SPEAKER_00 0:04

You're listening to the Hanging with the AD podcast, where we break down hot topics in athletic administration and lessons learned through leadership. Now, here are your hosts, Josh Matthews and Don Baker.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Welcome to another special edition of the Hanging with the AD podcast. Today we will once again get the pleasure of sitting down with Brian Dodd. Brian is our most veteran guest and joins us each year about this time. And it's one of our favorite episodes as Brian helps us fill out our Christmas list with his top 10 sports books of the year. Brian's blog, Brian Dodd on Leadership, is a go-to resource for those both in and out of leadership positions, seeing over 70,000 readers per month, as well as being an author. He's the co-host of the Pursuit of Service podcast and now our go-to resource when it comes to making our annual book wish list. And he is going to help you out as well. Brian, thank you so much for once again saying yes and sitting down with us today.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Well, Don and Josh, uh, this look, I look as forward to this as y'all do every year. So here's my question. Uh, how many years is this? Three or four that we've done this? It's year five.

SPEAKER_05 1:14

Year five. Okay. I was gonna make that point, Brian. This is year five. We're completing year five of our podcast. I don't know. We got 70,000, 80,000 listens. You get that many in a month. And it's taking us five years to get that many. So um, and they're reading your stuff and they're just listening to us. So I think people can uh figure out who the most more popular guest is here today.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Hey, side note, and this is for all your athletic directors who are building programs. Okay, here's the application. The first article I ever wrote, a friend of mine, I call it a mercy killing, he got me off zero. He subscribed that day. I did not get my second subscriber for six months. So, yes, if you just keep providing quality and keep serving people, um, as Jim Collins says, that flywheel kicks in sooner or later. And and look, Joe Rogan's next for y'all. Y'all are just gonna, you know, be Joe Rogan here pretty soon.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Yeah, yeah. At any moment, we're just gonna just take off, I'm sure. Yeah. Um, all right. So just keep swinging is is the message. All right. Now, for those of you who maybe haven't heard about Brian, in Josh's words, he is the leadership whisperer. Uh, he has an incredible gift of finding leadership lessons in every crevice of life on his blog. And for the purpose of our conversation today, uh, we will talk about some great reads that he has found over the course of the year that in his opinion, he believes will help us out as we look to get better. Uh, before we jump into the books for athletic leaders uh and to make Josh and I feel like total failures once a year, like we do this uh in the reading game, Brian, how many books have you read this far? And did you meet your goal?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Okay, so I wrote a book this year. I had to read that book give or take, 10 or 15 different times going through the editing process. So my number of books is smaller than it has been in the past. But if you add my own book onto it, uh the creation part of that, I'd say this year, though, I still read about 30, 35 books.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Okay. See, again, I uh there are a lot of you right now that are just you feel like a failure, uh, including most of us. So uh fair enough. Josh, go ahead and kick us off.

SPEAKER_05 3:38

All right, Brian. Let's dive in uh into your top 10 books every leader should get their hands on. So our listeners will notice that with each selection, we will give you a total number of pages in each book. That's a big deal to uh to us. We know, and Don always points this out that uh number of pages is one of those go-tos when a reader picks up a book or goes to Amazon, scrolls down how many pages is it before I click buy it. So, as we know, uh some of you you have that line of demarcation. I don't know what that is. Maybe it's 150 pages, maybe it's 200, maybe it's 300. Uh, this year, Brian, you mentioned you read 30, 35 books plus 15 more. Uh, I'm I'm at 29 right now, had a good year. Uh hopefully we go. And I got a couple big boy books over there that scare me, but most of mine are in that 150 to 170 page range, uh, for sure. So um we'll we'll go from there. Uh, I I think uh the lesson to be learned from our first selection here is sometimes less is more when it comes to leadership, and it's okay to not be the loudest in the room. Our first selection, uh page number wise, is 336 pages, and the title is Quiet Leadership Winning Hearts, Minds, and Matches by Carlo Encelado. Encelado. I thought it was gonna be. Oh, there you go. You're you yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

All right, Brianotti. Talk about it. Yeah, you know, um, I I'm gonna throw this in too because uh Josh, you brought up such a good point about book length. I'm gonna walk you through the books to me that even though they might have been bigger, the pages turn so quick, it seemed like a small book. And there are some small books that it just takes you forever to get through. So if I've got a larger book that's great, I'm gonna tell you that. Quiet leadership. Here's how this book got on my radar. Um, Real Madrid won the Champions League this past year, and that team is full of stars. And, you know, one in particular, Jude Bellingham, is kind of the fast rising person in soccer. Um, and so I saw some articles about this incredible leader named Carlo Ancelotti, who led Real Madrid. And of course, I went on Amazon and he had written a book called Quiet Leadership. Fantastic book. Fantastic book. If he the team he uh leads, Real Madrid, is known as Galactos, in other words, a galaxy of stars. So if you've got extraordinarily talented people on your team or in your organization, this is a great book on how to lead them, particularly from a personality perspective. Um Carlo is very chill, very laid back. Uh, this is very important as well, because the owners of these soccer teams, uh, to say they make Jerry Jones look low maintenance would be an understatement. Okay. So he has to lead up as effectively as he leads down. So his ability to steward his emotions properly and know how to invest in players like Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Jude Bellingham, um, Killian Mbappe joined the team this year. The ability to lead talent, but also be subservient to talent. Um, Quiet Leadership is an excellent book. Very good book. I highly recommend it to everybody.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

All right. Good deal.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

And by the way, it will go fast. That's a fast read. I love that.

SPEAKER_05 7:32

Now it sounds like uh Don, sorry to interrupt you there. Sounds like that's a great book for athletic administrators because a lot of times our role is is is less uh in the in the in the lights than than coaches. We code we we lead a lot of high, uh highly known, um, well-respected coaches, and they get the notoriety, which they should, but quiet leadership is something that uh athletic directors have to do behind the scenes, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Yeah, and I'm not uh y'all aren't saying this. I'm saying this because it's the content in the book. Okay. If if you're a high school athletic director and you work for a very high maintenance principal, or you're in the collegiate world and you know, um, you've got incredibly difficult boosters or a university president or something like that, yes, knowing how to manage that from a personality standpoint, of all the books we're going to talk about, this book would help you the most if you need to know how to lead up in very less than desirable circumstances.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Good deal. All right, for our listeners who care about the length of a book when determined in that format, you'll digest uh this next one in 272 pages, so definitely in anyone's threshold. Uh, we said at the top that no topic is off limits when you look to find leadership lessons from Brian Dodd. And I can safely say this is the first time that the game of squash has ever been discussed on this podcast. Next up is Run to Roar: Coaching to Overcome Fear by Paul Asciante. Tell us about this one.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Okay. Um, you may or may not be familiar with Paul Aciante, okay? But here is the interesting fact about him. He is America's top collegiate winningest coach. Uh, funny thing is, he had Gino Orianema got all this press for winning 100 consecutive games, as he should have at Connecticut. Um, the Trinity College squash team won 252 consecutive matches, 17 titles overall, 13 in a row, breaking John Wooden's record at UCLA. And run to the roar, here is where that title comes from. Here's how lions hunt. The hunters are the lionesses, they're the actual hunters. But the male lion, the pride of the of the pack, um, has the loudest roar. So, what would happen is the lions, if they found a herd of antelope, the lionesses would run into the bushes, and then the lion would run on the other side, roar loudly, and the antelopes would run in the opposite direction straight into the lionesses. And here's what this book teaches: you don't run away from the roar, you run to the roar. And so if you're um wanting to improve in the area of discipline, facing your fears, conquering what seems to be overcome, you know, unovercomable task. Uh, you need calmness under pressure, anything like that. Run to the roar is and the subtitle on it is Coaching to Overcome Fear. Run to the Roar is an excellent book if you're dealing with any of those issues.

SPEAKER_05 11:08

All right, now on to the next book on the list uh that comes from an author that we have on our short list of potential guests uh on our podcast. So we're gonna talk about Molly Fletcher. Hopefully, Molly Fletcher, Brian, hopefully your presence and having her book on this podcast can get her to listen. And we'd love to just have her on a normal episode to talk leadership. But um, but that's that's a conversation for a different day. But Molly, if you're listening, here's uh plug for your new book, and we'd love to get you on her podcast. She can talk about her book too. Yeah, but uh this book is 272 pages. It's called Dynamic Drive, the Purpose Fuel Formula for Sustainable Success, by as I mentioned, Molly Fletcher. Tell us about Molly's new book.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Yeah, I will. By the way, Molly is very interactive on social media. So if you reference this to her on social media or tell her, you know, say we were on there promoting the book or something, she she'll be she will respond. So um, Molly, if you're not familiar with her, to my knowledge, I think she was the first female sports agent. Um, and so her insights and her perspective on performance breaking barriers. She was also a former college athlete. All of those things in this book, she'll walk through her seven keys to unlocking dynamic drive. I'll give them to you just real fast: mindset, energy, discipline, curiosity, resilience, connection, and confidence. And she unpacks those seven um seven elements and seven keys to have an excellent drive, both in administration and athletics, and coaching. And um Molly knows what she's talking about. And as you said, she's on the short list. She has an excellent podcast as well, by the way. And uh, yeah, I highly, especially if you want to uh learn uh, because I know you have females that listen to this, ladies in the sports industry as well. Uh, yeah, you would you would resonate well with Molly's book. Excellent book.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Yeah, that's good. And she she was actually the inspiration for our two-minute drill uh that we do in our normal uh normal episodes. So uh just does a really good job. She always turns out really, really good content. Now, I I think that we all look at the greats and we wonder what makes them tick a little different than the rest of us. Uh, what makes them like real life Avengers? Uh and Sally Jenkins has been doing this for a long time. She's written on everyone from Jim Thorpe to Pat Summit to Belichick to Michael Phelps. Uh, next up is The Right Call, what sports teach us about work and life by Sally Jenkins. This work totals 272 pages. So again, right in that wheelhouse, very manageable. Tell us a little bit about this one.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Yeah, this is the book I'm reading right now, and I absolutely love it. Um, as you as you just pointed out, what this book is about is what do the great champions do? The great performers in athletics, what do they do that we all can do as well? And she does, she's obviously a gifted writer and uh worked for the Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, a number of people, gifted writer. And this book is so extraordinarily entertaining and challenging and helpful because she's writing about people we all resonate with and we all enjoy their work. So it, I mean, it is I I'm I'm gonna do something I've never done in the five years I've done this. I just want to read for you half a paragraph so you can get a picture of what this book is like. Okay. I can't stress enough that champions are essentially the product of their own work. Even the most secluded superstars would like to be better understood in that respect. I've never known a winner, not one, who wasn't irritated by the lame idea that they were God-kissed with fortunate gifts. All of them sweat in far greater proportion to any natural anything naturally born in them. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has an implausible tinsel arm, but the main factors that allowed him to win the Super Bowl by the age of 25 were his diligent study and refusal to cheat the grind. That is half a paragraph in this book. Um, her story of shaking Steph Curry's hands is amazing. You know, you would think he'd be feathery, smooth, and all that. And she goes, he has a logger's hands from hours and hours of shooting the basketball. Book I'm reading right now, I'm not done. I will be done soon because this book is outstanding. I love this book by Sally Jenkins. So by the way, you're gonna read it. If you want to know anything about high achievement, um executing at the highest level, operating with excellence, anything like that, this is the book for you.

SPEAKER_05 16:25

Yeah, so I'm not listening, so I can't hit pause, but if if you're listening, hit pause, give you about two seconds, go to your Amazon app. All right, if you're back now from buying that book because uh the half a paragraph you just read, if if I weren't doing this live, I'd already bought the book, probably. So my wife's probably glad I don't have that function right this second. But uh hey, I did want to say uh take a little dirt road here. I didn't read much growing up, and and and people are thinking, man, he reads I had a coach come in here and say, You got a bunch of books, whatever. Um, but I I've gotten into books, obviously, love this episode, love what you always give us, and try to read a lot now. But I didn't start that until I was in college. My high school baseball coach sent me a book on Brett Butler, his autobiography. It's great, it kind of got me hooked. But when probably the book or the author that really wet my appetite to be a reader was Sally Jenkins. She wrote Pat Summit's two books. Uh, and the first one, um, the the definite dozen, something dozen with Pat Summit. Fantastic. I loved it, and that got me into coaching leadership and leadership books. And I would tell you, just keep buying Sally Jenkins books because you're not going to go wrong there. And as you read, and as you said, she writes in such a captivating way, it's really, really good.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

But uh well, Josh, I think you brought up something big there, and I we'll take a 30-second side road here. If you're wanting to become a reader, and leaders are readers, right? So we want we want to become readers. Uh, are you wanting the people you coach, or if you're in administration, your coaches, you want them reading books. Josh, you just explained it. The best way to get started is read books you enjoy. Right. Yeah. And then it just compounds over time, and you develop a love for learning. You don't want to start somebody in a subject matter that they're not interested in, you know. Um, but if but if you start with something you love, you're gonna you can turn somebody into a reader.

SPEAKER_05 18:37

You said it a long time ago. I mean, ten dollars, and now it's probably 15, but $15 will get you $10,000 worth of speaking material because that's how much they charge to speak, and $15 to get you their book, and you learn the lessons that they're teaching through a biography or autobiography, whatever. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Yeah. A week ago I got asked at the last minute to speak because there was a medical emergency in the person's family. And because I read and document and write and stuff like that, it was not a matter of coming up with a speech. It was okay, which one's the best for the audience?

SPEAKER_02 19:12

That's good. That's that's really good. Uh, you know, I've done that. I think we've exchanged some some texts where I'm in a bookstore out of town, and and I probably never would have gone to the clearance section before. Yeah, probably never would have done it. And then when and then when you said that, it reshaped my whole view of going and looking and learning from people that I mean, there's still good stuff over there. Uh, and I can remember I was out of town one time, I took a picture of one, and you you immediately texted back, and I don't even know if you remember doing this, and you were like, Well, it's a little slow in the middle, but if you just hang in there, by the time you get to the end, there's some good stuff, you know. So just really appreciate that little tidbit of of uh wisdom uh from from previous episodes.

SPEAKER_05 19:52

Yeah, I know people are probably tired of us talking about it, but I'm over here on Amazon on my other screen, and the book I'm on is call it $17. And then you scroll down. This is a trick I've learned lately. My wife doesn't like it either, but you keep scrolling down on the app or on the website, and you get the used cost, and you get Amazon Prime with those used books, and you save about seven bucks. So yeah, uh just on this book in particular. So uh, like Don said, you find that clearance rack or you find the use section on Amazon, it is uh really, really good. But all right, back to our book uh episode here, back to our book recommendations. Uh, Brian, I think almost every year we get a Yankees book and we get a Premier League Soccer book. So uh I've got the Yankees book this year. Here it is 320 pages is really, really good stuff. Uh, the next book on our list is called The Yankee Way, the Untold Inside Story of the Brian Cashman era by And Andy Martino Bryan. I know you talked about this when you and I had lunch recently. You said this was uh one of your favorites. I thought it would be on the list. So uh tell us about it. Tell us uh how the Yankees made the list again.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Yeah, you know, the great thing about sports books, if you can ever read a book about a championship team or a championship era, in essence, it's a history book. That's really what it is. And the Yankee Way is a history book, and it is the Brian Cashman era. It starts when he got his job, you know, working in the scouting department just out of college, and now he's gonna go into the Hall of Fame sooner or later as a GM. But what's great about this book is if you're looking for, believe it or not, if you're looking for innovation and how to manage change, the Yankee way is wonderful. Because the Oakland A's got all the publicity during the Moneyball era, but the Yankees were also doing it. During that time. And so you learn right there, okay, you go through the analytic era. You go through the era when George Steinbrenner was suspended for the Dave Winfield incident. And then how do you rebuild the farm system that would produce Jeter and Posada and Rivera and Bernie Williams and that whole team? You go through how to analyze and what do you look for in talent? You look how you learn how to transition from one era to the next, because now they had to lead that era and then really it took a couple of years, but then get into the Aaron Judge era. And so how also his relationship with Derek Jeter was not really that great. So once again, if you're looking at how to manage um elite talent, especially when you have to make a hard decision because they're not as good as they used to be, this is a great book for that. Um there is so many changes in eras and approaches. The Alex Rodriguez era is in here and how they signed him and all and and how they had to let him go. So the the management of all of that process, what he looks for in a manager, what he looked for in Joe Torre and Brett Boone and other people along the way. So identifying leaders, that's in there. Incredible history book, and learning how to manage and lead an organization over extended period of time with a lot of many eras and transitioning from era to era. Excellent book. Excellent book. By the way, it's over 300 pages. It will go fast.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

And I will tell you that every, I think I've read every year, whatever Yankee book you, and I'm not even a I'm not a Yankees fan, but you've hit on every one of those because I I end up reading them inevitably. And to your point, they all read like that. Uh it's it's a you get kind of caught up in the story and the history of it, and it's next thing you know, you're done with it. So I'll second that for sure.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Now, in his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks about a concept called relative age and how being born early in the year, say January to March, can make or break your hockey career from an early age, because based on how they set up their leagues, the age cutoff for junior hockey is January 1st. So if you turn 10 on January 2nd and another kid turns 10 on December 2nd, those kids play in the same league, making the first kid almost a year older, but they're playing in the same age group. I would imagine something like that type of thinking occurs in our next book, Draft Day, how hockey teams pick winners or get left behind by Doug McLean. What can we learn from this one coming in at 304 pages?

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Okay, here's what I would say. Everybody loves the NFL draft, right? Everybody loves it. And we got draftnicks, mock drafts. I subscribe to The Athletic. Every day there's a new mock draft. It's the number one red thing that day. Okay. This is that on steroids. Um, what he does, Doug McLean, he's a former hockey general manager, player, uh, executive. He walks through the entire process of building a hockey team from a draft perspective. And what's great about it is he talks about scouting and what makes a good scout and how you go through the scouting process. He talks about the war room during the draft itself and how that plays out. Very interesting chapter. Okay. He talks about philosophies of the championship hockey teams. And there's a phrase that he uses in here. I just love it. When you hockey teams are basically this about 50 to 60% of the team is homegrown. So you don't quote unquote buy a dream team, but you do strategically acquire talent. That's where the analytics comes in. That's where asset allocation, in other words, how do you manage your money? How that comes in. By the way, of all you athletic directors who now have to manage NIL budgets, great book. You'll love that part of it. But he says this trade for futures, not for past. And anybody that's an investor knows what a futures is. Okay, that's an in that's an investment. You trade for futures, not trade for past. So right now we're watching the New York Jets who traded for Aaron Rodgers. Classic example.

unknown 26:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Trade for futures, don't trade for past. And uh so anyway, yes, if you're interested in the whole team building perspective, asset allocation, the role of analytics and hockey, all of those type of things, draft day. That's a that's a sneaky good book that's not on everybody's radar, but you can get a lot of value out of it.

SPEAKER_05 27:12

Man, we got a book for accountants, and accountants don't read right there. It is legit, man. That's that's it. You feel you uh you hit every genre right here. Uh, you mentioned NFL, so we're gonna move on to an NFL book here. Next selection is 248 pages. It's by someone who has spent six different decades leading some of the best who ever do it. The player's coach from Brad Shaw to Manning, Brady, and beyond by Tom Moore. What why is this one on your list this year, Brian?

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Okay, Tom Moore has never been an NFL head coach. Fascinating. Never been an NFL head coach. Yet, people like Tom Brady, when he was with the Buccaneers, Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Edrin James, Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swan, John Stalworth, these people swear by him. You can make the argument Tom Moore's the greatest offensive coordinator in the history of professional football. You can make that argument. And you'd probably win it. But what's fascinating to me when I went into reading this book, I went in to read for two reasons. Number one, how do you lead Hall of Fame talent? Okay. You know, you're you're you're a high school coach, you got a five-star athlete. How do you lead this kid? You know? Um and Brian the book answer that question for you? Yes.

SPEAKER_05 28:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

It does. And I'll give an example here in a second.

SPEAKER_05 28:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

And also, what's it like to be second in command your entire life? How do you emotionally handle that? When you are the best at the best of being number two, how do you handle not being number one or at least a chance to be number one? Um, he gets into that. And I think a lot of people on here, um, we if we just had that, if we were just at that other school or had that next job, or had this athletic director, or this university president, or this principal, if we always had just one thing more, we could be something great. Tom's book will give you a lot of comfort in blooming where you're planted. So let me give you an example. He comes out of the University of Minnesota and he's hired to be the wide receiver's coach at uh the Pittsburgh Steelers. And they had already won two Super Bowls. And so you've got Lynn Swan and John Stallworth, two future Hall of Famers. And the issue becomes, how are you going to coach these two guys? They've forgotten more about playing wide receiver than you'll ever know from a talent perspective. So Tom did this brilliant. He didn't assume. He walked in and he said, Where do you want to get better? How do you want to get better? I'm here to help you get better. Where do you want to get better? He didn't assume, he didn't force his will on them. He asked them, Where do you want to get better? And here's the thing the best of the best, what makes them so great is they know how to self-correct. So Stalworth and Swan knew what their issues were. And they said, Here's what we want to do. We want to make a lot of money. And the way you do that is you stay in the NFL a long time. So we want to stay a long time. But to do that, Swan said we need help in three areas adjusting our routes, reading coverages, and we're both double-teamed. And back then the defensive backs could literally mug you to death. How do we get open? Okay. When they went into training camp, they didn't work on anything but those three things. All the stuff, the drills that you put people through, that was for other people. Okay, we'll put the backups through that. You two guys reading coverages, adjusting routes, getting open. That's all we're gonna do. Um I love that story. But the key to that story is the ability when you're in leadership to have a servant heart that I'm here to make you successful. How do you want to be successful? And let's work on that. That was the number one lesson I got out of the players coach. Excellent book.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

What a lesson, too. I think leader, I know. Leaders don't do that enough. They don't they don't look at the people they serve and go, what do you need to get better? It's just always top down. And I just think that you're just really short-sighted uh when you when you do that.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Yeah, we're gonna get into this in an upcoming book, but there are some coaches. Uh some of them may report to you. I have my system, my system works, I need players who fit my system. Now let's go implement my system. That's certainly an approach, and some people have been very successful. Okay. The average coach better ask good questions.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

So very good. All right, let's move on to our next book at 352 pages, but don't be swayed by the number because once again, like we've talked about already, you've included a book about professional soccer, and uh, you finally wore me down. I finally bit the bullet, and I read one of your recommendations from last year, Pep City, took it to the beach with me, literally flew through it, loved it. Tell us about Revolution, the rise of Arteta's Arsenal by Charles Watts.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Yeah, I you'll by the way, I highly recommend you take Revolution to the beach this year. Okay. You'll you'll love it. Mikhail Arteta is one of my favorite leaders in the world. Uh, from a leadership perspective, I love the way Mikhail Arteta leads. Here's if you're wanting to build a winning culture at your school or on your team, this is the best book of the ones I'm going to recommend today. Um, this book really is about culture building. From the moment he was hired and when he went in to the opening press conference in which he laid out what an arsenal football player would be, and what would be required from everyone in the organization and what their expectations were, and the ability to stay true to that vision and never deviate from it. If you're saying I want to book a sports book on culture building, out of this year's list, that's the best one.

SPEAKER_05 34:16

It's good, really good. So, Brian, the next book we're going to talk about is a connection that we had. So we had the the guys from Pure Athlete on our podcast this year, Jeff Francour, Britt Lee, Brad Williams, new podcast and platform that uh is talking about youth sports. Uh, we spent some time with them all throughout this year and or on our podcast, we did. And one of their recent guests is a guy named Paul Rabble, who wrote our next book, and it's 256 pages. Don has read it. I have not, but it looks to be great. Don has mentioned how great it is, and it uh obviously on your top 10 sports books this year. It's called The Way of the Champion: Pain, Persistence, and the Path Forward. Paul Rab Rabel um wrote this book. Uh, so tell us about that lacrosse guy, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Yeah, well, you know, it's funny, Josh, and it's funny you use the term a lacrosse guy, right? You know, or something like that. He is the lacrosse guy.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

He he is the guy, yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

He is the guy. This is LeBron James of of lacrosse, and uh one of the greatest, if not greatest, players ever in the sport of lacrosse. And then, much like LeBron James, who's an incredible entrepreneur, he's an entrepreneur. He started the professional lacrosse league. And um, I like books. There are times that I can sit down and devote large sections of time to a book. And there are times you're gonna get me in five to 10 minute increments, high impact reading kind of thing. This book, all the chapters are like one to two pages. So high impact lessons, excellent book, not a wasted page, which is my favorite kind of book, not wasted words, and he breaks it into three categories. Uh, one is his amateur career, his professional career is number two, and then beyond the game, which is his executive career. Um, here's the thing: if you're wanting a book about the mindset of a champion at various levels of their development, first of all, the right call by Sally Jenkins is tough to beat, but this is this book is that too. So if you're wanting to develop young athletes, that section on being an amateur. And then what's beautiful about it, you read what makes an elite amateur, and then you read what makes an elite professional. And they're not the same. You know, every new level has a new devil. So you've got to, you've got to take it up. And this book lays out the stages of development for high performance athletes and high performance business people and administrators very, very well. Excellent book. And if you're like, I just can't don't give 30, 30 minutes a day, I'm too busy. I need short, powerful sections. I would probably recommend this book above all, love all the rest if that describes you this year.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

Yeah, I'll second that. As somebody who is chasing around two kids that are heavily involved in a lot of stuff, this was perfect uh for me because I could kind of get in and get out. So I I'll totally second that. Brian, as we come down the stretch, uh, we have one that is on my desk now. I heard an interview on a local Atlanta radio station recently with an author, was really intrigued by what he was saying about the book. It's more important now, more than ever, uh, to make sure that we articulate the why to those that we serve, the why behind the decisions that we make when it comes to the direction of the organization. Tell us about the why is everything, a story of football, rivalry, and revolution by Mike Silver. Coming in at 448 pages. It is our largest pick of the year, uh, but one that I'm actually looking forward to diving into.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Yeah, my favorite book of the year. Um, and it's 448 pages, it will go fast. Okay. I mentioned earlier that sports books are history books if they're done well. With the exception of the Kansas City Chiefs, this book basically reads like an NFL history book for the last 15 years. Okay. I have long thought the 2012 Washington Redskins was this generation's 1994 Cleveland Browns. And if you're familiar with the Cleveland Browns in '94, all the assistant coaches were like Nick Saban, Jim Schwartz, Michael Lombardi was on that staff, Romeo Crunell. You know, Belichick was the coach, but it bred this entire generation of coaches. Well, the 2012 Washington Redskins, coached by Mike Shanahan, had Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur, Raheem Morris, um, guys that they have been brought up from under them, um, Kevin O'Connell at Minnesota, Robert Salah, who was with the Jets for a while, uh, Romeo um uh who is the coach for uh D'Amico Riots at the Houston Texans. This is that coaching trait. Okay. So you're literally reading about the last 15 years of coaching development in the NFL. The reason it's called the why is everything is they questioned why this previous generation of coaches did things. And they led with the question why. And they welcomed the question why. So if they wanted to implement something and a player wanted to know why, not only was that not frowned upon, hey, just do what I say, I'm the coach, you know, that was actually welcomed and encouraged because it forced them to reason it out in their mind, and then it forced it allowed the player to have deeper buy-in. So that that's where it comes from. But here's the thing about this book. Everything you want to know about all those coaches I just mentioned is in there. Their personal relationships with each other, what jobs they turned down and why, what jobs they accepted and why, how did they build their staffs? Oh, Mike Mc Mike McDaniel down at the Dolphins is prominently mentioned in this book as well. You know, what was their philosophy? How did, you know, how did they structure practices, etc. You know, uh the Matthew Stafford trade is in this book, and how that all went down from the Lions to the Rams, and the pain of losing is prominently mentioned in this book, especially when Sean McVeigh won a Super Bowl and Kyle Shanahan hasn't. Their relational dynamic is interesting. They're friends and they're there's respect there, but they are highly competitive with each other. I will I do want to warn your readers of this, uh, depending on what you read, and you can watch Shanahan on the sideline and see see the F-word is pretty prominent in the NFL. Yeah, and as a result, it uh it's prominent in this book, you know, because that's who these guys are. And um, but just be prepared for that. But if you're wanting modern day coaching, modern day leadership, different leadership styles, McVay's leadership style is completely different than Shanahan's. Mike McDaniel and Kevin O'Connell would more resonate with Sean McVeigh, but varying leadership styles, um, you know, how they relate to their quarterbacks, it was my favorite book of the year in terms of enjoyment and reading. I enjoyed every book that's been mentioned uh today, but of all the 10 that I read, that one was the one I enjoyed the most. But it is R-rated based upon language, so be prepared.

SPEAKER_05 42:30

Yeah, unfortunately, that's becoming more and more of the norm in uh in our society, right? But uh I tell you that's really interesting because when I read the title and then hear you talk about it, the title is intriguing because as I've said on here many times, the the most elite leader I've ever worked for ask why all the time. And if you if you as an assisted coach, if you weren't prepared to answer why, you didn't need to open your mouth because you're gonna get if you made a comment, the the only question that was coming was one word, why? And I think that's cool. So I'm anxious to get that one and break it open to to read about the why and uh behind these coaches. So yeah, um, all right, as we finish today, I get the privilege of uh introducing the last book on the list. You mentioned you read a book 10 to 15 times. This is that book. It is called The Games Leaders Play How People Just Like You Are Making a Difference and Winning in Athletics, Business, Faith, and Life. I've enjoyed going through all your stories in it. It's great. Don and I had the privilege and honor of writing a few words and uh possibly getting those in the book there. So thanks for allowing us to do that. Brian, before I let you go, I'm gonna extend this episode a little bit. I I have seven kind of snippets, either quotes or my um my notes from from here. And I just want to wet people's appetite with these little snippets. So uh here they are seven different things. One is people are the picture of The leader, these are kind of takeaways from me. I haven't made it through every story, but I'm pretty close, and these are some of the things. People are the picture of the leader. Mental toughness is also uh both a concept to be learned and a skill to be practiced. The level of the leader, this this is crazy. This one's deep. The level of leadership intelligence in people of influence far exceeds their level of faithfulness to the content they have learned.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

Which is why I wrote the book.

SPEAKER_05 44:29

There you go. Yeah, it's that's early on, I think. And that I read that like 42 times, and I still don't know if I grasp it, but I think it does so. Uh getting on a sports theme, Brock Purdy, uh, 49ers quarterback, consistent excellence. I love that. Emerging leaders must handle pressure. Nowhere in the Bible did God ever call anyone to an easy task. Leadership is hard, and leaders rarely have two good days in a row. Pressure is constant. Makes everybody want to sign up for it, right? Uh, this was a new concept to me. Expectations debt. That is raising the floor, the standard, the best used to create uh new things and new new expectations. Expectations debt. Go read about that. Aaron Judge, you talked about him being a person of integrity, increases his leadership influence. And the last thing I'll leave our listeners with the best leaders bring a sense of peace and calm. So I thought that was a great quote there about the best leaders. But the games leaders play, that's your newest book. Tell us about it.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

Yeah, you know, here's what what I sensed, and I've written five books, and I I had a reason for all five. And uh there were good reasons, okay. But this is the only book I've ever written I had a burden about. And maybe it was the political season, or maybe it was just whatever. But as as you read, Josh, there's the Bible, and then John Maxwell wrote 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. And technically, there didn't need to be another leadership book ever written. Okay. And I've written five of them now. Okay. We do not have an absence of leadership content or leadership intelligence or an understanding or an understanding of leadership concepts. But like I pointed out there, our faithfulness to the knowledge, there's a gap there. And our knowledge has far exceeded our faithfulness. So I was wondering why. Why is it so difficult to live out the leadership concepts that we know? Well, here's what we also know there's all kinds of people who there that gap does not exist. So, what this book is about is over a hundred stories from the world of athletics, from life, from business, from ministry. Athletics take up over half the book. Um, but people who are taking these concepts that we all know and they're actually living them out. Well, how are they living them out? And how can we do the same in our lives? And how do you connect those dots? That is really what this book is about. So uh we're we're I'm talking to athletic directors. There are stories in here about archery, Olympic swimming, women's soccer, professional soccer, amateur baseball, professional baseball, own and own and own, squash, you know, obviously football, baseball, and basketball. But what it is is whatever your interests are in sports, and how do we take those concepts like Sally Jenkins does in her book? How do we take those concepts and apply them to our programs in a fun way that's enjoyable to read? And look, I'm selfish and I, you know, I've, you know, I hope everybody gets the book, but I recommend that you get this book and buy a copy for everybody on your staff and go through the book together because I've also got discussion questions at the end so that you can apply these principles. And it'll be a fun read, like Paul Rabble's book. It's short, it's powerful, not a page is wasted. Um, but but you'll you'll love the book, you'll love the content, but it'll make you a better leader and it'll make you more effective, and it'll teach you how to use the tools that you probably already know if you want to know the truth about it.

SPEAKER_02 48:41

So good. I think it's tailor-made. I think it's your best work yet. Uh, it's perfect for us in our space. And so I want to encourage everybody to uh to get out there and get it uh, because it is definitely uh will be worth your while. Uh Brian, thank you so much for the time today. You have become one of my mother's favorite people on earth as you have helped her with gift ideas for me, as I can be kind of a difficult person to buy for. Uh, I feel comfortable saying to anyone listening that you can find a book on this list. Uh, we hope that the leaders listening will use it to develop their reading stack for two for 2025. Now, Brian, close us out with telling our listeners the best way to connect with you uh and how to find your podcast, as well as maybe give us a book recommendation that is on your list maybe for 2025 that you look forward to reading regardless of the topic.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

Oh, sure, absolutely. Um, first of all, I want to say to Miss Baker, Miss Baker, get your son the book Revolution for his summer vacation trip. That'd be a great Christmas gift for him. Um, how do you get in touch with me? You can get to in touch with me through Twitter. I'm still old school, Twitter X, I guess it's called now, at Brian K. Dodd. The best way to get in touch with me, though, is through my website, Brian Doddonleadership.com. All my contents there. You can order my books there. Um, there's a contact form there. If you're looking for a speaker at one of your athletic events, I would love to be considered for that. I I thoroughly enjoy that and would would love to have the opportunity to invest in you, your staff, your students, and your team.

SPEAKER_05 50:20

Endorse that as well. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

What's that?

SPEAKER_05 50:23

I can endorse that. You did a great job a couple years ago with us. So appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Oh, yeah. That look, that was a fun night. Josh has a great program. He knows what he's talking about on this podcast, and that was fun. Um, books coming up, two of them in particular. Jurgen Klopp, the great manager of Liverpool, the definitive book about him and his leadership comes out December 3rd. Now, here's the thing: my book also comes out December 3rd. So get both books, but I will be It's a twofer.

SPEAKER_04 50:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:55

Yeah, get a twofer. Uh, but but I'm really looking forward. Jurgen Klopp, I've talked about him in previous years on this podcast. Love Jurgen Klopp. Um, and there's a book coming out in February called Hurdles. This book is written by Clint Hurdle. Um, Clint Hurdle is a dear friend of mine, believe it or not. He's the former National League Manager of the Year for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He managed the Colorado Rockies, won over 1,200 games in the majors. He's now a champion in the special needs community and does tremendous work in the special needs community. Kind of his life lessons is coming out in February. It's called Hurdlesms. I am, first of all, I love Clint Hurdle. So it's a labor of love for me to read that book. But I am really looking to get more wisdom from Clint than what I what I normally do within our relationship. So those are the two big books that I'm looking forward to coming up over the next several months.

SPEAKER_02 52:01

That's awesome. Brian, thank you again. Like I said at the top, you always say yes for whatever reason. We appreciate it. And uh again, you you've knocked it out of the park with this list. Can't wait to dive into them.

SPEAKER_01 52:13

Thank you guys. And hey, thank you to all the athletic directors out there. Y'all are making a huge difference investing in the next generation. You probably don't get the glory you deserve, or definitely the pay you deserve. But trust me, uh, there's people out there cheering you on, thanking you for everything that you do. And it was an honor for me to invest in you today. And I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a and a great 2025.