Leadership Style of Bill Russell - Essay Example

Leadership-Bill Russell Bill Russell is regarded as one of the most successful basketball player and coach of all times.This was exhibited during his stint as a player for the Celtics. Dubbed a man of many capes, his carrier was characterized by uncountable championship rings both during his play days and coaching career. Russell became the very first African American to be an NBA coach something that had never happened in the history of the United States. A major pace setter and a performer per excellence, Klein put it that Russell splendid career set standards against whom everybody will be judged (Murray 35-36). However, the mentioned accolades do not exonerate the fact that just likes any other leader and human, he had his failures too. The only difference is that he did not turn his neck off his goals. In this regard, several leadership attributes can be identified from the splendid career of Russell as derived from his book the second wind. From his strengths and weaknesses, four outstanding leadership attributes can be emulated from Brussels lessons and experiences (Russell 67). These include team work and collaboration, managing change, communication, readiness to learn or agility and growth mindset and finally judgment. In addition, personal integrity, commitment and success are also captured in Brussels splendid career span. Russell’s accomplishments and failures are captured in his rules of success. His first rule is on life mission and daily learning experiences. For example he says that “we work to become, not acquire”Leardership entails learning and he recommends that the more a person learns the more, the more he realizes that he still has a lot to learn. This rule is evident in his basketball career after he made several attempts to be included in the junior team with no success. He gives the example that he improved on his skills by regularly watching the past matches that he played. Watching the films made him identify his weakness and improve on them on subsequent matches. Some of his failures he attributed to lack of practice which sometimes fails miserably in some matches. The concept of team work is also one of his major accomplishments (Falkner and Russell 51-55). In a broader sense, he says that whenever he played well, it helped his team mates to even get better results. His key interest was not on personal achievements but using individual skills to uplift team performance. The driving factor behind his commitment he says was not to emerge the best in the entire country but to become astute to their best. Symbolically and to drive his message home, he explains that the basketball was his laboratory, workroom and classroom. Among the activities he cites and which formed the major aspects of his accomplishments included shooting at a rebound angle. Russell (78) notes that learning on the probability of player behavior in certain situations on how they are likely to respond are some of the things they greatly learnt. Commenting on his various awards, he says that quality and craftsmanship never happen by accident. He attributes his success in his entire basketball stint to principled intentions, intelligent directions, skillfull execution and sincere effort. He summarizes that craftsmanship in itself represents the best choice out of several alternatives. On the other hand, he cites his failures to several misjudgments and assumptions that he made during his career as a player and a coach. For example he registered several failures during his academic stint which he attributes to lack of commitment. Most of leadership strengths and weaknesses of Russell are intertwined and inclined to his accomplishment and failures. For example one his lessons outlines that craftsmanship is contagious and those players of any great team should always learn from one another. This was contrary to his personality which seemed to be so much introverted. He rarely took time to talk to his teammates and was always withdrawn (Russell 91). Despite being a great asset to his team, he evaded the media as well which made him unpredictable in nature. His major leadership strength comes out in the role he plays as a coordinator in the field during his times at celtic.Constant practice which was a major part of his habit makes him outstand as a leader both as a player and as coach. He cites craftsmanship as one of the most outstanding leadership skills that any leader should posses and narrates his real life experiences. In his words, he put it clear that craftsmanship puts one ahead of the pack. He says that whether one prefers practice or not, it is an inevitable aspect of positive results. For instance, he gives the example of when he began practicing some skills such as how to move his foot while in the court. He did never felt comfortable when moving his right foot because he was left handed. Over and over again, he trained shooting on his right and this eventually made him a perfect shooter. This brings forth the aspect of not giving up when in leadership position. A leader should practice harder and harder in a consistent basis to improve on his personal weakness. The other strength he exhibited is interest, as a leader he had great interest in basketball and this become the main impetus behind his constant practice. He says “If you have real interest you never give up and always feel like continuing again and again. Difficulties that are encountered are what catapults one to work much had and increase concentration on what he does. He cites that with the passing of weeks and months, he became an astute shooter and could easily move his hand and foot. Russell’s links craftsmanship to success but also proves its importance in leadership. He says” if you don’t do it best, better don’t do it at all”. From his perspective, actions speak much louder than words and memos. People are likely to follow what others do than what you merely tell them to do. Further more, the three points of view that can be derived from the proponents of Russell’s view include, commitment, team work and collaboration which are evident from his car career achievements. However, from the detractors point of view, Russell comes out as too introvert and withdrawn in nature an aspect not very recommendable in leadership. The other factor that can be of interest to Russell’s critiques is his life as a family man. Most people have argued that he invested too much of his time in his basketball career at the expense of his family. Thirdly, Russell tend to give only the positive side of him in his book and talks less about his past failures. This is contrary to a level five leader who by nature should always explicitly own up to his weaknesses and then after words improve on them. In conclusion, a number of lessons can ultimately be learnt from Russell’s life and career (Falkner 112-114). Balancing a career as a single father and the responsibility of raisins a daughter is a great lesson to learn from Brussels life. Despite spending most of his life in the field and training sessions to achieve the best out of his career, Russell provided the best for her daughter. On the other hand, Russel life also magnifies the importance of commitment an attribute that incumbent and aspiring leaders should posses in order to succeed in their respective fields. Additionally success entirely depends on team work and every leader should consider team work an outstanding priority if they are to succeed in their various spheres of career inclination (Murray 82). Learning is an endless prospect and every leader must be ready to embrace and learn from every challenge that comes his way. A leader should also be a role model. What a leader constantly does has got more impact than just the instructions that they constantly give. Work Cited Falkner, Bill and Russell, David. Russell Rules: 211 Lessons on Leadership from the Twentieth Century's Greatest Winner. New York: Dutton Books, 2001. Print. Murray, Nelson. Bill Russell: A Biography. London: Greenwood, 2005. Print. Russell, Bill. Russell Rules 11 Lessons on Leadership from the Twentieth Century's Greatest Winner. New York: Dutton Books, 2001. Print. Read More