A lesson in leadership

  • Published
  • By Maj. Greg Buckner
  • 48th Maintenance Operations Squadron
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  Life's lessons come at us in many ways. One instance, in particular, provided me insight into handling the responsibilities of a supervisor. The following is a true story of the high school basketball player from New York, Jason McElwain, who captured the national spotlight this past March.

Years ago, a friend of mine was coaching a basketball team for kids 10-11 years old. Matt had the talent for establishing appropriate goals for his teams based on the varying levels of interest and capability. Matt was a quick study. However, as he relayed to me several years later, he learned his most important lesson about coaching, and leadership for that matter, from one young child named Bobby. 

Matt met his young protégé one year when Bobby and his single mom moved to town. The youth basketball league where he coached was well established and actually became quite competitive with many players staying together for multiple years. Since Bobby arrived in the fall, after the teams were established, he wasn't able to join a team until the following year. One evening, Bobby's mom stopped by Matt's house and struck up a conversation concluding with her request that her son be allowed to join the team. She said, "you see, my son is autistic and hasn't been allowed to play before...he really enjoys basketball season." It didn't take long for Matt to accept her request, and Bobby became a member of the Junior Celtics. 

Over the first few games of the season, Bobby did the best he could to adhere to the rules of the game, but rarely saw more than a few minutes of action. With his leadership hat on, Matt decided he needed to establish a single play, somewhat like a game-winning shot, where Bobby would receive a pass from the point guard and then simply turn and shoot. For the rest of the season, Matt would stand on the sidelines and give the high sign for the play at some point during each game, then he would get Bobby's attention to make sure he was ready, and the play would take place. The point guard would make the pass and Bobby would fire off his trademark shot often in a seemingly random direction. No matter, high fives were passed all around to include the other team's players. Near the end of the season, the span of Bobby's influence was well known in the league, but Matt still had an empty feeling as his young player had yet to score all season. Matt needed to fix that and time was running out. 

Then, as the number of games dwindled to just a few, the moment happened. At the appropriate time in the game, Matt gave the high sign, the point guard crossed mid-court, made his standard pass to Bobby who snatched the ball, turned and shot. For some reason, this shot followed a pristine trajectory, careened off the backboard and fell in for 2. The crowd was electric. Grown men chest thumped, people were yelling, an incredible scene unfolded...Bobby had made it. Matt was euphoric and amongst all the commotion, he silently patted himself on the back for a job well done. As he looked around to receive his big hug for helping Bobby overcoming his personal obstacles, Bobby was no where to be found. A few quick glances around the court and Matt had no idea where his basketball hero had gone. Eventually, Matt located him and simultaneously learned a new and valuable lesson in leadership. 

During all the chaos, Bobby had left the basketball court, climbed the stairs, and found where his mother was sitting. For some reason, he had no interest in what was taking place on the basketball court. His interest was singularly focused on the fact that his mother was excited for him and he wanted to be with her. You see, what was truly important to Bobby was his mom, not basketball. At that moment, Matt began to realize that to succeed in leading people, he needed to understand what was important to his individuals and then use their motivation towards a common team goal. Until then, Matt was focused on a goal and assumed everyone else was motivated in the exact same manner that he was. He had totally miscalculated Bobby's motivation. As military members, we can draw from Matt's experiences as a basketball coach. The more we understand what motivates the people we supervise, the better chance we have at taking care of them and leading them towards a collective goal.