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The NCAA tournament, Xavier, Leadership & What it Means to be #1
You’re probably wondering how the basketball tournament, Xavier University, leadership and “number one” all come together. The short answer is Krissi Barr. No, she isn’t a hoops star or even a graduate of Cincinnati based XU. But as fate would have it, she finds herself at the intersection of greatness and possibility.
Let me explain. As most people know, today marks the start of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. For many sports fans, this is as good as it gets. 64 teams play in a single elimination format (lose and your season is over) to crown the national champion. School pride, buzzer beaters and David vs. Goliath match-ups make for must-watch TV. And, of course, everyone thinks their bracket is going to win the office pool.
Amid all this madness is Xavier, a small Catholic university whose team is seeded #1 for the first time in school history. Their first game is Friday night against Texas Southern, a #16 seed from Houston who had a losing record this season. No #1 seed has ever lost in the first round to a #16 seed, so the pressure is on the heavily-favored Musketeers to hold off the upstart Tigers.
Basketball isn’t the only thing Xavier is known for. Their Williams College of Business is widely considered one of the finest places to get a business degree or MBA. Krissi Barr has been on the Williams Dean’s Board of Advisors for years, helping to make Xavier an even more successful academic institution than it already is. To many people, Xavier’s business school is also #1.
Krissi recently published a book on leadership called The Fido Factor. She’s taught leadership training to thousands of people. Through her executive coaching practice, she’s helped hundreds of business people and companies achieve greatness. If executive coaches were ranked in Cincinnati, the odds are good that Krissi Barr would get a #1 seed from the committee.
So, what does it mean to be #1? You’ve earned your way to the highest echelon and now you’re in the spotlight. Everyone looks to you for leadership. And you discover that it can be harder to stay at the top than it is to get there.
It’s the same with business owners and senior executives. You’re #1 in your world. And then one day you find yourself dribbling the ball down the court, down by a point with ten seconds left in the game. Everyone’s counting on you to make the winning shot.
If you and your team are #1, congratulations. If you want to stay there, call Krissi Barr of Barr Corporate Success. Incorporate her winning formula for executive coaching, strategic planning, training and assessments. Me, I’ll be rooting for Xavier to win the entire tournament. That or my bracket will be totally busted.