Leadership Is My Sport

The Championship Mentality

Baseball. Golf. Tennis. Football. Basketball. These are not just games. They are global institutions. Jordan. Brady. Gretzky. Jeter. Tiger. Their names echo across generations because they did not just show up. They showed up differently, every single time.

But what if we applied that same standard, that same obsession, to the way we lead?

That is a question I have been sitting with for nearly twenty years. And my answer has become a personal north star: leadership is my sport.

Every serious athlete has a championship they are chasing. In my day job leading airport ground operations, that championship has a name: Station of the Year. It is the highest recognition a station can earn in the airline industry, awarded to the airport team operating at the absolute peak of excellence. That pursuit shaped how I think about standards. It showed me what it looks like to truly compete, not just participate.

That distinction matters deeply. A championship mentality in leadership means knowing exactly what you are playing for, and refusing to be casual about the pursuit. It means holding yourself to a standard that has nothing to do with whoever is watching.

"The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do." — Kobe Bryant

The greats did not stumble into greatness. Kobe did not become the Mamba through raw ability alone. Jordan did not win six championships on talent. They earned it in the dark, in the early mornings, in the unglamorous hours of repetition that no one else was willing to put in. The podium was just the public result of a very private commitment.

Four AM Is a Philosophy

In 2016, Brett Hagler captured something Kobe said while accepting an award that has never left me. Kobe told the room they were not on that stage because of talent alone. They were there because of 4 AM. Because of two-a-days and five-a-days. Because of a dream they protected fiercely, and because every obstacle that tried to stop them only made them stronger.

That is not just an athlete's creed. That is a leadership philosophy. For me, it looks like waking up at 5 AM and doing something to get better. Reading a book. Listening to a podcast. Reviewing my own notes. Writing down what worked and what did not. It is not glamorous. But it is the private practice that makes the public performance possible.

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." — Jack Welch 

Using the Doubters

One of the things I have borrowed most directly from elite athletes is the ability to use criticism as fuel. Michael Jordan took everything personally. An offhand slight. A doubter's comment. A disrespectful prediction. He catalogued it all and turned it into rocket fuel on the court.

True grit is not how confident you are when you are winning. It is how you carry yourself when you are down, and whether you find a way to come back. I have been down. I have talked when I was losing. But I never stopped practicing. I never stopped studying. And I never stopped believing the work would compound.