only one day of tryouts. If a former coach of his hadn’t invested in him, taking him under his wing and even paying for a Boys & Girls Club membership for the young man, Bill’s Hall of Fame Career might not have ever materialized.
Of course, a key component of mentorship comes from being humble enough to ask for help in the first place. And this humility is just one of the ways that you can prepare your mind in order to make tough decisions when the “game” is on the line.
Prepare Your Mindset to Make Winning Decisions
There is one skill that I value above all others when it comes to making tough calls, being able to get back to your center. Even when things are getting tough, those individuals who can find a calm mental and emotional state faster tend to make more efficient and effective decisions.
Making decisions from your “center” should also coincide with some other strategies and beliefs in order to build consistency. The first of these is what I call the 100/20 Rule, meaning you carry a belief or energy that you are giving $100 of value and only asking for $20 in return. When you believe in the value you hold, others will believe it, too.
You must also create a proper mistake response for the inevitable times that your decisions do not yield optimal results. This means that your initial reaction to an error should not be to get angry or upset, it should be one of forgiveness. When you are forgiving, you will never trip on the mistakes that are behind you. Instead, you will be empowered to move forward towards even greater achievement.
To learn more from David Meltzer, pre-order his new book today!
