Hi Reader

You've read the books. Attended the courses. Maybe did a post-grad.

You follow the experts. Do site visits.

Yet something's missing.

The gap between average, good and great leaders often isn't found in what everyone talks about. It hides in the wide open – in principles so fundamental they're nearly invisible.

I've spent years studying sports leaders who consistently outperform their peers.

The difference, largely, isn't talent or resources. It's their unconscious application of hidden laws that others ignore.

These aren't trendy tactics. They're principles that work regardless of sport, level, or era.

We could talk for hours on this subject. But for five minutes let's uncover four hidden ‘laws’ that can transform your leadership starting today.

It will be a worthwhile five minutes.......

$87.00 Online Course:Break Free from Leadership Stagnation - 6 Transformative Principles Are you a head coach, performance director, or other sports leader feeling trapped in a cycle of frustration and limited... Read more Get this online course now!

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1. The Law of Forced Efficiency

When basketball's Toronto Raptors faced a demanding stretch of five games in seven nights during their 2019 championship season, head-coach Nick Nurse made a surprising decision.

Instead of intensifying preparation, he eliminated morning shooting practice entirely and cut practice time by approx. 40%. The team went 5-0 during this stretch.

Players reporting feeling fresher and more mentally focused in games.

This wasn't luck. It was a perfect application of Parkinson's Law: "Work expands to fill the time available."

Most leaders respond to pressure by adding – more meetings, more analysis, more preparation. High performing leaders do the opposite. They subtract.

The Law of Forced Efficiency states: "Performance improves when time contracts."

When resources tighten, learn to instinctively eliminate waste. Drill down and focus on what truly matters. You’ll find clarity amid pressure.

Try this experiment: Take your next week's training plan and cut it by 30%. Force yourself to identify what's essential.

Ask: "If we had only two days to prepare instead of four or five, what would we absolutely keep?"

That's your performance gold. Everything else just might be, at worst, waste, and,at best, time filler.

A rugby coach I worked with applied this principle before a championship match. He scrapped 70% of his usual preparation, focused on just two patterns. They went of to secure their first title in seven years.

2. The Transfer Law

The All Blacks rugby team consistenly recruits great players.

Part of this is identifying players who rapidly improve others around them.

And, over years, they've discovered something most miss: skill doesn't just reside in individuals. It transfers between them.

The Transfer Law states: "The value of talent lies not in personal performance but in its contagion factor."

Some players or staff elevate everyone around them. Others – even highly skilled ones – subtly diminish others.

Your people can either be a battery or a vampire.

This explains why teams of stars often underperform while "lesser" teams sometimes exceed all expectations.

Create a simple matrix. For each team member, ask:

1. How do others perform when working directly with this person?
2. What specific behaviours cause this effect?

Map your findings. You'll discover your true performance engines aren't always your star performers.

An athletics-coach client reorganised training groups based on positive transfer effects rather than skill levels. Medal count doubled increased.

3. Chesterton's Fence

A basketball coach friend of mine inherited a strange pre-game ritual from his predecessor. It seemed pointless, so he eliminated it.

The team promptly lost seven straight games.

He later learned the ritual served a crucial timing function that structured player preparation.

Chesterton's Fence warns us: "Don't remove a fence until you understand why it was built."

In sports leadership, we inherit traditions, processes, and systems.

Some can seem outdated. Our instinct is to sweep them away for something "better."

But every practice, no matter how odd, likely solved a problem once. Understand that problem before changing the solution.

Before eliminating any established practice in your program, ask these questions:

1. What specific problem might this have originally solved?
2. Does that problem still exist?
3. Will my new approach address that same problem?

A football manager I befriended was ready to scrap a seemingly outdated player evaluation system. Before doing so, he investigated its origins. He discovered it caught subtle performance patterns his new metrics missed. He kept it, evolved it, and had other managers regularly call him to ask him about his ‘unique’ system.

4. The 90/10 Rule of Influence

Steve Kerr transformed the Golden State Warriors not by changing everything, but by changing just 10% of their system.

He understood that influencing a small slice of the right factors creates disproportionate results.

The 90/10 Rule states: "90% of outcomes flow from 10% of causes."

Most leaders spread their influence too thin. They try to improve everything a little bit.

Elite leaders concentrate their influence on the critical 10% that shapes everything else.

Identify your program's "foundation-stone behaviours" – they’re the small, seemingly insignificant, actions that trigger major effects.

For a soccer team I advised, we discovered that controlling the first 7 seconds after losing possession had a direct causation effect on 80% of match outcomes.

They stopped trying to fix 10 different problems. They obsessed over those 7 seconds. nobody outside the camp made the connection but their ranking climbed from 11th to 3rd in one season. Importantly, they retained that advantage in the following seasons.

Beyond Surface-Level Leadership

These four principles share a common thread: they require you to rise out of busyness and look beyond the obvious.

Average leaders operate on the surface – they’re ‘super busy’ with tactics, techniques, systems. Elite leaders operate at the level of principles.

Tactics will always change. Principles never do.

Your Leadership Challenge

Why not pick just one of these hidden laws.

Don’t just dip the toe in. Fully immerse and apply it rigorously for the next 30 days.

Document what changes. Notice what improves.

Then, when you are ready, add another.

Leadership excellence isn't about following the crowd. It's about seeing what others miss.

Which hidden law will you apply first?

P.S. I'm curious – which of these principles resonated most with you? Reply with just a number (1-4) and I'll be happy to share some specific applications for your situation.

Let's connect beyond here.....

Check out my YouTube channel: Paul Clarke - The Leaders Coach.

Join me: On X and Linkedin and Instagram​

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A Master's Voice....

Think about the 'konzept' of your team, club or organisation.

Can you describe it in 2-3 lines? If not, might you need to revisit it?

Also, how much relative importance do you attach to 'in' the game aptitudes and skills vs. 'on' the game aptitudes and skills?

Are you consistently developing the person and the player?

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Thank you for being part of the Leaders Coach community. The work on how to lead better is something you have to do alone. But you don't have to do it on your own. Onward and Upward, Paul Clarke

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