It’s a funny old feeling to be obsessed with my own husband but also another woman’s. Yep, I’m still thinking about Collingwood coach Craig McRae.
Since I wrote about Craig’s beliefs on how losing in life and business just means you lost, it doesn’t make you a loser, I’ve done a bit of a deep dive into his coaching methods with fingers crossed that they’re something I can use with clients and for myself.
Among my research I found an online story about Craig’s response when asked by the media what he was going to say to Jordan De Goey, the Collingwood player who was at that stage in the spotlight for poor behaviour on a Bali holiday.
Everyone else was ready to sack De Goey, punish him financially, cut him loose. Craig McRae saw things differently: he said the first thing he was going to do on Jordan’s return was give him a big hug.
I loved it. In the gazillion dollar cutthroat world of AFL, here’s a coach who doesn’t want to yell or humiliate. He wants to hug.
That shows he’s a master of two things which are so important in business right now. He’s leading from the heart and he knows he’s leading humans.
Craig McRae understands that people aren’t robots. They’re fallible. They stuff up. And punishing them for that doesn’t always get results. He understands there’s a place for emotions in business.
How do you run your teams? Are you about encouragement, empowerment, inspiring them to believe in themselves? Are you about helping them identify what makes them unique, what they bring and where they fit into the jigsaw? Are you a leader who knows you don’t have to do all the talking and that great leadership means being very good at listening?
Good leaders don’t always have to be the ones directing the traffic. That’s what the team is there for. They just have to guide which direction the traffic is flowing in.