Know peoples names so they know they are valued

Good morning friends. I hope you're having a great day. My guess is your summer has gotten a little bit brighter because Ted Lasso is back. For those of you who don't know, Ted Lasso is a show about an American football coach that gets hired to coach a European premier football team. The premise of the show is that he was originally hired to ruin the team, as part of a divorce story, but in the end, he shows up, and he brings them hope, and he offers what I think are some great leadership principles. So this summer, if you're looking to grow in your leadership a little bit, I encourage you to watch the show, Ted Lasso. What I'm gonna do for the next few weeks is take a principle from each week and offer it up to you as a reminder to help you lead well.

So one of the first principles that we see Ted lead with is the power of names. Ted knows people's names so that they know they're valued. It's this great scene where he meets essentially what's called the kit manager or the equipment manager, and he asks him his name, and the guy responds and says, uh, nobody's asked, nobody ever asks my name. And there's this awkward silence, and he says, "Well?"

You'll see this theme throughout the show, one of the things that makes Ted a great leader is that he knows people's names. And so my challenge for you is to think about, do you know people's names at the level that you should, and take some energy and effort to remember people's names.

One of my tricks is I keep a note on my phone so that when I meet someone new, I can write it down and write some sort of association that goes with the name so that A, I can use it the next time I see them. Or B, if I forget, I can look up and remind myself. And that's not something that is easy, takes a little bit of time, but that discipline will make a difference in your leadership.

I hope that this tip was helpful to you and I hope that you have a great week. And don't forget, tune in to Ted Lasso for some laughs, and for a chance to grow as a leader.