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It is a particular episode of The CEO Sequence for me as a result of we took a visit to Notre Dame Stadium the place I performed soccer as a walk-on alongside my brother in the course of the undefeated season of 2012. We went to my outdated stomping grounds to sit down down with head coach Marcus Freeman to speak about management and the way, in some ways, he’s the CEO of their unimaginable program.
Under are some highlights of that dialog, which have been edited for size and readability. Watch the total video above.
The coach as CEO
“A CEO is in control of a giant firm, and my firm occurs to be Notre Dame soccer. On the finish of the day, you are chargeable for each resolution that impacts the individuals in this system and the outcomes which might be on the sector. So you do not make each resolution, however you are chargeable for each resolution. That is necessary to ensure you perceive. All through my teaching profession, the best satisfaction got here from seeing the gamers you have been concerned with have success.”
The celebration video that went viral after he was employed as head coach
“It was a blur. However I bear in mind strolling out of that door and seeing the workforce going loopy — all I needed to do was hug them. It wasn’t a few speech. It was an opportunity to have a good time and be together with your guys, proper? I inform them on a regular basis: I am a teammate. I is likely to be the captain, however I am a teammate. I perceive the belongings you’re going by way of. I am on this combat with you. And I feel they respect that and so they perceive that. Strolling out that door is a second I am going to always remember and one I am going to cherish eternally.”
The that means of his mantra “Select Laborious”
“It began a few years in the past after I was within the Notre Dame weight room and was understanding as our gamers have been being pushed onerous. And I bear in mind considering which you can select to undergo the motions or you possibly can select to go as onerous as you possibly can. And that is after I got here up with this considered ‘Select Laborious.’ We put up an indication you see if you stroll into this constructing that claims ‘Select Laborious.’ As a result of if you stroll into Notre Dame soccer, you have to have that mindset. We’ll select onerous immediately in observe, select onerous immediately in conferences, select onerous immediately within the weight room. And for the gamers, you are going to be challenged within the classroom, proper? You are going to be at school with among the most clever individuals on this world. And it is troublesome, however in the end you’ve got chosen to come back right here so select onerous, settle for it, and know that the rewards from selecting onerous each single day cannot be discovered anyplace else.”
Drawback-solving philosophy
“When a workforce is not successful, lots of people say, belief the method. My mantra is: repair the method. I spend loads of time evaluating every thing we have been doing. Why aren’t we taking part in higher? What are we doing schematically? Is there one thing our gamers do not perceive? Losses occur and it is part of life. However they harm. As a frontrunner, you do not wish to have too many. Repair it with urgency.”
Retaining gamers within the age of the switch portal
“Look, should you’re the CEO of an organization, you bought to pay your staff, proper? Now if they will go some other place and make much more cash, it doesn’t matter what kind of firm you are operating, they are going to in all probability go away. So now we have to make it possible for our gamers can maximize the alternatives of title, picture and likeness. That is necessary, however what else retains them at Notre Dame? What else attracts them right here? And you have to consider it is your tradition. You have to consider it is the way in which they’re handled. Do they take pleasure in being a part of your program? That is so necessary. And that is a message for myself and our different coaches. Let’s make it possible for as onerous as we push them, as demanding as we’re, we aren’t demeaning. We would like them to take pleasure in being part of this workforce and the entire alternatives that the College of Notre Dame supplies.”
Take a look at extra profiles of modern and impactful leaders by visiting The CEO Sequence archives.
