​As the head football coach at Nebraska for 25 years, Tom Osborne's teams won three national championships and 13 conference championships with a record of 255-49-3. His winning percentage of 83% reflects that his teams never won fewer than nine games in a season and only finished worse than second in conference play three times (twice in 3rd and once in 4th).
 
Great results require great communication. You communicate with your actions and your words. These comments about Coach Osborne from his former players in the book Coaching Wisdomby Mike Harrity, provide inspirational insight into what great communication looks like:
 
Turner Gill (QB 1980-83): "During my four years as a player I saw his genuineness and integrity, and he didn't waver. I think the biggest thing was that Coach Osborne didn't use any foul language. That was probably the one thing that stood out the most, as well as his demeanor, his poise and self-control. He was the same whether things were going great or not so great. You knew what you were getting. He didn't let outside circumstances dictate how he was going to respond or not respond. He was not going to change his response because of a circumstance. He was who he was. It comes back to those same two words — genuineness and integrity."
 
Steve Taylor (QB 1985-88): "The thing about Coach Osborne is that he treated every player the same when it came to honesty, integrity, and his expectations. You felt like you could talk to Coach Osborne regardless of the situation. Whether you had a great game or a poor game, he treated you the same. That builds a total amount of trust and confidence in the coach."
 
Zach Wiegert (Offensive Lineman 1991-94): "When Coach Osborne said something, he always meant it. He always backed it up. If we ran at the end of practice, he ran with us. He would say you need to eat healthier. Well, he always ate healthy. He'd tell us you don't need to be swearing at practice. Well, he doesn't swear. It was really easy for him to say this is a team deal. Some coaches say this is a team deal, but then tell everybody, ‘I'm the head coach, and I can do whatever I want.' It's not just saying the words, it's about living the life and the actions you take. Players are smarter than they get credit for. You play the game with Coach Osborne and you get on the bus at 2 o'clock in the morning to go to the airport, and he's sitting there writing the game plan for next week. You always knew with him that he was putting in the time, too. It was pretty easy sacrificing for a team goal when you saw him doing it day in and day out."
 
Coach Osborne's great communication in words and action communicated his great character. The quality of your character is the ceiling of your leadership ability. His great results started with his great character which he clearly communicated.

​Sparky Anderson was one of the greatest managers in the history of Major League Baseball. He managed the National League's Cincinnati Reds to the 1975 and 1976 World Series championships, then added a third title in 1984 with the Detroit Tigers of the American League. He was the first manager to win the World Series in both leagues. His 2,194 career wins are the sixth most for a manager in Major League history.
 
There is much to be learned about leading a good life and being a good leader from Sparky Anderson. Here are three ideas to consider:
 
1. It's never about you. Sparky put it this way:
 
Baseball is a simple game. If you have good players, and you keep them in the right frame of mind, the manager is a success. The players make the manager. It's never the other way. If a team is in a positive frame of mind, it will have a good attitude. If it has a good attitude, it will make a commitment to playing the game right. If it plays the game right, it will win-unless, of course, it doesn't have enough talent to win, and no manager can make goose-liver pate out of goose feathers, so why worry?
 
2. Principles' are more important than pay. In 1985 the California Angels contacted the Detroit Tigers for permission to talk to Sparky about returning home to Los Angeles to become their manager. Sparky told the Tigers to tell the Angels he was not interested without even inquiring about how much money was being offered. When he came to the Tigers in 1979 he had promised that he would stay in Detroit until he was fired and he would keep his word.
 
In 1995 Sparky was the only manager in baseball who refused to manage the replacement players that were going to be put in place. Sparky refused to do this because for him it went against the integrity of the game. He put his $2 million salary and future induction into the Hall of Fame at risk. He would not compromise his integrity. Sparky put it this way:
 
"If you don't stand up for everything you believe in, you got no place to stand. If principle has a price tag, then it ain't worth nothin' in the first place."
 
3. Treat everybody great! Sparky tried to put a smile on the face of everybody he met every day. His players marveled watching him every day he came to work as he stopped to visit with every stadium employee and address them by name. For Sparky it was like that everywhere he went. He put it this way:
 
"What you really gotta do is treat everybody right. Every person out there is a child of God. Ain't no one person more special than anyone else. God likes to see all of His children happy. If you wanna make God happy, just go out and make His children feel good. It doesn't cost a nickel to be nice to people. It's something you can give away for free and it means more than a million dollars. Sometimes the smallest thing done by a stranger turns out to be the biggest part of someone else's life."
 
Will you make a stranger smile tomorrow?

Greg Popovich won his first NBA championship in 1999. He won his fifth NBA title sixteen years later in 2014. Under Popovich, the San Antonio Spurs have been in the playoffs for 21 straight years. No coach in any professional sport has had a more consistent record of excellence. Popovich or Pop, as he is referred to, has done it with consistency and innovation working side by side.
 
Pop consistently has clear, direct and honest communication with his players. Off the court he takes a sincere interest in their growth as well rounded people beyond basketball. He has discussions with them on non-basketball related topics and challenges them to raise their social and political awareness, emphasizing there are many things more important than basketball.
 
On the court he is extremely tough and demanding and pulls no punches. He is equally critical of superstars and reserve players alike. There is unrelenting consistency demanded with regard to fundamentals and team play.
 
These professional players accept his sometimes harsh rebukes because Pop is genuine and they know he only wants what is best for the team, and that in spite of his sometimes tough criticism, he truly cares about them as people well beyond the basketball court.
 
Pop is as innovative as he is consistent. He was the first coach to aggressively draft and build a significant part of his roster with international players. Two of his first international recruits, Tony Parker and Manu Ginnobli, became cornerstones of his championship teams.
 
Pop also hires coaches from a diverse pool of talent. Popovich's top assistant in the 2014-2015 season was Ettore Messina, who was one of the best coaches in Europe. Pop also hired Becky Hammond to be the first full-time, paid female assistant on a NBA coaching staff.
 
He won his five NBA championships with three completely different styles of play. His first three were inside, ball control orientated, his fourth was up tempo, space and pace and his fifth championship a combination of the two styles. Popovich told the Washington Post. "Standing pat never works."
 
Former assistant coach Messina described how Popovich encourages discussion when crafting game plans. "What's interesting is that he always pushes his coaching staff to argue with him. Sometimes he reminds me of one of those Greek philosophers, the sophists, who tried to find the truth through arguments. He really encourages discussion and variety of opinions, seeing them as a means to improve as a unit."
 
Pop is a not a big fan of motivational quotes but there is one from Jacob Riis that he has hanging in the Spurs locker room: "When nothing seems to help, I go back and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it - but all that had gone before."
 
You can be sure Pop will keep hammering away with consistency while always looking to innovate.