The Conditions for Greatness

Today’s Theme:

One of the most important questions leaders can ask themselves is this: Am I trying to drive my people or am I building an environment that drives them on its own?

As a leader, if you’re constantly pushing, motivating, and reminding, you’ll eventually run out of energy and so will your people. But when you create conditions where people feel trusted and inspired, they’ll fuel themselves. Great leaders make the shift from controlling every move to cultivating the kind of environment where growth happens naturally.

Today’s message explores how to make this shift with inspiration from legendary coach Pat Summitt, Death Valley, and a football icon who was willing to fundamentally change his approach to leading.

Pat Summitt’s Lesson on Starting Your Own Engine

Pat Summitt was one of the greatest coaches of all time (over 1,000 wins, 8 national titles). But one of my favorite stories about her influence didn’t take place on a basketball court. It happened at home.

Her son came in one day in tears. He had just been cut from his high school basketball team. Summitt’s first instinct was to protect him and maybe even call the coach, but she decided not to.

Instead, she gave him a difficult truth: “Son, you didn’t work hard enough. If you wear out both of those basketballs, you’ll make the team.”

When he asked for her help, she agreed but she drew the line: “I’ll help you. But I won’t start your engine. You have to start it every day.”

Her quote offers a valuable reminder for all of us who lead: Leaders can guide. They can support. But they can’t start the engine for someone else. The best they can do is create an environment where people want to start it themselves.

Coaches and Leaders are Gardeners

Death Valley is one of the hottest, driest places on earth. It’s often regarded as a barren wasteland, as if nothing could ever grow there (see image below).

But in the winter of 2004, something unusual happened. Six inches of rain fell and a few months later, the desert was covered in wildflowers (see image below).

Every seed carried the possibility of life and it just needed the right conditions and environment to grow.

People are the same way. There’s talent, drive, and potential inside of them already. They don’t need you to give it to them. They need you to create the right conditions for it to emerge.

That’s why I love the quote: “When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.”

As coaches, when you see someone struggling, your first instinct might be to fix them. But what if the real breakthrough comes from fixing the environment around them?

Think of coaches and leaders as gardeners. They know when to prune, when to water, and when to step back and let the sun do its work. Their focus isn’t on pushing the seed, but on shaping the environment around it. Just like soil and sunlight are essential for a seed, trust and inspiration are the essentials for people. When trust and inspiration take root, potential that once seemed dormant begins to rise.

Becoming a Transformational Leader

Even Nick Saban, one of the most successful and demanding coaches in college football history, realized that his original way of leading wasn’t enough. Early in his career, he leaned heavily on criticism, thinking intensity alone would drive performance. Looking back, he admitted, “Negative experiences, without teaching, kill morale.” 

The turning point came when he shifted toward being a transformational leader by focusing less on managing through fear and more on creating the conditions players needed most: Trust, inspiration, and meaningful teaching. That change didn’t lower his standards, but it did elevate the environment so his players could rise to meet them.

You can’t command and control people into greatness. You have to create the conditions that draw it out. And that means leading from a place of inspiration and trust.

Here are three ways to become a better “Trust and Inspire-focused” leader:

• Model the example. People close their ears to advice and open their eyes to example. The best way to become a “Trust and Inspire” leader is to live the standard yourself. If you want discipline, show discipline. If you want respect, show respect. People will follow what you do long before they follow what you say.

• Treat trust like a verb. Too often we talk about trust like a thing we either have or don’t have (aka a noun). But trust is something we do (aka a verb). It’s built through consistency between your words and actions and it’s unleashed when you extend trust to others. This doesn’t mean you trust blindly, but rather with clear expectations and accountability.

• Connect with people and connect them to purpose. To truly inspire, leaders have to go beyond surface-level motivation. This comes down to your ability to build real connection with the people you lead and then tie that connection to something larger. Show each person how their involvement and contribution matter and how what they do makes a difference to the mission. When people feel seen and understand that their work is connected to a meaningful “why,” they don’t just comply, they commit.

Transformational leadership isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about creating conditions where people want to live up to them.

Final Thoughts:

Here’s your challenge this week: Stop trying to force the bloom or drive every engine in those you lead. Model the way, extend trust, and connect people to purpose.

When you shape the environment, the growth takes care of itself.

Inspiration for This Piece:

• Covey, S. M. R., Kasperson, D., Covey, M. M., & Judd, G. T. (2022). Trust & inspire: How truly great leaders unleash greatness in others. Simon & Schuster.

The Threshold Lab Podcast:

This week on The Threshold Lab, I chatted with Oregon State University Women’s Basketball Coach, Scott Rueck. Scott is a 5-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year and has turned the Beavers’ program into a perennial national contender over the past 15 years.

If you're new to the podcast, you'll also find shorter, bite-sized solo episodes throughout the week exploring mindset and performance principles. If you enjoy my conversation with Coach Rueck (or any of my other episodes), it would mean a lot for you to rate and review the show on whatever platform you use.

You can listen to all past episodes here: The Threshold Lab Podcast.

With gratitude,

ZB