Every Leadership Lesson Can be Learned from Listening to Sports Radio.

I'm not an athlete, nor a sports coach. I'm a middle-aged wife and Mom to three teenagers (not all boys, BTW). I'm a corporate attorney working in-house. My favorite companion when I commute to work, drive my kids to school and activities, or basically just drive, is any ESPN sports radio channel. I generally go mainstream, currently with Keyshawn, JWill and Max in the morning and surf Sports Center and ESPNU during commercials. I'll listen to Greeny if I need to run mid-day errands. Coming home, my current favorite is Mark Packer.

I was not a real sports fan, let alone a sports radio fan, until I hit about 40. Why? A few reasons. First, my husband has always been a sports and sports radio fan. I discovered this was fun common ground for us. Chatting about sports news is fun when you can chat about it with your best friend! Second, having spent most of my career surrounded by men, I realized a quip about night's game goes a long way to break the ice. Lastly, as I become a wise, seasoned adult, I have realized that the notion that sports is the lens through which we can view life lessons is 100% true.

At work, my focus is the usual lawyerly things: contracts, compliance, data security, etc., etc., etc. I'm an advisor to our company's most senior leaders and I manage a very small HR team. I often find myself using a sports story as a metaphor to help colleagues understand an issue. Thus, this blog. Each post will be a short lesson in leadership inspired by what I learned listening to sports radio. Enjoy!