Top Performers’ Newsletter                                                      December 2011 Vol. 1, No. 12

Developing mindsets and habits that fuel high performance.

Become Next Season’s ‘Glue Guy’

Players who actively take on the role as a team leader are the heart and soul of a thriving organization.  They become the force that drives their teams forward toward success.  In sports, these guys are often called Glue Guys.  In the high-stakes environment of professional sports, teams can quickly disintegrate under the daily pressures of the game.  Glue Guys keep their teammates together when things get tough and help their teams thrive!

A great way to become your team’s Glue Guy is to utilize what’s called an optimistic explanatory style as opposed to a pessimistic explanatory style when your team encounters those unforeseen and unexpected bumps in the road.  Let’s first look at what an explanatory style is, and then how a pessimistic one differs from an optimistic one.

Explanatory Style - An explanatory style is a psychological attribute that indicates how people explain to themselves and others why they experience a particular event.  Explanatory styles can be either optimistic or pessimistic.  Three components—personal, permanent, & pervasive—make up one’s explanatory style.  Let’s take a closer look at each of them and see how you can use an optimistic explanatory style to become your team’s Glue Guy.

Personal - This involves how a person explains where the cause of an event arises.  For example, a player using a pessimistic explanatory style sees himself as the sole cause of an event.  You might hear him say, "I always have trouble hitting that pitch.” In contrast, a player with an optimistic explanatory style would say, "I sometimes have trouble hitting that pitch, and the wind made it even more difficult today.”

Permanent - This involves how one explains the extent of the cause.  A player with a pessimistic explanatory style would see the situation as unchangeable and comment to the team, “We never win games at this stadium.”  On the other hand, a player with an optimistic explanatory style would say, “We may have lost more games than we won here in the past, but let’s turn that around today and get a win!”

Pervasive - This involves how one explains the extent of the effects.  For example, if one of your starting pitchers is put on the disabled list, the player with the pessimistic explanatory style would comment, “That blows the rest of the season for us.”  The player using an optimistic explanatory style would respond to that comment by saying, “Well, having him on the disabled list will hurt our team, but we can pick up the slack in lots of other ways.”

In fact, research has linked a pessimistic explanatory style to depression, physical illness and injury, which doesn’t help the player or the team.  Studies of athletes from collegiate swimmers to professional baseball players show that explanatory style predicts athletic performance.  Using an optimistic explanatory style will help you become your team’s Glue Guy and support your team’s success.

Make it Your New Year’s Goal to become Next Season’s Glue Guy!

Source:  The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

Take Care,

Jerry Hairston, Jr.                              Lynn R. Miller, Ed.D.

Board Chair & Co-Founder                     President & Co-Founder
Extra Innings Foundation                         Extra Innings Foundation

Share Your Story to Inspire and Motivate Others

If you’ve been lucky enough to share your story during a classroom visit facilitated by our Foundation, then you’ve heard of Peter Guber. As a refresher to our readers who have visited classrooms, and as an introduction to our readers who have not visited classrooms, here is a little background on Peter Guber so you can see why you should listen to what he has to say about sharing your story.

Peter is the CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, parent organization of Mandalay Baseball Properties that owns or provides consulting services to 7 minor league baseball teams in the Reds, Tigers, Rangers, Astros, Yankees, and White Sox organizations. He’s served as chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures, and produced several award-winning films including Gorillas in the Mist, Rain Man, and Batman. Peter is a media mogul who built a successful career using the art of storytelling. In his new book, Tell to Win, he offers advice on how to tell an inspirational story that moves your listeners to action.

Why should you be concerned about telling stories or inspiring others? Because as a team leader (remember in last month’s newsletter we talked about assuming a greater leadership role on your team), it’s part of a leader’s job to inspire and motivate himself, his teammates, and anyone else who is striving to actualize a dream or reach a goal.  Want to know an easy and effective way of inspiring others? Tell them a purposeful story!

Stories have the power to move listeners to action. Peter realized the power of stories in his own life, and believes limitless inspirational power is waiting to be unleashed by storytelling. Storytelling is so easy that anyone can do it. You don’t need to memorize a script or prepare a speech. You simply tell the story of what you do to motivate or inspire yourself when your energy is running low or your goal seems so far away that it’s unattainable.

You’ve probably heard misconceptions people have about storytelling. Many people have the misconception they can’t tell stories. You may hear them say, “I could never do something like tell a story to someone, let alone a group of people. I’m not good at telling stories at all!” However, the fact of the matter is that you actually ARE telling stories all the time, but probably never realized it. Stories are nothing more than sharing with your coach, teammate, or friend something that happened to you on a given day, or when you’re talking about what you want to do down the road in your career, or listening to the aspirations shared with you by a fellow teammate.

You already know how to tell stories, just remember that while you’re telling a story, you have to leave some room open for your listeners to actively participate. As Peter says, you want them to ‘metabolize’ the story; you want them to take it in, digest it, and own it. And to make that happen you must engage them to the greatest extent possible.

Just like during your game, the audience doesn’t want to be passive spectators. They want to be active participants by cheering, clapping, and shouting. As you tell your story, do your best to emotionally engage your listeners so that you have a direct route to their hearts to successfully deliver your inspirational and motivational message. And be prepared and eager to hear the stories your audience wants to share with you.

So think of a story from your past when you felt inspired and motivated to move one step closer to success. For your listeners, the door to their success may be just around the corner, and all they need to move them closer is your story.

Tell it to them today!

Take Care,

Jerry Hairston, Jr.                   Lynn R. Miller, Ed.D.

Chairman of the Board & Co-Founder      President & Co-Founder

Source: What’s Your Story? A good tale can engage and inspire your audience ( interview with Peter Guber) from Success Magazine, May 2011.