“If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don’t care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we’re gonna be winners.”
— Coach Norman Dale, Hoosiers
The legendary actor Gene Hackman recently passed away at the age of 95. The tragic circumstances of his death seemed to be all over the news, but he certainly lived a long and accomplished life as an actor.
I’ve seen the movie Hoosiers dozens of times, and after he passed away I took the opportunity to remember Gene Hackman by once again watching one of my all-time favorite sports movies.
Hoosiers is the classic underdog, based-on-a-true-story of Hickory High School in Indiana, a team that overcomes all odds as a small town school to win the state championship.
I’ve loved that movie for as long as I can remember. So much so that, on a trip to Indianapolis a few years ago, I made a personal pilgrimage to Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University — the actual gym where the final game was filmed. I walked in, was instantly slapped in the face by how hot it was (they don’t have air conditioning!), and then looked up at the rafters. Then, I couldn’t help myself.
I yelled “Hickory!” just to hear it echo.
Sports movies, when done right, always give me the feels. The first movie I ever remember crying during was The Pride of the Yankees, the Lou Gehrig story. I watched it in high school with my dad, a core memory burned into my brain.
A big reason Hoosiers is so powerful is Coach Norman Dale, played by Hackman. In the famous locker room scene before the state championship game, Coach Dale looks at his players and reminds them that winning isn’t always about the scoreboard. What matters is playing to your potential.
And that’s where I want to take this blog, into the world of potential and what it means to have Developer as a talent.
Coaches as Developers
In CliftonStrengths terms, the Developer talent theme is about noticing and nurturing incremental growth in others. Developers are the people who see promise where others see problems. They find joy in making progress, one step at a time from point A to point B. It’s not always about perfection, but getting better each time.
That’s Coach Dale in a nutshell. He walks into a small town, inherits a skeptical team with skeptical parents, and tries to change the culture around his way of thinking. He coaches them to believe in their own capacity to grow and to become more than they were before he got there, even if it means stripping things down to basics and starting from scratch.
While Hoosiers might be the gold standard for this narrative, it’s far from the only example. Pick any sports movie where the coach inherits a down-on-their luck group of players and you might see this developer theme emerge. Mighty Ducks, Bad News Bears, Any Given Sunday (speaking of great locker room speeches!)– pick the movie and you’ll see a coach who embodies this important team talent.
Real World Coaches
We’ve all had coaches. Maybe it was a teacher who saw promise in your writing. Or a supervisor who gave you a stretch assignment before you thought you were ready. Or an athletic coach who worked with you on the fundamentals of a sport until it finally clicked.
They were developing you.
That’s the role I fill as a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach. I help clients spot their potential and build it into a plan. Then we work together to take deliberate steps toward their goals. No magic tricks. No pressure to be perfect. We base our work on your CliftonStrengths results and keep pushing forward.
“Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, team, team—no one more important than the other.”
— Coach Norman Dale, Hoosiers
Coach Dale was talking about basketball, but I like to think of that quote as if he were talking about your Top 5 talents. Your 5 strongest talents, all working in concert to make you who you are in a unique way.
All of the very best coaches, whether in sports or in personal development, have a knack for seeing potential and guiding their players or clients in the right direction. A coach can’t make the shot for you or sit in on the important meeting on your behalf. But even if you don’t have a coach in the literal and formal sense, there are definitely coaches in your organization already.
Find those who have the Developer talent and look to empower them to find potential in others and serve as a mentor or leader. I’m certain you’ll see the spark in their eyes when they are given the opportunity.
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