- The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life
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- Lin Dunn
Latest Podcast
Today we released our latest podcast episode, featuring an interview with American basketball coach Lin Dunn.
Beginning in 1970 with a six-year tenure at Austin Peay State University, Lin spent 25 seasons coaching at the college level, winning an impressive 447 games and going to the NCAA championships on 7 occasions.
In the year 2000 she then became the first coach and GM of the Seattle Storm in the WNBA, bringing superstars Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird onto the team. Her next head coaching role would be with the Indiana Fever, who she coached to a win at the WNBA Championship in 2012.
Named Coach of the Year on 4 different occasions and a member of seven different athletic Halls of Fame, Dunn’s impressive resume has also seen her coaching the USA women’s team at both the Olympics and the World Championships.
Now in her 70s, Dunn has returned to the Indiana Fever as their General Manager and is still as passionate and engaged about the sport as ever.
One of the main topics we discussed during our interview with Lin was that of mentorship. Lin is a mentor to many of the coaches that we have interviewed for this podcast, and is a passionate advocate for surrounding yourself with people who will - in her words - give “an honest opinion” and “challenge you to do better”.
On a personal note, Lin also continues to challenge herself; her belief that “when you’re through learning, you’re through” inspires her passion for life-long learning.
Finally, one key highlight I took from the interview was listening to Lin talk about her experiences with racial prejudice and sexual discrimination as a coach in the 1970s, and how she persevered in finding ways to work around it.
I hope that you find this week’s episode as inspiring as we have, and that you find plenty of things to reflect upon as you listen.
As always, please do let me know what you thought!
How Does Your Leadership Compare?
Last week we released a special episode on Leadership Traits, and it was great to see how it resonated with our listeners and followers. A good number of you also headed over to our website to try our free leadership survey and compare your leadership style to those of the Great Coaches.
The survey takes just a few minutes and should help you identify areas of relative strength and weakness - if you give it a try, I’d love to hear how it went (and how you felt about your results)!
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Leadership Insights
If there’s one thing that can greatly improve your leadership, it’s asking good questions.
Liam Sheedy is one of the world’s greatest Hurling coaches, and he’s also a fantastic storyteller. Our interview with him was a brilliant one, but one particular thing he said has continued to resonate with me:
“In leadership, great questions = great answers.”
As leaders, we can run the risk of asking too many questions. Sometimes (and I am also guilty of this) we use these questions to delay decision making, but ultimately the best questions are ones that help us make decisions more quickly and easily.
After spending some time reflecting on Sheedy’s words, I have compiled a list of more than 50 questions on my phone that, when used at the right time, can help me to better reflect on a situation or to prepare for a one-on-one / coaching session.
As time passes I continue to add questions to my list, occasionally removing ones that don’t produce the right sort of answers. This is something that I would recommend you to try as well; if you find a particularly great question, please let me know so that I can add it to my list.
Share Timeless Leadership Insights With Your Team
Through our interviews with the world’s great sports coaches we have gathered a number of timeless insights on leadership and life.
We feature these timeless insights in our presentations, using video and audio content to allow audiences to hear them being shared in the coaches’ own voices.
Our content appeals to both men and women, across age groups, and can be tailored to meet your needs. What’s more, our presentations can be delivered both virtually and in person.
For more information, please get in touch:
[email protected]
Partners
This newsletter is brought to you by Macquarie University Business School’s MBA program. Designed to empower, challenge and transform, the Macquarie MBA gives you the business skills and knowledge you need to succeed in an evolving global economy.
Find out more: https://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-business-school/
Contact Us
If you have any feedback or if you would like to speak to us directly feel free to contact us at [email protected].
