Even a Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day……

For the readers who appreciate and love great sports rivalries, paying a compliment to your rival can seem like drinking acid.  If just looking at your rival’s jersey makes you gag and fires you up, you would rather slam your hand in a car door than say something positive about your arch-nemesis.  I have mellowed somewhat as I have gotten older, but as an Ohio State fan, the sight of seeing the maize and blue of the Michigan Wolverines makes my skin crawl.

My favorite story about this rivalry talks about Woody Hayes and an assistant coach returning to Ohio from a recruiting trip into the State Up North. The car was running low on fuel as Toledo beckoned, but Woody would not let the assistant purchase gas in Michigan so they were not contributing to the state’s economy, even at the risk of pushing the car across the state line.  NOW THAT’S A RIVALRY!

Bleah!  This was my initial reaction when I came across Bo’s Lasting Lessons:  The Legendary Coach Teaches the Timeless Fundamentals of Leadership written by John Bacon.  I know Mr. Schembechler was a great coach, but he coached at Michigan, for goodness sakes.  Blasphemy!  However, being a sports historian, knowing that he assisted Woody Hayes at Ohio State, played and coached at Miami University (where I work), and grew up in Akron, gives me solace knowing he is an Ohioan who Michigan had to import into their program.

Over my life, I have read around 200 books on leadership and personal development.  Simply put, this is one of my three favorite leadership books of all time. From start to finish, there are wonderful talking points from a common sense point of view.  If you are familiar with Mr. Schembechler’s voice, you can imagine his voice crackling through these points and getting you pumped up to do your best.  If you are a football fan familiar with the great tradition of Michigan, you will love the personal anecdotes Schembechler shares to hammer his points home.  It is easy to see why players loved to play for Bo and why they excelled during their playing careers and as adults.

The book concludes with wonderful reflections from Mr. Schembechler, who passed away just before the book was published, his former players and coaches, and colleagues.  These sections alone illustrate the value of the kind of leadership Bo discussed in the book.  He clearly lived his ideals.

If you are an athletic coach, it is easy to relate his concepts into your program.  However, the concepts in this book are relevant to any profession and the type of leadership needed to excel.  Men, Women, and Teenagers on any kind of life journey will get value from this great read.

Click the links on each chapter below to get the notes from each section.

Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 11; Chapter 12; Chapter 13; Chapter 14; Chapter 15; Chapter 16; Chapter 17; Chapter 18; Chapter 19; Chapter 20; Chapter 21; Chapter 22; Chapter 23; Chapter 24; Chapter 25; Chapter 26; Chapter 27; Chapter 28; Chapter 29; Chapter 30; Chapter 31

Please enjoy the information and be sure to see my other reviews listed below.  Thank you for reading and feel free to drop me a line.

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Here are a couple of my most viewed posts.

Click here for my book review of Toughness:  Developing True Strength On and Off the Court by Jay Bilas

Click here for my book review of The Power of Negative Thinking by Bob Knight

I am the author of The Basketball Match Up Zone and Multi-Purpose Basketball Offense ebooks.