This Smarter Egg interview with Enda McNulty is over an hour long but worth every minute. The former Armagh footballer sat down with Aodan Enright to discuss a variety of topics centered on his GAA experiences and his work as high performance coach with his company Motiv8.
McNulty regales some great stories about winning the All-Ireland with his county, while also delving into the process which led to the development of such a brilliant side. He places the importance of leaders within the team right at the very top of that process.
I can literally remember knocking on guy's doors to say 'We can't accept your lifestyle.' 'We can't accept the fact that you're drinking too much.' 'We can't accept the fact that you're not in the gym three nights a week.' 'We can't accept the fact that you won't train on Christmas Day.
He talked in depth about character and the fact that the likes of Paul McGrane and Kieran McGeeney inspired those around them.
The great leaders attract other leaders...
We were lucky that we had eight or nine and those eight or nine literally hunted for other leaders. So we weren't interested in who was the best footballer, we weren't interested in who had the nicest skills or who was in the best shape because that's no going to last. It's not sustainable.
It's who has the character? Who has the leadership skills? Who has the team skills?
Moving to a more general observation of what makes great leaders, McNulty has a simple ethos of leading by example:.
[What makes a great leader?] It depends what performance domain we're in. However there's commonality across those, in business, in sport, in family and in life. I think one of the biggest characteristics is we need to lead by example.
So if we're going to lead by example then we need to lead ourselves. So what is your confidence like? What's your focus, what's your discipline like? What's your ability to communicate to yourself like? What's your work ethos like? What is your composure like?
His argument is pretty straight forward. A leader must work as harder, if not harder, than those he/she is leading. He describes this as 'the fundamental building block in starting off as a leader.'
The chat about leadership starts at 14.30 but if you get a chance, take time to enjoy the whole thing.
