Leadership in the Locker Room and Beyond

What makes a great leader? Recently I was asked this in a job interview. My immediate thought was someone who sacrifices for their fellow teammates. Someone who knows that it’s not all about them. Someone who knows that his or her goals are not the only ones that matter and those of the team are also just as important. In sports, leaders come in all shapes and sizes. Maybe it’s the captain on the team. Or maybe it’s someone who is a tenured veteran. Whoever that person may be, they possess these qualities among so many others…

Now I could name off a long, long list of incredible leaders in all different facets of sports. From coaches to players there are so many incredible leaders in the field today. But one leader has been in our minds as of late after the tragedy that struck the sports world almost two weeks ago…

Legendary leadership. Two words that describe all that Kobe Bryant possessed both on and off the court. He was a leader during his career. He was a leader after his career. His legacy of leadership will go on for decades and probably centuries after he is gone. While it still feels like a dream, this kind of selfless leader comes along once every so often and when they do, they change the world.

Now what makes a leader like Kobe so unique and so special to the world is their all-encompassing sense of compassion and selflessness. It wasn’t about titles or holding records… he played for the love of the game. He played to show his family and especially his daughters that what happens on the court doesn’t always matter. It’s who you are when you step off that truly shows who you are. He instilled these behaviors in his daughters, in his teammates, and in anyone who looked up to him and wanted to be the next Kobe Bryant.

Leadership like this comes along very few times in a lifetime. As a team executive, it is a dream when someone with that amount of talent and that amount of understanding comes in to your locker room. We see similar traits in those such as Lebron James, Megan Rapinoe, Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter and so many others. These incredible leaders in sports today have inspired each other and come together to continually inspire a population just as Kobe does. As a fan and an aspiring team executive, I dream of the day that I have someone in my locker room that works just as hard on their game but also their leadership. I aspire to have a leader that puts a stadium in awe of their raw talent but also see their undying grace and selflessness.

In 2018, Kobe visited the University of Alabama’s football team. In his time there, he shared a key element of being a great leader. “To be an effective leader, you have to be a really good listener,” he said. “And not to what’s being said, but to what’s not being said.” Leaders must be the best listeners in the room. They have to be able to read a room. Hype up their squad in the best way possible. Inspire a team to victory.

Leadership in the locker room matters. It sets a tone. How a coach and players are in the locker room ultimately shows how they will be in a game. There is a time for yelling. There is a time for strategy. There’s even a time for dancing after a big victory. Each leader is unique in their ways. For leaders like Kobe Bryant, that meant a sense of humbleness when it came to who he was as a player. It was selflessness and pride in his team. His legacy spanned the vast majority of sports. He was kind. He valued his family. And he worked hard to obtain his goals and dreams.

So the next time I’m asked in a job interview or in a casual conversation what makes a great leader, I know exactly what I’m going to say. A great leader is humble. A great leader is selfless. A great leader makes sacrifices for the good of the team. A great leader is Kobe Bryant.