Posts by Travis Wyckoff

Criticism is inevitable. As a leader, know that you will get criticized… A LOT (even in successful seasons). How you handle criticism will be an important piece to your effectiveness and longevity as a leader. There is a saying “don’t take criticism from someone you wouldn’t take advice from.” My heart wants to follow that advice…but my…

Trust and buy-in. A program can not be successful without the leader winning these two things. And they must be won. You can’t demand or force. How do you get buy-in? How do you win trust?   There are three primary tools that leaders use to win trust/buy-in. + Connection: this is building relationships with…

I came across a great article written by Frank Slootman, Chairman and CEO at Snowflake (Technology/cloud company). He has taken three companies public and is uber-successful. One of his keys to success is his “Amp it up” leadership philosophy. There are three main pillars to his philosophy. I will summarize them below. These can apply to…

“The trick to viewing feedback as a gift is to be more worried about having blind spots than hearing about them.” James Clear As a leader, if you are not getting feedback from those you are leading it might be because you fear hearing something about your blind spots/weaknesses. Instead of avoiding it, see it…

With leadership comes big responsibilities. It also comes with more and more people wanting and needing your time. If leaders are not careful they will let the urgent drown out the important. Josh Spector tweeted some questions to ask yourself in regard to your calendar. He called it a calendar audit. 1. What is filling up your…

Over the several months, I have been doing work on and thinking about the following topics: process and results, curiosity, how coaches can involve parents and at the same time keep up some guard rails, accountability, and how silence & solitude help leaders be better prepared and make better decisions. But the one topic that I can’t put down over…

“How you spend your days is therefore how you will spend your life.” Annie Dillard Happy New Year… Goals are good. However, if you don’t have daily habits and disciplines, you will never reach your goals! I love how Shane Parish says it: “When we watch people make small choices, like order a salad at lunch…

During the 2021-2022 school year I led a cohort with several baseball coaches. One of the coaches in this cohort, Todd Interdonato, head coach at Wofford, talked about his philosophy of accountability in his program. Accountability Todd said that he did not expect or encourage his athletes to hold each other accountable. I was super curious to hear his reasoning after…

How a leader frames things is a huge leadership advantage. Example 1: You have to address your team about some off-the-field stuff. Frame that conversation right and you can stop (or at least greatly minimize) off-the-field problems. Frame it wrong and you will have more issues. Example 2: Some stuff with your staff is falling…