Here is a blog post from Kevin Eastman's website with a list of leadership thoughts on Kevin Garnett:
• He always looks for teaching opportunities to help young players become “true professionals,” from the way they dress to the way they prepare for the game and for practice, to the way they interact with teammates.
• He lives the “team concept” every day in every way. In fact, last year Kevin wouldn’t do interviews without Paul Pierce or Ray Allen with him because he didn’t want the team to be “his” team; he always wanted it to be “our” team.
• He demands that the coaching staff coach him, call him out, correct him -- so that he can become a better player. He understands that coaching is not criticism, but a very important part of his improvement.
• He works on his game just about every day of our 287-day season. Understands that repetition is the key to being good.
• He is competitive and committed: he plays just as hard whether we are ahead or behind and whether he had 3 shots or 30 points.
• He shows everyone that the great ones just want to get better; always wants to know anything that will make him a better player.
• He often says, “it’s about what you are willing to sacrifice; that’s our way of life here with the Celtics. It’s about putting the team and winning before anything else.”
• He often says, “in order for this thing to work, we all have to sacrifice.”
• He always talks about defense: “We said from Day 1 that we were a defensive team that could also score.”
• And the ultimate sacrifice in today's me-oriented world Kevin says, “from Day 1 we said this is Paul’s team.” Everyone else wanted to make it Kevin’s team but he knew Paul deserved it because Paul had been with the Celtics during tough times.
The list could go on and on, but the point is that true leadership is not about oneself. It is the ability to get not only the most from your own ability but true leadership also means getting the most out of every teammate’s ability as well. Kevin does this by example, by teaching, by his public comments and by his unending commitment to team over self.
Here is an article from the New York Times on Kansas City Chiefs QB Matt Cassel, who had a tremendous 2010 season. Cassel was drafted in the 7th round 2005 by the New England Patriots.when the Patriots picked him up as a free agent. This article talks about how Cassel learned his work ethic and leadership skills from Tom Brady:
Drafted by the Patriots in the seventh round in 2005, Cassel became Brady’s shadow. He arrived at the facility to work out before the first scheduled activity of the day because that is what Brady did. Everything he knows about being a leader, he learned by watching Brady, who won three Super Bowls before Cassel’s arrival.
“He’d always yell at me and say you can’t make the simple mistake,” Cassel recalled, “because how are you going to yell at your receivers, your running backs, your linemen for making simple mistakes if you’re making them?”
Once, Cassel said, he made the simple mistake of forgetting about a noon conference Brady had added to the schedule. When Cassel showed up on time for a 12:15 meeting, Brady glowered.
“He was furious,” Cassel said. “He asked me where I had been at 12 o’clock, and I remember saying: ‘Why didn’t you come get me? Because I was in the building, I was just eating lunch.’ And he said: ‘Because I’m not responsible for you. You have to be accountable for yourself.’ ”
"You have three choices in life when looking at any situation. You can take a positive angle, a negative angle or no angle at all.
"I clearly believe in positive mind-sets. Positive needs to be the starting point. I believe in positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is a useful teaching tool, but it is a short-term teaching tool.
"At the end of the day, when you're building a program, it's all about culture. Positive culture equates growth, and that is very important to me - that everyone in our program continue to grow."
"When we're setting goals (we said) what we're going to have to do to make this a special year, we must focus on defending and rebounding and being tough," guard Ben Hansbrough said. "We addressed those goals at the very beginning of the year. We continue to carry that mindset with us."
Here is a blog post from Kevin Eastman's website with a list of leadership thoughts on Kevin Garnett:
