CHAMPIONSHIP HABITS

Dr. Adolf Brown has been a long time professional colleague and has motivated people all over the country. We were lucky enough to have him speak to a group in the Thumb Area of Michigan quite a while ago… but I was thrilled to receive a “reconnect” message from him just last week!

Well, his reconnect generated this week’s Inspiring Innovations LEARNING MOMENTS discussion. Specifically the topic is a review of Dr. Brown’s 14 fabulous: CHAMPIONSHIP HABITS. 

I refer to them as historic “soft-skills” in the world of work… but truly they are the hardest skills to practice and perfect!

Enjoy the listen and thanks Dr. Brown one more time.

Transcript

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Hello again, and welcome to the June 2026 Inspiring Innovations Learning Moments Podcast. As always, this is Marv Pickla, your discussionist host, and yep, it is finally summertime. As I was debating what leadership, communication, professional development, or innovation topic I would want to share with you this month, I received a kind of this reconnection message from a longtime great friend, Dr. Adolph Brown. It was his message was kind of that colleague style, let's stay connected thing, but at the same time, it brought me back to a time when he and I discussed what he labeled his championship habits. Championship habits. Well, deep down in my mind, these 14 habits that he's preached at multiple national locations are really the best soft skills in the world of work, soft skills list that you're gonna find. And for all the right reasons, it is my honor to share them with you, you know, one more time if you haven't heard them before, but they are great and there's no special order to them, but they are things that you want to remember every day, every day. All right, you ready? Number one, train and lead by example. Work alongside your team members from time to time. You know what I'm saying. Don't forget everyone at all levels within your organization. You you gotta stay in tune with them to make sure that you know all the time what types of issues or problems are happening at every level. So remember, train and lead by example and work alongside your team members from time to time. Number two, inspect what you expect. And in his words, use your management by walking around degree. That means that get out of your office, get out of your regular workspace, and go and look around and just get a culture feel of what your labor force, your uh workplace is really doing and operating under. It's it's a great aspect of soft skill management. Number three, catch people doing things correctly. Everybody likes to be complimented more than criticized. You know that too often it's easy to say something negative than it is to say something real positive or to even look for the good things that are going instead of, well, you know, the things that maybe aren't going so well. So try and catch people doing things correctly and then compliment them. Everybody likes to be complimented much more than be criticized. Okay? Next, only ask your team to perform activities that you would do yourself if you had to. I mean, I really love that one, and I wanted to practice what I preached too because I would look forward to you know doing things that you know I ask other people to do, and whether it's putting chairs and tables together or interviewing somebody. It's things that if you're gonna ask somebody else to do them, make sure you're willing to do them yourself. Next, display a positive attitude during every waking hour. And then he says, then dream about uplifting events while sleeping. Well, you get the message. You know, try and keep a positive attitude. I mean, people, it's infectious when when you display that positive attitude. And if you want to dream about what next, do it. Next, learn to fire people up and encourage them to fire themselves up. Again, infectious behavior of positivity, you know, can get people going and become greater believers in what kinds of things you are doing and you are working on. So if you try and get people motivated, fire them up, and they will hopefully encourage themselves to be more fired up. The next one. Quit worrying about titles. When you get good outcomes, the income and the title will follow. What that, you know, I think what Dr. Brown is getting at, you know, everybody's a team member, man. And there's and there's no non-essential member of the team. And so everybody's got a job title, yeah. But if you are all working for the cause and the benefits that you help produce show up, well, chances are when it comes to promotion and raises, you'll be more first or second in line, okay? Next, focus on the results. Don't worry about who gets credit for a job well done. Again, when you work for an organization, try and don't not make it, oh, I'm better, that the show is better, that everybody's working hard to make it all better within the whole organization. You know, and so if if you make sure that the agency or the organization or the business gets the credit and and people know what contributions you have made. Focus on the results, all right? Next, remember that winning is not everything and losing is not terminal. People make mistakes, man. And and the better you respond to it as a leader, you know, the better off the people will be all around you. And and remember, you know, doing better is good, but don't worry about winning as as long as you know you're you're moving the marker down the road a little bit better, you're getting better, and and you mess up every now and again, that's okay as long as you're always moving this the whole project forward. You know what I'm saying. Next, earn respect from your colleagues and subordinates because you can't demand it. Wow, think of that one. Earn respect from your colleagues and subordinates because you can't demand it. You know, you can't say, well, you you gotta learn to uh appreciate me and respect me more. Do you think that's really a logical order to just toss out there? No, you earn it. And that's important because people recognize what you had to do to get respect, and that's what you want to preach to make sure that they know that you know you work hard, you're gonna earn people's respect. Next, be prepared to change the play in the middle of the game. Be prepared to change the play in the middle of the game. Man, I love that. You know, when you're innovating, when you're doing something entrepreneurial, man, you may have to shift gears a little bit, let new partners in, whatever it might be, but you you'll have to do it. And so change is just a natural function of life. And you need to just be ready for it, and it's okay. You know, in my past director days, some of the gang would say, if you didn't do something different this week, boss, we thought maybe you were ill. So change is a constant thing, and be ready to change in the middle of the game. That's what Dr. Brown says too. Next, celebrate success. Let people know how good you feel about them. I didn't do a good job celebrating success because I was already on to the next thing. But there is a real important factor in celebrating success and letting everybody know, you know, how good they helped move the organization down the road. And so taking the time to celebrate it in whatever fashion that you feel comfortable with is important every time. Offer learning opportunities for everyone. Okay, offer learning opportunities for everyone. You know, everybody should be in a continuous improvement situation. You know, you don't leave anybody behind, you try and encourage each person as an individual and as a team member in the organization. Don't not do that, okay? Because it's critical. Offer learning opportunities for everybody. Because deep down, everybody wants to be just a little bit better. And the last one, the last one, laugh out loud often at yourself as well. Doc Brown, you know, when I had a chance to work with him and be around him, you know, he practiced that one, you know, that he would laugh at a corny thing that we were trying to do, we're talking about doing. And so many times he would laugh at himself because I couldn't do that, or you're really gonna do that, and uh we laugh out loud. So those are the 14, as he you know calls them, uh, championship habits to go into your workplace and into you as an employee every day. Don't waste these. You know, the people refer to a lot of these as soft skills. I do it myself, but they are the hardest skills to really keep strong within yourself all the time. Well, we've used up all of our time for this month. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll talk more next month.