A Big Disappointment with one of my heroes

Bobby Knight is not exactly my biggest hero, but I have a quotation of his prominently on my wall that I find inspirational.  For those of you who are not basketball fans, Bobby has a remarkable record that stands well in the entire field of sports.

He has coached 902 winning games in the NCAA Division 1 Basketball.  When he retired that was the record, but it has since been passed by Mike Krzyzewski, one of his former players and assistant coaches.  Knight won 3 national NCAA championships at Indiana University and also coached the U.S. men's basketball team to an Olympic gold medal in 1984.  Along the way he infuriated a number of people by his rough tactics including throwing a chair on the court during a game and being verbally abusive to players and reporters.

I don't condone all of his methods, but I greatly admire him for a particular quote which I try to keep in mind, especially when things aren't going so well.  "The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win."  We all admire talented people who can turn it on when it really counts, but the rest of us might not be as talented.  Of course some talented people actually worked hard to be considered talented.  Coach Bobby Knight was noted for thorough preparation.

What I got out of the quote was that although you might not be able to summon up the strength to do something that can make a difference right now, you can always do something to improve your situation for the next opportunity.  It is so easy to despair when things are rough, but better to analyze the situation and your resources and then carefully plan to do better.  Preparation for the opportunity is always a good idea and there is always something that can be done.  When you are not successful at some goal you can usually look back and appreciate you didn't do enough preparation.

My disappointment was seeing on television Bobby Knight, who is very well respected in Indiana endorse Donald Trump.  I heard a brief piece on NPR this morning commenting on how many sports leaders had also done so.  They all had a few traits in common--an anger at reporters and a strong authoritative behaviour.  Bobby Knight fits that pattern and so does Donald Trump.

I admit that society needs those people to get some things done, but they are not always the best source of advice.  Donald Trump is a noted admirer of Vladimir Putin and one can see similarities, but one hopes neither has control over our government.

Donald Trump cannot be blamed for wanting to be president, but in my opinion he would be a disaster.  He is smarter than he portrays himself, but he is deliberately appealing to baser instincts.  It was once said that to every complex problem there is a simple solution that is wrong.  Trump is preying on people's unhappiness by offering simple solutions that would make the situation worse.

Building a wall will create negative results on both sides of the border.  Banning Muslims will be used  to inflame extreme actions for both Muslims and non Muslims.  His attitude towards torture  is machoistic and counter productive.  Insulting women will aggravate inequality to hurt us all.  Platitudes can be misleading whereas explanations can be evaluated.  He once expressed gratitude to all the poorly educated people who voted for him.  That should be taken as a challenge to improve the education system.  My views on torture:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2014/12/torture.html

I can still admire Bobby Knight for some of his insights, but my image of him is tarnished.  Donald Trump is a very scary phenomenon who I wish I didn't feel compelled to write about.  He thrives on attacks.

START WITH WHY

Simon Sinek had been trying to discover the source of what inspires.  He states that most sales are done through manipulation with such tools as pricing, fear and aspirations.  Manipulation works, but it doesn't inspire.  What he has learned is that people do not buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.  This is the secret to inspiration.

His models include Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Martin Luther King Jr and Herb Kelleher.  They inspired people not because of their manipulations, but because people felt inspired about why they were doing what they chose to do.

Simon improved his understanding when it was explained to him about how the brain works.  The limbic system is innermost and makes decisions without words, in other words based on emotions and feelings.  The Neocortex helps to rationalize decisions and can influence decisions.

Colin Powell makes an important observation in this information overloaded era, "I can make a decision with 30% of the information.  Anything more than 80% is too much information."  Personally I would just be concerned that you pick the right 30%.

Customers aren't always right.  Southwest Airlines  founder Herb Kelleher once said "It is a company's responsibility to look after the employees first.  Happy employees ensure happy customers and happy customers ensure happy shareholders in that order."  By treating employees fairly, trust is developed and loyalty that is transferred to customers and shareholders.

Another example given is with the Education for Employment Foundation, set up by Ron Bruder who is using this organization to develop optimism for opportunities in the Middle East.  Ron felt part of the problem in the Middle East is that too many young people are discouraged from innovating and he has set out to move in the right direction.  Innovation can be a key to jobs.

Getting back to the premise, Simon elaborates with the idea that value is a perception and not a calculation.  People buy brands that give confidence as they understand the compelling why behind them.

With innovative inspirational entrepreneurs an important lesson is that in trying to crack the mass market you need to identify early adopters first.  They are the ones who will understand the why and their enthusiasm and loyalty will carry towards the rest of the market.

An obstacle to continued growth is success.   As long as the leader is still around there is inspiration, but sooner or later they leave and the Why often gets lost to the How and the What.  One example is Walmart whose founder, Sam Walton might be best known for low prices, but in reality his secret was in how he treated his employees.  Other companies have been more successfully in passing on the original drive and some examples have been at Apple and Southwest Airlines.

Simon worked with ad agencies and wondered why some campaigns worked and others didn't although the ingredients seemed essentially the same.  As he came to understand the brain he concluded that too often the What and the How were understood, but not the Why.  Leaders need followers and the best are those who share enthusiasm for the Why.  In conclusion Simon says two things are required for innovative success.  The first is a vision of he world that does not exist.  Equally important is the ability to communicate it.  The vision comes from Why.

You can read more about Simon and his ideas at https://www.startwithwhy.com

Why is an important question, not asked enough, particularly by adults.  Earlier I had hit a similar theme from Amanda Lang http://www.johnfdavidson.com/2013/04/the-power-of-why.html  She felt that curiosity had been knocked out of a lot of people as they were socialized, but that following up Why was the way to innovate.