In Episode 111, Steven Axtell, Head Coach of Cortland University Men’s Soccer, former Cortland goalkeeper, husband, and father, talks with Phil and Paul about lessons learned from his playing and coaching career, leadership lessons gleaned from his coaches, his thoughts on playing multiple sports, how he is using lessons from the game in his family, why he doesn’t think superior tactics and strategy are a critical part of a successful program, and how his leadership and culture development at Cortland has helped his players and program to flourish. Specifically, Steve discusses:

• His personal story, how he developed his passion for soccer, leadership, and coaching and how he got to be where he is today (3:00)
• His thoughts on the benefits and downside of specialization in one sport (7:20)
• His personal why and life purpose and how he lives it out each day (13:07)
• Some defining moments in his playing career and what he learned from them (17:31)
• Key life and leadership lessons he learned from his soccer coaches over the course of his playing career (21:40)
• His philosophy on leadership and culture, what he taught about it in his presentation at the USC Convention, and why it is important to us (28:00)
• The importance of self-leadership, and how he is teaching it to his staff and players (34:21)
• How to successfully nurture healthy culture over time (39:33)
• How and why he has his players evaluate each other on character qualities (42:19)
• How he has used lessons learned from the game in his parenting and marriage (45:55)
• His book and podcast recommendations (54:31)

Resources and Links from this Episode

• Uncut Video of the Episode
• HSEL Facebook Group
• Warrior Way Soccer
• Coaching the Bigger Game Program
• Phil’s email for DISC Training
• Anti-Fragile: Things that Gain from Disorder, by Nassim Nicholas Taleh
• Jocko Podcast