Attitude is Everything: Part 3
Anyone who has ever played sports knows one of the most coveted positions on the team is team captain. This distinction is supposed to go to the individual or individuals on the team that exhibit leadership skills that help move the team to their stated goals. Sometimes it goes to the best athlete on the team, or the most popular person on the team. For me, it's all about the heart and the actions that follow. There are quite a few guys that I can think of that I would nominate, today I got to spend some ironsharpening time with one of them, my friend Dylan.
I recently read a facebook post from a friend of mine, Dr. Min Chung who has served as a mentor to me over the years. This is how he defines a leader:
"Leader is not a dominator, but a developer. He makes others give their best not because they have to but because they love to. When he sees potential in a person, he does not crush it but flourish it. He can see past through the worst of ot...hers, even if he does not like them. The test of leadership is never the height of his own position but the height of the positions of those who he helped to elevate. He aspires to sit on a common seat; however only reason he sits on the highest one is because others would not put him anywhere else. True leadership does not come from his talk but his walk, not from his ability but from his character. To have eternal, not temporal influence in others, the leader must have spirituality because leadership starts from following the Leader and then in turn helping everyone around to follow Him. “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” [1 Corinthians 11:1]"
I would say that Dylan is a example of the above description. We met right before his senior year of high school at the sports performance center that we both train at. We got into this discussion about.... well if you know me you can guess what it was. I was thinking what does a football player, especially a quarterback know about hoop. He said he knew a lot and was able to show me how much. I took the challenge and we went for it. What I discovered while playing and talking was a guy that was just as competitive and driven as me. We had fun that first time out and we decided that we needed to hang out more and talk about what true competition and leadership is.
As we continued to meet together, what i saw was a leader and not only did he talk the talk, he walked the walk. Everytime I went to train at Acceleration, Dylan was there puttin in work. When I went to his football games, what I saw was not only good QB, but a true leader who could lead on the field and on the sidelines. He was always encouraging and congratulating his teammates. When things got tough, he was the picture of calm cool and collected as he led his team to the best season in school history.
What was more impressive to me was his life off the field. As we talked today,I asked him what drives him to work as hard as he does in everything he does. He said that he knows he has been given an incredible opportunity to get an college education and play the sport that he loves. For him, he knows it's going to take sacrifice on his part to achieve the goals he has set for himself. Right now his two main focuses are his classes and becoming the QB that the coach will be looking for to lead the team in the future.
It's that attitude that makes him, not only a member of the "all-star attitude team" but makes him one of the team captains. He is a man that I have a great deal of respect for and one that serves as an inspiration for me. A true ironsharpener!
Stay Forever Strong!
