Chasing Greatness Blog

Cal Ripken: Building A Legacy One Baseball Diamond At A Time

Don Yaeger October 15, 2015

The 2015 MLB Playoffs are a battle of legacies, and one of the biggest match-ups so far involved the Chicago Cubs—a club seeking to escape a history of post-season disappointment—and…

Lessons In Resiliency From The Heart Of A Champion

Don Yaeger October 1, 2015

Simon Keith is, literally, a walking miracle. In 1989, the former soccer standout for at UNLV, made history by becoming the first heart transplant recipient to play professional sports. Keith…

How An 18-Year-Old And His ‘Army’ Are Marching To Defeat Cancer

Don Yaeger September 23, 2015

Cancer sucks. These were the words inscribed on wristbands and given away by 18-year-old Adam, who had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Adam and his cousin had ordered…

3 Lessons To Turn Your Team Around From Coach P.J. Fleck

Don Yaeger September 2, 2015

During the opening week of college football, fans are always on the lookout for the perfect upset. And if this Saturday’s game between top-10 ranked Michigan State and little-known Western…

You Don’t Get Participation Awards For Showing Up At Work

Don Yaeger August 25, 2015

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison is not a guy that I would normally offer as a model for life lessons. Sure he became an NFL starter after going undrafted, proving…

Sitting Tight In A Job-Hopping Culture: Tommy Lasorda’s Tips On Greatness

Don Yaeger August 19, 2015

If you look at the most successful franchises and head coaches in sports today, they have one common characteristic: stability. And in our job-hopping society, nobody embodies stability like Tommy…

Do Unto Others: The Only Leadership Advice You’ll Ever Need

Don Yaeger August 5, 2015

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is this weekend. There have been many inspiring speeches delivered at the HOF over the years, but the greatest of all time occurred in…

Vision, Value, And Voice: The Real Magnet Of Team Success

Don Yaeger July 28, 2015

As the U.S. Women’s National Team celebrated their World Cup victory a few weeks ago, many of the athletes talked about how connected they were, how much they enjoyed and…

Three ‘Team-First’ Lessons From One Of This Weekend’s Hall-Of-Famers

Don Yaeger July 23, 2015

Many of us have been asked to take on a new role on our professional teams in the past. Change is the nature of today’s workforce but, if we are…

Great Teams Always Do Common Things Uncommonly Well

Don Yaeger July 9, 2015

Everyone wants success rapidly. In our culture of instant gratification, waiting simply isn’t an option for many people. Dayton Moore, general manager of the red-hot Kansas City Royals, knew that…

The Great Ones Play The Clock, Not The Score

Don Yaeger June 25, 2015

Tonight is the 2015 NBA Draft. A handful of young men—and maybe a few basketball teams—will see their futures change dramatically over the course of a few hours. The players…

Bring Your ‘Lunch Pail’ To Work If You Want To Win Championships

Don Yaeger June 18, 2015

Becoming a champion is hard. Doing it twice in a row…there are reasons it happens so infrequently. To win continuously, one of the hardest things to overcome is a sense…

Brewing Success One Cup Of Coffee At A Time

Don Yaeger June 10, 2015

One of the most powerful backstories in sports comes from one of Southern California’s most challenged cities. The ultimate country club sport, tennis, has been dominated for the last decades…

If You’ve Waited Until Halftime To Make Adjustments, You’ve Already Lost

Don Yaeger June 4, 2015

Tonight, the NBA Finals will begin. As I look forward to watching the thrilling first game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors, I think back to some…

Great Leaders Are Always Finding And Polishing The Hidden Gem

Don Yaeger May 28, 2015

One of my favorite sports books/movies of all time is Moneyball, the story of the 2002 Oakland Athletics and their revolutionary use of metrics in the scouting and analyzing of…

The Downside To Being A Leadership Junkie

Don Yaeger May 19, 2015

I’m a leadership junkie. I love listening to speakers and other professionals who are constantly producing ideas on teamwork, values and the essence of leadership. I try to collect and…

Integrity Is Worth More Than Championships

Don Yaeger May 13, 2015

Anyone who knows me is aware that I really like Tom Brady, the New England Patriots and everything that they have been able to accomplish together. Their highly effective culture…

The Value Of Being A Great Teammate

Don Yaeger May 6, 2015

I’m a father of a 6-year-old tee-ball and flag football player and, to be honest, he has not been the star of any team he’s been on so far. Regardless,…

Bidding To Beat Cancer: A Coach Uses His Platform

Don Yaeger April 30, 2015

Every leader has a platform, and the greatest leaders know how to use it. Greg Kampe, head college basketball coach of Oakland University, is as good an example of this…

Dynamic Leadership: Steve Kerr’s Secret For Coaching Success

Don Yaeger April 24, 2015

It’s the NBA playoffs and the best team in the league—reflected by their performance this season—is the Golden State Warriors. Just last night, the Warriors came back from a 20-point…

Three Lessons For Greatness In Mentorship

Don Yaeger April 17, 2015

The readers of my weekly blog and I have enjoyed a fruitful relationship over the past few years, but if you’re brand new to my posts because of Forbes.com, then…

March Madness and the Value of Continuity

Don Yaeger March 20, 2015

EDITOR’S NOTE: The contest we are currently running (check it out here) inspired me to write this blog. These are my favorite four days of the sporting calendar. As the…

Positive Self-talk: A Cornerstone for Great Winners

Don Yaeger March 13, 2015

Even the Greatest winners… fail from time to time. But the way they choose to respond to their shortcomings–how they talk to themselves after a loss–reveals much about their personal…

Learning through Winning: Three Successful Lessons from the Kentucky Wildcats

Don Yaeger March 4, 2015

The undefeated Kentucky Wildcats are inching closer to a perfect regular season and it’s exciting to watch. Last night’s game against Georgia, which Kentucky rallied to win 72-64, was among…

Chasing Greatness Blog

Weekly leadership lessons learned from the world of sports.

Cal Ripken: Building A Legacy One Baseball Diamond At A Time

Lessons In Resiliency From The Heart Of A Champion

How An 18-Year-Old And His ‘Army’ Are Marching To Defeat Cancer

3 Lessons To Turn Your Team Around From Coach P.J. Fleck

You Don’t Get Participation Awards For Showing Up At Work

Sitting Tight In A Job-Hopping Culture: Tommy Lasorda’s Tips On Greatness

Do Unto Others: The Only Leadership Advice You’ll Ever Need

Vision, Value, And Voice: The Real Magnet Of Team Success

Three ‘Team-First’ Lessons From One Of This Weekend’s Hall-Of-Famers

Great Teams Always Do Common Things Uncommonly Well

The Great Ones Play The Clock, Not The Score

Bring Your ‘Lunch Pail’ To Work If You Want To Win Championships

Brewing Success One Cup Of Coffee At A Time

If You’ve Waited Until Halftime To Make Adjustments, You’ve Already Lost

Great Leaders Are Always Finding And Polishing The Hidden Gem

The Downside To Being A Leadership Junkie

Integrity Is Worth More Than Championships

The Value Of Being A Great Teammate

Bidding To Beat Cancer: A Coach Uses His Platform

Dynamic Leadership: Steve Kerr’s Secret For Coaching Success

Three Lessons For Greatness In Mentorship

March Madness and the Value of Continuity

Positive Self-talk: A Cornerstone for Great Winners

Learning through Winning: Three Successful Lessons from the Kentucky Wildcats

Contact Don Yaeger