Transcript
Speaker: Action! A scientist wanted more eggs and thought, how can I make my hens more productive? So he took the best hens that he had, only the best, and he bred them for six generations from 1982 to the mid-90s, and he went back to check.
Speaker: Almost all of them were dead. The best hens had pecked the rest to death. And today we're talking about this research and how it connects to your team and your best players. It's a metaphor that actually happened and why building around only your best players is the fastest way to lose.
Speaker: Welcome to the Captains and Coaches podcast. We explore the art and science of leadership through the lens of athletics and be beyond. Leading off with the hen experiment, William Muir, an evolutionary biologist at Purdue in the 80s, he wanted to know how to make his hens more productive. So he took two groups. Group one, the average flock with nine hens, and he left it alone to do its thing for six generations. Group two, he took only the most productive hen from each group and he bred them from those and he called these the super chickens. And then in 1996, here we are six generations later, the average flock produced more eggs, they had all their feathers and the whole coop was healthy.
Speaker: The super chickens, guess how many were left? At the end of the experiments, the nine turned into three. They had pecked the rest of each other to death. The remaining three were picked bare of their feathers. They were overstressed and suffered poor overall production, less eggs.
Speaker: So the goal, taking these genetically, quote unquote, superior superstar super chickens, they didn't achieve the high individual outputs simply by being the superior birth. Instead, they achieved their high numbers by dominating resources of and aggressively suppressing everyone around them to death.
Speaker: wild so when grouped together this hyper competitive behavior turned lethal in those coupes so think about this in a social experiment sense of how this carryovers to sport teams a lot of sports teams especially at the younger group they use this super chicken model they pick the stars they give them everything all the resources all the time the attention the coaching the communication the love and they hope it works The super chickens got their production by suppressing everyone around them.
Speaker: But what happens if I'm pouring and putting all my eggs in one basket for my season? What happens when that athlete gets hurt or success goes to their head? And anything and everything that can go wrong in a season, especially if I'm betting everything I have on that one athlete.
Speaker: What's cool is this chicken research has been applied to other leadership groups. MIT, they talked about winning. They applied this to winning groups. And they discovered that those winning groups, they didn't have the highest IQs.
Speaker: But they did have three things. They read each other well, they had high social awareness, everyone got equal airtime, listened, opportunity to share, not being dominated, and giving up and sacrificing for one person to get everything.
Speaker: And then most importantly, they all had high social capital, the trust and helpfulness that builds between people over time. Talent is what got you what you bring to the table what got you there at the door to knock and Connection is the force multiplier that allows you to kick down the freaking door and step through together so Picture this super chicken team.
Speaker: You got one elite player. Every possession runs through them. They dodge, they shoot, sometimes they score, sometimes they miss, sometimes they don't. Watch the other players on that offense.
Speaker: Six, we're talking lacrosse here, but watch the other player on an offense that is purely one person managing everything. They stop cutting, they stop moving off ball, they stand and watch, ball watching, not on defense, on offense.
Speaker: why move if the ball isn't coming to me oh they're gonna shoot anyway so it it becomes this this vision oh we're gonna be so good because we have this player over time if the role doesn't grow or their skill doesn't grow it starts to grow into resentment and not the not the the good culture that we're aiming to do especially when that one person starts to have off days Then it becomes the, ah, they always do this, or here they go again.
Speaker: So the star may get the opportunity to score a lot. And guess what I do? I'm a defensive coach. The team gets really easy to defend and guard. Double the ball, triple the ball.
Speaker: Push them to make poor decisions and watch as they unravel and start to blame everyone around them for losing the game. And worse, up this behavior it starts to show up off the field.
Speaker: Younger guys stop speaking up or their eye roll starts to occur when that super chicken starts to yell at them for not doing their job or whatever it may be. So mistakes, they're hidden, they're cover up. And the best player's mood becomes the team's mood.
Speaker: They're relying on this person to show up every single day, but they don't have the social emotional leadership tools to be able to do that because they're used to getting their way and having all these resources.
Speaker: What happens when they have to share time? But they've been conditioned to give up, to to to receive everything all the time. And the people around them have been conditioned to sacrifice. They don't matter as much as that other person.
Speaker: What are the long-term consequences of that? in a season and beyond. Now picture the average flock team. Fewer highlights, more ball movement, six team members who are a threat. They got the skill set.
Speaker: Guys or girls who back each other up when somebody gets beat. If they're having a bad day, i got you. They start to lift up. This is not one person scoring all the points. We're evenly distributing. If somebody has a great game, awesome.
Speaker: then the next game is another opportunity for someone else to be the leading scorer on the team. That team is harder to scout, they're harder to break, and it and it gets better. The team gets better and more connected as the season goes on.
Speaker: Great example of schematics, this is going to be Princeton offense. Kind of old school here, but offense that's slower paced. It's positionless basketball strategy created by Hall of Fame coach Pete Carroll at Princeton University.
Speaker: a different Pete Carroll, basketball Pete Carroll, and it relies on constant motion, strict spacing, high IQ passing, and player reading decisions rather than individual isolation plays.
Speaker: Love good Princeton offense. And I want to be very clear, this is not anti-star. I want great players to be great.
Speaker: I want people to want the ball in their hands to close out a game and take that final shot. That's what we're building towards. We want healthy risks taking in practice so then they have the confidence to take those healthy risks, take the last shot on the court, in the field, come game day.
Speaker: I want that for them. So the question is whether your great players make everyone around them better or they just peck them into silence and the resentment dragon starts to build up.
Speaker: It's dangerous when everyone is complacent in their role. Like I said, over the course of a season, in the beginning, during training camp or the start, it's like, thank goodness we got the savior. We're going to be really good team this year. And the really good team means that guys are going to be really good.
Speaker: But if I'm not developing, my role doesn't increase, i don't get my opportunity, my time, or to be acknowledged, it starts to develop the wrong set of skills. Envy, resentment, it starts to boil up.
Speaker: So dangerous when everyone is complacent in their role and not confident in what they can do if the super chicken is having an off game or a bad day.
Speaker: I'm gonna throw out and introduce Nick Saban documentary, highly recommend it. He throws two words out there that I think connects so well to a super chicken. We have these super chickens and then they go from either the high school level to the college level to a whole bunch of other chickens or from the college to the pro level.
Speaker: He said the two most important words for recruiting or jumping from college to the pros were and and but.
Speaker: Introducing. All right. Talking about this player. He's got great hands, great footwork, and he was team captain. He was a student athletic advisory committee president.
Speaker: He comes from a great home, etc. Or, yeah, he's got great hands, he's got great feet, but often late to practice. Grades are not where they need him to be.
Speaker: Caused multiple fights, suspensions. So, and or but. If we're looking at the attributes, which one do you want? And having a super chicken and ignoring a lot of the butts because they give us the best ah opportunity to win at that lower level is not helping out that kid if they want to go up.
Speaker: Because those behaviors are going to catch them at some point, whether it's at college or the higher level or in the real world. So if you're thinking about a kid that is a super talented, super chicken on your team,
Speaker: But those are the behaviors we need to start to address. And where can teammates start to call them out and elevate them in those areas before it catches up to that athlete eventually?
Speaker: So more sport examples. Super Chickens, 2004 Olympics, basketball team for United States of America versus the 2008 Redeem team. A lot of similar names. However, 2004, lost...
Speaker: we lost in the the opener to Puerto Rico, and then we went home with a bronze medal. Yikes. Then, 2008, another documentary on this, highly recommend, USA Basketball Rebuilt around Commitment, Roles, and the Buy-In underneath Coach K. Same country, same talent pool, that's for sure.
Speaker: Different culture, and they come home with the gold. They didn't get more talented over four years. They got more connected and committed. All right, sticking with basketball here, Michael Jordan, before and after 1991. You knew MJ was coming. You thought, okay, well, super chicken, what about Michael Jordan?
Speaker: Okay, well, before and after 1991. Before Detroit Pistons, they built the Jordan Rules, a style of defense to defend against the only player the Bulls had on the squad. They would send bodies after Jordan. Every time he touched the ball for four years, it worked.
Speaker: Bulls kept losing to the Pistons. The breakthrough came when Jordan trusted the triangle offense and his teammates. Here is an aside. It's a book called The Jordan Rules, and it's awesome.
Speaker: this This is Phil Jackson's first year. I highly recommend this book. And it's not the Jordan Rules that the Detroit Pistons threw Jordan to play.
Speaker: No, it is ah essentially about how talented he was and how they would bend certain rules around allowing Michael Jordan to be on the team. so A lot of the behind the scenes of a very turbulent season with the Bulls. Highly recommend it. It's awesome. Sam Smith is the author.
Speaker: Oh, man. Shout out Sam Smith. Great book. But Jordan Rules, for this context, it was what the Pistons did. oh that made him easier to defend. He's not going to pass the ball. Let's throw everything we got at him.
Speaker: So now we have after 1991 when he bought into Tex Winters Triangle offense. And we watch some of the biggest shots get taken by other players. 1993, John Paxson hit the title-winning three after the ball went from Jordan to Pippen to Horace Grant and then to Paxson.
Speaker: That's what we're talking about. Then in 1997, Jordan drew a double team, and who did he pass to? Steve Kerr, Coach Kerr, for the title-winning jumper.
Speaker: Those don't happen if he's clutching and holding on to the ball. So the greatest player, yes, the greatest player who ever won He stopped being that super chicken so involved. He was willing to to give up the ball in those moments. Yes, the greatest player of all time. I argue with my high school athletes, and it's hilarious how wrong they are all the time.
Speaker: Think about certain behaviors by the GOAT and the other individual here.
Speaker: All right, so what can captains do about this? Super chickens. Here we go. Captains, you set the pecking order of the team, you more so than coaches do. Coaches set the depth chart, but truly, captains, you got your finger on the pulse. These are your teammates, your compatreons, people you're going to school with. You set the pecking order.
Speaker: You decide who gets to talking to, who gets ignored, and who gets the benefit of a doubt. So your social cues from school, you don't have to take those same rules at school and apply them to your team. If somebody's acting out of line, you can call them out.
Speaker: The things you will ignore or or give somebody the benefit of doubt, they will catch up to you. Make sure that we do the following moves here. Spread the air time.
Speaker: In huddles, in film, pull the quiet guys. Hey, what'd you see on this? Or you got the break today. So start to lift people up and not own every single huddle, all the words. Realize that the the super chicken within yourself, the wanting to lead all the time.
Speaker: Well, leading is also handing off, delegating, and making sure that others get the opportunity to be heard and acknowledged and be a part of the team. So spread around the airtime.
Speaker: Number two, reward the assist. Another basketball reference, John Wooden, he made it necessary. was a rule on his team that if somebody gave you an assist, you high-fived them. You had to hunt them down before you made it back to defense. High-five them, then get your butt back on defense.
Speaker: So any assist or ah you know great thing that a teammate puts you in a position to succeed, you gotta to acknowledge it. Acknowledge it is going to go so far for a teammate, and it's an amazing skill for you to take into Your next endeavor after sport ends, being able to acknowledge the hard work, the effort, all the little things, and not only rely on the outcome as zero or one, win or loss, because there's so much that goes into that.
Speaker: um Success is what i'm referring to. Okay, number three, check your star. If you are the best player, ask yourself, are my teammates getting better because I'm here or getting quieter?
Speaker: Am I a force multiplier as the best player, bringing everybody up around me? Or am I stealing their resources because if I don't have the ball on my stick, then we don't have a chance to win?
Speaker: So a lot of this is going to be self-awareness, social awareness, and then responsible decision-making all teamed up and paired together. And having great teammates, captains in your corner are going to have you help hold that mirror up.
Speaker: It's also on coaches to put in certain rules to teach us certain behaviors before we become aware. Winding down here wouldn't be a captains and coaches podcast without a reference to Pat Riley.
Speaker: Go coach, in my opinion. Love some stories from him. All right, this one's coming from Mark Jackson, one of his players from the New York Knicks, his point guard, and he revealed in his podcast that that Riley didn't invent the no layup rule that they had on the team. It was a team invention.
Speaker: And the players strictly policed each other to build their famous ultra-physical bully ball identity on that next squad. so The no layup rule, if a player had the opportunity for a hard foul or to challenge a layup, an opponent driving down the lane, they chose to give up a soft basket instead, they were held accountable and fined $500.
Speaker: In the same respect, if they made a mistake on the offensive side and they didn't run back and challenge and contest that one-on-zero layup, $500.
Speaker: five hundred dollars So this rule in place that was policed by the team, it was a collaborative effort, and then supported by the coach, that helped create a team identity of physical accountability there.
Speaker: So the fine in place allowed them to hold each other accountable, and then coach had the the backing there. um Yeah, so super chicken teams, they will kill voiced first.
Speaker: If there was a superstar on that team that wasn't willing to pay $500 when they gave up a layup, that whole thing would have collapsed. So this is an opportunity for us. Okay, team makes the rule, coach makes the rule. We're all freshmen all the way up to senior, rookie to vet.
Speaker: able to hold each other accountable and you got to put the money up. You got to do the push-ups. You got to do whatever it may be because that is going to put yourself in a position over time in the course of a season to come together as a team because you respect who's calling each other out. You're going to build that identity of toughness of who we know who we are. We did so many push-ups, so many sprints. We hustled to stop the freaking layup.
Speaker: That's what we're aiming here to do. We can't have anybody that is bigger than the team because that is what's going to stifle us and take away it. So spread the resources, spread the love. Super chickens, they kill voice first. that That's going to be the first sign that you look for. If somebody stops listening to what you call them out for, hey, there's a super chicken on the rise here.
Speaker: Do what you gotta do to get help get them in line. Here we go. All right, so that does it for another episode. If you enjoyed this podcast, I encourage you to like, subscribe. The challenge for the captains this week, find one teammate who has gone quiet or they didn't do their pushups. They didn't listen to you aiming to hold them accountable.
Speaker: and get their get their voice back, get their accountability back. Challenge for the coaches, look at what you praise. If it's all goals and stats and connected only to the performance,
Speaker: we may be breeding some super chickens here How I counter that as a coach is highlight behaviors at the end of each practice call out hey best teammate, team captain of the day who represented the best leader, and then most importantly, we call this legend who just elevated the whole practice, every single person around them.
Speaker: And this could be from height, this could be from attitude, effort, or pushing it on the sprints. They aren't always the main contributor, but they contributed some way, shape, or form to raise up the whole legendary status of everybody around them.
Speaker: that's how I accomplished that as a coach. So then, Order's going to be important. Call out what the reward is that we're doing, the behavior that got it, and then drum roll please.
Speaker: Some time for some celebration. And then teenagers, you need practice celebrating each other's successes. So this is an opportunity to practice celebrating one another.
Speaker: and guess what? it's going to translate come game time. All right. That's all we got for the show. I encourage you, head to captainsandcoaches.com for more education. Education tab up top. I've got two awesome courses on there.
Speaker: Continue to like, subscribe. If you have a coach or a captain that and you feel can connect this information, share the podcast with them. Then tell them to like and subscribe and do all that cool stuff.
Speaker: All right, shout out to our sponsor, Train Heroic. I deliver all my training for my athletes through Train Heroic. Also, all my training that I'm doing for myself, I put out there for you to use on the old bull program.
Speaker: So check that out. Link in the show notes. If you're a strength coach, definitely check out ah Train Heroic, trainheroic.com slash captains. I think can get like a month that you can put your training on there for your team for free.
Speaker: Anyway, that's all I got. All right.
Speaker: Good night.
