Yaeger featured speaker at Leaders Breakfast
Don Yaeger's world is different than that of most people.
A former editor of Sports Illustrated and a best-selling author, Yaeger has spent much time with the sporting world's biggest stars, people who are paid millions of dollars, whose jerseys are worn by fans across the globe and whose posters hang in children's bedrooms. These sports icons are not necessarily business leaders, but there are still business lessons to be learned from them.
Simply put, greatness is greatness - no matter what the field.
"The skill sets are different, but the mindset is not, the commitment is not," Yaeger said.
Yaeger will discuss elements of that mindset during a May 5 Community Leaders Breakfast at John A. Logan College. The event is sponsored by The Southern Illinoisan and Southern Business Journal.
The breakfast also will include
recognition of the "Leaders Among Us" Class of 2011. It will be the eighth
group of outstanding community leaders to be honored by The Southern Illinoisan and Southern Business Journal.
Each spring, a group of people from
across the region have been feted at the breakfast - more than 100 outstanding people.
This is the third consecutive year Yaeger will appear at the spring Leaders Breakfast. In each of his presentations, he goes over four of his "16 Consistent Characteristics of Greatness."
Those characteristics evolved from his time at Sports Illustrated, and can be applied to any field, particularly business.
"The genesis of the list, the creative point of all of it, was really my time as a writer at Sports Illustrated," Yaeger said. "... it didn't matter who I was interviewing, or what I was speaking to them about, I asked one simple question: What allowed you to go from good to great, and what separated you from your contemporaries? Their answers really formed this list."
Among the stories Yaeger will share in his speech are those of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, which stunned the mighty Soviet Union team en route to winning a gold medal. That team fits into one of Yaeger's 16 characteristics, "Ice in their veins," about how the great ones are willing to take risks.
He will also discuss Michael Oher, an offensive lineman with the Baltimore Ravens who was one of the subjects of the book and movie "The Blind Side." Yaeger has since written a book with Oher, "I Beat the Odds," which was released earlier this year and peaked at No. 3 on the New York Times Bestseller list. Oher, Yaeger said, is a perfect example of another one of his characteristics - "What Off-Season?" in which the greats are always working to improve themselves and striving to get better.
The program starts at 7 a.m. Thursday, May 5, at John A. Logan College in Carterville. Registration is required by April 29. The cost of $15 includes a full breakfast buffet. To register, go to www.sbj.biz, or call The Southern Illinoisan at 618-351-5002.