By Dan Sukman
If you want to go somewhere fast, go by yourself. If you want to go far, go together.
– Glen Sather
Sports often serve as a metaphor, and in many cases as a testing ground for real life. There are lessons we learn playing youth sports that we carry into adulthood that serve us well in our careers. Traits such as hard work, discipline, physical fitness, fair play, and teamwork apply not only to sports but in our roles as military leaders. While participation as an athlete can build these qualities, the mantle of coaching carries its own set of skills.
Following the example of Ryan and Megan in their review of Eleven Rings when March Madness set in, this review will examine three books on hockey and the common leadership themes of each as the NHL playoffs get underway.
- Behind the Bench by Craig Custance details the coaching philosophies of recent Stanley Cup head coaches including Joe Quenneville of the Blackhawks, Mike Babcock of the Red Wings, Dan Bylsma and Jack Sullivan of the Penguins, John Tortorella of the Lightning (note that most of these coaches have moved on from the teams they earned their Stanley Cup with).
- Let Them Lead by John Bacon is a memoir that follows the author through a season coaching a high school hockey team. Bacon takes a team that has been a perennial loser and turns them into a consistent winner.
- No One Wins Alone by Mark Messier is a memoir by one of the greatest players and leaders in NHL history. In his time in the League, Messier earned the nickname “The Captain” for his leadership abilities on the ice.
These books stand out and offer valuable leadership lessons from the coach and player perspective.
Standards
There is never a shortage of slogans in the military on the importance of standards. Indeed, in the military leaders throughout the joint force are expected to uphold and enforce rules, regulations, and standards. In Let Them Lead, John Bacon quickly explains that as the new head coach, he was responsible for setting and enforcing the standards, and that his assistant coaches and team captains looked to him first. Bacon offers the lesson that whether it’s hockey players or soldiers, the junior members of the team won’t necessarily call out a peer who breaks a rule but will be thankful when the senior leader does. Bacon further offers the advice that at a broad level, it’s important to have principles that guide the team and living by your principles are more important to the organization than short term results.
Living by and enforcing standards can be the difference between life and death, and between victory and defeat. More than haircuts and uniform policy, enforcing standards in the military translates to clean weapons that fire at the enemy, safe operation of a ship passing through the Malacca Straits, and the clean landing of a B1 bomber at an airbase in Nevada or of an F-16 on an aircraft carrier. Following and enforcing standards includes operational security and the safeguarding of classified information. Living by and enforcing standards begins at the top of an organization, and when senior leaders fail to heed or enforce an organization’s rules and norms, the rest of the organization will use that failure as the model.
Chemistry and Managing Talent
Each book discusses how hockey coaches had to manage a wide range of talent on their teams. In Behind the Bench, for example, Custance discusses with coaches how they managed and coached superstars such as Sidney Crosby and Geno Malkin on the Penguins or Patrick Kaine and Jonathan Toews of the Blackhawks alongside third and fourth line players barely hanging on in the League. Each coach had to find unique ways to motivate all the players on their respective teams. Some teams in the League are filled with middle-tier players while others have a mix of superstars.
Team chemistry, as described by Sam Walker in his book The Captain Class, is an intangible trait that defines the intrapersonal dynamics within a team and can often be the determining factor between success and failure. In No One Wins Alone, Mark Messier discusses his experiences with the 1980s Oilers Dynasty, and how building team chemistry contributed to their on-ice success. Gathering for meals, drinks, or any other activity that had nothing to do with work built an unspoken bond within the team that according to Messier enabled them to act as one when the puck dropped.
In the joint force community, managing talent is unique in that each organization contains people from each of the services, both in uniform and in civilian clothes. This range of talent means different physical and mental skill sets inside the organization. Branch chiefs, division chiefs, and planning team leads must understand the unique knowledge and talent of each individual while having each team member contribute to solving a problem. Ensuring that everyone in the organization is included and sees value in their contributions to a larger effort is central to a team’s success on the ice or on the battlefield.
Finding Ideas
Each author discusses the value of finding ideas from anyone within or outside their organization. Custance for example writes that the best ideas on advancing the game come from rookies and veterans alike. In No One Wins Alone, Mark Messier expands this line of thought by offering that if you want to make someone productive, they need to feel comfortable, and included and that their ideas and thoughts are heard and respected. People who feel valued tend to offer ideas to improve an organization than those excluded from the group. In Behind the Bench, multiple coaches concede that most of their ideas on hockey originated from someone else. This is a recognition that nobody has a monopoly on knowledge, relevant experience, or practical wisdom.
The 2020 Joint Vision for PME and Talent Management emphasizes the need for intellectual overmatch. Achieving this in competition and conflict means leaders should always keep the lines of communication open with junior service members. Good ideas can come from anywhere, and sometimes the newest private might see a way to improve their squad, platoon, or company. Intellectual overmatch comes from places other than staff and war colleges.
Leadership within higher echelons often involves leading a team from across a staff through a process such as operational design or the joint planning process. At this level, it is paramount for leaders to understand that everyone on the planning team has something to contribute to making a course of action better or has knowledge and expertise that can expand the options available to senior leaders. From the rank of private to four-star general, everyone has something to offer.
Coach Mike Babcock said it best, “You never know where you’re getting your best idea. It could be from your rookie player, it could be from your power skating instructor, it could be from the guy who cooks breakfast. You have to be open-minded.”
Expanding Your Reading List
Military biographies and pop-culture business books aren’t the only place to look for lessons in leadership. The three books detailed in this review can be the starting point for leaders to expand their reading list beyond strictly military subjects and biographies. Each of these books offers a multitude of lessons on leadership that apply to the profession of arms. In reading memoirs by coaches and players it becomes clear that the fundamentals of leadership apply across professions and up and down echelons. Moreover, it becomes clear that the coaches in these books didn’t find success overnight, rather they found success through a lifetime of experience and reflection as lifelong students of their profession.
Dan Sukman is an Army Colonel with 24 years of service and 43 years of hockey-playing experience. He is an Islanders fan, an Army Strategist, and currently serves as the Chief of Strategy Development, Joint Staff, J5.
The views expressed in this review are those of the author and the author alone and do not reflect official positions of the Department of Defense, the Joint Staff, or the U.S. Army.
