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FIRST PERSON: Learning leadership from little league by Brett Maragni Date: Apr 3, 2009 |
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--One of the most vivid leadership lessons in my young life came the summer before the sixth grade. A traveling team made up of 11- and 12-year-olds from my hometown was being formed to compete with teams from other towns in our region. We would participate in a regional tournament that would send the best on to state tournament, with, of course, potential to go on to the famed Little League World Series. I say “we” because I planned to play on that team. It was not to be. There would be no “we” in that team for me. A few of my other 11-year-old friends made the team, but I missed the cut. The way I found out about it made a major impact that has stuck with me to this day. It was a true lesson in leadership. I did not find out that I missed the cut from a phone call or from my parents. The coach, Larry Durham, came to our house, sat down on our couch in our living room and broke the news to me – face to face, man to man. He was honest, straightforward and compassionate. I remember him telling me that me that my defense was outstanding but I needed to be more aggressive at the plate. As sad as I was, I could tell that meeting was far harder for him than for me. It was the first real taste of personal athletic defeat in my life, but I learned a couple of real lessons in leadership that have never left me. First, great leaders are straight up with people, lovingly and honestly. Second, great leaders do not shirk responsibility, even when the task is very hard. As I look back on it after all these years, I am not surprised that Larry carried out this responsibility with such class. This one act of him coming to my house and breaking the news to me was consistent with what I saw in him day in and day out as a coach. Larry was a man’s man. A veteran, a coal miner and an avid outdoorsman, he was tough, and even somewhat gruff at times. A fiery competitor, you could expect some well-deserved correction if you were being lazy or playing half-hearted. And the correction would sting. But there was also a gentleness and tenderness in him that caused you to know that he genuinely cared. Those characteristics of law and grace always seemed to manifest themselves at the right times, revealing a discernment that was almost instinctual. He knew when to push and he knew when to pull back. I never had the honor to talk with him about it, but I suspect that his motivation was not just to win games, but to mold young men. That one meaningful act of coming to my home and breaking the news to me face to face stemmed from the character of a man who would do it no other way. That is really the biggest lesson of this story: great leaders are first great men. If you want to be a great leader, be a great person. The character that is in you will be manifest in great acts that inspire, instruct and encourage others. --30-- Brett Maragni is senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel of Jacksonville, Fla.
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