Love In Basketball

This episode is a conversation with Carlin Hartman. I found this to be a conversation filled with sincerity and genuineness. Coach Hartman highlights the power of acknowledging mistakes, slowing down and developing patience, and pursuing relationship in an enduring way, by taking a genuine interest in others through their stages of life.
Carlin Hartman is an Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at the University of Oklahoma. Coach Hartman is recognized as a top 3 assistant coach in the Big 12 by his peers, the Sooners have reached the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons, and Oklahoma is currently ranked as the #12 team in the country this season. Coach Hartman is a 20-season college coaching veteran, and prior to the University of Oklahoma, Coach Hartman most recently served as the associate head coach at both Rice University and Columbia University.
This has been a heartbreaking couple of weeks in the basketball world, with the deaths John Chaney, Hall of Fame Coach from Temple University, Lew Hill, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at UT-Rio Grande Valley, and Tom Konchalski, legendary high school basketball scout. These were people who leave behind a legacy of service to others, with countless lives positively impacted through care, kindness, humility, and love. The light of our world is a bit dimmer without these men.
Coach Lew Hill’s family and UTRGV Athletics have established a scholarship fund under his name so his legacy may live on. You can donate to the Coach Lew Hill Memorial Fund here: https://give.utrgv.edu/coachlewhill

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This episode is a conversation with Charli Turner Thorne. I found this to be a conversation filled with strength and care. Coach Turner Thorne explores the traps of a results-orientation, how this may block servant-leadership, and some of what she calls a lost perspective that led her to take a sabbatical in the middle of her tenure at ASU, and discover greater purpose in her work and life. She also highlights the differences between accountability and shame, blame, and judgment, and the power of a joyful spirit and self-compassion.
Charli Turner Thorne is the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Arizona State University. Coach Turner Thorne is the winningest coach in ASU women’s basketball history and No. 2 in the Pac-12 in most career wins. As head coach of the Sun Devils, the program has made it to the postseason all but one year since 2001, including a school record six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, two Elite Eight appearances, and three Sweet 16 finishes. ASU’s 14 NCAA Tournament appearances under Coach Turner Thorne are 11 more than what ASU had in the 15 years prior to her arrival in Tempe. The 2020-21 season is the 24th at ASU for Turner Thorne, who has 512 career wins, and has also earned a pair of gold medals coaching with USA Basketball.
Further Reading:

• The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
• Mindset by Carol Dweck
• Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

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This episode is a solo episode, exploring Ten Characteristics of a Servant-Leader, a list developed by Larry Spears. Larry Spears is the servant-leadership scholar at Gonzaga University, and President & CEO of the Spears Center for Servant-Leadership.
In this episode, we dive into these ten characteristics, and identify how what we’ve heard from our guests so far connect to these characteristics of servant-leadership. Hopefully this provides some further context, a different lens as to how the insights and actions of our guests embody a servant-leader way of being in the world. 
I hope you leave today’s episode with some additional characteristics of what servant-leadership might look like, and some new awarenesses to more greatly fulfill the Best Test of servant-leadership.
Further Reading:

• Conversations on Servant-Leadership edited by Shann Ferch, Larry Spears
• The Congruent Life by C. Michael Thompson
• Leading From the Emerging Future by Otto Scharmer
• Stewardship by Peter Block

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This episode is a conversation with Charles Ament. I found this to be a conversation filled with genuine reflection. Coach Ament wrestles with servant-leadership as continual growth and struggle, that it is something we are always in training to become, and probes for deeper understandings throughout our conversation. He also highlights that service to others is often an outgrowth of developing greater purpose, the power of humility and vulnerability in relationships, and the power of asking great questions, questions that provide an opportunity for others to learn more about themselves.

Charles Ament is the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Langham Creek High School in Houston, TX. Coach Ament has been the Head Coach of the Lobos since 2007, and his tenure features 10 playoff appearances, and 6 20-win seasons. Beyond his record on the court, I believe Coach Ament is someone who truly embodies commitment to the growth of people, one of the Ten Characteristics of Servant-Leadership, a list developed by Larry Spears, President & CEO of the Spears Center for Servant-Leadership.

Further Reading:

• Forgiveness and Power In the Age of Atrocity by Shann Ferch
• Work Is Love Made Visible by Frances Hesselbein & Marshall Goldsmith
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

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This episode is a conversation with Benjamin Sanders. I found this to be a conversation filled with openness. Coach Sanders’ experience at the collegiate and professional levels have exposed him to many different forms of leadership. Our conversations so far have mostly centered around an individual servant-leader. And in this conversation, we hear Coach Sanders’ perspective of having also received more diminishing forms of leadership, from ego-driven leaders. He highlights that we help others to be servant-leaders by being servant-leaders ourselves, and that his shift from an inward focus and self-preservation to servant-leadership came in part from the empowerment and servant-leadership he received from others. He also highlights the power of humility, genuine communication, and finding joy in the successes of others.

Coach Sanders is the Video Coordinator for the Long Island Nets, the Brooklyn Nets G-League Affiliate. Coach Sanders has extensive G-League experience, having also previously served on the staffs of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, and the Windy City Bulls, including serving as an assistant coach with Windy City last season. Coach Sanders previously served as a Video Coordinator at the collegiate level, and also runs his own basketball analytics service, Benjamin Sanders Hoops Analytics, which you can explore at bshoopsanalytics.com.

Further Reading:

• Servant Leadership by Robert Greenleaf
• The Power of Servant Leadership by Robert Greenleaf, edited by Larry Spears

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This episode is a conversation with Gus Argenal. I found this to be a conversation filled with vulnerability. Those who know Coach Argenal tend to associate him with energy and spirit, and in this conversation he illuminated where that spirit comes from. He highlights that it comes from not a place of false positivity but from a depth of self-regard and self-knowledge, where he learned about himself doing tough times, that brought greater clarity to his purpose of serving others. He also explores more creative ways of learning about others, the power of listening, and returning with humility to the relationship.

Gus Argenal is the Associate Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Cal State Fullerton, where he’s in his second season with the Titans, and 17th year coaching in the collegiate ranks. Prior to Cal State Fullerton, Coach Argenal served as an assistant coach and then associate head coach at Nevada. His two seasons at Nevada featured two Mountain West Conference championships, two NCAA tournaments, and a Sweet 16 run. Coach Argenal also previously served as the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Cal State East Bay.

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This episode is a conversation with Jason Burton. I found this to be a conversation filled with grace and strength. Jason Burton and his program underwent true heartbreak in his first season as head coach at Texas A&M-Commerce, with two student-athletes, Aubree Butts and Devin Oliver being killed in a car accident. Coach Burton shares his story of heartbreak and loss in moving towards greater ways of serving and being with each other. Along the way, he explores what it means to invest in people, combining support and challenge, and the power of a hug.
Jason Burton is the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Texas A&M-Commerce, where he’s entering his 7th season as head coach of the Lions. Coach Burton is coming off the most successful season of his tenure, which featured a 28-3 record, conference coach of the year honors, qualifying for the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row, and becoming the winningest coach in school history.
Just as Willis Wilson helped to inspire this podcast for me, so too did Coach Burton. His openness in use of words like love, heart, and listening as core concepts to his leadership jumped out at and resonated with me. He was open about this vision for leadership and servant-leadership in a way I hadn’t heard before in college basketball. And after connecting with him further, I felt that others might be able to benefit from a similar dialogue.
Further Reading:

• Lead...for God's Sake! by Todd Gongwer
• Soup by Jon Gordon
• The Power of a Positive Team by Jon Gordon
• The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon
• My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr. by Coretta Scott King (features a section on agape)

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This episode is a conversation with Willis Wilson. I found this to be an inspiring dialogue, filled with powerful insights on the power of activating moments, the difference between a basketball coach and a leader who coaches basketball, and empathy, understanding, and forgiveness.
Willis Wilson is the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, where he’s entering his 10th season as head coach of the Islanders. His tenure at Corpus Christi features 3, 20-win seasons, and 4 postseason appearances. Coach Wilson was also previously the head coach at Rice University in Houston, TX. He served as the head coach at Rice, his alma mater, for 16 seasons, and is the winningest coach in school history. 
Coach Wilson helped to inspire this podcast for me. Through my connection with the Rice basketball family, Coach Wilson and I have shared several powerful conversations such as this one over the past several months. And I couldn’t help but think that others might be able to benefit from conversations such as this as well.

Welcome to the very first episode of the Love In Basketball podcast! In this solo episode, I seek to provide a foundation for what servant-leadership is, what it entails, and why it's important.

I cover some of the myths of servant-leadership, Robert Greenleaf's foundational definition for the servant-leader and his Best Test, in addition to the human development models and larger shifts in consciousness and awareness of servant-leadership. I also cover a variety of examples and research for why it's important to concern ourselves with servant-leadership. Service to others first truly makes great work, creating the results we truly desire, and fulfilling our highest potentials possible. And of course, I touch on the importance of love for the servant-leader.

Further Reading:

• Servant Leadership by Robert Greenleaf
• Servant-Leaders in Training by John Horsman
• The Power of Servant Leadership by Robert Greenleaf, edited by Larry Spears
• Immunity to Change by Lisa Lahey and Robert Kegan
• The Outward Mindset by The Arbinger Institute
• Leadership That Gets Results by Daniel Goleman
• Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
• The EQ Edge by Steven Stein and Howard Book
• Gallup poll on workplace engagement

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The Love In Basketball podcast seeks to gain a fuller understanding of this vision for leadership that holds people and results together. Some episodes will be solo episodes, with host and Leadership Coach, Adam Gierlach, exploring the academic frameworks, concepts, and theories of servant-leadership. And some episodes will be conversations with servant-leader practitioners throughout the world of basketball, learning what it looks like to do this form of leadership out in the world.

Servant-leadership is often described as a developmental process, something we may never fully arrive at, that we are always in-training to become. I invite you on this journey with me. Together we’ll explore and learn, struggle and make mistakes, and continue to move towards this challenging and transforming way of being in the world, this vision for leadership that combines serving others in a way that results in our collective growth as persons and creates the results you truly desire. 

Subscribe now, share with others, and I’m so excited to explore servant-leadership and share Love In Basketball  with you.