Dr. Cory Dobbs
The Academy for Sport Leadership
In an essay titled “Good Guys Finish First (Sometimes),” Andrew Bagnato told the following story:
Following a rags-to-riches season that led them to the Rose Bowl—their first in decades—Northwestern University’s Wildcats met with coach Gary Barnett for the opening of spring training.
As players found their seats, Barnett announced that he was going to hand out awards that many Wildcats had earned in 1995. Some players exchanged glances. Barnett does not normally dwell on the past. But as the coach continued to call players forward and handed them placards proclaiming their achievements, they were cheered on by their teammates.
One of the other coaches gave Barnett a placard representing his 17 national coach of the year awards. Then, as the applause subsided, Barnett walked to a trash can marked “1995.” He took an admiring glance at his placard, then dumped it in the can.
In the silence that followed, one by one, the team’s stars dumped their placards on top of Barnett’s. Barnett had shouted a message without uttering a word. ‘What you did in 1995 was terrific, lads. But look at the calendar: It’s 1996.’
Teachable Point of view: It’s dangerous to rest on our past successes.
New to the Second Edition of Coaching for Leadership!
We are pleased to announce a new chapter to the second edition of the best-selling Coaching for Leadership. The chapter, The Big Shift: Unlock Your Team’s Potential by Creating Player-Led Teambuilding, connects the previous edition of this book to its origin, as well as to the future of team sports.
The new chapter sets forth a practical and applicable agenda for change and improvement. The reader is introduced to seven vital elements of change; seven shifts of traditional mental models that lead to the new core principles necessary for creating a player-led team culture. Click here for more information about Coaching for Leadership
About Cory Dobbs, Ed.D.
Cory Dobbs is the founder of The Academy for Sport Leadership and a nationally recognized thought leader in the areas of leadership and team building. Cory is an accomplished researcher of human experience. Cory engages in naturalistic inquiry seeking in-depth understanding of social phenomena within their natural setting.
A college basketball coach, Cory’s coaching background includes experience at the NCAA DII, NJCAA, and high school levels of competition. After a decade of research and development Cory unleashed the groundbreaking Teamwork Intelligence program for student-athletics. Teamwork Intelligence illuminates the process of designing an elite team by using the 20 principles and concepts along with the 8 roles of a team player he’s uncovered while performing research.
Cory has worked with professional athletes, collegiate athletic programs, and high schools teaching leadership and team building as a part of the sports experience and education process. As a consultant and trainer Dr. Dobbs has worked with Fortune 500 organizations such as American Express, Honeywell, and Avnet, as well as medium and small businesses. Dr. Dobbs taught leadership and organizational change at Northern Arizona University, Ohio University, and Grand Canyon University.
