This past weekend, sports fans(myself included) witnessed greatness and leadership in a number of sports—more on that later in this column.
Today, we are getting the best golf lesson we can ever take. It came from a golf pro—Scottie Scheffler…and it’s a big one.
His performance—and most importantly—his conduct at last weekend’s Presidents Cup was the stuff of legends.
Mr. Scheffler’s actions demonstrated how we can be better people and better leaders.
The famous former basketball player, Charles Barkley, declared in a 1993 Nike commercial that athletes are not role models. While I tend to agree with “Sir Charles,” Scottie Scheffler proved otherwise on Sunday. In his match against Nico Echavarria of Colombia, an American fan yelled at Echavarria’s backswing, causing him to slice his tee shot into the right rough. Primarily due to that poor tee shot, Echavarria was still 32 feet from the hole after three shots on the par-4 hole while Scheffler had a tap-in putt left for par. Even though it was highly unlikely Echavarria would make the putt, Scheffler conceded it to him, and the two players tied the hole with each scoring a par. Basically, Scheffler gave Echavarria a tie on the hole, when he clearly would have lost, to make up for the poor sportsmanship of the American fan. While Scheffler did not have to do that, he demonstrated respect for his fellow competitor and took accountability for the action of the American fan. This demonstrates Scheffler’s ability to be a role model for us and his first leadership lesson:
- Respect Others and Take Accountability: To be a good leader, we must show respect to others: coworkers, customers, suppliers, competitors. Such respect fosters a healthy organization/corporate culture. Also, respect begets respect. If we demonstrate respect in all areas of our lives, we will see mutual respect grow all around us. In addition, leaders who take accountability not only for their own failures, but for failures of their organization, are the most effective. Although Scheffler had no control over the fan, by calling him out and then conceding the putt, he took ownership of the fan’s bad behavior. We can be more effective leaders by demonstrating such accountability.
This is nothing new for Scottie Scheffler. As Scheffler has risen the ranks to the number one golfer in the world, he has consistently shown attributes of great leadership. Those include:
- Poise Under Pressure: Top golfers like Scheffler face numerous pressure situations, particularly in events like the Presidents Cup and major championships. No matter what happens, Scheffler keeps his composure in these situations. Great leaders need to keep their composure when the pressure is on so others will follow. This goes hand-in-hand with…
- “Goldfish Memory:” Great leaders learn from their mistakes and move on. They do not dwell on those mistakes. After a bad shot, Scheffler forgets about it and quickly works on how to recover from it. Mistakes are not fatal unless, as a leader, we dwell on them instead of acting.
- Continuous Improvement: Whether Scheffler has a good round or a bad round, after he finishes, you will find him on the range and/or putting green. He is constantly working on improving his craft, as all good leaders need to do. If you do not continuously improve, you and your organization will get passed by. But great leaders do not sacrifice…
- Work-Life Balance: Although Scheffler puts in an enormous amount of practice time, he clearly prioritizes his family. He brings his wife and children with him to tournaments, and he spends lots of significant time with them. A leader needs to show his/her people that he/she can relate to the need for such balance in their lives.
- Recognize Your Team/Humility: Scheffler has won lots of tournaments and lots of money over the past few years as he moved to the number one ranking in the world. After every win, he tends to downplay his own efforts, while recognizing his caddy, his swing coach, and the rest of his support team and family. Like great leaders, he shows the humility necessary to lead an organization.
For sports fans like me, this past weekend was a dream come true: the end of the Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season, a full slate of Top 25 college football games, and week three of rooting for our favorite teams and/or our Fantasy Football players.
While Scottie Scheffler plays an individual sport, he still demonstrates many of the attributes of a great leader. In particular, this past weekend, he showed us how we should behave both in our business and personal lives. While I watched a lot of sports this past weekend, it took Scottie Scheffler to make that time spent a worthwhile investment.
