Brian Bruno

The International Olympic Committee has addressed Iran's execution of 19-year-old wrestler Saleh Mohammadi: "Sadly, today’s world is divided and full of conflicts and tragedies. The IOC cares deeply about the situation of athletes all around the globe and is concerned every time it learns of individual cases of mistreatment. "However, it is very difficult to comment on situations of individuals during a conflict or unrest in a country, without the IOC being able to verify the often contradicting information. "At this moment in time, we are particularly concerned about the situation of Iranian athletes impacted by the events unfolding in their country – as we are with all athletes who face conflict and tragedies elsewhere in the world. Unfortunately, these situations are more regularly brought to our attention due to the increasingly divided world in which we live. "The IOC, as a civil, non-governmental organisation, has neither the remit nor the ability to change the laws or political system of a sovereign country. This is the legitimate role of governments and the respective intergovernmental organisations. "The IOC is a sports organisation whose remit and success is based on bringing the world together in peaceful competition. We have to be realistic about the IOC's ability to directly influence global and national affairs. "At the same time, we will continue to work with our Olympic stakeholders to help where we can, often through quiet sports diplomacy. The IOC remains in touch with the Olympic community from Iran."

Transactional vs. Transformational Coaching… Dan Hurley shared a story about asking Geno Auriemma for advice after a rough start last season. Geno didn’t mince words: “Listen, if the only gratification and the only part of coaching that excites you is winning the national championship, then you’ve lost your way, buddy! Where’s the joy in the things that you’ve always been about as a coach before you went on the championship run, like relationships with your players, like helping people get better, like making your team the best it can be. Be a coach, man. This is when you really need to be a leader. This team isn’t as good as last year’s, so what the hell are you going to do about it? Are you going home? Are you going to let this thing unravel?” That’s the tension every coach feels: Transactional vs. Transformational. Transactional coaching is outcome-obsessed. It’s about the wins, the losses, the trophies. The problem? When results don’t come, your purpose crumbles with them. Transformational coaching is different. It’s about people. It’s about growth. It’s about building something that lasts, whether the scoreboard agrees with you or not. And this is why mentorship matters so much in coaching. Left on our own, it’s easy to drift into a transactional mode without even realizing it. A trusted mentor can pull us back to center and remind us why we started coaching in the first place. To build relationships. To develop players as people. To make teams the best they can be. Wins matter. But they’re not the why. The why is impact. The why is growth. The why is leaving your players better than you found them. The process is the prize. Stay grounded. Stay on the path. Always remember your why.

Man to man

Nick Saban shares what transformational leadership really looks like and the trap most leaders fall into. "If you're in any kind of managerial position, I think you should define your job the same way: Provide the leadership to develop the relationships to help people create and accomplish the opportunities that they have, and help them establish the discipline they need to do it." Then he broke down what leadership actually is: "Leadership is about helping somebody else, affecting somebody else for their benefit. Not for your benefit - for their benefit." "If you're doing it for your benefit, it's manipulation. And people can see right through that." That's the line right there... Leadership serves others. Manipulation serves yourself. "You gotta develop a relationship, because they gotta know you care. Hard to affect people if they don't think you care about them." Then he called out where most leaders spend their time: "How do you spend all your time? If you're a manager, you spend all your time with the people who don't do the right things. I call them energy vampires." "We got 5 guys on our team - they don't go to class, they don't do the right thing in practice, they loaf all the time. Those are the guys I meet with every day. They're energy vampires." So he made a commitment: "I'm gonna meet with 3 guys who didn't do anything wrong every day to see how they're doing. To make sure they know I care about them, their family, and what's happening in their life." "I wanna have a relationship with those people, so that when I need to affect them, I have a chance to do it." "People gotta know you care. If they think you only care about yourself, they're gonna think you're just a manipulator and you're not really going to affect them in a positive way." "You gotta serve other people." The core of servant leadership is wanting to see others at their best. It's not about control, it's about serving others. (🎥 CBT Automotive)