Burnaby Minor Hockey Association - Pee Wee Provincial Champs (about 100 years ago!)
People often ask me if I had a vision of becoming an NHL player. Great question.
Though I played 15 seasons at the highest level of my game, I'm not sure that I ever initiated an overarching “I’m going to play in the NHL” vision before accomplishing it. I sort of just fell in love with the game, the process of getting better at the game, and the people around the game. In this part of my life, my passions preceded my vision.
Enjoying the battle was part of this passion, the individual compete side of my sport that connected hand-in-glove with my team’s ability to compete. Participating on teams for 27 of the first 35 years of my life also solidified my enjoyment of what many in sport call “the room.”
Close to 100% of the retired NHL players that I stay in touch with talk about missing the room. I share their loss. I loved pursuing and achieving the win, but for me it was never my win; it was our win.
"Our lives are more like a canvas on which we paint than a script we are to learn, though the illusion of the latter appeals to us due to its lower risk. It's easier to learn a part than create a work of art."- Terryl and Fiona Givens
I enjoyed being part of a team of people who worked hard to figure out how to amalgamate personal differences, while delivering collective results. This created the challenging tension between daily relational connection and seasonal performance results.
This past week, as we spent the day training our client’s top 35 leaders, I was asked the question, “What did your team's management see in you to pick you to be the youngest captain in NHL history [at that time]? Another great question! My first response was that I didn't fully know. I was never brought into any conversation that gave me insights into their process to make this decision.
Previously in minor hockey (top row with the "C" on in the first photo) and junior hockey, coaches had plastered my sweaters with "Cs," and during those times I pondered why. Assumptions are not always accurate but here are a couple of my assumptions in answer to this question.
As I mentioned above, I did like to compete and I still like to compete. My goal was to maximize my talent while being a solid team player. I was not the biggest player, but I always focused on having my teammates' backs. Our Washington GM at the time, Max McNabb told people often that he drafted players who would play hard in Philadelphia! (The Flyers in the 70's were a tough, intimidating bunch). I am pretty sure that factored in.
While I can't say for sure why they made me Captain, I am always on the lookout to better understand systems or processes around how management pick captains and companies pick their leaders. My curiosity around this question led me to discover the book Management Wisdom from the NY Yankees Dynasty, divulging among other things, how the Yankees picked their captains. There were eight Yankee captains between 1922 and 2004. "Yankee management used the following 4 traits or criteria to identify players who would lead their team to superior success:
1. Their accomplishments exceeded the accomplishments of their peers.
2. They inspired others to superior performance.
3. They embodied the core values of the organization.
4. They were recognized and respected as team leaders by their teammates.
Players needed to fulfill all these requirements before management would bestow the title of captain. At times there was no Yankee captain as no player on the team at the time lived up to the role. Captains are first recognized and respected as leaders by their teammates.
Organizations must acknowledge and support these informal leaders. The captain is a role model who links traditional winning ways to current conditions. Leaders are anointed and not appointed: They are recognized by fellow employees as outstanding workers, great people and role models for the organization's values."
If you have read some of our past content or experienced our Leadership Development Training, you will fully understand our strong focus on mindset as the foundational deliverer of behaviours, using our Thinking Tendencies Model, below.
Let’s go deeper. This time view the Yankee’s captain criteria through the mindset lens. What mindset will players need to choose, to consistently deliver this leadership criteria’s behavioural performance?
1. Their accomplishments exceed the accomplishments of their peers.
Mindset? _______________________
2. They inspire others to superior performance.
Mindset? _______________________
3. They embody the core values of the organization.
Mindset?________________________
4. They are recognized and respected as team leaders by their teammates.
Mindset?_________________________
Be reminded of our TTM 6-mindset model again.
Which mindset should be focused on to grow these 4 leadership traits?
Which mindset delivers consistently higher performance?
Which mindset energizes people to live the team values and be recognized/respected as a leader?
We are not saying that players wanting to grow into captains need to be super positive all the time, but you do the math. Which type of thinking moulds and then delivers inspiring leadership?
Words emanating from the Defensive Zone tend to sound like regrets, blaming, shame, defeat, disappointment, fear, anxiety, worry, pessimism, and seeing the worst in people.
Words emanating from the Offensive Zone focus more on gratitude, thankfulness, successes, accomplishments, goals, improvement, positive energy, and seeing the best in people.
Mindsets informs language; language predicts leadership behaviour.
The question that we must ask ourselves often is: Can I spend long periods of time in the Defensive Zone and become the leader I desire to be?
Look around at some of the leaders that you really respect. Do you hear them use mostly Offensive Zone or Defensive Zone language?
Here is today’s challenge. How do you stack up within the 4 criteria of NY Yankee Captains? Is your mindset moving you closer or further away?
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