Ep66 Jim Johnson - What Can 4 Minutes of Courage Teach You About Building an Unstoppable Team?

Jim Johnson  0:00  
I think it's it's a big step even to start to write your goals down. But then the next big step is, what commitments are you gonna make consistently to make that big goal.

Suzanne Taylor-King  0:10  
If you don't have that clear target, one, you don't have something to aim for, you also say yes to too many things that aren't leading to that target. Hey, hey, welcome to a podcast where dreams meet determination and success is just around the corner. I'm your host, Suzanne Taylor King, and I'm here to help you unlock the full potential of your business and your life. Welcome to unlock your way with SDK. Let's unlock your path to success together. Good morning. Good morning everyone. Suzanne Taylor king here for another Friday Live episode of unlock your way with SDK, and you're going to love today's conversation. We are here with Coach Jim Johnson, a legendary high school basketball coach whose one act of leadership turned into the one of the most unforgettable sports moments of our time. He's known for putting Jason J Mack, Mick, elwayne, an autistic team manager, into the game only to watch him score 20 points in four minutes. Coach Johnson's decision became a global symbol of courage, compassion, belief, and he's now a sought after speaker, author, leadership, mentor, who had 22 winning seasons out of 23 and we're going to get into it today. Welcome Jim.

Jim Johnson  1:52  
Thank you. Suzanne, I'm looking forward to this should be a lot of fun. Yeah.

Suzanne Taylor-King  1:56  
So I always share how I met someone, because I think people are fascinated by the fact that I can message someone, or run into someone at Starbucks and end up in a relationship, and what I think is really cool. I was at a conference about six weeks ago, where there was a speaker by the name of Jim Johnson, and we hit it off. I wanted to have him on my podcast. I looked him up on LinkedIn, and found you coach Jim Croft, and I looked at your LinkedIn profile, and I read a little bit about you, and I said, What the heck I'm messaging this Jim Johnson too, because he sounds awesome, and you were receptive to having a conversation and being here on this show. So thank you so much.

Jim Johnson  2:56  
My pleasure. I'll tell you real quick funny story. So obviously, Jim Johnson is somewhat of a common name, yeah. But probably, I would say in the sport world the most well, there's two very famous Jim Johnson's, although they go by Jimmy Johnson. One would be the former Dallas Cowboys coach, and then the NASCAR driver as well. So yeah, but I'll tell you, I spoke in Dallas a number of years ago, and I, back then I was actually getting picked up by somebody in the you know, they had a sign coach Jim Johnson, and he had a huge line there because he thought it was the Dallas or former Dallas follow on coach. So unfortunately, I disappointed the crowd. It was me.

Suzanne Taylor-King  3:38  
Well, I'm sure no one will be disappointed today, because we had a really great conversation last time we talked. And today, I want to dive into leadership, little bit of legacy, and you have this amazing legacy you've created for yourself, and that inner conviction that you have and you know, I think the most important takeaway here is the courage required, even when nobody is watching, to do Some of the things that you've done winning seasons, turning around, I believe, three losing teams in your career, Yep, yeah. And is it because of your philosophy, your leadership, or do you just have a vision for a team.

Jim Johnson  4:43  
Well, I'll start by sharing a quick story, because at the answer, you're at the beginning of my career, I didn't have any of those, although I thought he did, so I my dream. My dad was my high school basketball coach, so he was my hero growing up, and so I wanted to follow in his footsteps. And. And so what I left college, and I wanted to get in to be a teacher of phys ed, and I also wanted to be a coach, but a varsity basketball coach is my dream. And actually, I became a varsity coach very early in my career, at 25 which is pretty young, and I had been a successful Junior Varsity coach for a couple years, so I thought I had it all figured out. And of course, I led that team to 17 consecutive, Yes, you guessed it, losses. And I was at an interim position, and I ended up they as I kid people my presentations, I didn't like what the administration had to say to me at the end of the year. And of course, they said to me, we're going with someone else, or, in other words, you're fired. Yeah, it actually, you know, I think we all have our pains in our lives, you know, adversities, as you said, and you know, I initially I wanted to blame everybody else. I was kind of guided that I thought I would come back. And didn't work out that way, but it probably ended up being the best experience for two main reasons I want to share with your audience. One is it put a burn in my belly that never went away, that I was going to prove that I could be a successful coach. And number two, it opened up an arrogant young, 25 year old and realized I had a lot to learn, and I started in my study of leadership, and that helped me immensely. And I got a break. The next year, I ended up being an assistant coach at junior college, and little did I know Suzanne. His name was Bill van Gundy, and at that time, his sons were, one was my age, and one was a couple years younger, and they ended up both being head coaches in the NBA. So so there's a pretty good pedigree between learning from Coach van Gundy and then really my own study, and I got back into the high school. And as you mentioned, I took over three programs after that that had all been losing. Unfortunately, we did much better. And a lot of it had to do with, you know, I developed these leadership keys that I really live by to try to help me be a successful leader. And now I'm fortunate I share those leadership lessons quite a bit around the country.

Suzanne Taylor-King  7:11  
Well, what I what I think is really the key takeaway for me in that story is that the failure piece lit the fire in your belly, right? And, you know, I think you have, what, over 400 wheels, yeah. And so when you think about that, what do you think was the most pivotal personal development leadership knowledge that helped you with that,

Jim Johnson  7:48  
I would say, early in my career, was the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In fact, I got a chance to speak for Franklin Covey, and unfortunately, it was after Dr Covey had passed. But one of the things he talked about in the seven habits book, was getting clarity of who you are, that you're having your own personal mission. And that was something that I had never even heard of, let alone have one. And it's funny, because I asked that question a lot now, how many of you have and when I, I'm speaking to a business next week, it'll be interesting, because I probably get a very small percentage that will raise their hand and say, I have a personal mission statement in writing. But that helped me immensely, because I always share with leaders, if you don't stand for something, you fall for everything. And so I started to think about it, and I give people some ideas of what help, how it helped me, but how I also came to it. And one of the things is I asked this question a lot to myself, Why did I put why was I put on this earth? But I'm a person of faith, so I put, why did God put me on this earth? And I started to really do a lot of thinking, and when I really got clarity, I have a personal mission statement in writing, but it helped me really my mission statement is to be an outstanding role model that makes a positive difference the world by helping others make their dreams come true. And you think I encourage people is, I believe your personal mission is going to be something bigger than yourself. And you know, as I talk to leaders in business and leaders of athletic teams, is it's got to be more than making profit or winning games, although both of those are important, and you know, if you don't win games after a while, they probably don't bring you back. And if you don't make money in business, you don't have a business, right? But I think if it's not bigger, then you don't last. And that was the one when I got clarity. That's why I think it was able to last for quite a while and then have quite a bit of success after that initial thing. So, you know, I always share with people, the first person you get a lead is yourself, and once you can get that, I mean, then I'll say one other thing. Now we can delve more into leadership lessons, but the second piece for me is getting clarity of how you can build trust with your team and delve into that more deeply. But I think that's essential. People, if you're going to be a leader, people got to trust you agreed.

Suzanne Taylor-King  10:04  
And I think these are, you know, not only sports lessons, they are business lessons, I would argue, parenting lessons, dating lessons. There's so many similarities here. And when I talk to entrepreneurs and they don't have a mission or a vision or where they would like to be in five years, 10 years, 20 years, I think it's one of the most powerful things to help people see that when they haven't imagined that yet. Yes, what do you use when that comes into play? For you, what does that look like, helping somebody see that vision when they can't see it yet?

Jim Johnson  10:59  
Well, again, I think the delvile deeply is, I think you have to really figure out who you are. Sonia, one of the other steps I share with people is, I think you have to have clarity of your core values, all right, and then the clarity of, you know, what are your most important goals? You know, we did a lot of work with our players and goal setting. And, you know, we always talk to them about when you think it, ink it. We gave them a whole process of how we help them with their goals, both individually in a team, and I think so, getting them to think about what they want. And then the other important part about goals is, I think it's it's a big step even to start to write your goals down. But then the next big step is, is really giving a plan of action. What commitments are you going to make consistently to make that big goal? And that's where, when I started to develop these processes and systems to be a better basketball coach. You know, those are things are, as you said, pertinent, whether you're running a family or running a business. You know, any kind of leadership you're working with people is you got to have processes and systems, and starts with clarity of mission, as you mentioned, and then clarity of where do you want to go, you know, is the famous Zig Ziglar quote, If you don't have a target, you can't hit it, right?

Suzanne Taylor-King  12:20  
So, yeah, I love there's, there's a stoic kind of philosophy about having clear targets, that if you don't have that clear target, one you don't have something to aim for, right? You also say yes to too many things that aren't leading to that target. And I noticed this over and over again with companies and entrepreneurs especially, right? But in the sports world, I think what's interesting is this concept of flow when when you have a clear target, and you know yourself, you know your athletic abilities, you can actually push that, and I think unknowingly, you were really good at that, And what did that look like? Did did the vision come first for the players, or was it more discipline and practice and the actual sports of it all?

Jim Johnson  13:34  
Well, I think you have to have, you know, a big vision. You know, you could say to the famous B hag, big, hairy, audacious goal, something that you're really striving for. Now, the path to get to that goal is not a straight path. There's a lot of bumps and bruises and ups and downs and going right and going left and so in figuring that big, you know, vision mission, you know, big goal is the having clarity of developing processes. Because you have to develop consistency. You know, as we always used to talk to our our players, and it's the same in business, you got to be good in the basics, all right, that the fundamentals, the things each day, and as a leader, one of the things I you know, because I speak to both businesses, I do a lot of educational groups, because that's where I always kid. I would say, spoke to a group of educators in Kansas a couple of weeks ago, and, you know, I kidded them that the three hours in education is not reading a rhythmic arithmetic and writing, it's relationships, relationships, relationships. And we forget that sometimes building those relationships and then teaching your people of how they can be really good in the fundamentals. You know, whether it's basketball or the business or whatever you're trying to do, all of those have fundamentals that you have to be become as good as you can if you're going to, you know, reach those big goals. Yes,

Suzanne Taylor-King  15:00  
yeah, I relate. You know, business fundamentals very much like sports and so many entrepreneurs want to offload those fundamentals in the beginning. You know, they want to have somebody else come up with the content or the getting the clients, you know, whether it's lead gen or, you know, having a sales person, right? When I often feel as though the ones who learn all of that themselves almost become better delegators, better leaders, better knowing what their company needs versus listening to every person who's trying to sell them something.

Jim Johnson  15:56  
Yeah, I think it's a great point, because you know, the more that you can experience things and be willing to do the things, you know, just to be a great example. You know, one of my seven leadership skis is is being a great role model for people, and that means, you know, like, I wasn't afraid, even at the end of my career, to sweep the gym floor or pick up a piece of trash off they because you do still want to set the example. But I also understand to do something really big. You know, as the leader, you can't be spending all your time cleaning the gym, because that's not your main role. But people want to know that you're there, that you will go down in the trenches with them, you know. And you know, it's just like helping. You know, if you're teaching, working with sales people, you know, to go on calls with them and help them and, you know, give them feedback and ask them a lot of questions. Like, you know, a couple things. I think with leaders, I'm, I'm big of acronyms, because we did a lot in education where I think the best leaders now are the CQA, so the chief question askers. And then, you know, building that, you know, that vision for what's the future is, as I believe leaders got to be the CST, which is the chief storytellers. And one of the things that I think I got quite good at as I progressed in my career, is I was always taught, teaching our players through stories. And I used a lot of stories of both warnings and examples, yeah, and because I would bring up an example, like, how come this professional player, he has great statistics, but his team never wins? And that we'd have a discussion about what, why is it? And then I bring up a, you know, two days later, Hey, want to share another story. How about this player? He has good statistics too, but his team wins. What's the difference? You know? And that's where you're teaching and getting them to realize what it takes to be successful. And you know, what your goals are.

Suzanne Taylor-King  17:53  
So I love that so much, because I think storytelling is one of the things that I had an unconscious ability when I first became an entrepreneur, and it came from my dental career. Believe it or not, I worked with a lot of young children, and, you know, they're fearful at the dentist, and it was always about a story or being entertaining or, I think that's that friendly, safe feeling, and I got used to being that person for people, and it's really, it's really helped my Career tremendously. I think I'm most curious for you, the moment of inclusion that really created a ripple effect in in your career. With Jason, I'd love to talk a little bit about that and what prompted that inclusion number one, and the courage required to do that, I'm sure, in front of a gym full of people, yeah?

Jim Johnson  19:14  
So well, I'll just give you a quick backstory to give everyone context. So yeah, you know, Jason came into our program as a sophomore. He tried out for the junior varsity. I was the varsity coach, and I got to give a lot of credit to my JV coach. He came in during tryouts a few days and he says, you know, Coach, we have this young man, and we had a few ingredients of what we were looking for with the right players on our team, and certainly, talent was one of them. You know, we don't want players that can't play basketball on a basketball team. But we had some other things that were really important, and one of them was the passion of the game and the love of being a we over me guy. So to give you context, my JV coach came into the office. He says, you know, I'm this young man trying out for. Team. His name is Jason McElwain. He's on the autism spectrum. He's very small in stature. He's like five, 690, pounds. He's not very good at basketball, but coach, he has this big heart, and he just loves the guys on the team, and I think we should keep in the program. Said what we got in mind? He says, I'm going to have him practice with the team every day, but he's our team manager, and that's how it all started, and then I was starting to get to know Him. In fact, I tagged him the nickname J Mac because I couldn't pronounce his last name. In fact, you pronounced it pretty well. Most people butcher it. In fact, I kid people that if butchering his last name was a misdemeanor, I would have been on death pronounces last name. So I tagged the nickname. And fortunately, it was a win win, because he liked the nickname. And now I didn't have to say his last name is so. So I got to know him some, you know, that year, because he in our situation, the JV and varsity usually played back to back, so he was on the bench for both games. After that season is where I really our relationship blossomed, because he started to come to all our offseason. I was picking him up from his house, and we were always talking basketball and and so. But you know, unfortunately, he didn't grow until after high school. So his senior, he was like five nine, 115 pounds. So he's very small, and we had a pretty talented program. So but, you know, the key thing was him, that I really try to share this powerful message with people, is that he deserved an opportunity, because he was willing to to put the work in. He came every day. And the other thing is, he had this infectious attitude. I used to give my team a quote every day. One of my favorite quotes is, attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth watching? And Jason's was and so he tried out. He's the first young man, and actually the only young man in my 30 years as a head coach that ever tried out three years in a row without making it. But as senior, I had this special place in my heart, because I love the kid. I said, Jason, I still want you to serve as our team manager, but this for your senior season, I want to give you a gift, and the gift is for senior night, the final home game, or Rihanna, the seniors, I want to give me a uniform and hopefully get you in the game. And I kid people that he would periodically ask me about the uniform during the season. Of course, I defined periodically is about every other day. He was pretty pumped up about that. But again, we went through some real adversity. And you know, the book I wrote about it, that was my first keynote, called dreams really to come true. The book is called a coach and a miracle, and it's been out for a while, but I shared all the back stories, too long a story, but the bottom line is, our team was supposed to be really well, really good his senior year, and we started out two and oh, and then we went through some funk, because the team got divided. And I always share to people think about a team that you were on that was divided, yeah, reach your potential. And, you know, almost everybody says no, and we were no different. In fact, we lost three over next five games in that and I was beside myself. But fortunately, we had a new epiphany over our Christmas break, we were in a Christmas tournament, and we were playing at the biggest High School in Rochester, was called Fairport, and we we won in the open round, but we still didn't play very well in the second his team, Fairport, was really good. They beat a team by 40 points that we had barely beaten two weeks earlier. So the next day, we had a short practice, because it was during Christmas break called the shooter out, in which we usually bring in our players for about an hour, and we do some shooting drills and go over some plays and get ready for the game. But I knew I'd do something different, because that wasn't going to be the formula. So I shocked him. I didn't bring any basketballs out. I sat them down, and I said to him, guys, I don't want to go the game that I and they kind of looked at me in disbelief. What do you mean? I said, Well, unless we decide we're going to unite, we're going to lose by 50 points tonight. And and then I brought up a little bit about, you know, look at J Mac, how much he's a comedy. He'll do anything for the team. But right now, we don't have that. So I tried to spark a little bit. But the best thing I did, and something I really encourage you as leader, and something I really improved, but wasn't that great until that season, as I became a much better listener, and I became vulnerable, and I said to him, I said, guys, I don't have the answer, but you do. You got to be willing to share how we can get this team united. And I waited, it seemed like two minutes. It was probably 30 seconds, and somebody shared an idea, and by the end of that hour, we had never brought a basketball out, but everyone felt that, at least they were heard. It helped immensely. I wish we I could say we won the game that night. We didn't, but we lost in overtime, and it showed. What we could do. And then we, you know, we went on a win streak, going, I think, eight over next nine games going into senior night. And I don't know if you want me to take you through a little bit about

Suzanne Taylor-King  25:09  
senior Yeah, yeah, tell us about senior night, right?

Jim Johnson  25:13  
So senior night that year was February 15. I gave Jason his first jersey on February 13. And in fact, he didn't care, even though it was so big, he was swimming. And in fact, there was a rumor going around school that he slept in it for two straight nights, although he denies that rumor. But seeing you tonight, just for your listeners, that the way we did it is we would bring out all the senior players in the senior cheerleaders and their parents or guardians before the game, and we would honor each player. And it was profoundly touching Suzanne to see Jason editing his white shirt and black tie they always wore to the games. He's now swimming in number 52 and to see him embrace his parents was a memory I will always cherish. Well, the game, I really wanted to get Jason in, but I knew I had to get all the other players in in fairness. And so after three quarters, we got everybody in but Jason. So just over four minutes, I thought the time was right. I turned I pointed him. He knew who ran on the court. He was so excited. And he gets on the floor for the first time, and we had a good student body following. There's a big video this. I show a lot of my on my ESPN, like a five minute about the story is really powerful, but we had a really good student body following that year. But what I didn't know? What Jason didn't know? When Jason got a basketball court for the first time, our student body, they call themselves a sixth man, they gave a standing ovation. But what Jason? I didn't know. One of our parents made these pictures of Jason's face and put him on paint sticks. They were like, uncle, and they show the paint sticks. Well, Mr. Macho me, I usually don't cry at basketball games. I'm ready to cry right now. Well, that's what happened. I sat down, which I rarely did during games, and tears are flowing down my face. I cannot believe how they brought or welcome into the game. So he now he's in the game. First time he touches the ball, he's got a three pointer from the right corner. He lets it go. I look around like everybody's standing up anticipation, and Suzanne, it misses by like six feet. And I know you're not supposed to pray in the public schools, but I pray, Dear God, please help him get one basket. Next possession, we have a much we're on a fast break, and one of his teammates throws Jason in the ball, and he has about a 10 foot shot. And this time he lets it go, it hits the backboard, hits the rim, and falls off, and the crowd grows. I'm thinking, all right, God's starting to listen. We're getting closer. Yeah. Third possession, he has another three pointer from the right wing. He lets it go this time, magic it goes in the place erupts. And I'm thinking to myself, God, must be a basketball fan. No, he's Jason scored. He's got a three pointer. It can't get any better than this, right? For the next three minutes, Jason's Boy, oh, idol was the late great Kobe Bryant, fact, Jason used to sign his name, Jason J Mac Kobe McMillan, that's how much you like Kobe Bryant, well, I'm gonna fast forward, then I'll give you a couple last points about the game. Six months after that game, Jason's at the ESPY awards in California. He's up for the greatest sports moment of the year, and I kid you not, one of the other finalists is his idol, Kobe Bryant. Kobe has scored 81 points for the Lakers in a game that year, so he's up for the same award. Jason meets his idol and beats him out for the ESPY. Well, how'd he do that? Wasn't just one three. He started making other baskets in the place is just going bananas. And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, this is crazy. The two things I'll never forget was about a minute ago, I'm still seeing on the bench. I'm shocked when I'm seeing tears still flowing down my face, and I get a tap on my shoulder, and I'm shocked. I look behind me and it's j max, mother, and she whispers in my ear, Suzanne coach, this is the best gift you could ever give to my son. I got so choked up, I started crying harder, and then this is how the game ends. Spence reported our opponent that night. I want to give kudos to their coach and their players. They're very good sports, but they score about 10 seconds ago, and our player that takes out of bounds normally throws it our point guard, but this time, he throws it to j max. So j max, dribbling down. It's almost like he's playing a drama because they were going to just let him go and make a short shot. He goes down and he pulls up for a three pointer. He's like, two feet behind the arc. I'm like, Jason, don't shoot for there. You're ruined this moment. He launches this rainbow swish. I look over our the whole gym runs on the floor, including his teammates. And I'll never forget because our players put him up on his show, on their shoulders, with the game ball over his head. And I'll never forget because I had no idea how many points he has scored in our public address announcer comes on and says the leading store for Greece, Athena tonight, J Mac with 20 points, including six. Three pointers. Wow. I'll close this part of by saying, you know, because as a leader, you talk about the the essence of teamwork is that we over me trying to get well, the great thing I love to share, because it was so touched my heart was I never asked the four players on the court to pass Jason the ball. Yet, on those last four minutes of their own hearts, they pass the ball to him every possession, although I will say a sideline. I kid Jason still to this day, because I still see him a lot. Jason, I'm still looking for your first assist you didn't pass the ball once.

Suzanne Taylor-King  30:34  
You waited a long time to get his hand on

Jim Johnson  30:39  
he is I one of my talks. I talk about the ability for Carpe Diem, the ability to seize the day, and he definitely sees the day for sure.

Suzanne Taylor-King  30:48  
Yeah. Well, it's not often that I tear up being my son is 15. He's in 10th grade. He plays varsity volleyball, and he he came to me and said he didn't get to play a whole lot this year, right? He played a lot of JV, but not a lot of Varsity, and it was an honor to make the team, and he got some time well, now most of the varsity team is seniors, and they're and he said, I don't think I'm going to play next year. It was kind of boring being on the bench that much. And I said, you've worked two years to get to this point on the team, and you understand next year you're going to play much, much more. Why don't you have a conversation with the coach? And I said, you're not you're not switching. You can play something else as well, if you would like. But you know, college wants to see consistency, right? And he was like, I get it. I get it. And just the idea that he was going to mean more to the team next year because of how hard he's worked over that few years, it shifted a perspective. Yeah, so I love what we're talking about, and from, from the place of being a mom watching your child play sports, I'm sure it was absolutely incredible. Let's, let's talk a little bit about the impact of moments like that. I'm sure there was others, but that ripple effect of emotion, once someone is on a winning streak, there's a ripple effect. Yeah, yeah. Once, once, there's team cohesiveness and a shared mission and better teamwork. There's a ripple effect of impact of all of that. What do you think leaders today are underestimating about teamwork?

Jim Johnson  33:17  
Well, I think it's something we spend a lot of time trying to learn about the people that were interested in playing our program. And we weren't perfect. It's not a exact science, but, you know, we really and I think why our program became very attractive, because we were attracting the right type of people, and we over me, and I'll give you a quick story. So after that game, Jason becomes a global celebrity. I mean, that spreads all over the world, yet he has to go back for our postseason. And just to give everyone context, at that point in my career as a coach, I was kind of known as the guy that won a lot of games during the regular season, but couldn't win the famous, big one we had won. We, I had taken six different teams through our postseason semi finals, never even making the finals, and so but Jason embraced going back as Team Manager, because he had to play in six regular season games and be on a postseason roster. And he embraced that. And the crazy thing is, Susan, with his kind of going back and showing the importance of being a we person and putting the team first. We end up winning our first championship that year, and it was so it just really, I think the more that you can get people on your team to buy in about putting the team first and then using them is great examples. Yeah, you know. And you know, going back to that famous storytelling, you know, that story I told a lot to various teams, you know, the even teams that you know, because I coached for 10 more years now, Jason came back and volunteered as my, one of my volunteer assistants my last eight years. So, but, you know, people started to not know exactly. Who he was, but I would talk to him about, you know, these are the sacrifices he made. First of all, get an opportunity, and then, second of all, because the great little thing I do this, one of my keynotes, great lesson I learned from Jason was, after that his season, when we, you know, he had his magical game, and then we ended up winning our first sectional championship. Was that, you know, we got interviewed a lot by the media, and they would often ask them, what was the best thing about your senior season, expecting them him to talk about his game, and he would throw him a curve ball, because you say, oh, winning the section five championship, that was the best thing. And the funny thing is, it was just the opposite for me, you know, I was fortunate after that, with Jason on my side for a lot of we ended up winning six more championships. So we had quite a run my last decade. But the thing that I realized is the best thing that ever happened in my basketball coaching career was Jason's night. To me, that was, that was the essence of what it's all about.

Suzanne Taylor-King  35:58  
So, yeah, yeah. And I think when you are the type of person that wants to see other people succeed, wants to see other people in their moment, and celebrates that and encourages that, I think that in itself, is the definition of a great leader, someone who sees your abilities, your greatness, your skills, and actually encourages you to embrace that vision. So I just think what you do is amazing. And I think one of the things that I'm most curious about with with leadership, you know, so many people are chasing more, like it's just, Oh, I gotta win more. I have to do more or, you know, or more money or more material things. And you chased, meaning, you chased that vision and that mission, and what did that give you, as far as job satisfaction or like, where did that leave you in, in that state.

Jim Johnson  37:25  
Well, you know, the the biggest thing is, when I got clarity my mission was that, you know, the things that that really I feel, the fruits of my labor is when I, you know, when players reach back out to me, we get together, you know, like the best player ever coach was my last year. He ended up unexpectedly. He was a very good player, but I didn't even expect this. He ended up playing two years in the NBA. He now plays in Italy, but a couple years after he graduated, he was playing at the University of Vermont, and I met him and my JV coach that took over for me, and he gave me a compliment that I cherish I'll cherish the rest of my life, because he was telling my JV coach that now, as a head coach, the one thing I admired about coach the most was I knew that he cared more about me as a player or as a person than he did as a player. Yeah, and I think that's something that I really talk to leaders is, you know, that old adage, but there's a lot of truth that is that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care about them. And I think when you can really do that, and that was something that I really tried to focus more on, is, is carrying, you know, I want, I was demanding. We expected. But, you know, I also talk to leaders be demanding without being demeaning, you know, show that you care and that you you know that you're going to try to add because people want to get better, you know. And as a coach, I wanted to get better. I think you know, if you're going to establish consistency, you can't stay the same, because the world changes, right? And so that's where you got to keep growing yourself. But I think the ultimate for me is, you know, that first trying to grow myself consistently, but then giving it to my team, you know, my staff, you know, and helping them grow to be the best they could be. I think that's and, you know, you mentioned a little bit. I think the best leaders are the ones that not only care about the people, but are happy for those people's success. And that's much easier said than done. I know Suzette when I was young in my career, I wasn't that much about happy for other people's success. I was trying to figure out how the heck I could be successful. But yes,

Suzanne Taylor-King  39:41  
I think I think back my first business. I started at 22 or 23 Yeah, and I had no idea what I was doing, right? And it was massive success, and I made so much money at 23 Yeah, I had, I had no idea what to do with it. And it was this place of abundance, but I had no appreciation for the abundance, yeah, and so therefore I spent too much, partied too much, traveled, too much. And you know, it was a great fun time, right? Business could have actually been a legacy, but the lessons you learned from screwing up, though, the lessons from spending too much or not knowing what you're doing, have proved so, so valuable today. You know, 40 years later, what does that look like for you? The wins, the losses for the future, Legacy of coach

Jim Johnson  40:53  
Jim. Yeah, that's a great point. And one things I encourage leaders, that I started to do a lot is I think you should do autopsies on both your successes and your failures, or losses, or whatever you want to call that, because, you know, there's, there's a lot of truth to the fact that you're going to probably learn more from defeat or, you know, failure, or whatever you want to, you know, call you know, people sometimes want to say Anything about, you know, a loss or a failure, but, you know, let's face it, you do because it wakes you up, you know, and things don't go the way you want. But I think the other thing is, in being an effective leader, you have to develop systems and processes, and you got to start figuring out what is working. And you know, you're always trying to tinker that. But there are some things going back to one of our early thoughts about being great in the fundamentals and the basics, right? And so when you become great in the fundamentals, then you can, kind of, it's just like in business, I think most times you have to niche down early on. And then, you know, like I did one speech, I was trying to help people that their dreams come true. But I also love leadership. So as I did more speaking, I was like, you know, there's other ways that I can give to people, you know. Like I do the presentation I'm doing next week is on how to build championship team culture, and we talk about one of the steps there is, how do we recognize our people, you know? And I give some some ideas, and get them to think about how they can do a better job of recognizing their people, which is essential to effective leadership.

Suzanne Taylor-King  42:27  
Well, I love the awareness around self awareness. If we're if we're not aware of where we're succeeding or failing, then I don't know, repeating it in the future becomes, you know, much more difficult. And I, I think I've been lucky, well, lucky to have a dad who was in the military and an athlete, yeah. So what I got from that was always this strive for improvement, but also the reflecting on when something didn't work. And one of the most famous lessons from my dad was when I wasn't feeling like training and I begged to cycle with him. He was a cyclist, okay? I would beg to go, go on the bike ride. I want to go on the bike ride. He's like, no, no, it's not a bike ride. We're not going on a bike ride. And these five or six guys would come to our house, and my dad was probably late 40s. He was over 45 and the guys that he cycled with were between 25 and 40, and my dad was the rock star of of the group, and I was 16 years old, and bet like, why can't I go? Why can't tax like, we're not waiting for you. And I, I was kind of shocked. Like, what do you mean, waiting for me? He said, until you can keep up, you can't go, right? Because we're going to be 30 miles from home and not know you're not going to know where you are, or something along those lines. Yeah. So I then had a goal to be able to keep up with my dad, yeah. And we trained for that, and I asked him to train me for that. And I woke up one day and we were going to go out hill climbing, and he took the seat off my bike,

Speaker 1  44:49  
and I looked at the bike. I said, What? What am I doing with this? He said, you'll be

Suzanne Taylor-King  44:55  
standing the whole time today. Oh, wow. And he. I thought. And you know, this combination of being arrogant teenager and also very humbled in that moment, like, Oh, this is going to be hard. And the skills that those lessons taught me about athleticism just carried over to other sports, swimming, snowboarding, surfing, all the things that I've participated in. So I love that message of the future vision. Who do you want to be? And it translates so well for the leaders of today, Jim, I just think this is the missing language in so many companies. So honored to talk about it with you

Jim Johnson  45:49  
today. Yeah, thanks. You know, I'll say one thing, because it sounds like you did, gave you a lot of wisdom there, and that was a great lesson, as you shared, is that, you know, I believe effective leaders have energy, and so, like one of my I don't do this talk as much as I do with my other talks, but I talk about some questions you should ask yourself as a leader, and one is, do you have energy? Do you have a personal wellness plan? Are you taking care of? You know, because, you know, you see people that are fit, they're not fit because they exercise once in a while and eat a good meal once in a while, it's, you know, they're, they're taking care of their body. I mean, you know, we all have our, you know, bad days where we eat something really bad or maybe don't exercise that day. But you know, what you got to really start establishing is some daily practices that you're going to do, a few simple disciplines practice every day, is going to lead to those types of things. And the same thing is when, you know, sometimes you might meet a friend that you haven't seen in, you know, 10 years and they've gained 100 pounds. That happened because they had a bad meal yesterday, they were consistently not doing so I think that's a really important thing. Is if you want energy, you should have a consistent personal wellness plan to take care of that. And the other thing is, you know, making your mind and body sound is having a personal growth plan. You know, how are you getting a little bit better, as we've talked about each day, how are you feeding your mind consistently? Those are really important things to think about.

Suzanne Taylor-King  47:22  
Yeah, I love that perfect place to ask about your book and how my listeners can find out more about you and read your book.

Jim Johnson  47:35  
Yeah, so Well, my website's got all my information on a coach, Jim jackson.com I'm part of, so one book myself. And actually he was a former high school classmate, and he's a newspaper writer, and he actually had two sons on the autism spectrum. So it was a really project of love when we wrote the book called The coach. And a miracle it's, it still is on Amazon, but more if you want, like a signed copy, if you go to coach Jim jackson.com and then last year, I decided to get involved with a multiple projects. I have a chapter and called Lessons for thought leaders, and actually the late Jim Rohn for those who are Jim Rohn fans. I was a big Jim Rohn fan. His manager, his last 20 years, was a guy named Kyle Wilson. Kyle is the one that that headed the project. So that was neat. And that is that one is the thought leader, or lessons from thought leaders, is on Amazon and is also on our website as well. And if I could ever help you, people go the website, I have a free newsletter. I do a free weekly blog, and then, you know, I have a bunch of different things on there that are not and if I can help anyone within one of our programs, whether it's a presentation or some coaching, that kind of thing, I'm always there to try to help people so

Suzanne Taylor-King  48:54  
well. Thank you, Jim. I appreciate you being here and having this conversation with me and appreciate our connection, and thank you for being receptive to a stranger. Yeah,

Jim Johnson  49:08  
no, it's great, and you just never know how you can connect with people. And I would you continue to talk in the future, and I'm wishing you continued success. Thank

Suzanne Taylor-King  49:18  
you so much. Thanks everyone for joining me here on another Friday. Have a great weekend, and we'll see you next week. Thank you for tuning in to another empowering episode of unlock your way. I hope you found today's discussion inspiring and you're ready to take your business and personal growth to that next level. If you're feeling as fired up as I am and eager to unlock that full potential, I'm here to help you on your journey and provide that personalized guidance tailored to your unique goals and challenges, simply book a one on one coaching call with me, and we'll dive deep into your business aspirations. And see how we could co create a road map for your success, and whether you're striving to scale an enterprise or just getting started. I'm here to support you every step of the way. To schedule your coaching call, simply visit the website at unlock your way with stk.com click on the book a call button, and we'll turn your dreams into that reality. Subscribe and review on your favorite podcast platform and on YouTube, plus, you can join over 800 entrepreneurs in the IDEA Lab Facebook group. Let's make success as an entrepreneur happen together until next time I'm SDK, keep dreaming big. Stay focused, and most of all, have fun while you're doing it.

AI VO  50:58  
This show is powered by media leads to get your next great podcast produced. Go to media leads co.com